What is ICS2.0 all about?

An EU Strategy and Action Plan for Customs Risk Management was adopted mid-2014. It identified the actions to reach more coherent, effective and cost-efficient EU customs risk management at the external border of the EU. The risk management strategy pointed out seven priority areas, impacting IT, legal and procedural aspects. They should be achieved within the timeframe of the implementation of the Union Customs Code. Therefore, two areas have been identified as the first operational priorities. The first one is the need for high-quality data on supply chain movements and also its proper availability and communication. The second – risk-relevant information-sharing including control results.
The Union Customs Code together with its Implementing and Delegating Acts have introduced new legal obligations which necessitates ICS2.0.

Purpose of ICS2.0

ICS2.0 aims at meeting the objectives and fulfilling the needs expressed in the EU Strategy and Action Plan for customs risk management. It provides a new system capacity to the Member States to share outcomes of risk management and control processes in the domain of entry of goods in a more effective manner. It also enhances the interoperability between national and common system components. A notable benefit is the reduction of costs for the Member States. The efforts to implement new system capabilities are managed under common coordination – the Common Repository is built once and operated in the common domain. We should not forget to mention that with ICS2.0 IT compliance is enhanced. It brings more functionally harmonized interfaces with regard to customs formalities on the entry of goods.

What does ICS2.0 include?

The ICS2.0 project covers three separate IT Projects: ICS2.0 CORE, Opt-in 1 Shared Trader Interface and Opt-in 2 Shared e-Screening and Risk Management.

The ICS2.0 CORE project covers the common domain, national domains and the interface with the external domains. It includes the production of the common functional and technical specifications of the end-to-end ICS2.0 Trans-European system for all required business processes and the supporting IT components as well as the development in the Common Domain of a Common Repository by DG TAXUD. The project also involves the development by the Member States of the National Trader Interface and the National Risk Analysis System.

In all phases of ICS2.0, all central and national activities have to be managed and coordinated properly. Also, a trans-European helpdesk facility has to be established for delivering efficient support between ICS2.0 and the Economic Operators. Last but not least, we need to mention the Opt-in 1 Shared Trader Interface project and the Opt-in 2 Shared e-Screening and Risk Management Support project. These are IT components that the Member States are free to use and join the development of if they wish to save the costs of development of the national trader interface.

Benefits of implementing ICS2.0

The implementation of ICS2.0 is expected to bring numerous benefits in various aspects.

• For the EU citizens, it will ensure security and safety in the Union customs territory. It will also minimize the chances of threats to security and safety;
• For the EU Member States’ customs administrations ICS2.0 will improve risk management capacity and will increase the capability to identify risks related to the entry of goods. There will be increased cooperation and collaboration within the Member States in the context of risk analysis. As a result, the latter will be systematically improved based on the sharing of results of risk analysis and controls among the EU customs. Some of the other benefits for MSs is: improved transparency, visibility on the entry of goods and controls after the arrival of goods; reduced administrative burden in fulfilling legal requirements; consistency in customs clearance; advanced monitoring capabilities and reduced investment costs for those MSs that will join the opt-in projects mentioned above;
• As for the Economic Operators, the implementation of ICS2.0 will lead to increased transparency of information available to the involved parties in the goods supply chain. It will also bring consistency of customs clearance, better alignment to the WCO standards, increased automation of validation. Costs will be reduced from the availability of a Shared Trader Interface. Economic operators will be treated equivalently regardless of the point of entry of goods into the customs territory of the Union.

Project Scope and Processes

The ICS2.0 Project is aimed at establishing a Trans-European System made of processes underpinned by national and central IT systems. The IT Project for ICS2.0 incorporates all foreseen changes to the existing and the introduction of new IT systems of the Commission, the Member States and the Economic Operators. They will collaborate in order to realize the objectives defined in the Union Customs Code (UCC), which provides the regulatory framework for the procedures concerning the entry of goods into the customs territory of the Union, and the EU Strategy and Action Plan for Customs Risk.

The most significant business processes as per UCC Entry of Goods procedures are:

• Submission of ENS – Entry Summary Declaration lodged by the Economic Operator to the Customs Office of First Entry.
• Risk analysis initiation – this process is the accountability of the Responsible Member State (RMS). It involves the execution of applicable Common Risk Criteria and the manual review and risk mitigation conducted by the competent official of the RMS. Also, taking into consideration the results of e-Screening performed and provided by each Involved Member State and Other Member State(s). Finally – the conclusion of the risk analysis process; deciding on the risk mitigation actions, and sharing of the results with other competent risk authorities.
• Submission of arrival Notification – the Economic Operator submits an Arrival Notification to the competent national systems (Port or Airport community systems). Subsequently, that national system will submit the Arrival Notification to the ICS2.0. The submission of the arrival event to ICS 2.0 will result in the corresponding status change of the related ENSs.
• Submission of Presentation Notification – the Economic Operator presents the goods (and presentation notification) to the customs authorities. The respective Customs Office is responsible for the processing of the presentation notification, the submission of the presentation event into the ICS2.0.

Action Plan for the Customs Risk Management

The ICS2.0 Project ensures the implementation of the Action Plan for the Customs Risk Management which includes:

• the need for high-quality data on supply chain movements;
• and its proper availability, communication, and sharing of risk-relevant information, including the control results.

The possible approaches to achieve this have been examined in the Feasibility Report and further documented in the Business Case. The Business Case concludes that ICS2.0 should be based on a common repository, which stores and manages the lifecycle of all submitted ENS, the risk related information, and the services required to use this information in accordance with applicable access rights. The Commission will provide the Member States with a harmonized interface for trade, and an e-Screening and risk management support services.

The ICS2.0 is already in its implementation phase, so in case you need support, do not hesitate to contact us.