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Characteristics of the single bundle project |
The project of the single bundle aims:
Simplification, harmonization, and the standardization
of the forms required by the various Tunisian administrations and organizations, at the time of the achievement of the administrative formalities related to the passage of the goods by the Tunisian logistic platforms.
Connections
Creation of information exchange electronically,
between all the interveners in the commercial, logistic
and financial chain implied in the operations of import
and export.
Interface Establishment
of standardized communication between the
various existing information systems or the future
ones, in order to accelerate the reciprocal supply
of information and to avoid the load breaking in the
circuits of information.
Dematerialization
of the exchanges of information that causes
progressive suppression of the paper documents and
the related characteristics (in terms of proof, authentication
and confidentiality).
It is characterized by the association
of all the chain links of the foreign trade in order
to exchange dematerialized data (without paper) so
that the procedures are accomplished with the required
celerity.
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Inventory of fixtures before the project |
The Tunisian operators are confronted
with many types of administrative forms and with an
accumulation of formalities, which are accomplished
in various places; followed by overcosts and a loss
of competitiveness; two examples will be given:
The foreign
trade title processing:
Each importer must get a form from the Chamber of
Commerce and Industry (CCI); the title, once filled
is presented at the bank, which registers it, inscribe
the time and date and certify it for domiciliation.
This title, in the case of the products subjected
to authorization, is addressed to the Ministry of
Trade to be input by the Organization Management and
by the Data processing and to be examined by the services
of the Directorate-General of the Foreign Trade.
This digitized title is later the
subject of a technical opinion (by of the technical
Ministry in charge of the resource), and of an impression
with observations and reserves, or rejection, and
is returned thereafter to the bank of the importer.
The Processing
of the Customs Declaration of the Goods
If SINDA system correctly apprehends the whole data
related to the foreign trade operations, it constitutes
today only a first stage in the customs clearing:
this one comprises an input phase of the data on a
dedicated terminal (of which the subscribers are equipped
to the system, in a limited number), either in the
operator premises, which constitutes a mode of input
off-set to the user (but deprived of possibilities
of integration), or in a public room (accessible to
approved operators), then a phase of calculation of
the rights and taxes to be perceived and, finally,
a phase of edition of the Customs Declaration of the
Goods. It starts then a long circuit of useless papers.
Automatic checks on the SINDA (envisaged at the origin
of the system) having been withdrawn; all the declaration
processing, edited on paper, is carried out manually
and with considerable number of customs examinations,
compared to the practice observed in the European
Union.
The processing procedure of the Customs
Declaration of the Goods, after its edition
by SINDA system, such as it can be observed at the
Customs Department of Tunis-Port, is carried out entirely
by manual way and comprises two distinct phases: an
examination by an inspector who rules on admitting
that it is conformable, by requesting further information
or even proceeding to an effective examination of
the goods. This examination is carried out within
24 to 48 hours according
to the workload of the agent and the requirements
of the Service. Each declaration, is then revised
by an inspector, who delivers (to the import) the
approval to be removed; the Customs Declarations of
the Goods are then brought closer to Manifest of cargo
to proceed to a « pre-auditing »; it is
only at the time of the physical exit of the goods
from the harbor enclosures that the final auditing
of Manifest is declared.
These two examples testify a multitude of inputs –
re-inputs, many juxtaposed processing (in consequence
of the absence of interconnections) and of the persistence
of the paper circuits, at the time-even the computers
of the concerned public services contain the relevant
data and could proceed, directly and immediately,
with automated controls.
The operators have to fill out the heterogeneous forms
which, even if they present sometimes boxes containing
the same information, these are laid out in a manner
which differs from one form to another, and are encoded
in an incoherent way. This has as consequence a complication
of the task of the different services officials.
The whole of these documents is
absolutely not in conformity with the international
standards and recommendations on the matter (international
Recommendation CEE/FAL n° 1 «Frame - Formula
for the commercial documents, becomes international
standard ISO 6422
«Repertory of the commercial data elements of
the United Nations, also international standards ISO
7372.
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The contribution of the project |
The standardization of the presentation
and the encoding of information will bring a rationalization
in the collection of information by the public services
and a lightening of the costs at the level of the
firms selected to fill the paper forms or to input
the data which will be then conveyed by electronic
way.
The other components of the project consist in the
modernization of data apprehension methods related
to the maritime cargoes (together with « customs
assumption of responsibility » of the goods,
on the basis of manifest, transmitted if possible
by anticipation) and in the establishment of data-processing
links between the equipped operators and the various
existing information systems (Customs, Central Bank,
Trade Banks, Tunisian Department of the National Ports,
Directorate-General of the Foreign Trade, Directorate
of Quality...) or the considered (in the other public
services), which will allow the reciprocal exchange
of information without paper. They will contribute
to the reduction of time extensions and will put an
end to ceaseless displacements, from one office to
another or from one building to another of the city,
and from one place to another of the port, while bringing
better guaranty of safety.
