The DMPT successfully held its 60th Meeting - for the fourth time in a virtual mode - from 26 to 29 April 2021. The Meeting included Focus Groups (FG) breakout meetings of the Implementation Support Focus Group (ISFG) and Data Modelling Focus Group (DMFG) that met in parallel on 27 April and in a joint session on 28 April 2021.
The Meeting was chaired by Mr. Louritha Green of the United States. There were 145 participants registered for the Meeting from Members representing 54 different Members, representatives of International Organizations and the private sector.
The Meeting was opened by Mr. Pranab Kumar Das, Director of the WCO's Compliance and Facilitation Directorate. Mr. Das welcomed all participants and pointed out the importance of the DMPT's work for data standardization as a fundamental measure for the efficient implementation of digitization, allowing Customs administrations and relevant stakeholders to sustain their activities in the time of the pandemic, while adhering to health protocols.
In this Meeting, The DMPT received and processed 11 Data Maintenance Requests (DMRs) submitted by Costa Rica. All DMRs will be incorporated to version 3.11.0 and improve the WCO Data Model for the requirements of a modern single-window environment, namely Costa Rica's "VUCE 2.0", which covers 161 processes with 16 public institutions.
The DMPT also discussed and agreed on a draft update of its Terms of Reference. The amendments were necessary to consider that the DMPT will now report directly to the Permanent Technical Committee (PTC) with the dissolution of the IMSC.
In connection with the ongoing work on Version 4 of the WCO Data Model, the DMPT has concluded a workflow that will facilitate Members being able to put forward proposals for new features and enable the DMPT to plan for a product roadmap.
The workflow was elaborated in a mini-group in the intersession under the Version 4 Product Manager Mr. William Slusher from the United States.
In the Focus Group breakouts, the ISFG discussed the preliminary draft update to the My Information Package Specification. The ISFG agreed to continue reviewing the draft update in the intersession with a view to approving the update in September 2021.
The DMFG continued reviewing the alignment of the WCO-Universal Postal Union (UPU) Joint Message Standards (Version 2 of CUSITM and CUSRSP) with the current version of the UPU Derived Information Package (DIP). The work will be continued in the intersession, noting the need to submit the final outcome to the WCO UPU Contact Committee in December 2021.
Regarding the railway data harmonization, the DMFG took note of the work done in the intersession and discussed several remarks that arose from the harmonization activity. Members are invited to share their national transit dataset with the Secretariat and support the Secretariat in mapping them with the WCO Data Model to prepare a recommendation for a harmonized dataset to the Autumn Session of the PTC.
Canada presented a case study on implementing the proposed conformity criteria based on Canada's Commercial Accounting Declaration. The DMFG agreed to incorporate the information based on Canada's exercise in the intersession to conclude the work on Syntax conformity in the next Session.
The DMPT wrapped up its discussion by adopting the new work programme for 2020 / 2021.
The Chairperson and the Director, Mr. Das, thanked Ms. Adrienne Morey from Canada for her active and valuable contribution in the DMPT over the past five years. Due to her well-deserved retirement, this was her last time to participate in a DMPT meeting.