Jakarta, Indonesia, September 2018
The World Customs Organization (WCO) and the Universal Postal Union (UPU) organised a joint technical assistance mission for Indonesia within the framework of the UPU’s SECUREX Pilot Project. The key objective of the mission was to support Indonesia Customs and Post with the establishment of an advance electronic data exchange mechanism on postal items to improve risk management and facilitate the clearance of growing number of postal items in the e-commerce environment.
In his opening remarks, Mr. Gilarsi Wahyu Setijono, President Director of Indonesia Post, noted the phenomenal growth in postal parcels via e-commerce and associated challenges due to largely manual processes. He underlined the need for an electronic interface between Customs and Post for the exchange of data to facilitate the clearance of postal items, and outlined the initiatives already undertaken in this regard. Speaking on behalf of the Director of Customs, Mr. Djanurindro Wibowo, Deputy Director, highlighted the challenges being faced by Indonesia Customs in dealing with the boom in small and low-value shipments, with 94% of them below 100 USD (de minimis), and recognized the timely support by the WCO and UPU for the advance electronic data exchange that is key for improving security and efficiency of postal supply chain.
Based on the current national situation of Indonesia, the experts from the WCO and the UPU guided the participants through all the steps and associated processes for the initiation, establishment, testing and launch of the advance electronic data exchange mechanism. In this context, legal and regulatory frameworks, cooperation arrangements, business processes, technical specifications and IT systems, as well as associated WCO and UPU instruments, standards, and tools were examined and discussed.
Participants learned the functionalities and technical aspects of the UPU’s Customs Declaration System (CDS) that is based on the joint WCO/UPU Customs-Post EDI messaging standards. Issues concerning data sharing agreements, data confidentiality, and data exchange frameworks were also explained and discussed in the Indonesian context.
Additionally, participants deepened their knowledge on practical aspects of the data capture, processing, transmission and use for effective risk management and service delivery, along with related best practices and case studies. Over 30 participants from Indonesia Customs and Post benefited from the mission.
Currently, Indonesia is testing the CDS and exploring its interface with Customs IT system. Based on the standards, tools and best practices, Indonesia Post and Customs have outlined a broad action plan 2020 to exchange advance electronic data on inbound and outbound postal items, once the CDS goes into full production phase and they start receiving advance electronic data from origin posts.