You know how it is – you empty your mailbox, scan documents, file them in the corresponding folders on your drive and also keep a physical filing system. But every now and then you also receive documents, invoices or correspondence by e-mail. Do you print them out? Or what happens to all the paperwork? How long do you have to keep it all? Which regulations do you have to follow exactly? Somehow, two parallel worlds of filing suddenly exist. The progressive digitalisation of our working world is a strong driver in the change from analogue to digital archives. After all, the location-independent availability of digital documents and information serves as a lubricant both in internal work processes and in relationships with all business partners – now more than ever in times of home office and new work. Automatic archiving processes and the quick availability of information save us a lot of time and money.

With our article, we want to support you and give you tips on how you can file your documents and records in a legally secure and compliant manner. We know this topic well from our own experience and have been able to achieve a good workflow in addition to legal certainty. After all, the goal is always not only to be on the safe side legally, but also to establish efficient working methods in the company and to become more and more agile. Your digital archive forms the basis for the automation of business processes – the automatic invoice verification is the best example of this.

Legal requirements for digital filing at a glance

If a company decides to introduce a digital archiving solution, the legal requirements must be met in addition to organisational and technical challenges. On the one hand, an archiving solution must be able to fulfil the legal requirements on the software side, and on the other hand, the archiving solution must be used correctly on site according to the legal requirements. Commercial law and tax law form the basis here. According to § 257 of the German Commercial Code (HGB), merchants are obliged to keep business-relevant documents in accordance with the principles of proper accounting (GoB). Here you will also find some very basic requirements for the digital storage of documents. In addition, the German Fiscal Code (Abgabenordnung) in § 147 AO, which primarily describes the deadlines for all tax-relevant books and records, also explicitly allows the possibility of digital storage. By far the most important source for legally compliant digital archiving are the GoBD (Principles for the Proper Keeping and Retention of Books, Records and Documents in Electronic Form and for Data Access). These were published in a letter dated 28 November 2019 and apply from 1 January 2020. The principles and the requirements for your practice are:

All these requirements are supplemented by the General Data Protection Regulation (DSGVO) and the Act on the Protection of Business Secrets (GeschGehG). Since 2018, the EU has regulated the handling of electronically processed personal data and documents, and also the protection of confidential business information from unlawful acquisition or use.

Paper is patient – the path to digitising your documents

Due to the high degree of digitalisation, a large part of correspondence is now already done digitally. This trend started with e-mail. In the meantime, invoices and other documents are also sent in digital form. Nevertheless, classic correspondence still exists in paper form. In many companies, there are therefore two separate systems, as merging them seems problematic at first glance. This mixed form of digital filing and paper archive creates its own problems. A comprehensive search, for example, is not possible because both systems always have to be searched separately. The remedy is the complete digitalisation of all processes in the company. However, this requires certain preconditions – first of all, a strategy is necessary to ensure that all relevant information is captured in the digital system. You need to identify all channels through which documents and correspondence are received in the company. Furthermore, this concerns not only correspondence in paper form, but also digital documents. The goal is to capture all this data in a central system. The second step on the way to a paperless office is the selection of suitable software for digital document management (DMS). Such a programme must meet certain requirements to be suitable for this task (principles of the GoBD). The software solution you choose must cover all channels through which documents and receipts arrive. For easy integration of digital document management, it is important that the software is compatible with normal scanners. This prevents the need for further investment in hardware.

Another important feature is scan-to-email. With this feature, a forwarding of the digital document is directly initiated via the DMS. This allows the digital document just created to be sent to relevant persons or directly to the digital document repository. In this way, time-consuming steps in the creation of the digital filing system are eliminated, because the DMS takes care of this automatically. In the meantime, these systems also have artificial intelligence that takes over parts of necessary post-processing independently. This includes, for example, automatically rotating documents that are upside down.

Archiving in your customs clearance – what works and what doesn’t?

In the area of export/transfer there are the following documents:

Not all of the documents listed must be archived in accordance with legal requirements, but they must be archived to enable the case to be examined by the authorities for traceability purposes.

Customs documents that must be archived include all required documents that must accompany a customs declaration (Art. 163 UCC). The required documents differ depending on the structure of the business case.

The export declaration and related documents such as the export accompanying document and the exit note (ABD and AGV) are created by System Export. However, these must also be filed as PDFs with the transaction, although they are also archived again in the system.

Authorisations by the authorities (e.g. BAFA) as documents with a stamp must be archived in paper form.

Your advantages of digital document management

You might be thinking: that’s a lot of time and money to switch everything to digital. In fact, it is a very simple task that will make your work easier. This is where you will be able to save time and money. For example, you will be able to search in your digital filing system much more centrally and directly – no matter where you are sitting. In other words, all processes are location-independent. Simply determine in advance who can see or edit what. This also increases data security. You can also control compliance or legal requirements more easily by setting automatic time periods for saving or deleting.

When choosing a digital filing system, simply make sure that the software is GoBD-compliant and that you introduce organisational and technical measures to ensure that all legal requirements are actually met. If you have any questions or need advice on this, we will be happy to help you. With the right software and the right partner, switching to a fully digital filing system is an easy task.

“Dear Sir or Madam, I am enclosing the order for the customs inspection.”The letter from the main customs office with the inspection order to the authorised recipient in your company – no need to panic. First of all, it is important that you read the inspection order carefully to find out exactly what it is about. We often see companies panicking at first, even though they are actually in a good position. There are also other cases, i.e. you are not at all prepared for an audit and have let your responsibilities slip in recent years (but we won’t assume that now 😉 ).

Basically, every company involved in foreign trade will be confronted with the topic of auditing at some point. Depending on the scope and risk, you will be visited more or less often. Basically, the more responsibility and freedom you have, the more obligations you have.

It is important that you understand what kind of exam it is and how you can prepare for it. Because there is strength in calmness!  Regardless of whether you are well prepared or have let everything slide in the last few years, hectic actionism will not help in either case. In our article, we would like to show you the different types of audits, what preparations you can make for them and what is important for you and your company in the end.

How does the examination work and what is examined at all?

You can find your most important information in the examination order. It will tell you what kind of audit it is, the name of the auditor, the time period and what exactly is being audited. The person in charge or the representative of your company will then sit down with the auditor to determine which documents have to be submitted and within what period of time. A small tip: If you need more time for preparation, there are possibilities to postpone the audit period.

We will briefly summarise the three most important types of examination here:

In the classic customs audit, the focus is on the import of a company – has the company paid import duties correctly? Are the goods from third countries correctly classified? Have the import duties been paid in the correct amount? Has the correct customs value been used? Are the specified preferential documents available? Have any additional customs duties been paid?

Foreign trade audits in the area of exports are more concerned with foreign trade aspects, such as simplified customs declarations and compliance with your authorisation requirements, export licence requirements or licence requirements for shipments within the EU, technology transfers or transit trade transactions, but also formal or foreign trade law aspects. In the area of imports, it is checked whether the relevant import licences or surveillance documents are available for relevant processes. Here, only very few products, depending on where they come from, require these licences. The third area of the foreign trade audit is the capital declarations – here it is checked whether the capital declarations to the Bundesbank have been made in the correct form.

Last but not least is the preferential audit. Here the focus is on the legality and validity of the preference document issued. Preference checks are primarily carried out when preference partner countries (countries with which the European Union has concluded a preference agreement) contact the German customs administration with a request to check whether a preference document was issued legally. In these cases, the customs administration carries out a corresponding check at the exporting company.

Internally, you should organise the customs check like a project. This means that there are clear responsibilities. It must be decided in advance who will talk to the customs officer and who will provide what data. The data provided to the officer should also be controlled centrally via the responsible person, for example the customs officer.

There are always findings that you can make a note of during the audit in order to derive measures for improvement, even independently of the final report. The final meeting – your opportunity to check and correct facts.

You have now completed the largest part of your examination. The examiner now writes an exam report based on all the information gathered, completely free of evaluations. Usually, at the end of the audit, there is a discussion involving at least one representative of your company and the auditor. This meeting can take place either as a “final meeting” with an official character (according to § 201 of the Tax Code) or as a “final meeting” with a more unofficial character. At the final meeting, you and your company can discuss facts or circumstances that are not correctly presented and have them corrected if necessary. You also have the opportunity to write a counterstatement or statement on the facts, which will then also become part of the audit report.

After discussing your audit report, it will be forwarded to the relevant department of the main customs office. Here it will be evaluated and finally decided what conclusions will be drawn. If violations are found, a distinction is made between work errors and system errors. A work error exists, for example, if it is an individual case. Here, the auditor assumes that work errors only happen if there is already a structured customs process. Therefore, the relevant customs authorities often offer to comment on the findings. Here you have the opportunity for the person responsible for customs in your company to present in a statement which processes you have already installed and which measures have already been taken in the past to avoid errors in the area of foreign trade law. You can also explain measures that you will take after the audit. However, you should not go too far out on a limb – you don’t want to give the impression that there was chaos beforehand.

The path is the goal! Do it right from the start

The best news is that everyone has it in their own hands to achieve a positive conclusion to the exam and to be able to react more calmly to it. Such an audit always involves a lot of preparation and time. That is why it is important to ensure structured and legally compliant customs processing, including audit trails – and to do so permanently. Our most important tips are:

Good preparation, legally compliant customs processes and trained staff are the basis for successfully passing the customs audit. We would be happy to support you and your company in all technical matters relating to this topic, whether with various training courses or with a personal consultation.  We help you to keep a cool head during the audit.

Especially in the area of e-commerce, but also for mail and courier consignments, the submission of an electronic customs declaration has been mandatory since the middle of last year for the import of small consignments from non-EU countries with a value of up to 150 euros. The exemption from import turnover tax for goods with a value of up to 22 euros has also been abolished. This regulation affects many companies because they now have to declare significantly more import shipments than before. Incidentally, this also applies to sample and document consignments.

Since 15 January 2022, you can use the new Atlas Impost application to handle these types of consignments correctly in terms of customs and tax law. We would like to explain to you in our article how exactly the new application works and what you have to bear in mind.

Finally here: Atlas Impost as part of the new Atlas Release

The reason why import declarations have become compulsory for small consignments is quite simply that the contents of these consignments can be better checked for compliance with the standards applicable in the EU. Now the amount of import VAT can also be determined better and more easily via the customs declarations submitted.

The specialist application ATLAS IMPOST was developed precisely for this efficient customs and import VAT handling of small consignments. It is part of the new ATLAS release 10.0 and expands the previous range of functions of ATLAS with the customs declaration type APK (declaration of postal and courier consignments). Here you can also submit the declaration with a reduced data set. This additional option of a “small customs declaration” provides for a reduced data set, the “super reduced data set”. Instead of the 11-digit customs tariff number, which is otherwise required for import declarations, it is sufficient to enter the 6-digit number. You can submit the APK before presentation as an early customs declaration or after presentation as a non-early customs declaration. By submitting the customs declaration with the reduced data set, the declarant declares that the goods are not subject to any prohibitions and restrictions. It is important to note that Atlas Impost cannot be used for goods that are subject to prohibitions and restrictions, for example, in particular if their importation is prohibited or if certain documents (e.g. permits, licences or other import documents) must be presented to the customs office for this purpose. It is therefore always the responsibility of the declarant to check and comply with the relevant legal provisions for the goods to be imported and to determine whether documents must be presented for import clearance.

The requirements and registration for participation in Atlas, as well as the technical requirements and connections, can be found in the leaflet for participants for ATLAS Release 10.0.

The import sales tax – the IOSS tax portal and special arrangement

Following your customs declaration, there are two variants for recording import VAT in the bulk procedure: the EU-wide applicable Import One Stop Shop and, for goods that are only subject to German import VAT, a so-called special arrangement.  The EU-wide applicable Import One Stop Shop (IOSS) is located in Germany at the Federal Central Tax Office. In particular, third-country sellers or representatives acting on their behalf who are resident in the EU can register there for tax purposes. The import declaration is linked to the IOSS registration. Prerequisite: It must be a matter of private end customers. VAT is then calculated directly to the EU buyer at the time of sale and declared to the competent tax authority of the respective member state. Irrespective of residency, platform operators and domestic companies that directly import goods from the third country into the EU and sell them here can also use the IOSS. However, business-to-business deliveries and gift shipments between private individuals are excluded from participation in the IOSS procedure. For many shipments there is the possibility of a so-called “special arrangement”, in which case a monthly collective declaration via the main customs office is possible on the 10th of the following month. We can offer you our support in this regard. For the special arrangement, the EUSt must be paid upon delivery of the goods to the customs declarant or the person who presented the goods. The EUSt collected within one month is paid collectively to the customs administration by the person presenting the goods until the due date of the deferred payment.

Another change in the lump sum payment of import duties NEE (subsequent collection, refund or remission) is that these can now also be automated, checked and calculated by ATLAS. For this purpose, the new data group “Information on lump sum payment” was introduced.

Other planned procedures for the customs declaration

For companies that do not want to or are not able to use the participant procedure, it will probably be possible to enter the new customs declaration type IPK (internet declaration for postal and courier consignments with a value of up to 150 euros) via an internet platform in the course of this year. This will then be accessible via the Citizen and Business Customer Portal. Until this portal is launched, consumers can submit customs declarations using the previous procedure. According to Customs, the procedures will not change, especially for private individuals who receive small consignments from third countries and want to declare them themselves at the competent customs office. We can also offer our support in this regard. Just take a look at our website https://www.payduty.com/, where you can easily declare your goods yourself.

Do you need advice on the subject of ATLAS IMPOST or on how to pay customs duty correctly? Then contact us directly for a discussion. We will be happy to help and support you!

No topic is as present at the moment as the developments on the topic of Russia and Ukraine. Normally, in articles on sanctions, we would write soberly what the law says. What is allowed and what is not, and where are there “grey areas”? Here it is different. We are in the middle of it, instead of just being there. This is also about the sanctions and the question of what is still allowed, but it is also about an entrepreneurial and moral attitude as a company. Some large companies have already stopped all business with Russia, both internally and externally. Most of them clearly distance themselves from Russian business and thus express that we are on the other side.

As a customs and export control officer in the company, you ask yourself when your current Russian shipment is on the table: What do I do now? There are still no clear procedures in the company. In our article, we want to give you an overview of what exactly the sanctions mean and what you can best do organisationally to support the management or your company.

A number of new sanctions against Russia have been put into force by the EU, which were previously decided by the 27 member states. Further sanctions have already been announced. Even a total embargo against Russia and Belarus can no longer be ruled out. That’s why you should check your activities in Russia very carefully.

Which sanctions already exist and which will be added?

Economic sanctions have been in place against Russia since the annexation of Crimea in 2014. An arms embargo has been imposed on Russia, i.e. the export of military goods to Russia is prohibited. This also has an impact on dual-use goods or other goods if a military use is intended. The goods designated in Regulation (EU) No 883/2014, Annex II, require an export licence. These are goods from the energy sector. The EU sanctions package now adopted consists of the following measures:

What does it mean to leave the Swift payment system?

As a further measure, the countries decided to further restrict the possibilities of the Russian Central Bank. But what are the consequences of this step for the country and the EU? Basically, Swift is the main system for exchanging information on transactions, which makes it more difficult for Russia to use the global financial system. This can slow down flows of goods because some companies are then no longer able to pay for imports or record revenues for exports. Although the exclusion of Swift is not a major problem for Russia for the time being and can be compensated for in the domestic economy for the time being, in the long term, due to the major loss of exports of raw materials and the loss of imports of high technologies, economic consequences are to be expected. In general, money problems could arise for European companies in the short term if Russian companies can no longer transfer money.

According to the EU Official Journal published on Wednesday, the following Russian banks are affected:

VTB (Russia’s second largest bank)

Otkritie

Novikombank

State bank Promsvyazbank

Rossiya

Sovcombank

State Bank VEB

The latest sanction measures affect about 80% of the Russian banking sector, restricting the refinancing possibilities of state-owned enterprises and strategic industries on the EU financial market. The convertibility of foreign exchange reserves is also restricted. The listing of other Russian companies can be found in the EU’s financial sanctions list.

What do the US sanctions-new goods-related export controls-say?

On 24.02.2022, the responsible Bureau of Industry and Security issued new goods-related export controls for Russia that also affect German companies. What changes?

Since all goods in ECCN categories 3-9 are now “controlled” for export to Russia, they must be taken into account in the de minimis calculation. Furthermore, as Russia has been added to country group D:5, a de minimis threshold of 0% applies to some US components.

Previously possible licence exemptions for exports and re-exports to Russia requiring a licence as well as transfers will be massively restricted.

All applications for export licences will be examined according to a policy of denial, i.e. a rejection is to be expected

49 Russian recipients have been placed on the Entity List This means that the export, re-export and transfer of all goods “subject to the EAR” to these end recipients is prohibited

A full export ban applies to all goods “subject to the EAR” if there is knowledge of a military end-use / military end-user.

Two new Foreign Direct Product Rules have been implemented for Russia

Russia Foreign Direct Product Rule (§734.9 (f):

The rule provides that foreign-manufactured goods based on US technologies in ECCN categories 3-9 or goods manufactured on equipment that is itself the product of those US technologies and the end product is listed on the CCL are subject to an export ban to Russia.

Russia-MEU Foreign Direct Product Rule (§734.9 (g):

The rule provides that foreign-manufactured goods based on listed (all categories) U.S. technologies, or goods manufactured on equipment that is itself the product of listed (all categories) U.S. technologies, may not be supplied to military end recipients or for a military end use in Russia. This also applies if the end product is EAR99 classified.

What are the next steps with regard to relations with Russia?

Get an overview of all Russian activities, including planned ones. Until you have clarity, a delivery should be stopped for the time being. Even transactions that have already been approved should be re-examined on the basis of the new legal framework. In principle, the new sanctions apply to existing as well as new contracts upon publication in the Official Gazette. Since further measures are to be expected, it should be carefully checked when publication in the Official Gazette takes place. Exceptions may be possible in individual cases. However, this should always be checked. It seems difficult to think about economic relations with Russia at present. When regulated trade, import and export with Russia and also with Ukraine will be possible again is difficult to assess at present. It is advisable to think through and present various scenarios. This could be by completely stopping all relations with Russia. Check exactly what consequences this has as a company. It is important to be well informed about the regulations and measures. We can support you in this and help you with important questions about customs and export control. Just get in touch with us!

This news still make us proud.

But what does innovation actually mean? If we consult Wikipedia, it is derived from innovation, renewal. In colloquial language, one speaks of ideas and inventions.

And what does the customs sector and our daily work have to do with innovation? We are not reinventing the law, at least not in our daily work. But if we take a closer look, we can find many innovations. Not all of them will revolutionise customs tomorrow, but they may make work easier. With our contribution, we want to give you a few tips on how to promote and implement innovations in your company and in the customs department.

Innovation, discussion and revolution

Whether you work alone or with a large department in customs and export control. You can integrate innovation as a system into your daily routine. You can systematise innovation, so to speak.

What do you gain from being called innovative? From our point of view, three factors: firstly, you will have fun with the idea and its implementation; secondly, you will charge your own knowledge account with every project; and thirdly, you can expand your network in and outside the company.

Renewing yourself and being innovative as a result therefore thrives on ideas that are then put into practice. Two things for which a “climate” or culture should be created in the company.

Personally, I have to say that I don’t know many theoretical models for developing innovative ideas. I think it’s important to focus on ideas and then bring them to implementation and quickly to the market. One factor that ensures sustainability is that you take on new projects from the list of ideas every year, or generate new ideas. Generating ideas is put so simply: this is also a personality issue. There are people who can develop many ideas – others are better able to critically examine the idea for quality, compliance and feasibility. For good implementation, we always need everyone to bring an idea to fruition. Therefore, you should make sure that many different colleagues participate in your innovation process. This sometimes costs time and discussions, but friction creates energy and energy creates innovation.

Your innovation process in the company

The innovation process creates a clear framework that structures and systematically implements the development of new products, services or business models. It usually starts with idea generation. Collect and submit your ideas, considering innovation as an investment. With every idea, you have to ask yourself in advance: What do we achieve with it? Ideally, it should be an investment that will pay for itself over a certain period of time.

In the next step, you evaluate your ideas, because not everything can always be implemented. It is important not to discard everything that is not being pursued at the moment. A list of ideas should remain so that you can reflect on them again and also fall back on them. In the next step, it is important to immediately start implementing improvements and new topics. After the WHAT, the next step is the HOW. In this phase of development, you should also calmly allow mistakes, because this is the only way you can take the narrow learning curve for improvement.

In our company, we have identified innovation as a very big value. Some of the projects we have been able to successfully implement so far are, for example, our online academy for customs officers and customs auditors, self-developed master data software, our new company “Zollpiloten” and some internal processes. So you could say that our constant self-optimisation is part of our DNA. Change and improvement is absolutely everyday for us and something completely normal.

Time for ideas – where do I start?

What and where can processes and procedures be innovated in the customs department? As a tip, where you can directly start and what you can directly examine are your master data projects: How exactly do you create your master data? Or how do you deal with the issue of further training? How are your new employees trained? What about your meeting culture?

In principle, all topics can be innovated. Innovation is not always just big, many small steps also lead to completely new processes and corporate cultures, even in the customs sector. You can also think about how much paper is still used in this or that process. How long does a process take, and what are the recurring activities.

For some suffering, for others passion

You have probably heard the term “customs representative”, “customs officer” or “customs coordinator” before. Basically, the appointed person is responsible for ensuring that customs-related processes are carried out in a legally compliant manner. After the appointment, however, the tasks and responsibilities often remain rather vaguely defined and the company management is glad to have finally found someone.

Imagine you become the customs representative of a company. And now? What procedures are you now responsible for and are you personally liable? If you want to get an overview, you quickly realise: the master data are not correctly maintained, the work instructions are not up to date, and there is a lack of solid customs knowledge in the neighbouring departments. Maybe you also realise that you are new to one or the other technical topic. In short, there is a mountain of work to be done and you have to think about where to start and what is most important.

In our article, you can find out what is actually meant by a customs officer and what options are available in the company.

 

What skills do I need to have as a customs officer?

In principle, the customs officer should have sufficient and up-to-date knowledge in his field of activity.

If the company wishes to benefit from simplifications, the authorities require proof of a practical or professional qualification. Anyone who has worked in the field of customs knows that it often takes years of work to acquire knowledge and experience. Basic knowledge in the areas of export and import processing, export control and preferences is required in any case.

For practical implementation in the company, the mixture of theoretical expertise and basic organisational knowledge about process design and self-organisation is certainly the best combination. If you are already working as a customs officer, it is important to always check where you still need further training. If you are new to the role, don’t try to do everything at once, but make a training and project plan for the whole year.

We offer a customs officer programme that will provide you with expertise as well as practical application through the support of our advisors. If you now have a plan for building or deepening your expertise, let’s take a closer look at the definition of the role in the company.

Legal definitions of the role of customs officer

Companies must name direct contact persons for customs in the applications for authorisation or for AEO status. Who to appoint if no one wants to volunteer? Customs matters are often located in shipping, logistics or order processing and therefore employees are often appointed from these departments. These are called customs representatives or customs officers. The designations are freely chosen by the companies and are not reflected in the relevant laws; only the above-mentioned practical or professional qualification is required according to the customs authorities.

In the absence of this concrete definition, it makes sense to define the role and function of the customs representative yourself. Exactly what the scope of activities and the obligation are depends on the internal organisation. Depending on the size of the company, the task may be a mixture of operational and supervisory activities.

Have you ever written down your duties as a customs officer over a period of time, i.e. what you do every day? This is particularly interesting for those functions that are more strategically monitoring. It usually turns out that the customs officer acts more as a “fire extinguisher”, always straightening out things that are going wrong or quickly determining the customs tariff number so that the goods can leave. Then you should think about which projects and fields of action can help to get out of this hamster wheel and move the organisation forward.

So there is no definition of a customs officer, but there are employees named vis-à-vis the authorities for monitoring authorisations and simplifications. This would be a monitoring function for the customs-relevant or authorisation-relevant processes in the company. We have the following tips for you as a customs officer, or those who would like to become one, in order to bring clarity into your field of responsibility:

These points should be recorded in a role description and, of course, updated regularly. If you now have clarity about your role as a customs officer, then you can start working.

 

What is the liability of a customs representative?

Since the customs officer is not defined by law, the question of liability for the customs officer also remains open. Basically, customs belong to tax law and thus to the tax code.

A basic principle, regardless of the personal liability question, should be: How can I, as a customs officer, protect the company from administrative offences and fines? First of all, the managing body is called upon in the case of corresponding breaches of duty. However, questions can also be asked about acting persons. The question of personal liability is always a much-discussed topic, also in seminars. Unfortunately, it is often associated with fear and can often be answered with: “It depends”.

What is important, in terms of liability and avoiding damage, for the company as such? As a customs officer, one should avoid organisational culpability in order to protect against unnecessary fines. The cornerstones for avoiding organisational negligence are documented processes, trained employees and regular controls.

As an interface between the departments and the management, you should conduct internal audits as a customs officer. Our previously published blog post on customs audits can also help you with this.

Selection and appointment of the customs representative in the company

At the beginning, we already mentioned that employees are often appointed and then have to deal with the issue. We have two essential tips for you as an employee, but also for the management. If there is a possibility to become a customs officer in the company, take the opportunity, because as an expert in this field you create a professional profile for yourself and are in demand if you know your subject. Customs can be a fun and creative role in a company. If you are a manager yourself and need a customs officer in the company, then you should invest a little more time in the search. Maybe there is a trainee who is willing to take on a special qualification, or there are other colleagues who are motivated to take on the task of customs officer. It does not always have to be a full-time job either.

What is important is that the customs officer has a desire for the subject, clarity in his/her role and tasks, and support for professional and personal development.

I still remember. I used to travel a lot – to seminars at clients’ or education partners’ premises. Usually it was a half or full day event with a delicious lunch, exchange between participants and an “experience” for those who attended the seminar.

Today, this world already looks different. I am hardly ever on the road as a speaker. In fact, most events are now online. When I talked to my former colleague about this, my opinion was: “I don’t think this will change any more. The continuing education sector will be much more online”. She replied: “Are you sure? I often find myself struggling to concentrate and listen all day in such an online event”.

That’s right! It is not a question of taking events from offline to online format. Rather, the question is when which format is the most appropriate and what the future may bring us in customs and export processing.

Seminars and training – past and present

You know how it is – at the beginning of every seminar there is planning. Where do I have to go? Is the trip already planned and booked? Do I have all the necessary documents with me? On site, the first meeting in the face-to-face seminars is the welcome round. Everyone gets to know each other a little and a kind of community feeling develops. You exchange information about the content, discuss it and can start interacting with each other directly. From the speaker’s perspective, the feedback and the mood of the group can be felt very well and is also visible from the body posture. How often have you thought after such a day: “Man, that was really interesting and also fun”. It is not uncommon for new contacts and relationships, new networks and even friendships to develop from these face-to-face meetings. At the end of the day, it’s time to go home again, after which you’re just glad to get home.

Today, with online seminars or trainings, you can simply reduce the time required for organisation. For example, if you have a training of 4 hours, it allows you to do things both before and after. Even with all-day seminars, you are much more flexible. You are independent of location, whether as a participant or speaker, you have no organisational effort with room and travel costs, and there is no travel time. Often, the online trainings are also more effective, as all external influences are reduced to a minimum. For you, this means that the offers are simply shorter and more specific to your needs. A prerequisite for this, however, is an adaptation of the methodology of the respective instructor. The needs of online training are different from those of face-to-face training. Starting with the necessary technical infrastructure, the motivation over the distance up to the solution and design of an interactive training. First and foremost, you should make sure that you are familiar with the online training tool and how to use it. This way you avoid unnecessary delays, which can also lead to dissatisfaction within the group of participants.

But how exactly can you implement this? What are the possibilities for online training? In order to be able to give you some tips, you should first find out exactly what kind of webinar you are planning. Ask yourself the questions: What is the goal of the webinar? As a consultant, do I want to convey solutions to my client or rather expertise to a group? What functions should my tool have in any case? How many participants will there be in the training? Should everything be recorded? And finally, how much should this tool cost? Some good tools for online seminars are: Miro, Lucidchart, Mentimeter, or Zoom, mikogo, or GoMeetNow. There are no limits to the design, depending on your needs. Once you have chosen the right tool, you can use games, surveys, whiteboards, group work in virtual rooms to actively involve all participants and thus turn the webinar into an experience without anyone switching off or falling asleep. You can also make the breaks more interesting and lively for the participants. Maybe you include some music for a while, or offer the participants a virtual lounge where they can exchange ideas and talk.

The best of both – strong demand for online didactics

A quote from an event on “the future of education” reads: “Technology will not replace the speaker. But speakers who don’t use technology will be replaced by those who do.” So one does not exclude the other. The important thing is how you can make the most of both now.

Opportunities for seminar providers, participants and companies

In the past, the target group for seminar providers was much more local, i.e. they often limited themselves geographically to a certain radius. But if you wanted to grow, you often had to open up new locations. Today it’s different: through social media and the online presence of the offered portfolio, you can easily book seminars online, regardless of location. Even more so, if we think, for example, of US report control law or other areas of law. The online market and trade can now also tap into much larger markets and target groups. At the same time, you save the costs of rooms and catering and the organisational effort involved. But it is also important to change the offer. Simply changing the presence offer and adopting the same approach will not work in the long run. The online offers for the participants must be adapted through special tools and methods of the speakers, so that people can network, exchange and be picked up at online seminars in the future.

It is now much easier than before for entrepreneurs to offer compliance and awareness training via, for example, LMS platforms such as Memeberspot, Kajabi or Looop. Participants are no longer on the road for whole days, but can sometimes use only 2 hours for a special training through a flexible webinar offer. Thus, the combination of work and training is much easier, and the digital affinity is much higher due to the trainings. Since the selection of free webinars with good content on the market is increasing, it is important to look carefully where I can get which information. Because knowledge is available online almost indefinitely, and at any time.

It doesn’t matter if you have been working in the company for a while and know the weak points, or if you are new and want to get an overview first. A status quo of the customs and export control relevant processes in the company is important for an effective internal control system (ICS) as well as for your own “clarity”.

Often, the common way today is to hire a customs consultancy. Depending on the focus, lawyers, tax consultants or management consultants are hired for a customs audit. An external customs audit provides a report, depending on the agreement, on where there are still gaps in the area of compliance or where there is potential for optimisation in the processes. If you already have experience with such audits, you know that they can quickly run into a few thousand euros, depending on the scope of the project and the audited areas and locations.

Read our article to find out what the future of customs audits could look like. It doesn’t always have to be external consultants who examine your processes. First, with the right approach, you can audit your customs and export control processes yourself for compliance, cost and innovation. Secondly, these processes offer opportunities for digitisation. Documents that are checked for inconsistencies or missing information could also be taken over by systems in the future.

 

Planning and conducting a customs audit – this is how it works

It is important that you determine the focal points and identify the relevant areas and persons. To get a better overview, you can start by depicting your company. Perhaps with a kind of organisation chart. Here you can see at a glance how your company is set up and where your focal points lie. Define these areas in more detail – who and what is integrated and affected here, who has what responsibilities, etc. Now, in further steps, you can summarise and evaluate all the information you have gathered. Only after these important and detailed points can further procedures take place. Whether and which suggestions for improvement exist, and how these can be implemented in current or new processes and responsibilities, which optimisation or reduction is needed, and whether legal requirements are met.

Another important point to consider is the necessary documentation. A document list can help you to always make the most important arrangements to have all documents present and complete. In this list, you should include the most important documents, such as sales contracts, invoices and delivery notes, stocks, all licences, notifications, export documents, annual financial statements, regular training courses, etc. In the next step, you work out a questionnaire with which you and all those involved can then compile all your work instructions and example cases. Here you can see whether all the sample cases are conclusive for you and your staff, or whether there are still questions.

The aim is that after an audit your customs processes are clearly structured and the responsibilities and tasks are allocated in a meaningful way. The associated coordination and control tasks are prepared accordingly so that they can be integrated into your compliance system without much effort. This allows you to minimise risks and take full advantage of the opportunities presented.

 

Documentation of your project

In order to be able to track the results and sources at a later time, we would recommend creating at least one folder on your drive where the audits get their own “place”. For example, a folder structure Internal Control System – Audits – Audit Feb. 2022 would be possible; all information would then be neatly filed under this folder. We have a folder for each audit with the structure, data collection, research and results.

 

Sustainable ICS – a customs audit plan

The goal is to create a plan for you and your company that checks and evaluates the internal processes in a comprehensible, but also sustainable manner. On the basis of this audit, the current status can be presented, which you can compare with the past status and adapt to future requirements. Especially when your company grows, necessary changes and adaptations arise, which on the one hand result from a dynamic development of the legal framework and on the other hand from changed requirements in your company.

 

Customs audits at regular intervals

Many areas of your customs clearance are subject to strict laws and rules that you and your company must comply with, which on the one hand offer you many advantages and opportunities, but on the other hand are also associated with risks. At the latest during your next customs audit, you will realise that a regular review and adjustment of all your processes is an absolute must. Structured risk and impact analyses, as well as monitoring tools, have become best practice approaches for internationally operating companies. Due to regulatory requirements, compliance expectations of business partners and customers, as well as the risks associated with the topic of export control, it is only a matter of time before these standards become established.

 

Digitising audits in the future

To go one step further and not just handle customs audits yourself: What if we digitised here too?

Documents that are still checked for possible errors by experts today could be read out by machines and searched for irregularities. Master data records could also be queried and checked via certain rules. Annual sensitisations could be sent to the employees concerned via e-learning, according to a fixed schedule.

So there are countless possibilities to digitise cleverly in the area of audits as well.

You must first have a plan for yourself, which areas will be audited and how, and what the result should be. On this basis, you can then digitise the customs audits step by step.

 

Become an internal customs auditor yourself, we will help you!

We would like to support you in carrying out your own customs audits and setting up a digital internal control system. For this purpose, we offer you our accompanied inventory and training as a customs auditor. You will receive a toolkit, which we will use to carry out inventories. Over a period of six months, you will have the opportunity to ask your questions about inventories and the implementation of your project twice a week.

Using our tools and templates, we will show you how to develop your own structure and a systematic approach. We will accompany you for several weeks and help you to carry out your analysis in your company. Simply contact us for a non-binding discussion!

“A ticket with the number 0815 has been created for you”. The issue with tickets always has a bad reputation when you don’t get an answer to your request. It often has something impersonal about it. You are just a “number”. However, ticket systems can also be a useful tool in the customs department to create transparency and standardise processes.
Imagine you start the working day with a well-filled inbox, but instead of starting the actual work, you first have to sort through everything, prioritise and, if necessary, ask a lot of questions about missing information. Half the day is over and you realise that you have only answered your colleagues’ questions so far. For one colleague it’s the missing customs tariff number, the question of how to declare guaranteed deliveries for another.

It doesn’t matter if it’s a request from a customer, employee or business partner. A ticket system helps to standardise requests, to track processing times and to work together as a team.
In our article you will learn about the advantages and disadvantages of using a ticket system on a daily basis and how you can find the right one for you and your company.

What is a ticket system?

A ticket system is software that helps you organise and manage requests. It contains elements that you normally send by email. You have to enter the content for the problem you are supposed to process and solve. Other information that a ticket may contain include

You can think of a ticket as a kind of index card that contains all the relevant information that you or the respective support team needs to process a case.
Such tickets are created whenever an employee of a company encounters an event that interrupts his or her workflow. These tickets are then automatically categorised according to company standards, prioritised and then forwarded to the correct support area. The responsible support staff then analyse these tickets and solve the respective problems.

What are the benefits of working with a ticket system?

Especially in the course of digitalisation, in which everything is simplified by technologies, the various ticket systems are becoming more and more important. Here we ask you the question: What exactly are the advantages and disadvantages of such organisation systems? Outlook can also sort and I can work with rules, so why change?
Two particularly important advantages are increased efficiency and more transparency. A ticket system is supposed to reduce your bureaucratic workload, and it is supposed to create clarity and traceability. The time saved benefits you, but also the customer, because the real-time evaluations can quickly eliminate and optimise unnecessary work steps. For example, if someone complains that the feedback from the customs department always takes so long, you can find out how long the average feedback rate is with a glance at your ticket system and create facts.

All tickets, whether current or past, can be clearly arranged according to their status. For example, you can categorise them as open, in progress, waiting for feedback, or closed. On this basis, you can easily create reports and statistical surveys. You can then visualise them in the form of dashboards. Perhaps this would also be an idea for your department’s key figures? How many enquiries do you receive per month? What type of enquiries and how quickly do you give feedback from the customs department?

Another advantage here is that you can use your ticket system in the customs department as a knowledge database from which, for example, FAQ’s are created – the most frequently asked questions.
For example, in the area of export control, on the subject of dual-use testing, a section of the FAQ could read: “Which articles are non-critical? All articles that are then in this section of the FAQ’s do not require any further examination for export. This saves resources such as time and money.
Another important point about the ticket system is that no information can be edited or manipulated afterwards. This means that a company can later trace the entire communication without any gaps. If several employees are working on a case, the solution approaches and thought processes of the colleagues can be viewed quickly and directly, which facilitates cooperation and traceability. In the end, your customer will also notice this.
A ticket system can therefore prevent an overcrowded inbox, where you can quickly lose track of everything. You can make the knowledge gained from this centrally accessible to everyone.

Is it worth it for me and my company?

In order for a ticket system to function smoothly, it requires a precise analysis of the workflows and processes in advance. Which processes can be meaningfully mapped via a ticket system?
– Consultation questions on customs issues from other departments
– Classification and classification enquiries
– Orders for customs declarations, for customs service providers, for example.
These are just a few examples that may be interesting depending on the volume of work. You have to look at your IT landscape, are there already ticket systems in the company that you could adapt to your cases or will it be a new software. Then the question of integration and distribution in the company should be asked.
Furthermore, you should plan time for the conversion of the processes and the training of all employees involved.

The right system – what makes sense for my company?

Meanwhile, there are many different ticket systems on the market, but which one suits you best?
Some systems offer extensive functions such as project management, financial management and real-time alerts, while others only cover basic functions such as ticket processing and problem management. It is important for you to first find out exactly what I want to achieve with a ticket system. Where do interfaces need to be connected? What resources can I use for this? What budget is available? Not everyone needs the same scope of services and the same effort.
If you are considering two or three ticket systems, a comparison can help you to choose the right one. You can find some well-known examples on the web, such as JIRA from the Atlassian family, or Zendesk. Here, for example, you have the advantage that you can put together your required functions in a plan. Depending on your needs. If you still can’t decide at the end of the day, some providers also offer free test runs. Exchanges with partners, other companies or customers can also help you with your decision through experience reports.
In smaller companies or teams, the requests that arise can often still be handled well through the classic channels, such as the mailbox. However, as a company grows, the management of enquiries becomes more and more extensive. Keeping an overview of who is responsible for something and who is currently working on which case becomes more and more complicated.
You could also say that the introduction of a ticket system is a kind of guide to the success of the project, because it not only provides you with an implementation control – what needs to be done, where do I find the information, has the goal been achieved, but also a self-control – what have I achieved and what still needs to be done.

 

In customs matters Switzerland sometimes is one step ahead. Among other things, there is already the app “Quick Zoll”, with which private individuals can clear customs themselves, and the transformation program “DaziT”. We heard about this at the IHK Customs Forum on Digitalization at the Chamber of Commerce (IHK) Middle Lower Rhine on August 19, 2021.

“DaziT” stands for “Dazi”, the Rhaeto-Romanic word for customs, and for “transformation”. The program was officially launched on January 1, 2018 and will last until the end of 2026.

The transformation of the FCA to the “BAZG” is built on two pillars:

In an exchange between Prof. Dr. Uwe Böhm, of the Chamber of Commerce (IHK) Upper Rhine-Lake Constance, and our colleague Anastasia Michi, responsible for digitalization projects, show the key points from DaziT and what we can take away from it.

 

What lies behind DaziT and how is Switzerland approaching such a major transformation?

 

How can digitalization in customs look and really succeed, with so many participants involved? The electronic customs declaration is one thing, but more is needed. So many documents in transportation and customs still accompany the goods physically, which leads to long and inefficient processes.

Our neighbors to the south, Switzerland, therefore already have tangible plans to digitalize all transport and customs processes, some of which are already in the test phase or even in live operation. DaziT is a whole catalog of measures that the Swiss customs administration is implementing with a focus on simplifying and digitalizing all processes.

It is not only about digitalization, but also about a new conception and structure of the processes, says Prof. Dr. Uwe Böhm from the Chamber of Commerce (IHK) Upper Rhine-Lake Constance. The first approach of the catalog of measures lists that there will be a completely new training that brings together what was previously separate.

This includes the Swiss Border Guard Corps, comparable to the German Federal Police, Customs, which takes care of the movement of goods, and tasks of the Federal Police, which monitors vehicles. The new employees are trained in all three areas, with specialization at a later stage. This has the advantage that an employee at the border can check the truck not only according to the goods or the person, but according to all three criteria. That’s not really digital at first, but in fact, from our point of view, digitalization is always related to organizational development. Also have a look at the article “Digital Mindset“.

 

Organizational changes therefore are also important for the digitalization of Swiss authorities

 

The goal of the Swiss customs administration is to move truck inspections away from the border and into the backland in order to reduce the traffic jams when crossing the border. As a result, no one would have to wait at the border crossings, with a few exceptions that require inspection. This means that controls – such as authorized consignees – would take place directly on the yards in the backland in case of doubt. Therefore, processes are to be introduced that digitalize the entire movement of goods and no longer require all the paperwork. This represents the second approach of the DaziT catalog of measures.

There are already so-called transit cabins with a separate lane, which means that if the papers have already been registered in advance, only the MRN code needs to be read and the routing slip stamped on the German and Swiss sides. This can be done directly from the truck without the driver getting out.

For normal customs clearance, the truck needs to be driven to the customs yard, the driver has to walk to the customs office and get the documents. Then to the German customs counter, then to the Swiss customs counter and pay the duties in the next step. Even with a smooth registration, the drivers are busy with this for just under half an hour. During this time, the goods stand around and traffic jams form. In the age of digitalization, that doesn’t have to be the case anymore, does it?

With electronic registration and use of the new app, this entire process would be bypassed and there would only be about 3% of trucks that still need to be checked. Those would then get a red light in the app with the signal to check. For all other drivers, a green light appears with the indication to continue driving.

Apps which are already in use or are already beyond the pilot phase:

 

To what extent are other countries connected to the Swiss transformation?

 

The Swiss colleagues are optimistic and try to involve all countries around Switzerland. The EU Commission has already shown great interest in getting involved, too. The first hurdle, however, is that they would have to agree on common interfaces. Brexit also is a good example, as many processes also run manually here. With a shared digital solution, this could be extended to other countries, too. But it will take time before Germany, or the EU, is ready. Estimates show that we can start working on a border ticket from 2024. One reason for this late start is the problem of differing data protection regulations between European countries. The European Commission still has to provide the legal framework for digital customs processing. Many requirements mean that, in the end, everything still has to be done in paper form. In addition, the German customs administration is currently very busy with the one-stop stores, where a lot of capacity is flowing. And as long as the EU does not join in, the truck driver only saves the trip to Swiss customs, but still has to go to German customs.

 

Future projects in Switzerland

 

Further considerations in the customs area are that goods are already recognized while being loaded on the truck. This should make it possible to declare them directly. Customs can thus also detect whether there are any other unregistered items on the truck.

E-portal: all documents are stored there centrally and can be viewed by every forwarder. All communication takes place via this portal and there is no need to call customs all the time. Data changes can also be directly imported there without having to issue new documents. This should reduce the flow of paper and provide a history. In addition, tapping the data makes it easier to ensure that all important accompanying documents, such as the EUR1 certificate, are available.

Chatbots: Switzerland already has a very good service hotline in the customs area. But many questions can be solved more efficiently by a chatbot without the intervention of another employee.

Risk analysis with AI: This allows everything to be automated and well systematized, and you don’t have to rely on the experience of customs officers. The result is that controls are more targeted. The risk analysis shows where the probability of violations is higher and where it is worth checking, or where it makes less sense because the company is reliable, and the goods are unproblematic.

Prof. Dr. Böhm: Professor at the HTWG in Constance for international management and managing director for the international division of the Chamber of Commerce (IHK) Upper Rhine-Lake Constance. Due to its geographical location alone, the IHK specializes in everything that has to do with “Switzerland as a customs location”. By doing so, it tries to combine the interests of German and Swiss companies.

Conclusion: There are many good ideas. Regulation is good, but we must not let it stand in our own way trying to break new digital ground. We will keep an eye on our Swiss colleagues and report on further developments.