The World Customs Organization-Universal Postal Union (WCO-UPU) Contact Committee has approved the “Joint WCO-UPU Guidelines on data capture and compliance with the CN22/23 (flow zero),” aimed at enhancing data quality to increase compliance with customs regulations.
Approved by the committee last month, the guidelines cover challenges and enablers in electronic advance data (EAD) exchange, data quality considerations, instruments and tools, the CN22 and CN23 declaration forms (paper-based declaration forms for postal items) and their electronic equivalents, and best practices.
Following the committee’s approval of the guidelines, the 2020 joint WCO-UPU workshops will be organized based on the needs expressed by members, WCO said in a release.
The WCO-UPU Contact Committee meeting discussed the challenges and way forward in implementing EAD exchange and securing data quality, and in promoting cooperation between customs and posts, and the potential integration and harmonization of the data of CN22/23.
Experts from customs administrations and postal operators also shared new and emerging regulatory/procedural developments concerning EAD exchange between customs and posts, data privacy and protection regulations, and pre-loading EAD requirements.
As for security and safety matters, the UPU and WCO secretariats briefed the meeting on the S58/S59 UPU Security Standard and the SAFE Framework of Standards, including the latter’s three-year review cycle in 2021. The S58 defines the minimum physical and process security requirements available to critical facilities within the postal network while the S59 defines the minimum requirements for security operations relating to the air transport of international mail.
The UPU Secretariat also announced that the 1st Rail-UPU Contact Committee meeting will be held in February 2020. This committee will be comprised of representatives of the UPU, the Intergovernmental Organisation for International Carriage by Rail and the Organization for Cooperation of Railways, as well as observers such as the WCO, European Commission, and International Rail Transport Committee.
The Rail-UPU Contact Committee will deal with the facilitation of international postal rail transport between China and Europe, including issues related to guidelines on mail transport by rail, standardized operational processes, possibilities for EDI messages, transit procedures, and security.
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