To Fly For Sure

We know about the human dream of "flying like a bird" from rock paintings, fairy tales about flying carpets and flying chariots. A person has always tried to fly. There was even a case when a man jumped from a height attaching something similar to wings.

Today, air transport no longer surprises anyone. Not only people fly on it, but also cargo.

Why not, if it's the only way to be in the right place at the right time? Until, probably, someone like Elon Musk launches a new kind of metacosmic transportation at the speed of light.

You won't be surprised by flights, but the state can surprise you with new standards of legislative regulation of air freight. The economic and political situation of the Russian Federation, the pandemic – could not but affect the foreign trade turnover of goods by air.

Currently, any customs operations with respect to goods that are transported by air are regulated at as many as three levels of customs legislation: – international, – integration – and national. The norms of the national legislation of the EAEU member states should strictly comply with international agreements and not contradict them. Otherwise, the plane will not fly and the cargo will not be delivered.

So what exactly is it important for a forwarder to know and do in order to be calm about the timely delivery of cargo by plane? Irina Kuemzhi told this. She was graduated of Plekhanov University in 2022 and one of the youngest employees of ACEX in Moscow.

STAGE I

A carrier submits consolidated preliminary information to the database on the server of the Central Information and Technical Customs Administration (CITCA) of the Federal Customs Service of Russia. This should be done at least two hours before arrival at the first air checkpoint or at an international airport on the territory of the Russian Federation. This rule is for carriers who imports goods by air to the customs territory of the Eurasian Economic Union. Further, the preliminary information is automatically checked for its compliance with the structure and formats established by the requirements of technical documentation.

STAGE II

After successful verification, a Unique Transportation Identification Number is assigned.

STAGE III

The Border Customs post requests preliminary information about imported goods through the CITCA database.

STAGE IV

Obtaining information.

STAGE V

Reconciliation of preliminary information with accompanying documents within the framework of ongoing customs control. If discrepancies of information are revealed, then a decision is made on the application of one or another form of customs control based on the risk management system.

If you do not want to have problems with customs clearance, prepare the documents as follows:

1. At the stage of preliminary information, it is recommended to submit to the customs authority an expanded list of information about goods and aircraft. It will ensure the acceleration of customs operations after the arrival of goods on the territory of the Russian Federation.
2. If the customs authority has preliminary information about the aircraft and goods, the customs authority does not issue a confirmation of the arrival of the vehicle after the registration of the arrival of the aircraft. It accelerates the customs clearance of the arrival of goods.
3. In order to accelerate the placement of goods in a temporary storage warehouse, it is necessary at the stage of preliminary information to provide information about the goods, the sender and recipient of the goods, the country of their departure and the country of destination. In this case, the placement of goods for temporary storage is carried out in a simplified manner by using the preliminary information number.
4. To optimize the customs clearance of the customs transit procedure, preliminary information about the aircraft and goods can also be used. In this case, the customs authority does not apply measures to ensure compliance with customs transit and accepts air carrier documents as transit declarations.

Safety comes first! It is doubly important to ensure safety on the plane. A huge responsibility in this matter lies with the operators of X-ray installations. They should be vigilant and constantly improve their skills. The X-ray installations should not be forgotten too. They must be regularly replaced with new high-tech, more sensitive inspection equipment that can detect explosives, including plastic.

To implement these measures, a large financial support from the state will be required. It is for both to replace all outdated X-ray equipment, and to finance research work on regular improvement of inspection equipment. An analysis of the practice of working with the technology of preliminary information shows that there are some problems at the stages of submission and processing of preliminary information.

DECISION

If we improve some elements of the pre-notification mechanism, it will help solve a number of problems and significantly speed up the customs clearance of goods.

Firstly, the carrier prepares preliminary information about the transported goods in advance. He submits information to the Federal Customs Service of Russia via the electronic portal. This should be done before the arrival of goods to the customs territory of the Union. This means no later than two hours before the notification of the customs authority on the arrival of goods.

This information is forwarded to the database on the Central Information Technology Department server. Then format-logical control is carried out. The received preliminary information is automatically checked for compliance with the structure and formats established by the requirements of technical documentation.

If no inconsistencies are found after the inspection, a unique transportation number is assigned to the preliminary information. This number is automatically generated on the portal and transmitted to the carrier by electronic communication.

The carrier submits a unique number to the customs post of actual control. The customs inspector uploads information to the program and uses it to identify those goods that require additional customs control.

When the cargo arrives, the entire package of documents and information is transferred to the customs authorities to verify the data in the previously submitted preliminary information with the actual characteristics of the goods.

The introduction and development of an electronic document submission format and a single window mechanism in Russia will allow airlines to work more efficiently and deliver cargo to their recipients much faster, without delays and paperwork.