The FBR officials highlighted that the objectives of the NSW included simplification of all trade related regulatory and operational processes; replacing the current paper based systems with an automated environment using latest ICT techniques, international data and messaging standards, unified business procedures and harmonized data requirements. Other objectives of the NSW included one-stop facility for all trade related activities including regulatory approvals, customs processing, payments, port releases, national and international shipping, insurance, etc, and reducing time and costs associated with cross-border trade and improve Pakistan's efficiency and international competitiveness.
The benefits of the NSW included improved transparency and controls for government & regulatory authorities using ICT solutions; efficient enforcement of laws; better allocation of resources due to introduction of risk management techniques; improved performance by the public sector agencies and departments; elimination of bureaucratic red tapism; lower compliance costs for traders; on-time deliveries and better inventory management; enhanced productivity and professionalism; and reduced corruption, due to fewer opportunities for physical interaction. Officials shared that the Korea Customs Service estimates that the introduction of its SW resulted in a benefit to the economy of US $18 million in 2010, part of the overall economic benefits that year of up to US $3.47 billion from the agency's trade facilitation efforts. Singapore customs claims that for every US $1 earned in customs, it spends 1 cent after the implementation of the NSW.
He explained that the implementation of NSW is a gradual and evolutionary process. Normally, there are 5 incremental levels in achieving implementation a NSW system: Level 1-Paperless Customs System: The first level of NSW is achieved through development of a paperless customs declaration system. Pakistan has already achieved this level with the development and roll out of the Web Based One Customs System (WeBOC) which has 64,000 (and counting) registered users and handles 90% of all GDs filed by traders.
The second level is achieved once the paperless customs system is integrated with other regulatory bodies which issue import, export, transit-related permits, certificates and other related documents. Through its INTRA (Integration of Regulatory Authorities) initiative, the FBR has successfully integrated Engineering Development Board, State Bank of Pakistan and Ministry of Climate Control with WeBOC, while other regulatory authorities including National Tariff Commission, Ministry of Commerce, Plant Protection Department, Animal Quarantine Department, Pakistan Telecommunication Authority and Pakistan Standards and Quality Control Authority, etc, are expected to be integrated with WeBOC in the coming months.
Level three covers Port SW or Business-to-Business (B2B) Port Community System: This refers to the extension of the SW to serve entire trade and logistics communities within the airports, seaports, and/or dry ports. Currently, the seaports in Karachi are connected to the WeBOC system through the electronic data interchange (EDI), however, due to lack of automation at the dry ports, and off-dock terminals, the same level of connectivity has yet to be achieved at all customs stations.
Level 4-Fully Integrated SW: This refers to creation of an integrated national logistics platform interlinking the administrations, companies, and the service sectors to better manage the entire chain of import-export operations with a single risk management system.
Level 5 - Cross-border SW Exchange Platform: This refers to interconnection and integration of NSWs on a regional and international level. As per guidelines developed by the UNECE and UNESCAP, the implementation of the NSW requires a set of activities that can be divided into 10 components, customs officials said.
About the cost, he said that the cost of developing and operating a NSW system depends on different variables like the size of the economy, level of integration, complexity of the procedures, current level of automation etc. Besides the capital cost required for investments in physical and IT infrastructure, human resources, technical assistance, software development, training, communication systems, etc, required at the design and execution phase, there are also recurrent/operating costs associated with the NSW. A United Nations study estimates that, depending on the size of the economy and the complexity of the system, a single window project costs $11 million at minimum. Operation costs can range from $0.2 million per annum to $9.2 million. The cost of NSW, is, however, expected to be offset with the net gains made by the economy due to decreased compliance costs, improved efficiency and productivity of the international trade transactions, and higher integration at the documentation and processing level. The governance and financial models of the NSW have an impact on its eventual working and costs. Most countries fund the NSW initiative entirely through their national budgets, while a few have experimented with public-private partnerships. A detailed governance and financial plan shall be submitted to the government after a thorough review and analysis of the available options.
The roles and responsibilities of stakeholders as well as their individual objectives, requirements and concerns have to be defined. In order to create environment for interagency coordination and collaboration in the later phases of Pakistan NSW implementation a Programme Management Unit has to be created in FBR. The stakeholders' readiness for NSW implementation has to be assessed. The review of stakeholders' IT systems and their relevance to the project has to be assessed.
He said that the analyzing cost benefits, risks, financial and operational models for the establishment and sustainability of Pakistan NSW, developing the high level implementation plan, securing the necessary budget for implementation, overseeing the project management groups who manage the allocation of budget and administer the implementation of Pakistan NSW subsystems, formulating policies and recommendations (ie, those related to procurement, contractual agreement, service quality, and charges) to govern the implementation, deployment, and operation of Pakistan NSW, performing governance functions while Pakistan NSW sub-systems are being developed and deployed are some of the activities clustered around this component, customs officials added.