Since 2016, when the Finnish Government decided to digitalize all public services, Finnish Customs has been working on the development of digital services to improve its customer service. In … 2017 the Administration explained, in the pages of this magazine, how it tested the innovation potential of a hackathon to identify solutions that would make it easier to access information about Customs regulations and procedures. In this article, we take a look at the latest tools implemented by Finnish Customs to enhance its capacity to help its customers – namely a chatbot and a contact management system.

The need to dispose of or destroy goods that infringe intellectual property (IP) rights in an appropriate, environmentally safe manner, in line with the applicable environmental and public health … legislation, has been highlighted at various WCO meetings as well as in this magazine.

A fundamental requirement for information to flow seamlessly across different IT systems is that they all speak the same language. Cross-border regulatory agencies retaining the right to determine … the data they require should all use a similar language and have harmonized the way in which the required data is submitted. This is also critical for enabling economic operators to use the same system to comply with the requirements of different administrations and countries.

Customs authorities are showing a growing interest in adopting artificial intelligence (AI), the broad category of science that entails simulating human thinking capability and behaviour. As … stated in a joint paper published by the World Customs Organization, (WCO) and the World Trade Organization (WTO) entitled The role of advanced technologies in cross-border trade: A Customs perspective, “around half of Customs authorities use some combination of big data analytics, AI and machine learning, while the other half plans to do so in the future.”

World trade is the lifeblood of the global economy. It not only is a vital component in the ongoing operations of businesses (large and small), governments and NGOs around the world, it has the … power to grow economies, increase productivity and transform the quality of life for citizens in the nations who are open to international trade.