Electronic summary customs declaration for rail freight traffic with RailControl November 2010

Objectives Harmonisation of the summary declaration format More efficient risk analyses and customs assessments Less disruption to rail freight traffic Guarantee of a comprehensive border customs declaration Simplification of data collection for rail transit statistics Electronic summary customs declaration for rail traffic

Overview; current vs. past situation Today One player and customs contact for international rail traffic (state enterprise) Rail liberalisation; several players, largely organised under private law (open access) In practice, all rail traffic is automatically in customs transit procedure (cooperation procedure – simplified community transit procedure) No guarantee of a comprehensive customs declaration at the border Uniform paper procedure Customs declaration in various procedures Electronic summary customs declaration for rail traffic

Background Customs Act of 18 March 2005 Art. 24 Presentation to customs and summary declaration 1 The person subject to the delivery obligation, or the person mandated by him/her, must present the goods conveyed to the customs office and make a summary declaration. 2 Presentation consists in informing the Customs Administration that the goods are at the customs office or at another location authorised by the Customs Administration. 3 Presented goods are in the custody of the Customs Administration. 4 The Customs Administration can stipulate the format for presentation to customs and the summary declaration. Electronic summary customs declaration for rail traffic

Summary declaration Customs Ordinance of 1 November 2006 Art. 125 Summary declaration by railway undertakings in freight traffic (Art. 44, para. 1 CA) 1 The railway undertaking must submit a summary declaration for the goods in the electronic system of the infrastructure operator [SBB Infrastructure] before they are brought into or out of the customs territory. 2 The data must be provided free of charge in the form (network access conditions) published by the infrastructure operator [SBB Infrastructure]. 3 The infrastructure operator must immediately forward the summary declaration to the Customs Administration in the specified form. Electronic summary customs declaration for rail traffic

Procedure Summary customs declaration is submitted by RU to SBB Infrastructure (CIS-Infra) at same time as operational train declaration, supplemented by additional merchandise and shipping-related customs data; SBB Infrastructure sends data to customs database; Customs carry out risk analyses, selections, customs assessments, statistical evaluations. Electronic summary customs declaration for rail traffic

Review First information event with RUs spring 2009 Various bilateral discussions with RUs Second information event with RUs spring 2010 Comments from Community of European Railways (CER) Pilot operation with SBB Cargo AG July 2010 Electronic summary customs declaration for rail traffic

Further course of action Pilot phase up to end of 2010 Ongoing implementation of findings from pilot phase Gradual introduction from 1 January 2011 NCTS interface detailed specifications / preliminary analysis from 2012 Electronic summary customs declaration for rail traffic

Contacts Please do not hesitate to contact us if you have any questions. Mr. Philipp Thomi, philipp.thomi@ezv.admin.ch, Tel. 031/323 05 87, project manager Mr. Bernhard Spahr, bernhard.spahr@ezv.admin.ch, Tel. 031/322 67 31, rail operations Mr. Roman Schwegler, roman.schwegler@ezv.admin.ch, Tel. 031/322 66 74, transit procedure Electronic summary customs declaration for rail traffic