EU Security System ICS2 Ensures Higher Customer Protection

The European security system for risk assessment/threat prevention ICS is entering its second phase. Specifically, this will apply to air freight shipments from third countries to the EU starting in March 2023. “The follow-up procedure ICS2 brings improvements for the participants, especially regarding competition protection,” emphasizes Simon Lembke, Head of Customs and Freight Applications at DAKOSY. Processes and interfaces have been prepared by the Hamburg software company DAKOSY.

(Hamburg) Following the terrorist attacks on 9/11, the ICS procedure was introduced for the registration of goods before entering the EU for risk assessment/threat prevention. With ICS2, the EU centralizes the registration through a freight pre-information system: for airlines by March 2023 and for shipping companies by March 2024.

Lembke summarizes the key innovations: “The reports will now be sent directly to the new EU system, the Shared Trader Interface (STI), and must be available before the loading of the goods. In comparison, the entry report previously had to be submitted electronically to the customs authority at least four hours before arrival in the EU, where the goods first touch the customs borders of the EU.

Logistics Service Providers Must Disclose Less Data

Another important change is the possibility that shipping companies or airlines only need to provide basic information to the EU freight pre-information system, while additional information, for example from freight forwarders or logistics providers, would be reported directly to the ICS system. This principle, called “Multiple Filing,” represents a competition protection for the actors. “Freight forwarders and logistics providers no longer need to disclose their customers and related sensitive data to shipping companies or airlines in the course of the procedure,” clarifies Lembke.

Prepare for the Transition in Time

DAKOSY recommends that participants in the ICS procedure prepare for the transition in a timely manner. It must be ensured that sufficiently precise data can be provided. For ICS2, a uniform format called Entry Summary Declaration (ENS) has been established, which does not allow for deviations. The required accuracy of the information is also increasing, for example with the HS code. Previously, either the goods description or at least four digits had to be provided for the entry report; in the future, six digits of the HS code will be mandatory to transmit.

“For our customers, many of whom are large airlines and shipping companies, we are already working with this format. Thus, for them, everything remains largely the same, and we take care of the new reporting method and, if necessary, an adjustment of the interfaces. However, we recommend checking early to what extent business processes need to change and employees need to be trained,” says Lembke.

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