TIR Convention, 1975

Globalisation of trade is a critical challenge for the world economy as a whole. Increased economic competition implies contracting net revenues constraining to rethink production, supply and transportation methods and, subsequently, to concentrate on the most proficient way of moving merchandise. This increased movement of merchandise is, however, hampered by invisible non-tariffbarriers for example, queuing times at borders, surge in costs due to increased security concerns and submission of multiple guarantees in additiontocumbersome Customs procedures. TIR thus provides a mechanism, which is fool proof and provides for phenomenal reduction in transportation cost resulting into increased competitiveness.
The Convention on International Transport of Goods Under Cover of TIR Carnets (TIR Convention) is a multilateral agreement that was concluded at Geneva on 14th November, 1975, toharmonize and simplify formalities of global road transport. (TIR stands for "Transports InternationauxRoutiers" or "World-wide Road Transports".) The 1975 convention replaced the TIR Convention of 1959, which itself replaced the 1949 TIR Agreement between various European countries. The conventions were adopted under the auspices of the United Nations Economic Commission for Europe (UNECE). As of today, there are 69 parties to the Convention, including 68 states and the European Union. Currently, TIR system is operational in 57 of the contracting parties. Pakistan acceded to TIR convention in 2015.
The TIR Convention builds up a world-wide Customs transit framework with maximum facility to move merchandise:
-- in sealed vehicles or containers;
-- from a customs office of departure in one country to a customs office of destination in another country
-- without requiring extensive and time-consuming border checks at intermediate borders;
-- simultaneously, providing customs authorities with required security and international chain of guarantees.
The TIR system not only covers customs transit by road but a combination is possible with other modes of transport (eg rail, inland waterway, and even maritime transport) as long as at least one part of the total transport is made by road.
To date, more than 40,000 international transport operators have been authorised (by their respective competent national authorities) to access the TIR system, using more than 3.2 million TIR carnets per year.
TIR Information Technology Risk Management Tools
TIR Electronic Pre Declaration (TIR-EPD):
The International Road Union (IRU) TIR-EPD application permits TIR Carnet Holders to comply, free of charge, with the European Union New Computerised Transit System (EU NCTS)/TIR and Economic Operator Registration and Identification (EORI) Regulations which went into effect in 2009, with the EU security prerequisites, which entered into force on 1 January 2011, and in addition with Decision No. 899 of the Commission of the Customs Union on mandatory submission of preliminaryinformation of transported merchandise by submitting TIR ElectronicPre-Declarations to Customsin a simple way. The IRU TIR-EPD is also completely compliant with the World Customs Organization's Framework of Standards. As of today, 31 countries are connected through TIR-EPD.
By means of TIR-EPD, TIR carnet holders can submit, free of charge, electronic pre-declarations to Customs authorities in different countries. With TIR-EPD, Customs authorities are able to confirm that an authorised TIR carnet holder submitted the pre-declaration and that the TIR carnet is valid. This exchange of advance information facilitates pre-arrival risk analysis and makes border crossings simpler, safer and faster.
Real-Time SafeTIR (RTS):
Towards the start of 1990s, geopolitical changes resulted into considerable surge in trade volumes and in the quantity of trade haulers performing TIR transport. In its turn, this increased trade presented challenge of administering TIR guarantee chain required by different countries. In order to address the challenge of submitting multiple guarantees for a single consignment in an efficient and secure manner, on 20th October, 1995, the Administrative Committee for the TIR Convention adopted a recommendation, which set out an electronic control framework for TIR Carnets. This control framework - SafeTIR, was incorporated into the TIR Convention as Annex 10 on 12th August, 2006, and 19 countries are connected through RTS at the moment.
IRU developed Real-Time SafeTIR framework, which permits Customs Authorities of each TIR operational Contracting Party to transmit the data electronically on end of the TIR operation to the IRU in accordance with the requirements stipulated in the Annex 10 to the TIR Convention.
Once the data is received by the IRU, the information is made electronically accessible to the on-screen characters of the TIR framework (Customs Authorities, issuing and guaranteeing associations and TIR guarantee chain) for the confirmation of the status and legitimacy of each TIR Carnet at any moment in real time.
TIR Implementation through WeBOC:
With the successful roll out of WeBOC on border stations (Wagha and Torkham), Pakistan Customs is well prepared to implement TIR system electronically by using IRU IT Risk Management tools ie TIR-EPD and RTS. Initial meetings with IRU ended with the decision that electronic messaging between IT system of IRU and WeBOC will be effected through IBM Integration Service Bus (ISB) which Pakistan Customs is in the process of procuring. With the addition of this new middleware application, an uninterrupted and secure data exchange of carnets' information will be ensured. In the meanwhile, consultative sessions with Pakistan National Committee of International Chamber of Commerce are being conducted for finalisation of business requirements and preparation of technical documents for initiating software changes.Development of requisite software changes will start once the business requirements are finalised. Keeping in view the successful implementation of WeBOC all over the country, it is safely assessed that WeBOC is bound to provide an efficient and seamless platform for launching of TIR system in Pakistan. Successful implementation of TIR will add another feather to Pakistan Customs' cap.
(The Writer is Deputy Director, Directorate of Reforms and Automation (Pakistan Custom), Karachi)