E-commerce Clearance: From VENUE to DECO

Today we were able to deliver our DECO application to our customer. Experience the look and feel before they can really get started, because from 1 July 2021 the time has come, then B2C e-commerce shipments can be declared via the new DECO system of Customs.

We have completely let go of the construction of the VENUE system and have given our developers the green light to go completely wild with new tools and techniques. Recently it has become clear that volumes will only increase and that the demand for a stable, powerful and fast system is greater than ever before.

Our customer was therefore very pleased with the speed of processing, the communication with customs and the moment the FYCO overview was received.

They were very happy with the fact that we have come up with a solution for the Emergency procedure. Unfortunately, it's not quite as it should be yet, but at least they can work with it.

[11/06-2021]

Still no decision on a possible Emergency procedure for the DECO.

But what if Customs is not available? How do those packages get to the consumer?

Then a situation can arise, similar to that on June 23, 2020 in Belgium, where a Dutch 'urban explorer' encountered thousands of packages from AliExpress in a parking lot in Liège. The parcels were destined for Dutch customers. But whether they will ever get their hands on their order remains to be seen…

We hope it doesn't come to that and do our best to get more clarity.

Customs says it is working on it….

[25-05-2021]

Customs had agreed with us that we would be able to do shadow turning, but in practice that turned out not to be possible. The purpose of the pilot was apparently not intended to work towards a system to be tested, but to see if shadow turning could be done. The route has therefore been stopped immediately.

Partly for this reason, we have repeatedly asked Customs to offer our customers the option of turning shadows in a different way. This is now being investigated.

Once again, it turns out that such a trajectory is not easy.

To be continued….

[14-05-2021]

On Tuesday 11 May we had a good conversation with Erik te Boome and Lup van de Bunt, Customs, about DECO.

Pressing questions from our side: Is there a possibility to rotate shadow? And will an emergency procedure be implemented?

An emergency procedure is being worked on. It is now submitted for approval.

Shadow turning is a different story. Our question was answered with a definite no. This method of testing is very important for our customers. The time they lose, if they come to a standstill, they will never make up for because of the large volumes they process.

When we kindly but urgently requested Customs to find a way to do shadow turning, we heard that Customs is currently talking about a “worst case scenario”.

In this scenario it is envisaged to use the current VENUE system as a “fall back” system. Soon we will hear the outcome!!

[12-05-2021]

Successful messages sent to and received from DECO!!

We have just sent several messages to the Business Test Environment (BTO) of Customs. We sent all DECO declarations very quickly, after which they were also successfully processed and returned by Customs.

In the coming weeks we will be fully committed to further optimizing our DECO system.

[10-05-2021]

On July 1, it's time. Then the VENUE is replaced by DECO.

We participate in the Pilot, which was set up by Customs for the introduction of DECO. In total there are about 7 companies that participate in this Pilot, which is led by Erik te Boome of Customs.

The first Pilot meeting has now taken place and although it may seem easy to arrive at a well-functioning solution, it is definitely not.

There are many questions. With all parties involved, but especially with our customers. For example: Is there a big bang (will we go LIVE in 1 go) or is there a shadow period, where the old VENUE system and the new DECO system can be used in parallel? And what if the Customs system does not function. Is there an emergency procedure? One of our customers processes more than 20 million packages per month and if there is a hitch, you can never make up for that time.

For us as a software developer it is of course important to know how testing can be started and from when.

Last Friday we had an intensive conversation with one of our customers, in particular about the practical implementation of DECO and the new H7 dataset. This week, other VENUE customers will be visiting, to have similar conversations with us.

In addition, we will soon have a 1-on-1 conversation with Customs about these topics and we will of course keep you informed of the results!

Keep following this blog for more information about DECO.

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