From 4-6 March, the EU-funded Border Management Programme in Central Asia (BOMCA 10) organised a study visit Latvia on introduction of the national customs information systems for representatives of customs services from Central Asian countries.
During the previous activities of BOMCA 10, EU experts visited CA countries to provide assistance, develop recommendations and share experience of Latvia and the European Union (EU) in the implementation, development and use of customs information systems, focusing on theory. The visit to Latvia is a continuation of the discussion, providing the representatives of the CA countries with the opportunity to learn how customs procedures are carried out in practice in Latvia. This activity provided an opportunity to observe the practical implementation of customs information systems and digitalised processes in the European Union.
Experts of the National Customs Board of the State Revenue Service of Latvia presented various aspects and solutions of the single window introduced by the EU, changes in customs work related to the development of e-commerce, options of simplified declaration for postal items, as well as import and export procedures and the automatisation of related processes. During the study visit, the participants had the opportunity not only to see in practice the operation of the customs information systems used in Latvia and their contribution to ensuring the digitalisation of processes, but also the principles of automated risk analysis, as well as to visit several customs control points (CCPs) – Import CCPs, Airport CCPs and Riga Freeport CCPs, as well as to visit the Customs Laboratory and national postal operator “Latvijas Pasts” to get acquainted with the process of sorting and processing parcels, data exchange with customs and automatic submission of declarations.
The study visit to Latvia was organised within the Component 3, “Facilitation of Trade”, which aims to further support the regional economic integration process. ///BOMCA, 6 March 2025