In November 2018, the Customs Administration (CA) of North Macedonia has accepted the new centralized Customs Declarations and Excise Processing System (CDEPS) which has replaced the old distributed ASYCUDA system. According to the plan of the CA application of CDEPS has gone through a pilot operation in selected Customs Offices in the first quarter of 2019. This activity completed in mid 2019 and CDEPS has been in full production use since June 2019.
The essential goal of CDEPS was to replace paper-based customs procedures with electronic procedures. The centralized processing of electronic procedures has created a more efficient and modern customs environment in accordance with global development. It integrates with multiple IT systems in a single integrated digital system and introduced electronic customs declarations for all customs procedures in import and export, as well as electronic filing and processing of excise documents. Also, this system reduced costs for trade transactions facilitating the implementation of free trade agreements, providing more effective management and control.
CA has an ongoing contract with the CDEPS contractor, under which activities for preventive and adaptive maintenance are provided. Adaptive maintenance involves only changes and adjustments to CDEPS as a consequence of changes in legislation at national or EU level. The Contractor under the contract provides a warranty period within which guarantees the quality of supplied CDEPS software and related services for a period of 5 years (ie until 16.12.2023 year).
Considering that CDEPS is a complex system that includes a number of customs procedures and provides interfaces for communication with multiple systems in the CA, systems of other government institutions and systems of the business community, the CA has the need to provide services for its promotion, which are not included in the current agreement with the contractor CDEPS, and order prompt and effective implementation of changes in operations.
The CDEPS project was implemented by the Consortium “Netcompany-Intrasoft & GPM Consulting", led by Netcompany-Intrasoft.
Project details
CDEPS is an integrated information system which digitizes customs procedures through:
- processing (receiving, registering, validation, acceptance, storage ans answer/sending) of customs declarations
- processing of excise documents
- placing goods under a customs procedure
- exchanging emails in order to automate communications necessary for facilitating the fulfilment of customs procedures
- managing the communication with the National Treasury for the calculation and collection of customs duties, excise taxes and other charges
- supporting indirect customs procedures (selectivity investigations)
- supporting processes for analysis and statistics derived from customs operations
The solution
CDEPS provides two channels of interaction for economic operators (Web UI and Web Services) and other government institutions for the management and fulfilment of customs procedures. Other government agencies, such as the Ministry of Finance, are able to access information from CDEPS via web services which are provided to the necessary parties by a national Interoperability interface maintained by the CA. It is also compatible with EU directives allowing the Republic of North Macedonia to go over the accession negotiation discussions with EU. CDEPS is integrated or interconnected as it is required with New Computerized Transit System (NCTS), Integrated Tariff Environment (ITE), Export Control System (ECS), Import Control System (ICS) and Control System for the Movement of Excise Goods (EMCS) in order to ensure adaptability with the EU systems.
The Customs Administration performs its competences throughout the entire territory of the Republic of Macedonia. Its Headquarters are located in Skopje.
The Customs Administration performs tasks in its competence through the Central Administration – Headquarters in Skopje which coordinates and manages the customs competences throughout the entire territory of the Republic of Macedonia and the Regional Customs Houses which coordinate and manage a region.