By 2025, customs operations in Sweden and other EU countries will be supported by new IT systems that ensure consistent digitization and quality across different countries.
Sweden is particularly dependent on trade with other countries. In 2021, Sweden imported goods and services worth 2,270 billion kronor, and Sweden’s total exports of goods and services amounted to 2,507 billion kronor. The EU is now introducing a new regulation that requires all EU countries to exchange data in the same way and also stipulates that customs operations must be paperless and fully electronic by 2025 at the latest. In Sweden, this means that current customs procedures for imports need to be adapted to the new EU legislation. Already today, the majority of all import declarations are submitted digitally, but in the future, all communication related to imports will also take place digitally. This transition began in Sweden in 2019, and the Swedish Customs Service will gradually introduce a number of new IT systems between 2020 and 2025. It is therefore important for companies to ensure that their IT systems are compatible with those of the Swedish Customs Service.
– By digitizing customs procedures, data can flow seamlessly between companies and the Swedish Customs Service, as well as among the many stakeholders involved in the trade of goods within EU countries. “These changes affect not only customs authorities but also all Swedish companies that import or export goods, as well as all logistics providers that handle goods on behalf of their customers,” says Ghassan Rassoul, Nordic Product Manager at the software company Descartes, which develops customs systems, among other things.
To ensure a seamless and automated process for handling customs declarations—with close integration with the company’s business systems and with customs authorities in the respective countries—Descartes has developed a new system that, among other things, facilitates large-scale flows of goods to and from distribution centers around the world. The Swedish Customs Service has approved Descartes’ customs solution for the new TESS import system, which is part of the changes coming under the Union Customs Code (UCC), explains Ghassan Rassoul.
