Nowadays the Federal Customs Service of Russia is forced to pay great attention to the introduction of information and communication technologies in the system of functioning of customs authorities in order to ensure a high-quality level of interaction with traders. This increases the need for customs authorities to introduce and constantly develop information resources necessary for customs control at all stages of customs operations in relation to goods and vehicles acting as objects of foreign trade.
The strategic goal of the development of the Federal Customs Service is the development of a brand new «smart» customs service supporting artificial intelligence, invisible to law-abiding business and effective for the state. 23 targets have been developed to achieve this goal and the first one is full-scale digitalization and automation of customs authorities’ activities. One of the directions for the realization of this benchmark is the usage of integrated mechanisms for interdepartmental information interaction, which ensures the relevance of the interdepartmental electronic interaction system (IEIS) of federal executive authorities (FEA). Improvement of this area is being implemented rapidly, this is confirmed by the fact that new agreements on coordination of actions are being concluded on a regular basis, technological maps are being drawn up and electronic resources are being improved. All this contributes to the regular exchange of the information necessary for the exercise of powers of the federal executive authorities.
In the modern world information technology is constantly undergoing changes and innovations which is also applied to IEIS. The reasons for this are the improvement of electronic services provided in the Russian Federation, the accession of new entities to the system, as well as the constant expansion of the composition of data subject to exchange. In this regard there are certain difficulties that authorities have to face as a result of the implementation of the IEIS activities.
One of the main problems in the functioning of the IEIS is that the information systems of federal executive bodies are built on different platforms and at the same time have different software structure and data formats. Due to this the issue on unifying the formats in which departmental systems exchange data and documents is extremely relevant. The step of improvement of this problem may include the standardization of the interface of the official websites of the federal executive authorities and as a result facilitation access to information and minimization time costs. The advantages of creating a single interface of federal executive authorities are the simplicity of searching information, the effectiveness of the search and saving users' time.
Moreover, a relevant issue on the implementation of the IEIS mechanism is the unstable operation of electronic services. Active work to improve interdepartmental interaction services is carried out year after year but these processes temporarily slow down the work of the authorities due to technical work. This gives rise to the possibility of errors and interruptions in the operation of systems which significantly affects both the time limits for the fulfillment and the quality provision of provided services. It should also be noted that due to the parallel realization of employees’ actions in several information resources and the transfer of information by large data arrays increase the probability of making them errors when entering information.
The next crucial point is the absence of criteria for assessing the level of interdepartmental interaction. Despite the fact that the Development Strategy of the Customs Service of the Russian Federation until 2030 pays great attention to electronic interdepartmental interaction and electronic document management a benchmark for the implementation of this direction has not yet been developed. So, it is makes it difficult to sum up the effectiveness of the information exchange of data.
Thus, in order to improve interdepartmental interaction, it is necessary to unify the formats in which departmental systems exchange data and documents, ensure the stability of electronic services through their further updating and enhancement of software and hardware, and develop precise regulation of the operation with numerous information systems and services.
The Federal Customs Service of Russia approved a program for the digital transformation of the Federal Customs Service for 2021–2023, indicating the planned results. It confirms the relevance of the modernization course of customs authorities’ activities including the implementation of a system of interdepartmental electronic interaction.
So, the planned results of the digital transformation of the Federal Customs Service for 2023:
— Designing and configuring telecommunication nodes of all customs authorities according to a fail-safe scheme eliminating failures in the transmission of information in near real time including during electronic interaction with interested parties.
— Commissioning of a modern data processing center of the Federal Customs Service of Russia. The availability of the information system of the customs authorities should be ensured at the level of 99.999 %.
— Automation of the process of formation decisions on cases of administrative offenses issued by customs authorities in the form of an electronic document.
— Reducing excessive administrative pressure on traders and increasing the collection of payments due to the development of a selectivity customs control approach.
In modern conditions, the degree of development and application of IEIS is at a fairly high level. This provides certain simplifications to both traders (in terms of minimizing the time of customs operations) and customs authorities (in terms of increasing the effectiveness and efficiency of customs control in relation to imported and exported goods).
The final effectiveness of customs administration, minimization of administrative barriers, acceleration of the pace of customs operations without losing the efficiency of their efficiency at the present stage affects the assessment of business conditions by traders.
For its part, the Federal Customs Service continues to work actively to automate customs operations including the introduction of technologies and elements of artificial intelligence into the work of customs authorities. In the future, this will allow reaching a fundamentally new level of development within the framework of full-scale digitalization and automation of the activities of executive bodies.
References:
- Decree of the Government of the Russian Federation of November 19, 2014 No. 1222 (as amended on November 20, 2018) «On the further development of a unified system of interdepartmental electronic interaction»
- Decree of the Government of the Russian Federation of May 23, 2020 No. 1388-r «Strategy for the development of the customs service of the Russian Federation until 2030" // Official Internet portal of legal information. URL: www.pravo.gov.ru
- Order of the Federal Customs Service of Russia dated January 15, 2021 No. 11 “On Approval of the Departmental Program for Digital Transformation of the Federal Customs Service for 2021–2023” // Official Internet Portal of Legal Information. URL: www.pravo.gov.ru
- Strukova N. A. Problems of interdepartmental information interaction in the provision of public services // Scientific journal «Management Issues» of the Russian Academy of National Economy and Public Administration under the President of the Russian Federation. 2018. No. 5. pp.25–28.
