Government cranks up Single Window scheme

The Information and Communications Technology Ministry is soon to begin pilot operations of a Single Window Entry project, aimed at simplifying import and export documentation, including customs and logistics requirements.

The project will support the National Single Window scheme and pave the way for an Asean Single Window, establishment of which is part of the Asean Free Trade Area agreement.

It aims to allow exporters, importers, customs brokers and agencies to exchange shipment information via a Single Window Entry [a single electronic document] without the need for duplicating the data and raising the risk of data inconsistency. 

A ministry adviser on Thailand's Single Window e-Logistics Project, Somnuk Keretho, said the pilot Single Window Entry project would begin in the first half of this year.

It will relate electronic documents and business transactions via an online business process developed using open-source software. In its pilot stage, the project will focus on sugar and jasmine rice transactions from Thailand to a country such as The Philippines, and on Crocodile theatre products, which are imported from the United States and re-exported to Switzerland, therefore involving both import and export transactions.

The one-year pilot project will be a case study or prototype involving business transactions between government agencies and private businesses via an online network. These will include government to business, government to government, business to business and business to government transactions. The aim is to create cost efficiency, reduce time and create productivity through business processes and transactions.

The pilot will operate via an online network under the National Single Window Scheme or the National Single Window Exchange Scheme before the Single Window Entry scheme for general products is officially introduced in the next couple years.

"The pilot project will help to reduce logistics costs and increase responsiveness, reliability and security for business as a whole. It will also create additional value for the logistics industry and related businesses under National Single Window e-Logistics," Somnuk said.

He said Thailand aimed to reduce logistics costs in trade transactions from 19 per cent in 2007 to 14 per cent by 2011. By the end of this year, the government plans to provide customs paperless services and enable other government agencies to exchange e-documents such as e-permits and requesting forms through a National Single Window with customs.

The Customs Department will spend Bt300 million this year to develop an electronic documents exchange hub to operate with the National Single Window scheme. The hub will be a data exchange centre for e-document exchange, data harmonization and interoperability of e-documents between government agencies related to import and export products, he said.

The government will also set up and develop a National Root Certification Authority this year to support e-Signatures from both domestic and international sources.

"The government will connect all government agencies related to import and export via the National Single Window, which will reduce the time needed to manage the document process and reduce the number of days required for exporting from the current 24 days to 15 by 2010, which will help to increase productivity and create advantages for the country," Somnuk said.

He said Thailand would also establish a data exchange with other countries before 2015. The exchange will connect with 10 countries in Southeast Asia using the Asean Single Window and with 21 Asia-Pacific countries under the APEC Single Window.