New Egypt Advance Cargo Information declaration effective from October 1, 2021

Egyptian Ministry of Finance (Customs Authority) activate article 39 of customs law 207 of 2020 and issue decree 38 of 2021. Which requires a unique customs registration number (Advanced Cargo Information Declaration (ACI) for each incoming shipment imported into Egypt that must be included on all shipping documents. The ACI system is based on making the shipment data available to Egyptian customs before shipping from the country of export.

Steps to follow for shipment registration

• Importer has to register an account on the electronic portal, Nafeza.
• Importer has to register the essential data of the shipment including: description of goods, exporter details, purchase order number, purchase date, origin, POL, POD, 10-digit HSCode.
• The Customs Authority will respond by either accepting and issuing an ACI number or rejecting the application.
• Importer must notify the exporter of the ACI number to be registered on all shipping documents for the shipment.
• 48 hours before cargo ships from Port of Loading, exporter must submit draft documents to CargoX platform or its integrated partners such as Timber Exchange by Centersource Technologies.
• Upon cargo arrival importer is also responsible for filling SAD form (Single Administrative Document) with all details of the shipment.

Important Points to consider

• If the documents are not uploaded by exporter 48h before shipment from Port of Loading, the cargo will be banned from being loaded on board.
• In a scenario where the cargo is loaded on board but the documents were not submitted in time or the ACI number is missing from the shipping documents, the cargo will not be discharged in Egypt, all reexport costs will be borne by the carrier.
• Small discrepancies in documents will be permitted such as volume 210.5 to 211, but change of product description or type of goods is not allowed.
• If consignee is changed after documents submission to CargoX, but 48 hours before loading on vessel - then the new importer can go to Nafeza and create a new shipment ACI.
• All exporters must be registered on CargoX platform or its integrated partners such as Timber Exchange by Centersource Technologies.

Benefits of electronic documents and customs declarations

• Exporter must no longer legalize documents in chamber of commerce or Egyptian consulate.
• Exporter must no longer send physical document by DHL, instead the exporter will upload documents on the CargoX platform or its integrated partners such as Timber Exchange by Centersource Technologies., whilst the importer uses Nafeza platform to generate the ACI number.
• Use of CargoX platform is not free for exporter, a small fee must be paid per set of documents that is yet to be determined. Eventually the technology is expected to save on legalization and courier fees.

To know more about this development please attend our Timber & Technology conference on April 8th 2021 at 1 PM CET.

Register via the following link : https://www.timbertechnologyconference.com/

What is Centersource Technologies: The Centersource platform is a plug & play B2B marketplace. Our 80 smart tools in 5 languages cover all steps from inquiry of cargo until it arrives at destination. This allows colleagues and counterparties to manage exports/imports, logistics and legal obligations from a central workspace that automatically creates tasks, notifications and warnings. 40% of all work can be automated, whilst reducing shipment delays and avoiding fines due to incorrect shipping documents or missed schedule updates. Centersource Technologies toward the forestry industry is an industry specific platform called Timber Exchange.

What is CargoX: CargoX aims to allow anyone to send digital documents to anyone in the world within seconds. CargoX describes itself as an independent blockchain courier service that competes with the likes of DHL, Fedex, and UPS. Established in Jan 2018, the CargoX dApp uses Ethereum for transferring digital original documents. Initially focused on the global freight and supply chain documents, the company, in 2019, began expanding its BDTS (blockchain document transaction system) solution to verticals like air cargo, with a view towards providing a universal solution for document ownership transfer that is reportedly fast, safe, reliable and cost-effective. BDTS's smart contracts provide audit logs of all sent documents and can prove that the documents were genuine and not tampered with during the transfer.

Public Resources available in Timber Exchange by Centersource Technologies.

Import Export Statistics: https://www.timber.exchange/export-import

Shanghai Inventory: https://www.timber.exchange/shanghai-inventory

Global Price Index: https://www.timber.exchange/global-price-index

Container Line Performance: https://www.timber.exchange/container-line-performance