Azerbaijan working on launching e-TIR system on East-West route

By Trend

Azerbaijani and Iranian customs administrations have begun to work on joint e-TIR project, Head of the Press and PR Department of the Azerbaijani State Customs Committee Natig Akhundov told Trend.

"The goal of the e-TIR project and the international e-TIR system is to ensure the safe exchange of the data related to the international transit of goods, vehicles or containers between the national customs systems in accordance with the provisions of the Customs Convention on the International Transport of Goods under Cover of TIR Carnets (TIR Convention) and to allow the customs bodies to manage the relevant data, concerning the guarantees which are given to the authorized users of the TIR system," head of the department said.

"The pilot shipments through e-guarantees and data exchange systems were carried out within this project in 2019," Akhundov added. "Last year, the customs officers began to discuss the issue of the creation of the e-TIR corridor along the Iran-Azerbaijan-Georgia route of the South-West route passing through Azerbaijan."

"The Azerbaijani State Customs Committee is considering various routes for the pilot application of the e-TIR procedure along the international transport corridors passing through Azerbaijan," head of the department added. "The full application of the e-TIR procedure at the international level has been stipulated by entering of Annex 11 to the TIR Convention into force."

"Along with the work on coordinating the legal framework of the e-TIR procedure at the UN international events, some countries are already implementing the pilot projects," Akhundov said.

"Azerbaijan is also working on launching the e-TIR system on the East-West route," head of the department said. "The simplification of transit cargo transportation, both on the East-West route and the North-South route, is a priority for Azerbaijan."

"The use of this system, among others, allows minimizing the number of documents which are used in transit cargo transportation, accelerating risk assessment and analysis through e-exchange of information throughout the transit route," Akhundov said adding that the transit operations will be carried out in e-form thanks to this system and all information will be transmitted in e-form between the two customs administrations.