Digitalization is the Way: BSEC-URTA Working Party on Digitalization
The BSEC-URTA Working Party on Digitalization, aimed at digitalizing road transport documents, was held online on 7th March 2024 with the participation of esteemed guests from BSEC PERMIS, Mr. Sergei Kravchenko, IRU, and TRACECA.
The agenda of the Working Party was covering essential topics in the area of international road transport.
The first topic was e-CMR, presented by Miss Iro Doumani, the General Manager of OFAE and Vice President of the IRU Goods Transport Council.
Miss Doumani provided extensive information on Greece’s ratification of e-CMR, the OFAE’s contributions to e-CMR pilot trials in Europe, and the e-CMR future in Greece and the BSEC region.
The second topic was the eTIR National Application, presented by Mr. Erman Ereke, the General Delegate of IRU in Istanbul.
The customs authorities’ adoption of the eTIR procedures is taking too much time due to necessity, which is causing problems in the BSEC logistics chain and border crossings.
Mr. Ereke proposed that the implementation by the UNECE TIR secretariat of a web application, allowing customs officers to perform necessary “eTIR actions” connected to the eTIR international system, can be a solution.
The Working Party participants reiterated their urgent request that the countries’ customs authorities and UNECE implement eTIR immediately.
The final issue was the free discussion topic of CEMT documents, which is going digital by 2025. The participants agreed to follow the digitalization of CEMT documents through their Ministries and decided to take necessary information sharing among the Working Party.
As the International Secretariat, we express our sincere gratitude first to our esteemed presenters, Miss Iro Doumani and Mr. Ereke, to Mr. Kravchenko for his successful contributions reflecting BSEC PERMIS’ views and works on digitalization, to the president of the Working Party, Mr. Ahmet Karakas (TOBB), for his chairmanship and contributions, and to the members of the Working Party.
