The use of a blockchain-based smart import declaration to reduce the need for manual cross-validation by customs authorities

Lennard Segers, Jolien Ubacht*, Boriana Rukanova, Yao Hua Tan

*Corresponding author for this work

Research output: Chapter in Book/Conference proceedings/Edited volumeConference contributionScientificpeer-review

12 Citations (Scopus)
81 Downloads (Pure)

Abstract

For determining the correctness of an import declaration lodged by a declarant within international shipping, customs authorities rely on manual cross-validation of the declaration with other trade documents. However, the sheer volume of import declarations lodged annually makes it impossible to manually cross-validate each declaration. Smart contracts have the potential to automatically aggregate relevant information from blockchain-based ledgers for lodging and cross-validation. In this paper we explore how such smart contract could be implemented. We demonstrate that a smart import declaration can be used to automatically aggregate information from different sources (e.g., pro forma invoice data elements stored on the blockchain ledger). However, technical and organizational considerations that are inherent to blockchain technology need to be addressed for the smart import declaration to be acceptable for both customs authorities and declarants. It is therefore suggested that future work focusses on data standards required to enable automatic aggregation of relevant trade information and the generation of the import declaration and governance of the smart import declaration by customs authorities to assure correctness.

Original languageEnglish
Title of host publicationProceedings of the 20th Annual International Conference on Digital Government Research
Subtitle of host publicationGovernance in the Age of Artificial Intelligence, dg.o 2019
EditorsYu-Che Chen, Fadi Salem, Anneke Zuiderwijk
PublisherAssociation for Computing Machinery (ACM)
Pages196-203
Number of pages8
ISBN (Electronic)9781450372046
DOIs
Publication statusPublished - 2019
Event20th Annual International Conference on Digital Government Research: Governance in the Age of Artificial Intelligence, dg.o 2019 - Dubai, United Arab Emirates
Duration: 18 Jun 201920 Jun 2019

Publication series

NameACM International Conference Proceeding Series

Conference

Conference20th Annual International Conference on Digital Government Research: Governance in the Age of Artificial Intelligence, dg.o 2019
Country/TerritoryUnited Arab Emirates
CityDubai
Period18/06/1920/06/19

Bibliographical note

Green Open Access added to TU Delft Institutional Repository ‘You share, we take care!’ – Taverne project https://www.openaccess.nl/en/you-share-we-take-care Otherwise as indicated in the copyright section: the publisher is the copyright holder of this work and the author uses the Dutch legislation to make this work public.

Keywords

  • Blockchain technology
  • Cross-validation
  • E-customs
  • International shipping
  • Smart contract
  • Smart import declaration

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