WCO3 Mandating Update - Inward Cargo Reports

Import, Export and Excise Declarations, Cargo Report Exports and Outward Cargo reports are now all submitted through TSW, with Cusweb users pending.  The Inward Cargo Report is the final message to be mandated, following the Inward Cargo Report pilot project. 

Inward Cargo Report pilot project

The Inward Cargo Report project aims to pilot the processes which replace existing import ECI processes, using the WCO3 ICR message. The ICR project has one final scenario to test – International Transhipment.

Currently, the full ITR process cannot be piloted until the ports are receiving WCO3 messages, although a manual Delivery Order can be generated and passed to the port. As a result, any ITR request will need to be submitted via the legacy system. Ports have been working on their software to receive WCO3 messages and are on track to accept WCO messages by 30 April. There are three industry sectors to pilot the message with: airlines, shipping lines and brokers/freight forwarders.

Inward Cargo Report mandatory date

ICRs are not yet mandatory, but if you are ready to start submitting WCO3 ICRs we encourage you to do so. This will give you more time to iron out any kinks you might find in your own processes.

Software providers are also on track to have their updates ready for ICR by 30 April.

Our target mandatory date for all ICRs, except sea consolidation ICRs, is now 30 June.

This will be confirmed by end of March. Shortly after this, we will confirm a mandatory date for sea consolidation ICRs.

ICR readiness - if you're not sure how your organisation is going to submit ICRs, please contact us at jbms@customs.govt.nz and we can work with you to make a plan.

Submission of house bill data for all inward cargo

Carrier airlines need to report all Inward Cargo at house bill level, including consolidations. The only exception is if the freight forwarder has applied for, and received, dispensation to submit a supplementary ICR containing this information.

Carrier shipping lines are not required to report all Inward Cargo at house bill level, however, Customs and MPI still need to know this information. Carriers need to mark a consignment that does not have house bill equivalent data as 'consolidation' and state who the deconsolidator will be. Customs and MPI will then look to the deconsolidator to provide the house bill equivalent data that will allow for accurate and timely risk assessment. The published consultation document from 2012 can be found on the customs website.

At this stage, deconsolidators are welcome to submit their ICRs, and we will confirm when this will be mandatory. The data contained in an ICR assists with timely risk assessment and the correct movement of goods.

TSW Performance

TSW had a technical issue in October 2018 that caused a period of instability, and frustration for everyone using it. After the issue was found and remedied, TSW was stable throughout November and December with no system outages. You'll see some regular planned outages as we continue to work on making TSW faster and better. These are advised on the TSW status page.

TSW Online Users

If you've chosen to use TSW Online, hopefully, you've taken part in the survey sent out at the end of last year to prioritise improvements. We're working on the improvements most important to you: to make the required fields more obvious and to support Chrome as a browser. Chrome will be supported as a browser from 24 February. As with any new release, please email TSWusersupport@customs.govt.nz if you notice anything strange so we can look into it.

Reminder: Cargo Custodians must accept electronic 'delivery orders'

Before TSW went live in 2013, we consulted with industry groups on the introduction of electronic delivery notifications or 'delivery orders' when the import or export clearance is submitted using the new WCO3 format messages. These notifications contain:

• Customs and MPI delivery instructions for imports (whether final or conditional release)
• Customs clearance for exports

In 2017, Customs updated CCA Procedure Statements to require all CCAs to accept and act on electronic delivery notifications sent via email or EDI messaging. For more information refer to the fact sheet How TSW Notifications Work.

Domestic Transhipment

Electronic Domestic Transhipment Requests, which are completed using an ICR, is not being piloted with the other ICR functions. While this is built and fully tested in TSW, we will run a thorough pilot and consult with industry before this major business process change is mandated. We will let industry know when a date is proposed to begin this.

Information Sessions and Other Help

The WCO3 Messages Summary along with TSW Fact sheets explain the WCO3 messages and requirements - the ICR Fact Sheet will be added shortly.
If you have feedback or would like more information on this update, please email jbms@customs.govt.nz