E-Customs Control Procedures Redesign Methodology: Model-Based Application

Growing trade volumes and increased security, health and financial control regulations require customs administrations to change their working practices worldwide. An existing dilemma however, is that governments would like on the one hand to reduce the administrative burden for businesses and on the other hand to increase security and control. The traditional single side power-posing by customs administrations to trade parties is not appropriate any more. The European Union is now realizing the potential benefits of establishing Customs-and-Business partnerships. To achieve such collaboration, current customs procedures need to be redesigned, and ICT is a key enabler for the redesign. In this paper we present a model-based approach using two levels of abstraction – value and process levels – to support domain experts in investigating how customs procedures can be redesigned while coping with business and administrative challenges. Especially, we focus on a methodological application of control principles from accounting and auditing literature, to redesign procedures. We discuss our “AAD” approach and its application in an e-Customs procedure redesign case study.