A sad story: The case of constrained infrastructures caused by IT

Customs is one domain which has faced the need for information systems in a globalizing world. In customs there is a need for close collaboration between business and government in order to build robust technological infrastructures supporting processes related to export and import of goods. This has led to a move towards eCustoms. This case study reports from a longitudinal study of a Danish exporter which has faced the challenges of implementing eCustoms in its daily operations. The introduction of eCustoms to replace the existing customs infrastructure based on the Single Administrative Document (SAD) has led to new challenges for the Danish exporter such as destandardized procedures and increased reporting. The particular contribution of the study is the observed longing to the “good old paper-based days” where things were more standardized than after the digitalization of the processes. The study is interpreted through the lens of “double infrastructures”. The underlying assumption guiding the study is that eCustoms represents one infrastructure on top of another well established infrastructure of global trade.