Policy Direction / Korea Customs Service On October 19, 2006, UNI-PASS, the electronic clearance system of the Korea Customs Service (KCS) obtained ISO 20000 certification following its acquisition of a patent in June of this year. ISO 20000 is the international standard for comprehensive IT service management including processes for customer management, service level management and security management. In order to understand KCS's informatization efforts in customs administration the Korea IT times recently interviewed Kim Doh-yeol, director general of the Information and International Affairs Bureau of KCS. As a leader in customs administration, the fame of KCS has now reached Central Asia and Latin America. KCS is now making negotiations with eight countries in these regions to export its UNI-PASS system, an outstanding electronic clearance system. The following includes a brief explanation on UNIPASS, its effect upon customs administration and the national economy, KCS's overseas cooperation projects for the informatization of customs administration, and its efforts to speed up the exportation of its advanced expertise in this field. UNI-PASS obtains ISO 20000 UNI-PASS is the world's first 100% electronic clearance portal system. It provides a onestop PASS service by unifying all customs clearance procedures including export/import clearance, duty drawback, inbound/outbound passenger control, and tracking of bonded cargo.

The following are excerpts from an interview with Kim Doh-yeol, director general of the Information and International Affairs Bureau of KCS . Ed. Q. Please tell us about your overseas cooperation projects regarding customs informatization. A. Korea Customs Services is pushing ahead with exportation of its customs clearance system, UNI-PASS. In December of 2005, KCS held a Seminar on e-Government and Trade Facilitation for high-ranking customs officials from 7 countries in Central Asia including Azerbaijan, Kazakhstan, and Uzbekistan. Several of those countries expressed their positive intention to benchmark Korea's e-clearance system. Based on this international recognition, KCS made diverse diplomatic efforts to hold customs cooperation meetings, informational sessions on the eclearance system, and provide educational programs and consulting services by making direct visits. As a result, KCS successfully assisted Kazakhstan Customs to launch a Customs informatization project in October last year. In April this year, we were asked by customs administrations of Azerbaijan and Mongolia to conduct a feasibility study regarding customs informatization, and carried it out successfully. Q: Could you give us a brief explanation about UNI-PASS of KCS A: UNI-PASS is the world's first 100% electronic clearance portal system, which provides one-stop PASS service by unifying all clearance procedures in customs declaration including export/import clearance, duty drawback, inbound/outbound passenger control, and tracking of bonded cargo. It is a system that can electronically handle all kinds of customs clearance procedures in a single window. It is a cyber community consisting of three groups, that is, importers and exporters, logistics companies, and the government authorities. It is a large business community with about 110,000 participants. Q: We know that UNI-PASS is bringing a positive effect on the Korean economy. Please give us a brief explanation as to what benefits it is bringing to the Korean economy. A: KCS has succeeded in handling 160 million copies of clearance documents 100% electronically per year, thus recording the shortest customs clearance time. Also, by providing detailed information on the import/export cargo movement to the customers on a real time basis, the cargo handling hour has been greatly reduced, consequently saving the logistics costs of importers and exporters significantly. As a result, it has brought a huge economic benefit of about US$3.9 billion per year to the national economy according to the report of the National Information Society Agency (NIC).

Following the patent in June of this year, KCS applied for an ISO 20000 certificate. It went through a preliminary examination, documentary examination, and plenary examination, and finally succeeded in earning the certificate in October 2006. It is noteworthy that this is the first time worldwide that an ISO 20000 certificate has been issued to a customs clearance organization. UNI-PASS is a system that can electronically handle all kinds of customs clearance procedures in a single window. It is a cyber community where the three following groups of organizations participate. The first group consists of participants in international trade such as exporters/importers, customs brokers, and banks. The second group includes logistics companies such as transporters, forwarders, bonded warehouses, shippers, and airlines. The last group contains import/export-related authorities including quarantine, port authorities, and the Ministry of Justice. It is a large business community with about 110,000 participants. As illustrated in figure 1, starting from 1992 UNI-PASS developed gradually on a fullscale basis according to midand long-term plans. In the introductory period from 1992 to 1998 the customs administration system including import/export clearance, levies, and duty drawbacks was computerized on the basis of Electronic Data Interchange (EDI). In the expansion period from 1999 to 2002, a paperless environment in the customs clearance was built along with the establishment of a knowledge-based system. In the advancement period from 2003 until the present, the Internet clearance portal and single window system were developed. KCS is now building a Customer Relationship Management (CRM) system. Primarily this is an effort to introduce customer-oriented administrative services by which nationwide customs offices provide advance information services for potential civil claims and petitions. It will also conduct a well-organized survey on customer requirements and needs. Finally, in preparation for a ubiquitous era it is working on mid- and long-term strategic plans to develop information systems including a ubiquitous clearance system. This makes it possible to provide electronic clearance service in a 5-Any environment - any-time, any-where, anynetwork, any-device, and any-service. UNI-PASS brings huge impact on national economy For the first time worldwide KCS has succeeded in handling 160 million copies of clearance documents 100% electronically per year. This has resulted in the shortest customs clearance time in the world of 2 minutes for export cargo, and one and a half hours for import cargo. It is far less than global standard clearance time. For instance, the recommendation of UNCTAD is 4 hours. By providing detailed information on import/export cargo movement to the customers on a real time basis, cargo handling time is greatly reduced, consequently saving the logistics costs of importers and exporters significantly. Import cargo clearance took 13.5 days in 1998, but only 4.5 days in 2005. The monetized value of direct and indirect benefits of time saved is US$3.9 billion according to the report of the National Information Society Agency. In addition, by establishing a 94% paperless e-clearance system for export and 75% for import, it has greatly contributed to the enhanced productivity of both the customs and the business community.