Iran becomes sixth country to connect its national customs system to eTIR

Iran's successful interconnection with the eTIR international system, following those by Azerbaijan, Georgia, Pakistan, Tunisia, and Uzbekistan, and the International Road Transport Union (IRU), paves the way for the digitalization of cargo transit along the Europe-Caucasus-Asia transport corridor and further enables the implementation of the eTIR procedure.

By joining the eTIR international system, national customs administrations and transport operators can seamlessly exchange and receive cargo information. This can dramatically reduce the time and resources required for transit and risk analysis, and therefore the fraud connected with transit. 

During a recent visit to the Iran Customs Authority (IRICA), UNECE installed its eTIR National Application (eTIR NA) and provided a three-day training session to Iranian customs officers and IT experts. The application provides free of charge all the necessary means to customs authorities to connect their national system for customs procedures to eTIR.

The main advantage of the eTIR NA application is that it enables customs authorities to achieve interconnection and utilize the eTIR procedure within a month, whereas traditional interconnection projects typically take an average of 11 months to implement.

Currently, UNECE is working on interconnection projects with other countries in the region, namely Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, and Tajikistan. UNECE aims to initiate similar projects in the entire region, to expand the rapid implementation of the eTIR procedure.