Meeting between the Customs Service of the Republic of Moldova and the TIR Secretariat

The meeting attended the Customs Service of the Republic of Moldova (11 delegates), IRU (1 delegate), and the TIR Secretariat (UNECE).

After a brief tour de table, ECE and IRU presented a project overview, describing, in particular, the messages to be sent for each use case of the eTIR procedure as well as the possible usage of a converter (to be developed by IRU by January 2021) to speed up the development of various eTIR messages on the basis of the efforts already undertaken by the Customs Service of the Republic Of Moldova while connecting to TIR-EPD and RTS.

USAID MRSP then presented the scope, status and timeline of the eTIR project with the Customs Service of the Republic of Moldova. It was clarified that the scope of the project was to implement eTIR in line with the new Annex 11 of the TIR Convention, which should enter into force in May 2021.

It was also made clear that, in view of the closing date of the project (September 2021), all project activities will have to be finalized by July 2021. The consultant has already started an analysis of the eTIR requirements and is in the process of finalizing the technical specifications. USAID will then start a procurement procedure for an ICT company for the development of required amendments to the customs ICT system.

The participants, acknowledging the progress already accomplished in Moldova in the framework of eTIR, agreed on the following:

• A technical meeting will be organized at the initiative of USAID MRSP, to answer questions. A summary of the questions will be sent ahead of the meeting to ECE to ensure the participation of the relevant experts.
• The Customs Service of the Republic Of Moldova and USAID MRSP welcomed the idea of using a converter to be developed by IRU.