site.btaCustoms Agency’s New Information Systems Save Money for Businesses, Facilitate Trade

Simplifications resulting from new information systems at the Customs Agency save around BGN 9 million a year in labour costs for economic operators, said in a BTA interview Kolyo Kolev, Director of the Information Systems and Analytics Directorate at the Customs Agency, on the occasion of the achievement of full digitalization of the customs clearance processes for imports, exports, and transit.

According to him, about 20,000 enterprises in Bulgaria import goods from third countries, about 10,000 Bulgarian enterprises export goods to third countries (outside the European Union), 45,000 entities are registered to use the electronic systems of the Customs Agency, of which 90% are economic operators, i.e. companies. 

"The information systems ensure 100% availability of services, including when we implement new versions of the information systems for users, there is no interruption in service provision. This is important for economic operators because you know that every import or export operation involves real logistics that are planned in advance. When the information systems of the Customs Agency are working without interruption, there is no downtime, no losses to be realised by the commercial sector. Our calculations show that if 1% of the astronomical time the IT systems are down, it results in a EUR 1 million annual loss, so that's money saved for the businesses," he explained.

Kolev also said that 60% of companies believe that the new information systems lead to simplification of procedures and easing the conditions for doing business in the country.