South Korea Customs reorganizes after 20 years to adapt to the era of direct shopping and e-commerce

The Korea Customs Service recently stated : " At the South Korean State Council meeting, the "Partial Revision Order of the Customs Service and Its Affiliated Agencies" was passed, including the establishment of a new e-commerce customs clearance department and the establishment of an independent information department as an information data policy officer and other organizational restructuring bills . "

This is the first large-scale system restructuring of the Korea Customs Service ( KCS ) since 2000 , and the restructuring will take effect on the 30th of this month .

The focus of the Customs Service reorganization this time is to respond to the rapidly growing e-commerce imports and exports and the new coronavirus risks . It will strengthen the import and export safety network , concentrate corporate support forces , build and utilize new technologies such as data and artificial intelligence ( AI) technology , and maintain a fair trade order .

According to data from the Korea Customs Service , exports via e-commerce grew from 9.84 million pieces in 2019 to 20.75 million pieces last year , while e-commerce imports also increased from 43 million pieces to 63.56 million pieces during the same period .

To this end, the Korea Customs Service has established an e-commerce customs clearance department in the Customs Clearance Bureau (now the Customs Clearance Support Bureau) to cope with the sharp increase in digital trade demand and to rectify related systems and systems. In addition, the information department of the current Information Cooperation Bureau will be independent as an information data policy officer, responsible for introducing AI technology and opening public data and other customs trade data control tower functions.

Previously, the Customs Service has been working to strengthen import and export security functions, but there are certain limitations due to its organizational structure that focuses on speedy customs clearance.

In the recent customs management environment, with the increase in cross-border personnel flow and the emergence of transnational risks such as the new coronavirus , there are growing calls to cut off threat factors at the border stage.

In addition, in order to prevent infection, the non-face-to-face economy has accelerated its spread. With cross-border e-commerce as the center, individuals have become the main trading entities. It is expected that the global e-commerce transaction volume will increase from US$2.3 trillion in 2017 to US$6.5 trillion in 2023.

Therefore, in order to adapt to the administrative needs for national security and overcome the COVID-19 crisis as soon as possible , it is necessary for Korea Customs to strengthen its security management functions , improve its support capabilities for import and export companies , and carry out organizational restructuring to support the digital trade era.

South Korea

customs

E-commerce