The Information System of the Customs Administration of the Czech Republic Connected to Data Boxes

The Customs Administration of the Czech Republic has proceeded with further upgrades: it has connected excise duties, fines and fees through the electronic system of the filing service to data boxes. Thanks to legislative changes and this connection it will be possible to increase effectiveness of recoverability of arrears. The ME-SPD information system has been developed, put into operation and upgraded by the Aquasoft company which cooperates with the General Customs Directorate on a long-term basis.

Since 2004, the ME-SPD information system, developed for the purpose of an effective administration and collection of excise duties, has been upgraded on an ongoing basis in such a manner that it can correspond to legislative changes, but also for the reason of support of new process areas. A significant system upgrade was formed, for instance, by the administration of the agenda, such as collection and transfer of levies, fees, fines and penalties imposed by other state administration bodies (e.g. by the Police of the Czech Republic). Another important step has been taken at present in the field of creation and sending of documents - the ME-SPD information system has been connected to the data boxes since 1st November 2009 through the filing service.

The system operates in two steps. At present it verifies the existence of a data box of the addressee for each decision created. Subsequently it hands over decisions with the necessary instructions to the filing service. "After the carrying out of all the steps, the entity can expect either an envelope (or invitation) in the letter box - if they do not have a data box, or an e-mail/sms message with information about the content not collected from their data box," explains Tomáš Vinš, Project Manager from the Aquasoft company.

The main contribution of the entire project is to accelerate and increase effectiveness of processes in the field of communication with entities and in the field of recovery. In 2009, the ME-SPD system was used for creation of more than half a million delivery decisions (e.g. invitations to settlement of an outstanding amount or a fine).

The solution has been implemented in cooperation with TranSoft a.s., which implemented the communication interface to ISDS and the electronic system of the filing service of the Customs Administration.