TSW Mandatory Date

In September 2017, Customs and MPI confirmed 1 July 2018 is the mandatory date for moving onto the WCO3-format for cargo reporting and clearance messages, except the Inward Cargo Report (ICR) which is dependent on completion of a pilot phase. Information on the ICR pilot is provided below.  We also provided an update in March 2018 reminding everyone of this deadline and how to meet it.

With over four years’ warning and only nine days to go, all submitters should be using the other WCO3 messages, or have a clear plan for switching over before the deadline unless your software provider is one of a handful that has been granted a short extension.

See the WCO3 Messages Summary for details of the message types. The latest information is set out below.

Commercial Software Users and In-house System Customers

Commercial software providers and in-house systems users are either already fully WCO3-capable or piloting their software before going fully live (apart from ICR – see below).

For a few weeks over May and June there were some TSW system performance issues that saw very slow TSW responses at peak times or extended delays, along with one or two unrelated and unexpected outages caused by Customs’ third party IT providers.  We have made a series of changes that have resolved the system slowness, and worked with our contracted IT providers to ensure the causes of the outages are not repeated.

WCO3 transactions hit 59% on Monday 18 June.  We are pushing customers to get onto WCO3 as quickly as possible before 1 July.  Check with your software provider on their WCO3 status, what training they provide, and when they will stop supporting the old messages.

CusWeb Users

To date we have focussed on getting commercial software users and in-house system customers onto WCO3 as they submit 98% of all transactions. We will shortly be contacting all remaining CusWeb users about moving onto TSW Online, and how we can support you to do so.  We are talking with B2BE NZ Ltd, which provides CusWeb, about shutting this website down as soon as possible.

ICR mandatory date

We’ve been piloting the Inward Cargo Report (ICR) since November 2017, which has flushed out a few material bugs which have been quickly resolved. 

All port companies need to be able to receive WCO3 notifications before we can mandate the WCO3 ICR. They all plan to be able to do this by 1 October 2018, and we will be completing remaining piloting scenarios with them as they on-board. 

So all going to plan, we expect to shortly consult with industry bodies on setting 31 October 2018 as the mandatory date for adopting the WCO3 ICR.  We will confirm this as soon as consultation is completed, but industry members should plan to that date.

Information Sessions and Other Help

The WCO3 Messages Summary along with TSW Fact Sheets explain the WCO3 messages and requirements - the ICR Fact Sheet will be added shortly. We held TSW information sessions around the country in April – the presentation with Q&As added is on our website.

If you have feedback or would like more information on this update, please email jbms@customs.govt.nz.