ICS (Import Control System) comes within the scope of the EU eCUSTOMS programme.
Developed in the framework of the standards for international trade advocated by the World Customs Organisation, its aim is to further ensure the protection of importation movements into the EU.
The new regulation requires that a certain number of data elements be sent to the EU customs office of first entry before the merchandise enters the territory and in most cases, even before leaving the country of export.
Upon receipt of the ENS (Entry Summary Declaration) message, the customs office of first entry performs the security-related risk analysis.
These extra regulatory security measures will impose new work methods on exporters managing trade flows towards the EU: global data exchange in an EDI format, up-stream data transfer, and all this in a regulatory framework that differs from one EU Member State to another.