CUSTOMS: ASYCUDA WORLD STILL CHALLENGING

2019, November 1: Upgrading to ASYCUDA World (the latest version of the Automated System for Customs Data developed by the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development and released in 2004 … Versions 1 and 2 went into use in 1981 and 1984) was a success story for the designers of the global software. However, implementation was not without challenges in jurisdictions around the world, from the Solomon Islands to the Caribbean.

Incompatibility issues, rather than the operating system, caused delays and uncertainty as countries upgraded hardware and moved to install this latest version of ASYCUDA. Some commercial importers lost business in the process with Customs unable to release cargo, some for extended periods. In Barbados, e.g., the ‘Go-Live’ date for this third generation of ASYCUDA had to be delayed.

The system, previously running second generation ASYCUDA++, was taken offline for three days to facilitate upgrades to ASYCUDA World on September 9. In Jamaica, incompatibility issues with updates to JAVA (i.e. JAVA 8 – 161) were identified by the Jamaica Customs Agency and addressed in correspondence to systems users. []