Icarus appointed Irish & UK representative to EurTradeNet Alliance 04-05-05

Icarus appointed Irish and UK representative to Eurtradenet alliance

Icarus, the Irish customs-related specialist company has been appointed as the Irish & UK representative to the EurTradeNet Alliance (ETN). ETN is a pan-European Alliance which has a network of over 6,000 companies in international trade and facilitates essential trade information exchange (pre alerts, arrival, discharge, notices etc) for users in 12 countries.

ETN was established in 2003 and consists of representatives from Belgium, Germany, The Netherlands, Poland, Spain, Switzerland, Czech Republic, Lithuania, Portugal, France, Italy, Scandinavia, UK and now Ireland. ETN serves customers ranging from manufacturers, international transport and logistics providers as well as small progressive agents. ETN allows Irish customers to directly benefit from using Icarus services as they become part of a growing international network of trading partners.

Commenting on the development, Stephen Tracey, Managing Director, Icarus said: We are delighted to be appointed as the Irish & UK representative on the EurTradeNet Alliance. With increasing cross border trade within Europe, it is essential that the framework is in place for traders to operate in an efficient and complaint nature. EurTradeNet ensures that there is a cohesive approach across all EU countries with regards to this and that we continue to look for ways of making these processes even more efficient.

The Alliance aims to build on the advanced platform already developed to empower companies to access information services related to transits and import/export operations and customs document submission on a pan-European basis.

The work of ETN includes:
• Additional customs procedures handling (e.g. those from EU eCustoms programme)
• Standard interface with customers' corporate IT systems providing integration with different local info solutions
• Multilingual translation of local codes
• Access to different national Customs solutions
• Converting documents between formats applied in different countries
• Data validation and supplement basing on additional documents

Tighter security controls on international trade and the significant increase in size of the European Community has led to greater emphasis being placed on the electronic capture of information relating to the movement of goods. In particular, new Customs and Excise regimes such as the pan-European New Computerised Transit System (NCTS) and electronic CAP Refunds have increased the burden on all parties in the supply chain to provide the Authorities with accurate and timely shipping information. It is important that ETN makes it as effortless as possible for traders to be compliant with these new requirements, says Mr Tracey.

Icarus is Irelands leading customs related service provider, providing logistics and supply chain solutions to Government, Semi State, Multi National Corporations and SMEs. Icarus Customs provides trade facilitation software that enables electronic declarations to Customs Authorities. Icarus provides business with a single window for access to all Customs requirements.