Since the many terror attacks that have occurred this millennium, customs authorities around the world have been giving top priority to security. More and more countries, including the EU, have started to require a prior notification for the import and export of goods. Based on the data of this prior declaration, a risk analysis and possible security checks are carried out.
In order to minimise the significant impact of these security provisions on the cross-border movement of goods with EU member states, the Agreement on the simplification of customs formalities and on Customs security measures was concluded with the EU.
Since 15 March 2021, Switzerland has also been participating in the Import Control System 2 (ICS2) of the European Union (EU). This is based on a provisionally applied amendment to the Agreement on the simplification of customs formalities and on Customs security measures. This means that customs data, which is mainly generated in online trade, is already transmitted when goods are shipped from third countries. This enables an efficient and comprehensive risk analysis on the part of the Federal Customs Administration (FCA).