Computer for Customs

Press, 19 September 1980, Page 9

Computer for Customs

PA Wellington The Customs Department is installing a new computer system called Casper to process customs entries made by importers. The system, which will cost $1.2 million a year to run, will increase the department’s revenue and speed up processing of importers’ entries, according to Mr Stewart Marshall, director of the Customs Processing Division. All importers must fill in a customs entry form when they bring goods into the country. The form includes a description of the goods, their origin, value, and duty or tax payable, among other things. At present these forms, some of which are very complicated and require more than 100 entries, have to be checked by Customs officers to make sure every detail is correct.

Casper (Customs and Statistics Processing of Entries and their Retrieval) would take over the processing of the forms from January next year, when it came on stream, said Mr Marshall.

The computer will not only reduce human errors, it will reduce delays to the Importer. It will also make trade statistics available more quickly than the present system. The Statistics Department will have access to the information stored in the Computer.

It will also free Customs officers from the mundane processing jobs to more important matters, such as checking to see whether the value of

the goods has been wrongly declared, said Mr Marshall.

“Over all, we think it will increase the department’s revenue as well as provide a better service for the importer,” he said. The system will rent time from a computer owned by the State Services Commission, for $1.2 million a year. Terminals are being installed lit Auckland, Wellington, Christchurch, and Dunedin, and 32 additional staff will be brought in to run them.