Europe’s leading provider of customs clearance and trade solutions is rolling out an advanced AI solution which will deliver efficiency savings of up to 50 per cent on documentation preparation for customs declarations.
Customs Support Group (CSG) trialled its Customs SmartAssist solution in the UK and is now rolling it out across 14 European markets, with a target of one million declarations processed using the technology in 2025.
The Customs SmartAssist technology aims to boost digitalisation in the customs industry and significantly enhance documentation efficiency and quality, enabling faster movement of goods across borders.
The solution uses AI, machine learning and optical character recognition (OCR) to process documents accurately in various formats and qualities – including handwritten information or low-resolution copies and mobile phone photos. It automatically extracts all relevant information and instantaneously translates it.
After the first round of testing in the UK, the efficiency of documentation processing improved by more than 30 per cent, even for complex goods declarations. As the module is self-learning, the aim is to achieve an overall increase in efficiency of up to 50 per cent by the end of the year.
John Wegman, CEO of Customs Support Group, said: “As the industry leader in customs digitalisation and automation, CSG already processes every second customs declaration digitally – out of four million annually. With the Europe-wide rollout of AI-based document processing, this share will grow even further, setting a new benchmark for the industry.
“Customs clearance remains one of the most paper-intensive industries, further challenged by strict regulations and complex compliance requirements. Even a basic declaration involves handling at least four to five multipage documents, while more complex cases can require more than 10.
“Transferring, consolidating, and processing information from various documents consumes valuable time and is prone to omissions or errors, which can lead to delays in customs clearance, non-compliance risks or even fines.
“AI-powered document processing eliminates manual data entry, freeing our customs experts to focus on higher-value tasks such as reviewing customs declarations, resolving complex issues, and delivering personalised client support.”
This combination of AI and human intelligence – which CSG calls “real intelligence” (RI) – will deliver a huge increase in productivity based on the results of its initial pilot.
Using a traffic light system, the declarant can score the accuracy of the AI’s work, which continually trains the AI over time. This means they can put their own knowledge to best use and support the AI in spotting trends and repeated mistakes, so the expert can best coach their clients on how to optimise their processes.
John added: “The system is designed to be self-learning, so if any data fields are unclear they are flagged for CSG experts to review before submission. Once corrections are made, the AI learns from the feedback and continuously improves its ability to interpret and process similar documents accurately in the future.
“A customs declarant typically needs several hours to input and check the data. AI and automation can do this in a fraction of the time. However, the finalisation of the customs declaration remains with our experts. Once the document has been completed by the AI, it still requires the complex expertise and judgement of our customs professionals to review all entries, sign off the declaration and submit it to the authorities.
“The fear of non-compliance risks emphasises the crucial role of human customs knowledge and expertise. We therefore use automation and AI primarily for simple data input and repetitive tasks.”
Customs SmartAssist is already operational across CSG’s offices in the United Kingdom, Netherlands, Belgium, Italy and Ireland and will be rolled out across its other territories throughout 2025.
For more information about Customs Support Group, visit www.customssupport.com.
