FAILURE OF SINGLE WINDOW IMPLEMENTATION FOR IMPORT TRADE FACILITATION IN SRI LANKA

UNDERSTANDING THE FAILURE OF SINGLE WINDOW IMPLEMENTATION FOR IMPORT TRADE FACILITATION IN SRI LANKA 

1.    Introduction

 When an importer import a consignment to Sri Lanka there were extended process and cumbersome paper work, delays caused by regulatory agencies to clear that consignment with the manual clearing process. To avoid the above manual time consuming procedure the regulatory agencies such as Sri Lanka Customs, Port Authority, Bank of Ceylon, Inland revenue, etc. has introduced this single window concept to facilitate the traders(Both Import and Export). The Department of Customs established an Automated Data Processing (ADP) Division for the introduction of the ASYCUDA (Automated System for Customs Data) system in 1992 with a view to introducing automation of the export-import process and procedure.in 2011 they have introduced the advanced version of this system called ASYCUDA World that facilitate to fully automate the cargo clearance customs procedures. As a part of automation the databases of the Inland Revenue department also connected with the customs systemBut unfortunately the process has stopped and the other required institutes do not connected to the system for the last few years. Currently Traders only able to submit the electronic CUSDEC form to the Sri Lanka Customs and they have to send the hard copy of that CUSDE for further process as previous manual procedure.When refer to this single window concept implementation process it can clearly see the objectives of the project does not yet achieve.This research paper has conducted to analyses the reasons for the failure of implementation of the single window concept for the trade facilitation in Sri Lanka using the Actor Network (ANT) theory. 

 2.     The Actor - Network Theory

Actor network theory (ANT), also known as enrolment theory or the sociology of translation, emerged during the mid-1980s. This is defined as Heterogeneous network of aligned interests, including people, technology and organizations (Walsham and Sahay, 1999).

Actor Network theory has been used in different ways in analyzing the failures of an ICT project. In this study it has used the four stages of translation of Callon (1986) Problematization, interessement, enrolment and mobilization. These help to analyses and describe the process leading up to the failure, step by step from the Actor-Network’s formation until its collapse (Greener, 2006; Lee and Oh, 2006;Mahring et al., 2004) 

2.1 Problematization 

This is the first stage of the ANT, in this stage the focal actor decides the project objectives and selects the actors, according to the selected case the ministry of finance and planning is the focal actor and they have to set the OPP that can align the interests of different actors.In this Sri Lankan scenario the focal actor was unable to set an OPP that might hold important actors with different concerns together.ministry of finance and planning has focused only their interest than other actors like Other government ministries and Departments including the BOI, Ceylon Chamber of Commerce ministry of Agriculture, Archeology and private sector players such as , Transporters, and Freight Forwarders.Introduced ASYCUDA WORLD system has been given an opportunity to Importer to feed CUSDEC online from their offices. Before it was done by the Officers of Sri Lanka Customs once an Exporter submits the papers to their Key-in counters. Up to now this is the only procedure that upgraded with the new system. Since the Data bases of Inland Revenue linked with the Department of Customs Imports has to get the TIN numbers manually.It is clear that, ministry of finance and planning – the Focal actor is focused only their interest in the development of new system rather than aligning the interest of different actors. So the current system does not provide the expected return to the other actors.

 2.2 Interessement

At the interessement moment, the Focal actor uses various devices to lock important actors into their respective position and establish a balance powers between actors, ensuring that these actors are able to overcome a series of obstacles and go through OPP (Callon, 1986)In the beginning ministry of finance and planning was not allowed and not aware of the difficulties faced by the different actors and later offered little help to them with tackling the problems.
Secondly, the officers of Sri Lanka Customs required hard copies of E-CDN and it should send along with the consignments. Since they can view it through the system, so far they need Hard copies to cross check with the ASYCUDA SYSTEM.Also an Importer cannot pay their Bills, Statutory charges or obtain online Country of origin through the system so far. Still, it processes manually and all papers – supporting documents should file to each section to get the things done. These functions of the above system does not activated in Sri Lanka.

 2.3. Enrolment

 Sri Lanka Customs were ready to facilitate paperless movements & online procedures under the new system. So far the focal actor – ministry of finance and planning failed to provide fully automated online submission, online paying facility and obtain country of origin certificates, TIN numbers and other required certifications from the system.
In this scenario ministry of finance and planning was not properly coordinates with the other ministries to get them together to implement this automated system. They have to coordinate and arrange the procedures of getting the all required government institutions functioning under different ministries that connected to the import trade to obtain required certifications online. 2.4.  Mobilization On the other hand, due bad ICT infrastructure, issues in internet access, low productivity and frequent server downs, IT security threats the other actors in the network are not relying on the system. Nothing has been changed from the Old systems to a new system, rather than adding extra payment from the Importers and Exporters entering Initial data in to the system which is an additional work to the client.

 3.     Conclusion 

The concept of the Single window project is to facilitate the import and export trade with the development of the other infrastructure such as sea and air ports. Under that ministry of finance and planning is expected to facilitate this project but this was not success. Sri Lanka has only partially implemented the automated system despite the fact that the Sri Lanka Automated Cargo Clearance System was initiated about 12 years back.

The progress to date has been poor with still more than 35 per cent of the import CUSDECs being processed manually. According to stakeholders interviewed only about 40 per cent of the entire import process has been automated on average and most of them are not satisfied with the status of automation in the country. Not surprisingly, the benefits from automation have been limited and it has had a limited impact on the small and medium scale traders and agents.Currently, the system only allows for the lodgment of the Customs declaration form and receipt of approval. Thereafter, the process is entirely manual and still involves a lot of paper work and visits to different locations to import or export a good. Some stakeholders thought was too high considering the fact that they can only lodge the CUSDEC electronically but have to do the rest manually. The expected level of service that need to obtain from the implementation of automated clearing system is not contributing to the system due to issues in implementation and the implementation progress  getting the log time than the expected.In the interessement stage, the key challenge faced by focal actor is to support other actors in the actor-network to work properly and avoid betrayals appearing, by employing different mechanisms. The other factor is the focal actor should be guaranteed with a stable status, which is critical for the actor-network to survive the translation process.The Final conclusion is the project of Single Window implementation in Sri Lanka is became a failed project according to the Actor- Network Theory.