Responding to new goods movement regulations that come into force with the European Open Market in 1993, International Network Services Ltd is launching a new UK Electronic Data Interchange service enabling companies to report movements directly to HM Customs & Excise. The new rules, effective from January 1 1993, require companies to make detailed monthly declarations of goods movements within 10 working days of the end of each month. With the new CustomsLink service, INS intends to automate the process by offering a direct connection to HM Customs’ Electronic Data Capture Service. Indeed it says that it is currently working with software companies in the trade and transport industry to integrate their products with INS’s Intercept-Plus EDI workstation. CustomsLink seems to be a modified subset of INS’ established TradaLink service – to the extent that the company is offering an option to upgrade at a later date – but is also significantly cheaper. The annual subscription is to be UKP950, although for the first year, INS says it is bundling the necessary software, network-joining fee and volume-related charges sufficient for the average trader into that price. For personal computer connection to TradaLink, the cheapest option, the charge is UKP2,450 joining fee, UKP1,000 subscription charge as well as volume-based charges. While there are other options for EDI-based connection into Customs & Excise, the Data Capture Service can connect with IBM Information Exchange and EDI-StarNet systems among others, INS seems to have beaten the field in terms of being first to market. Since INS is a UK operation, and regulations will vary from country to country, the service is to be offered in the UK only, but comparable services may be available in the rest of Europe through INS’s part-parent, GE Information Services.
