Smart Customs Ship Health Certificate Inspection and Issuance: "Small incision" plays a "big role"

Recently, the IVS PHOENIX (Phoenix) ship, departing from Blanca Port in Argentina, arrived at Xiaocuo Port in Quanzhou. Quanzhou Customs, under the jurisdiction of Xiamen Customs, accepted the application, inspected it, and intelligently drafted the certificate through this business scenario. Quanzhou Xingtong International Shipping Agency Co., Ltd. can obtain the digital version of the "Ship Exemption from Sanitary Control Measures Certificate" online through the international trade "single window" in less than 5 minutes. This is a microcosm of promoting the construction of smart health inspection and improving the efficiency of port clearance.

The Ship Health Certificate, also known as the "Health Passport", is a necessary document for international vessels to enjoy the convenience of epidemic free navigation between contracting parties to the International Health Regulations (2005); The aircraft health and quarantine certificate and the ship health and quarantine certificate are mandatory documents for entry and exit transportation vehicles in accordance with the law. Previously, the above-mentioned certificates were all processed through offline paper documents, which had problems such as inconvenient processing, difficulty in storing paper certificates, and difficulty in verifying their authenticity. Xiamen Customs is deeply promoting the construction of smart customs, starting from the "small incision" of certificate issuance, applying new technologies such as digital signatures and QR code tracing to solve the difficulties and blockages of strong timeliness, large issuance volume, and difficult verification of certificate issuance. It has achieved "cloud issuance", "cloud query", and "cloud collection" of certificates, saving more than 1.1 million paper certificate issuances annually at ports across the country, and saving enterprises over 200 million yuan in demurrage fees, round-trip transportation fees, and other costs.

Process informatization enhances the standardization level of certificate issuance. Based on the management of transportation vehicles, the Water and Air (2021) system has established 26 sub modules consisting of four functional modules: ship health certificate, ship health quarantine certificate, aircraft health quarantine certificate, and parameter management. The first national health quarantine certificate visa database has been built, with 185 ports for issuing ship health certificates, over 300 electronic seals, and over 800 quarantine physicians under standardized management.

Digitalization of certificates to achieve online verification both domestically and internationally. Digitalization of health and quarantine certificates for 11 types of transportation vehicles in 3 major categories, relying on a "single window" to achieve scanning and verification of 7 certificate elements such as certificate number, issuing port, and visa time both domestically and internationally. At the same time, when the ship health certificate/aircraft health quarantine certificate issued by the system is attached with an evidence report form in subsequent management or when certificate extension is carried out, the relevant information will be dynamically adjusted and displayed when scanning the code, achieving dynamic management of the entire certificate cycle. For this outbound cargo, I presented the digital version of the ship's health certificate issued by Chinese customs to foreign health and quarantine officials. After scanning the code with my phone, the foreign party directly told me that there was no problem with the certificate. The whole process only took one or two minutes, which was really convenient! "The captain of" Zhongtian 39 "praised the digital version of the ship's health certificate endlessly.

Intelligent issuance enhances the sense of gain for business sites and operational enterprises. This scenario automatically inputs over 70 certificate field information into the pre draft, triggers certificate drafting based on inspection results, and intelligently associates electronic seals and signatures. Operating enterprises can apply for and obtain certificates through a "single window", with "one trip without having to travel". Compared to the past where certificates needed to be obtained at the customs window, now it is convenient and efficient to directly download them through the system and scan the QR code to check their authenticity! "Said Wu Shenglin, a staff member of Xiamen Airlines Co., Ltd. happily.

Internationalization of effectiveness, innovative digital certificate 'China solution'. The term 'digital health documents' has been included in the revised version of the International Health Regulations (2005) that will come into effect in 2025. The effectiveness of this scenario fully demonstrates China's concrete actions in actively fulfilling its obligations, highlighting China's advantages and responsible image as a major country. The relevant achievements have been showcased and widely recognized in various occasions such as the China Malaysia Port Alliance exchange, the ASEAN International Health Regulations Port Public Health Core Competence and Cross border Coordination Consultation, and the China ASEAN Ship Health Inspection and Certificate Issuance Seminar.