On January 18-19, 2023, the Second Workshop on the use of the CIM/SMGS consignment note along selected TRACECA railway routes was held

The Workshop was attended by representatives of transport departments, customs, railway organizations of nine TRACECA member states from Azerbaijan, Bulgaria, Georgia, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Moldova, Romania, Tajikistan, Türkiye, Ukraine, co-organizers and partners from OSJD, CIT, UIC, as well as invitees from the European Commission's Directorate General for Taxation and Customs Union (DG TAXUD), UNECE, UNESCAP, UIC “RailData” and the Polish PKP.

Within the framework of a two-day Workshop and 4 dedicated sessions, the agenda covered discussions on various aspects of the use of the CIM/SMGS consignment note, namely, general legal and technical requirements, experience and best practices for implementation, readiness and restrictions in individual TRACECA countries, use of the consignment note in customs transit procedures, in multimodal transport, as well as an open discussion of the ways of possible piloting of the electronic consignment note in the TRACECA member states.

During his welcoming speech, the Secretary General of the PS IGC TRACECA Asset Assavbaev expressed his gratitude to the representatives of the OSJD, CIT, UIC and partner organizations for their willingness to share extensive knowledge on the creation of a legal framework and the use of the CIM/SMGS consignment note.

“Following the results of the first Workshop, we initiated a study on the use of the CIM/SMGS electronic consignment note and submitted a draft Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) to the railway operators of all TRACECA countries. At the end of today's Workshop, we expect to have a clear idea of what the next steps will be to finalize the Memorandum of Understanding on the use of the electronic CIM/SMGS for signing by interested member states. Practical issues on the creation of working groups, the elimination of identified constraints, the provision of options for IT solutions for railways, the coordination of a potential pilot project, should also be among the studied ones,” said Secretary General A. A. Assavbaev.

During the sessions, speakers from international organizations and countries shared their experience, knowledge and best practices in the implementation of the CIM/SMGS consignment note.

As a result of the Workshop, the participants took note of the following steps. In case of interest and readiness of the TRACECA countries to sign the Memorandum of Understanding and implement pilot projects on the use of the CIM/SMGS electronic system, the co-organizers of OSJD, CIT, TRACECA and UIC will make efforts to support the relevant activities of the pilot projects (in terms of coordination and provision of expert support) . The preliminary organization of the pilot project will be scheduled for 2023. The possibility of organizing a high-level conference at the end of 2023 will also be considered, which will assess the current efforts to introduce electronic CIM/SMGS on selected TRACECA routes, and consider the adoption of a declaration on the implementation of electronic CIM/SMGS along TRACECA routes.