Seychelles

12 août 2025

31 décembre 2025

31 décembre 2027

30 juin 2027

Seychelles benefited from Technical Assistance under the 11th European Development Fund (11th - EDF) for the implementation of certain Category B and C commitments. In addition to supporting the Single Window platform and facilitating seamless data exchange between customs and other government agencies, Seychelles needs to upgrade its ASYCUDA World (AW) System. From September 2021 to May 2024, a project was undertaken to enhance the AW System. The primary goal was to foster economic growth by streamlining trade facilitation and expediting the harmonization and simplification of Customs procedures in line with WCO and WTO standards. The major focus of the project was on integrating new modules into the AW System to improve the automation of customs processes and optimise clearance operations. These enhancements were aimed at providing modern IT solutions that could address evolving trade challenges. Additionally, the project partially developed and implemented the Electronic Government, which laid the groundwork for future system development of the Single Window. Following the completion of the 11th EDF project in May 2024, the retention of the experts with technical support needed for the implementation of the Single Window needed to be addressed. Thus, the Seychelles Revenue Commission (SRC) engaged the services of a group of consultants to sustain the progress and further develop the AW System. The one-year contract of the Consultants ended on 23 June 2025; therefore, the SRC needs to find alternative funding and technical assistance to continue work on the enhancement of the AW systems and continue with the Single Window project. Seychelles has and continues to face several challenges in effectively implementing the Single Window project. These are such as: (i) The current version of the AW is struggling to keep up with the increasing demands of a dynamic trade environment. In its current form, the system does not fully support the latest international trade standards set by the WCO and WTO. And UNCTAD has informed that they will soon stop supporting the current AW 4.3.2 version. Therefore, it is of utmost urgency that Seychelles upgrade its AW system. (ii) Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the Government imposed travel restrictions as safety measures. Therefore, this hindered consultants' mobility access to Seychelles, which delayed the 11 EDF projects and the upgrade of the AW system. (iii) Seychelles also encountered issues obtaining timely responses from UNCTAD regarding the upgrade of the ASYCUDA system. Subsequently, upon the response from UNCTAD, financial issues were encountered as the cost of the upgrade was quite substantial, considering Seychelles' economic size. The SRC needed to identify alternate funding to finance the upgrade. (iv) With the ending of the 11th EDF project in May 2024. Seychelles had to address the retention of the experts with technical support needed for the implementation of the Single Window, thus affecting the extended definitive date for the implementation of the Single Window. (v) Moreover, there was a need to elaborate a plan for the recruitment of local programmers to work alongside the contractors (necessary for knowledge transfer and continuity). Nevertheless, some of the projects have been completed, namely: (i) The update of the Statutory Instrument of the Prohibited and Restricted Goods Regulations in the system, linking all goods to the latest WCO Tariff. (ii) Integration of the latest WCO new tariff schedule. (iii) Express courier module. (iv) Manifest (for express courier) module. (v) Electronic payment (E-Payment) module. (vi) Excise bonded warehouse module. (vii) Continuous technical training programmes. Early 2025, SRC worked on an 18-month project for the upgrade of the AW, which will address technical and functional training, prototype development, system migration, and post-migration support. As it relates to the implementation of the Single Window platform in particular, preliminary work has started. The SRC has put a programme together to begin meeting with the stakeholders who will connect to the Single Window platform to discuss the way forward. MoUs with some stakeholders are under discussion, and the process to connect stakeholders who are ready has started. Still, the following needs to be addressed: (i) SRC needs to secure funding and technical assistance to implement the Single Window Platform. (ii) The establishment of a legal framework for governance of the processes for information and data exchange between the Seychelles Revenue Commission and the other principal stakeholders and Authorities. (iii) The upgrading of AW System to version 4.4. The new version is designed to address existing system limitations by introducing advanced automation capabilities, enhanced data-driven risk management capabilities by offering a more dynamic selectivity feature, data analytics tools, and stronger compliance and flexibility features that align with the latest standards. The upgrade will strengthen the system's ability to support the Single Window platform, facilitating seamless data exchange between customs and other government agencies. (iv) To ensure seamless functioning of the system, all the principal stakeholders and authorities' systems would need to be aligned with the current level of computerization and IT readiness of the stakeholders' administrative processes. Considering the previous and current developments, Seychelles would like to request an extension of the extended definitive date of implementation for the Single Window to 31 December 2027.

Approuvée avec nouvelle date

G/TFA/N/SYC/1/Add.5

8 mars 2024

31 décembre 2024

31 décembre 2025

31 décembre 2025

Seychelles had benefited from Technical Assistance under the 11th European Development Fund (11th-EDF) for the implementation of certain Category B and C commitments. Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the Government imposed travel restrictions as safety measures. Therefore, this hindered consultants' mobility access to Seychelles, which delayed the 11th EDF projects. Seychelles also encountered issues in obtaining timely responses from UNCTAD regarding the upgrade of the ASYCUDA system, which is necessary for the eventual implementation of a single window system. Subsequently, upon the response from UNCTAD, financial issues were encountered as the cost of the upgrade was quite substantial, bearing in mind Seychelles' economic size. The Seychelles Revenue Commission (SRC) was required to identify alternate funding to finance the upgrade. Moreover, the issue of retention of expert programmers to work on the project and the recruitment of local programmers to work alongside the contractors (necessary for knowledge transfer and continuity) were encountered. Presently, given the ending phase of the 11th EDF project scheduled for May 2024, the retention of the experts with the technical support needed for implementation of Single Window has yet to be determined completely; thus, this will affect the extended definitive date for implementation of the Single Window. Nevertheless, some of the projects are close to the completion phase, namely, continued integration of the latest World Customs Organization (WCO) new tariff schedule, except for Single Window, which is yet to commence due to challenges and work deliverables needed to be undertaken herewith presented below. Firstly, Seychelles would need to implement the legal framework for governance of the processes for information and data exchange between the Seychelles Revenue Commission (SRC) and the other principal stakeholders and authorities.

Approuvé

G/TFA/N/SYC/1/Add.4

8 février 2023

31 décembre 2023

31 décembre 2024

31 décembre 2024

Seychelles benefited from Technical Assistance under the 11th European Development Fund (11th - EDF) for the implementation of certain Category B and C commitments. Due to the Covid-19 pandemic, the Government imposed travel restrictions as safety measures. Therefore, this hindered consultants' mobility access to Seychelles, which delayed the 11 EDF projects. Seychelles also encountered issues of obtaining timely responses from UNCTAD regarding the upgrade of the ASYCUDA system, which is necessary for the eventual implementation of a single window system. Subsequently, upon the response from UNCTAD, financial issues were encountered as the cost of the upgrade was quite substantial, bearing in mind Seychelles’ economic size. Seychelles Revenue Commission is required to identify alternate funding to finance the upgrade. Moreover, the issue of retention of expert programmers to work on the project and recruitment of local programmers to work alongside the contractors (necessary for knowledge transfer and continuity) was encountered. Nevertheless, the majority of the projects have been completed or are close to the completion phase, except for Single Window, which is yet to commence. In light of the above, Seychelles would like to request an extension of the definitive date of implementation for the Single Window.

Approuvé

G/TFA/N/SYC/1/Add.3