Over the last few decades, businesses have developed sophisticated information systems that allow the capture of vast amounts of data. Such data can be potentially useful for enabling government authorities to improve their processes and services. For example, access to business documents and track and trace information associated with supply chain activities is of great interest to customs administrations. Such information holds the potential to make customs risk assessment processes more efficient and effective and to enable faster clearance of goods crossing borders. Businesses, however, are often not willing to voluntarily share information with the government beyond what is strictly mandated to be shared by law (e.g. submitting customs declarations). There is only limited academic research and a general lack of understanding amongst practitioners about how voluntary business-government information sharing can be achieved. In this study, we present a framework to analyse the barriers, drivers, and enablers of voluntary business-government information sharing and the governance processes that make such voluntary information sharing possible. Our analysis shows that voluntary business-government information sharing can succeed when there are strong drivers and a government agency willing to take the lead in initiating the process.

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This conceptual discussion paper examines the costs of customs and borders across the supply chain. It does that by considering relevant literature and looking back at the authors’ respective contributions in the subject (of almost one and a half decades) with subsequent reflections. A key component of this paper is a cost model that seeks to describe relevant costs that can arise. That model is complemented with two case studies that explore how costs might be reduced. The first case study concerns the import of meat from Mercosur countries into the United Kingdom. The second case study concerns the shipment of flowers from Kenya into the Netherlands. A key finding is the scope for reform through improved information and data sharing and coordinated border management.@en

Digital infrastructures (DI) that support information exchange related to international trade processes (here referred to as Digital Trade Infrastructures (DTI)) have been seen as an instrument to help address the trade facilitation and security challenges. Data pipelines can be seen as an example of a DTI. Data pipelines are IT innovations that enable the timely provision of data captured at the source from different information systems available in the supply chain. Using the pipeline companies can share information with authorities and enjoy trade facilitation in return. The benefits of such data pipelines have been showcased in demonstrator settings. However, outside the controlled environment of demonstrator installations, the adoption and growth of these DTIs has been limited. The benefits based on purely implementing the data pipeline are limited. Combining data pipeline capability with Coordinated Border Management (CBM) has potential to articulate more clear benefits for stakeholders and push further investments and wider adoption. In this paper based on the FloraHolland trade lane related to exporting flowers from Kenya to the Netherlands we discuss a data pipeline/ CBM innovation. Through the conceptual lens of DI (examining architectural, process and governance dimensions) we demonstrate the potential benefits of data pipeline/ CBM innovation and the complex alignment processes between business and government actors needed for the further adoption. From a theoretical point of view we enhance the understanding regarding the governance dimension of such data pipeline/ CBM innovations by identifying four type of alignments processes involving businesses and government actors nationally and internationally. As such the paper contributes to the body of research on DI and more specifically DTI. Form a point of view of practice, the insights from our analysis can be used to better understand other data pipeline/ CBM innovation alignment processes in other domains as well.@en