The “single window”, coming by December, 2016.

In February, President Obama issued an Executive Order that required all federal agencies who participate in the import and export process to be on the same platform by December, 2016. The program’s full name is the International Trade Data System, or ITDS, but it’s more popularly known by the short phrase, “single window”.

As you might imagine, trying to get more than one agency in the government to collaborate on a project is nigh-impossible. Try pulling together forty-seven agencies, which is the vision of this program. As you might expect, there are many levels of technology that need to be evaluated, integrated (if and where possible) and tested to make sure they function, both inbound and outbound.

CBP knows this will not happen without keeping the trade informed every step of the way what they are doing and how they are progressing. To that end, CBP took to the internet to explain it on Medium.

In a four-part series written by a representative of the Department of Homeland Security, shippers who interface with the government for import and export processes will find the history and planned deployment of interest to them.

Part I: Introduction

Part II: Highlights of the Executive Order

Part III: Implementation of the Executive Order

Part IV: Implementation Priorities for 2015