MODCBR - CUSTOMS DECLARATIONS Ó UNCTAD - SITE (V1.15) 3.31 What is EDI? EDI   is   the   electronic   transfer   of   commercial   or   administrative   transactions   using   an   agreed standard   to   structure   the   transaction   or   message   data.   EDI   is   designed   to   facilitate   the transmission of commercial or administrative data such as invoices, purchase orders, ship arrival notices,  packing  lists,  customs  declarations  and  the  like.  The  purpose  is  to  adopt  a  common communication  standard  to  allow  otherwise  non-compatible  computer  systems  to  'talk'  to  each other and to permit electronic information to be transferred from one transaction point to another, to be 'reused' and added to, without any need for re-keying. UN/EDIFACT is an international EDI standard. It is the only EDI standard that has received official approval  by  the  United  Nations.  UN/EDIFACT  permits  organisations,  both  public  and  private,  to transmit data in a common format - a common computer language. Among the officially approved UN/EDIFACT messages there are four so far which are unique to Customs operations. The four Customs messages are: ·     The Customs Declaration Message (CUSDEC); ·     The Customs Response Message (CUSRES); ·     The Customs Cargo Report Message (CUSCAR); ·     The Customs Conveyance Report Message (CUSREP). The electronic format CUSDEC is for the Customs declaration - it permits transfer of data from a Declarant directly to a Customs administration. EDI Messages in ASYCUDA++ CUSDEC  -  the  Customs  declaration  in  the  UN/EDIFACT  standard  format  -  can  be  created  by being stored in the CUSDEC format from the Local Menu in Declarations. (See ‘Batch processes’.) The  'EDI  Manager'  menu  option  accesses  the  System  sub-directory  ([drive]:\asy\edi\*.EDI)  and displays  in  a  window  the  contents  of  the  sub-directory.    Files  in  EDI  format  can  be  selected  for viewing of the CUSDEC message on screen. The following screen shows a CUSDEC message, overlaid with the EDI Manager window: Fig 3.7 MODCBR: Functions: EDI Manager