Airlines operating cargo flights to the European Union (EU) have been mandated to provide a complete set of Entry Summary Declaration Data on air shipment prior to their arrival at the regional bloc’s external borders.
Nigeria’s Allied Air, CargoLux Airlines, and other carriers operate cargo flights into European Union countries.
The regulation is the second phase of EU’s Import Control System 2 (ICS2), the new advanced cargo information and risk management platform intended to protect against security and safety threats from goods entering the regional economic bloc.
The regulation, according to experts familiar with the development, requires air carriers, freight forwarders, express couriers, and postal operators involved in the transportation of goods by air to or through the EU to ensure compliance.
The regulation experts say they require airlines and other operators to implement the directive through the ICS2 system, which is gradually replacing the EU’s existing Import Control System (ICS) between 2021 and 2024.
The EU said air carriers currently filing advance cargo information into the Import Control System (ICS) will be fully phased out from that system as soon as they start filing this data into ICS2.
The second phase of ICS2 introduces new data requirements and processes to be complied with, prior to transporting the goods from a third country and before their arrival at the European Union’s external border.