Technological update for ALADI's Digital Certification of Origin (COD) System

Montevideo, October 22, 2021.

The Latin American Integration Association (ALADI) continues working on the modernization of its customs processes through the implementation of tools that improve and facilitate regional trade, aiming to reduce costs, risks, and delays associated with cross-border procedures. As a result, ALADI implemented a system for issuing the Digital Certificate of Origin (DCO), which allows certificates of origin to retain the same legal validity as those issued on paper.

The Certificate of Origin is a document containing a sworn statement from the exporter confirming that certain goods originate from the country for the purposes of a trade agreement and its benefits.

Within this context, the Digital Certificate of Origin (DCO) IT system arises within ALADI, which is a certificate of origin digitally issued and signed according to the technical specifications and general procedures established in Resolution 386 of the ALADI Committee of Representatives.

The Digital Certificate of Origin consists of different applications:

• The applications for receiving requests and issuing the DCO by the Authorized Entities (AE), which must allow the DCO requests to be digitally signed by the Exporter or their Legal Representative.
• The customs IT systems, which must allow the receipt and verification of the DCOs.
• The Digital Certificate of Origin IT System (SCOD) of ALADI, whose main function is to manage a Secure Directory of Digital Identification Certificates (CID) of the Authorized Officials (AO) to sign the DCOs, while providing a query service to Customs to verify the Authorized Officials and their registration in the SCOD.

Regarding this last application, Sofis Solutions developed and implemented ALADI’s Digital Certificate of Origin IT System (SCOD), a web platform administered by ALADI’s General Secretariat. Its main function is to manage a secure directory of Digital Identification Certificates (CID) of the authorized officials to sign the DCOs and provide information to customs during the validation process of the DCOs at the time of importation.

The SCOD is composed of three modules:

1. Secure Directory (SD): this includes a database with information on the authorizing authorities of each country, authorized entities, authorized officials, customs, and Certificates of Origin, the replication function, and the generation of audit trails.
2. Administrative Module: this module consists of procedures and functionalities for the administration of the SCOD actors and users, as well as system security, control, statistics, and auditing.
3. Consultation and Verification Module: this module allows customs to verify the digital signature of the authorized officials.

The modernization of this system directly contributes to Sustainable Development Goal 9, which seeks to build resilient infrastructure, promote inclusive and sustainable industrialization, and foster innovation. SCOD is a regional initiative that promotes the use of electronic and/or digital documents in international trade operations; therefore, it supports achieving SDG 9 target 9.4, focused on modernizing infrastructure and upgrading industries to be sustainable by using resources more efficiently and promoting the adoption of clean and environmentally sound technologies and industrial processes.