Lead image for How Artificial Intelligence Is Redefining Customs Risk Management.
As parcel volumes surge and de minimis rules shift worldwide, rule-based customs systems are running out of road, and the fix isn't more policy patches but rebuilding around AI from the ground up. Writes Marek Retelski, Head of Global Sales at Webb Fontaine.
Customs authorities are struggling to keep pace with global trade. Cross-border e-commerce is driving up daily shipment volumes, and de minimis rules -the thresholds below which low-value shipments can be exempted from duties and controls - are being continually rewritten around the world. Yet none of these changes fully keeps pace with current trade volumes.
Today, tens of millions of low-value parcels move through customs every day, and the number keeps rising.
This gives criminal networks ample opportunity to exploit the gap, splitting shipments and altering documents to bypass controls.
Why Legacy Systems Can't Keep Up
The reason those controls can't keep up comes down to how they're built. Most customs systems are now at least partly digital, but many still run on rigid, rule-based processes.
If a risk score crosses a threshold, the shipment gets flagged. However, when there is a policy change, engineers must rewrite the rules in code, which is burdensome and time-consuming.
Machine learning-based risk scoring has improved detection, but it's still governed by the rules people set. Either way, a policy update means manual intervention, and a lag between a new threat appearing and the system catching up.