Project

A. General Information

1. Title

Andean Community Interoperability Platform (INTERCOM)

2. Status of the project
Operating
3. Implementation period of the project/service:
From
Mar 2021
To
Present
4. Website
https://www.comunidadandina.org/temas/dg-com/interoperabilidad-del-comercio/
https://canaln.pe/internacionales/comunidad-andina-presento-intercom-n488009
5. Geographical coverage
Regional: Latin America
Participating countries: Bolivia (Plurinational State of), Colombia, Ecuador, Peru
6. Participating agencies/entities of the project/service:
a. Development stage
Lead agencies/entities
General Secretariat of the Andean Community (SGCAN)
Other participating agencies/entities
Development Bank of Latin America and the Caribbean (CAF) – non-reimbursable technical cooperation; ministries of commerce and agriculture and other government institutions of Bolivia, Colombia, Ecuador and Peru (more than 20 entities in total); contracted consultancy firms – platform design and implementation, supervision and audit
b. Operational stage
Lead agencies/entities (op)
General Secretariat of the Andean Community (SGCAN) – coordination and monitoring of implementation
Other participating agencies/entities (op)
Customs administrations and other competent authorities of Bolivia, Colombia, Ecuador and Peru
7. Main stakeholders/beneficiaries of the project
Traders (big enterprises)
Traders (SMEs)
Customs
Other Government Agencies (OGAs)
8. Business process category of the project
Regulatory/official control

B. Lessons Learned

9. Summary description of the project/service
Brief Summary

INTERCOM is the Andean Community's interoperability platform through which Bolivia, Colombia, Ecuador and Peru exchange digital foreign-trade documents in real time. It was presented as operational in October 2025 with the backing of CAF.

a. Objective(s)

Exchange foreign-trade documents in real time with greater security, traceability and transparency; reduce costs and processing times for customs and operators; reduce administrative burden and the use of paper; increase competitiveness, particularly of SMEs; facilitate intra-regional trade.

b. Business need for the project (background)

The project aims to enable the exchange of customs and foreign-trade data between the national systems of the four Member Countries. It is part of the Andean Digital Agenda, following the 2019 and 2020 declarations of the Andean Presidential Council calling for digital information-exchange platforms. Member Countries approved its implementation in March 2021, and the Andean Community and CAF signed an agreement for the project in November 2021.

c. Business process covered*

Electronic exchange or shared viewing of digital foreign-trade documents between competent authorities of Member Countries: digital certificate of origin, Andean Value Declaration, customs goods declaration, phytosanitary export certificate and import permit, and mandatory sanitary notification. For the customs goods declaration (import for consumption and definitive export), data are sent online after release of imports to the country of origin, and for exports to the country of destination, and are used for risk analysis, statistics and customs research.

d. Overall architecture and functionalities*

Modular platform with one module per document type and intermediate components (proxies) exchanging information between INTERCOM and Member Countries' systems; designed to be scalable and non-intrusive to national IT platforms, with database, backend/API and frontend layers (2022 terms of reference). Data exchanged through INTERCOM are encrypted and kept for one year in the INTERCOM repository (Resolution 2591, 2026).

e. Relevant document/figure
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10. Documents and data exchanged via the project

Digital Certificate of Origin (COD); Andean Value Declaration (DAV); Customs Goods Declaration (DAM); Phytosanitary Export Certificate and Phytosanitary Import Permit (CFITO); Mandatory Sanitary Notification (NSO)

11. Data models/databases, proprietary solutions, hybrid approaches

Pilot plan based on WCO Data Model version 3.7 (2022 terms of reference); the data dictionary for the Customs Goods Declaration exchange (with JSON paths) references WCO Data Model version 4.1.0, UN/EDIFACT, UNECE, ISO 3166 and ISO 4217, together with Andean Community code tables (Resolution 2591, 2026, Annexes II–III).

12. Main challenges faced during the project

Harmonisation of processes and overcoming of technical barriers among the four countries during development (El Universo, October 2025).

13. Lessons learned from the project
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14. Main benefit(s) of the project
Enhanced regulatory compliance*
Transaction Cost savings*
Transaction Time savings
Simplified process
14A. Elaborations/detailed description on benefits gained

Real-time document exchange with greater security, traceability and transparency; reduced administrative burden and use of paper for economic operators (El Universo and Canal N, October–November 2025).

15. Technical/financial/capacity building/other assistance

Financial: CAF non-reimbursable technical cooperation, including consultancy budgets of US$615,000 (diagnosis, design and implementation of INTERCOM, 2022) and US$145,000 (supervision and audit of deliverables, 2022)
Technical: Contracted consultancies for platform design and implementation, and for supervision and audit covering software security, document confidentiality and quality of deliverables
Capacity building: Training included in the implementation consultancy (pilot go-live, documentation and training)

16. Future plan for expansion of the project

Integrate a larger number of foreign-trade documents into INTERCOM, coordinated by the General Secretariat with the technical teams of Member Countries (El Universo and Canal N, October–November 2025).

17. Other information or relevant references on the project

January 2021: pilot exchange of Andean Value Declaration data achieved. October–November 2025: INTERCOM presented as operational; more than 20 entities and about 200 officials from the four countries collaborated on its development. Resolution 2591 (18 May 2026) set the start of Customs Goods Declaration data exchange for no later than 31 July 2026 among Member Countries ready to interoperate.
References:
https://www.comunidadandina.org/temas/dg-com/interoperabilidad-del-comercio/
https://canaln.pe/internacionales/comunidad-andina-presento-intercom-n488009
https://www.eluniverso.com/noticias/economia/intercom-plataforma-comercio-exterior-paises-can-ecuador-2025-nota/
https://www.comunidadandina.org/normativa-files/uploads/Gaceta_5761_8b9418963b.pdf

18. Relevant document regarding the project
INTERCOM consultancy terms of reference (SGCAN, 2022)
INTERCOM supervision and audit call for proposals SGCAN-C-09-2022

C. Relevant Standards

19. Name(s) of any international, national legal instrument underpinning the project
Andean Community Decision 929 (2024) – Implementation of the Andean Community Interoperability (INTERCOM); General Secretariat Resolution 2591 (18 May 2026) – Implementation of the electronic exchange of data related to the Customs Goods Declaration between the customs administrations of the Member Countries of the Andean Community
20. Electronic message standard
20A. Electronic message standard supporting the project
JSON – data dictionary with JSON paths referencing WCO Data Model version 4.1.0 (Customs Goods Declaration exchange, Resolution :
20B. Type of standard for electronic message applied for the project
International standard
21. Technical communication standard
21A. Technical communication standard supporting the project
--
21B. Type of technical communication standard applied for the project
--
22. Security-related standards*
22A. Security-related standard supporting the project
Payload (message) encryption (text security)
22B. Type of security-related standard applied for the project
--
23. Other Technical Information
23A. Interface developed for data exchange with an internal system
Member Countries' national systems ↔ intermediate components (proxies) ↔ INTERCOM modules (one per document type); solution non-intrusive to national IT platforms (2022 terms of reference); data kept for one year in the INTERCOM repository (Resolution 2591, 2026).
23B. Other technical implementation information
Stress-test target of at least 1,000 documents shared per second (2022 terms of reference); Member Countries implement encryption and decryption procedures for sending and receiving customs declaration data (Resolution 2591, 2026).

Last Update: 27 October 2026