Project/Service

A. General Information

1. Title

bConnect

2. Status of the project/service
Operating
3. Implementation period of the project/service:
From
Jan-2018
To
Nov-2022
4. Website
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5. Geographical coverage
Mercosul - Argentina / Brasil / Paraguai / Uruguai
6. Participating agencies/entities of the project/service:
a. Development stage
Lead agencies/entities
RFB (Brasil) e AFIP (Argentina)
Other participating agencies/entities
DNA (Uruguai) e DNA (Paraguai)
b. Operational stage
Lead agencies/entities (op)
RFB (Brasil) e AFIP (Argentina)
Other participating agencies/entities (op)
DNA (Uruguai) e DNA (Paraguai)
7. Main stakeholders/beneficiaries of the project/services
Traders (big enterprises)
Traders (SMEs)
Customs
8. Business process category of the project/service
Commercial Transactions
Regulatory/official control

B. Lessons Learned

9. Summary description of the project/service
a. Objective(s)

Create a platform for exchanging information on AEO

b. Business need for the project/service (background)

The solution should adopt the WCO data model. Furthermore, it should be fully distributed so that the service is not hosted in just one country.

c. Business process covered*

AEO data exchange

d. Overall architecture and functionalities*

The bConnect project consists of a permissioned blockchain implementation (Hyperledger fabric) that allows any type of data to be exchanged between participating countries. It is a Mercosur project, but it allows both the exchange of data between all countries and the bilateral exchange between some of them, and also the exchange of data with other countries that may adopt this tool.

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

AEO Certificates.

11. Data models/databases, proprietary solutions, hybrid approaches
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12. Main challenges faced during the project/service

At the beginning of the project, there was a great lack of professionals qualified to implement Blockchain projects. In addition, the specific characteristics of this technology required some adjustments between the countries involved.

13. Lessons learned from the project/service

The use of blockchain allowed us to have a data exchange tool that, unlike the models we used until then, does not require the figure of a central server and also facilitates the management of data security and auditing.

14. Main benefit(s) of the project/service
Transaction Time savings
Simplified process
14A. Elaborations/detailed description on benefits gained:
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15. Technical/financial/capacity building/other assistance
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16. Future plan for expansion of the project and service

We are studying other data exchange cases for use with this tool. We are currently finalizing the data exchange of some auxiliary tables of the international land traffic control system. Furthermore, the issue of interoperability between established blockchains on different platforms is also on our radar.

17. Other information or relevant references on the project and service
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18. Relevant document regarding the project/service
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C. Relevant Standards

20. Electronic message standard
20A. Electronic message standard supporting the project/service:
Json and XML:
20B. Type of standard for electronic message applied for the project/service
International standard
21. Technical communication standard
21A. Technical communication standard supporting the project/service
HTTP
21B. Type of technical communication standard applied for the project/service
International standard
22. Security-related standards*
22A. Security-related standard supporting the project/service
Digital signatures
22B. Type of security-related standard applied for the project/service
International standard
23. Other Technical Information
23A. Interface developed for data exchange with an internal system
bConnect offers an API with several services to connect to our Single Window..
23B. Other technical implementation information
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