Single Window (SW) is a facility by which individuals and businesses can submit all the necessary data to the Government in a single session, through an electronic gateway, and await response from the Government as a whole. This obviates the current need to submit separate but similar data to a number of different departments or agencies, and await separate responses from each.
Key benefits of a SW include improved performance by traders and thereby greater economic growth, enhanced security, enhanced human, animal and plant health, and greater integration of governmental processes and data. The successful introduction of a SW system for international trade in the UK will bring major advantages to UK businesses.
In order to further this project, on 10th February SITPRO and the World Customs Organisation co-hosted a forum to bring together people with experience of SW systems. Representatives came from Singapore, Sweden, Netherlands, New Zealand and Canada to the forum held at the WCO headquarters in Brussels. It was also attended by representatives of several UK Government Departments.
The Forum aimed to allow delegates to share practical experiences of the introduction and running of a SW, with a view to introducing these systems around the world.
The agenda encompassed all areas of Single Window systems, including legal, technical and cost/benefit assessments, with presentations from Swedish Customs and CrimsonLogic Pte, Singapore. Information gleaned from this forum will be used to further the UK project, in particular to produce an estimated assessment of the costs and benefits such a system will bring.
For further information, please contact andy.walker@sitpro.org.uk 
Return to SITPRO News: Issue 44, April/May 2003