A group of 2 customs administrations and 2 private organisations in the EU e-commerce market.

Led by e-Origin, the vision is to have a global group of actively engaged actors, including all EU customs brokers, e-commerce and marketplace providers, and VAT and customs authorities in the EU. For this prototype, the Belgian VAT administration and customs authority, Amazon, and customs brokers in Liege airport (LGG) are used as satellite actors to work together to effectuate e-Origin's innovative solution designed to speed up cross-border parcel flow and help clients avoid penalties, unexpected delays, and losses.

VAT gap and undervaluation of imported goods.

New European regulations on low-value declarations and the use of an Import One-Stop Shop (IOSS) removed the VAT exemption and simplified the collection of VAT on internet sales by e-commerce platforms. However, for customs declarations on goods imported into Europe, fraudulent practices aim to undervalue goods to systematically evade customs duties on low-value products and to use stolen IOSS numbers to evade VAT. Up to 65% of parcels entering the EU are currently undervalued to avoid customs duties on import. For the IOSS scheme alone, the yearly VAT fraud is evaluated at 7 billions euros.

Building the foundation of a cross-border e-commerce verification services for customs declarations using EBSI.

The pilot project leverages the power of the European Blockchain Services Infrastructure (EBSI) to build the foundations needed for seamless cross-border e-commerce. The pilot unites VAT administration, marketplaces, online sellers, customs brokers and customs authorities in Europe to achieve this. e-Origin is using EBSI to pioneer a trusted ecosystem that fosters fair trade, sustainable, transparent, efficient and secured cross-border e-commerce processes.

The EBSI-ELSA project aligns with the EU's digital policy and circular economy goals, aiming to develop traceability system capabilities by 2028 using the Digital Product Passport (DPP).

The European Blockchain Services Infrastructure (EBSI) allows e-Origin to design, build, and operate the next generation of decentralized services. The objective of this pilot is to enhance the online sellers and customs broker experience by allowing them to:

• Store and share sales transaction proof.
• Receive seamless recognition of the sales transaction proof from customs authorities to facilitate customs clearance at the EU border.
• Enable secure data sharing and full control over sensible and confidential information from online sellers and marketplaces.