Public-civil society involvement for policy contribution to circular economy

The original scope of D7.6 was to document TRICK’s contributions to emerging circular industries in Europe, highlighting application cases, current and anticipated results, and identifying the need for extensions and adaptations for public authorities, business stakeholders, and consumers. However, during the project several deliverables relevant to public policy contributions have been submitted, reporting about policy contributions of different stakeholders of the supply chain. To avoid duplicating content from other deliverables, D7.6 focuses on the additional contributions provided by the Italian Customs and Monopolies Agency. First, throughout the project, the potential contributions of the TRICK project to the definition of Customs policies in the context of the circular economy transition have been identified. Then, in addition to general communication to promote the TRICK project aimed at a wide audience, the Italian Customs and Monopolies Agency has carried out tailored activities towards Customs organizations in charge of defining Customs regulations and policies The aim of such activity has been fostering the introduction of new policies finalized to: facilitate Customs authorities to face the new challenges of the circular economy transition; accelerate the digital transformation of Customs processes through the use of disruptive technologies and the introduction of standards in data management. In the last years, the World Customs Organization (WCO) and the World Trade Organization (WTO) have shown considerable interest in the use of disruptive technologies (e.g., Blockchain, Internet of Things, Big Data Analytics, Artificial Intelligence and Machine Learning) in the Customs environment and have conducted studies on the level of implementation of these technologies in national Customs administrations, with the aim of identifying possible areas of application, potentialities, future developments, risks and opportunities. Thanks to the activities of the Italian Customs and Monopolies Agency, the TRICK project was able to reach international Customs organizations and to participate and contribute to the activities on the definition and introduction of new policies in the context of the circular economy transition. One of the most considerable results of the Italian Customs and Monopolies Agency is the inclusion of the TRICK project, as an example of the use of Blockchain technologies in customs procedures, in the following WCO-WTO joint publications: “The role of advanced technologies in cross-border trade: A customs perspective”. “Study Report on Disruptive Technologies 2022”. Another relevant achievement is the contribution of the Italian Customs and Monopolies Agency to the activity of the WCO Permanent Technical Committee (PTC). The PTC is currently working on the writing of the concept paper on the use of Blockchain by Customs and Customs’ role in a Blockchain-enabled environment. This concept paper will be a guidance document for Customs administrations regarding the use of Blockchain technology in Customs procedures. TRICK project will contribute to the concept paper as an example of Blockchain-based innovative system finalized to a transparent, coherent and comprehensive data governance for managing product information and tracking goods.