Dubai Customs upgrades AI-powered goods classification platform
By Si Ying Thian
The AI Munasiq app's improved AI capabilities and enhanced user interface will make it easier for traders to search and store information on goods classification.
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Al Munasiq is an AI-powered app and platform launched by the Dubai Customs to help traders ensure compliance and avoid errors in customs declarations. Image: Canva
First launched in 2019 by Dubai Customs, Al Munasiq is an app that helps traders ensure compliance and avoid errors in customs declarations.
The app incorporates artificial intelligence (AI) and machine learning (ML) capabilities, allowing users to quickly and easily classify their goods based on the Harmonised System (HS) code, which is a global product classification system.
It also contains information to whether the code is covered under any free trade agreement between the UAE and other countries.
On January 20, the agency announced the app’s improved search capabilities and features.
These include accommodating a greater variety of search inputs to cover text, photos and voice, a search history, a favorites list, the ability to generate PDF reports, as well as an overall better navigation and user experience.
According to an official release and news, the app is said to allow customers to obtain the HS code for their goods in just 10 seconds. The app could also reduced an average of 20 man hours to under a minute for an officer to manually process a customer’s classification request.
Al Munasiq/Dubai Customs. Video: DTMCentre
The Al Munasiq app can be downloaded from the major app stores, and can also be accessed on the web version at almunasiq.dubaicustoms.gov.ae
Dubai’s broader AI strategy
Al Munasiq’s upgrades are part of the agency’s broader strategy spanning several upcoming years to invest in advanced technologies and AI to improve custom services, said the agency’s Director General Abdulla Busenad in an official statement.
He added that it is also aligned to the national annual plan “to accelerate AI adoption to improve the quality of life in Dubai [and] integrate AI into all sectors critical to the emirate’s future.”
Last year, the Dubai government announced two other AI-powered initiatives related to trade and customs.
One of which is “Octa”, which is an AI-driven personal assistant that responds to customer inquiriess related to customs and trade in Dubai.
The other is the Customs AI platform which encourages developers to create AI-powered systems for the customs and logistics sector. It would also serve as an incubator for small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs), as well as a space for collaboration with global AI companies.