A  new App for Dual-use items identification and classification

In 2021, the Armenian Research Centre for Non-Proliferation of Weapons of Mass Destruction (NPC), with the support of International Science and Technology Centre (ISTC), and financed by the EU, developed a telephone application for the identification and classification of dual-use goods.

The application aims to help the customs officers who work on the front line to do the first step of identification and classification of goods by phone. The App could be also useful to the exporters to check if the goods they are trading are controlled or not.

As the front-line customs officers do not always have a computer with an internet connection at hand, the phone application will help them do the first step of product identification in the field. The application will also assist businesses to find the categories of goods they export.

The creators have planned to develop a system that will be user friendly and will easily identify the categories of goods in a few steps. Moreover, the application is trilingual, working equally in Armenian, English and Russian languages, based on the EU lists of dual goods updated in 2020.

App description and main functions.

The application will be available on Google Play  and the Apple App Store (after January 15, 2022) as “PIK”. After downloading and opening the application, the following image will appear on the phone screen.

This image will immediately change to the following search page:

The search can be done both by a scanner and by typing the keyword, HS Code or EU code of the product in the search box.

When using scanners, use Crop to separate the searched word or code

As a result of the search, the system will display all possible options from which you will have to select the product you are interested in and click the “view” button.

As a result of the selection, you will get a complete description of the selected product on the screen in the EU list of dual-use goods of 2020. Like this:

The same actions are performed when typing manually in the search box the name or the code of the product. The users can select the language of the application in the bottom right corner of the interface.

Evidently, the application cannot exclude the human factor, and the users must at least have minimal technical information about the product which they search.

Later based on the user feedback, it is  planned to launch also a classification application system following the legislation of the given country.

In the Armenian version, this system has been introduced and is operating by the law of the Republic of Armenia (in Armenian Law 42-Ն article 6  point 2: the classification of the controlled items should be made by an accredited organization, in this case it is NPC). Businesses and/or customs officers can apply to an expert organization accredited in Armenia through the system and receive a professional expert opinion on the classification of the mentioned product.

The application has many possibilities for further development and improvement, for diversification of functions. The developers plan to make it an efficient and cost-effective tool for the users.

By Karen Gasparyan

Research Centre for Non-Proliferation of Weapons of Mass Destruction (NPC). Yerevan, Armenia