EKÁER: Electronic System for the Control of Goods in Hungary

In 2015, Hungary introduced the Electronic Trade and Transport Control System (EKAER) to enhance transparency in the movement of goods. The primary goals of the EKAER system are to combat fraud related to food products that may pose a risk to human health and to reduce tax evasion. The system also covers the reporting of raw materials used in construction and certain grains, such as wheat, rye, barley, corn, and rapeseed (including broken seeds), as well as sunflower seeds.

With this electronic document, the route of the products and their details (such as the name and quantity of goods, consignee, sender, etc.) are recorded. While there are some exceptions, in general, the following activities must be reported to the authorities:

• The purchase or import of goods from any European Union country into Hungary, where the consignee is responsible for submitting the declaration.
• The sale or export of goods from Hungary to other EU member countries, where the sender or shipper is responsible for declaring to the authorities.
• The first taxable sale of goods to end users in domestic trade, when transported by vehicles subject to tolls (i.e., vehicles weighing over 3.5 tons).En caso de productos no considerados de riesgo, se deben reportar cuando la entrega supera los 5 millones de HUF o los 2.500 kgs de peso.

For goods considered high-risk, the EKAER system is mandatory for any road transport if the value of the goods in a single delivery exceeds HUF 1 million, or if their gross weight exceeds 500 kg.

The EKAER (Electronic Trade and Transport Control System) is based on creating an electronic XML document. All road transport of goods must be reported to the Hungarian tax authorities' EKAER system prior to departure, and the arrival of the goods must also be reported.

After the goods declaration is submitted, the Tax and Customs Authority issues an EKÁER number, a unique identification number assigned to a unit of goods after notification of its public road transport.

The recipient of the EKÁER number must then communicate it to the carrier by any means necessary, so that the carrier can present it during inspections carried out by the authorities.

The EDICOM Solution

To help meet this obligation, EDICOM has adapted its EDI platform to comply with the EKÁER system requirements. This solution generates the electronic document using the XML schema specified by regulations and allows for a direct, secure web service connection with the Hungarian administration. Additionally, messages are integrated with the ERP system, ensuring they are automatically generated and transmitted.