June 02, 2009 – Guildford, UK

Kewill (LSE: KWL), a leading provider of solutions that simplify global trade and logistics, has launched version 3.0 of its Export Compliance System (ECS), enabling exporters to manage the weight and diversity of regulations enforced by different countries.

One of the most widely deployed export compliance solutions in the market, ECS is a leading Software as a Service (SaaS) export compliance solution that helps companies which export products ensure that they are adhering to legislation.

In today’s world of complex political relationships, all countries operate export control regulations, which cover denied or restricted parties, export license requirements for specific goods and trade embargoes or restrictions. These regulations change frequently and differ from country to country, making compliance a challenge for companies involved in global trade.

The ECS solution from Kewill helps businesses overcome these issues, which are business critical. If a company is found to be exporting to a denied or restricted party, it can face large fines, and in some cases, lose its export privileges.

Chris Aldrich, product manager for Kewill, said, “Since 9/11, the number of lists, and the agencies that produce and manage these lists has grown dramatically. The number of parties involved in each transaction can be significant, and it is difficult for companies to ensure that they are complying with the stringent controls. The value of ECS is that it minimises risk to businesses. Companies have an obligation to comply with regulations, and this is a way to ensure they do so. The system also delivers time benefits, as it’s running in the background, carrying out checks, negating the need for manual operations.”

Kewill hosts and maintains lists from a number of agencies including the FBI, Interpol, HM Treasury, and many other sources. When an order is processed through the user’s ERP system, a screening request can be triggered to be sent to ECS, which will check the name that the order has been placed with. If a match comes up with any of the lists, an alert is sent to the user who then analyses the result, to confirm that it is indeed a denied or restricted party. Users also have the option to check the details for themselves, as the solution can also be hosted via a web interface.

“Governments around the globe are increasing trade compliance regulations," continued Aldrich. “In today’s economic climate companies are looking for ways to cut costs while increasing their compliance and mitigating risk. With the enhanced functionality and new country content ECS 3.0 is well positioned to deliver this.”

The latest enhancements to ECS, includes a License Management module, which allows companies to centrally manage export licenses by maintaining running balances of quantities and values against orders and shipments, while proactively alerting a compliance team when licenses are approaching expiration and depletion.

Export and Import License Determination has also been enhanced to tackle the issue of increased protectionism. Expanded country content streamlines export and import license determination and examples of the new country content include Brazil, Singapore, Poland, and South Africa. The Kewill content team translates regulations into rules within the system, so that if for example an export license is required, the user is alerted to this without having to approach the relevant agency.

With the added Corporate Product Compliance functionality, users of ECS can now simultaneously screen company-specific watch lists together with the many governmental sanction lists. Automatic alerts can be generated to prevent specific products from being shipped to destination countries where government pre-approval of importation has not been obtained.

The improved functionality in ECS also provides improved audit compliance history as a result of Audit Log Override XML, which offers compliance officers a single-system to manage compliance issues across a global enterprise.