Abstract
Italy, despite its current economic difficulties, maintains a prominent role in international trade, thanks to its entrepreneurial culture, strongly focused on the quality of its products. Little attention has been traditionally paid to management of logistics and distribution on an international scale. Starting new trade relationships with foreign partners outside the EU often leads to administrative burdens, that increase operating costs for Italian companies. Firms need to know how to properly manage the international logistics processes and, when such activities are overwhelming due to their innate complexity, companies can rely on Customs Assistance Centers (CADs), established to provide an expert support to companies for the optimal management of the international logistics flows. The operational peculiarities of CADs allow firms to better manage customs operations, thus reducing the complexity, the risk, the cost and the time related to customs procedures. The contribution of CADs has wider impacts, which positively affect the entire national economic system. Thanks to their intensive support in carrying out the institutional duties, CADs help the National Customs Agency to foster the quality of the provided services, especially with respect to the procedures for risk analysis and the control of strategic operations. This implies also an enhancement of the international competitiveness for the overall Italian logistics and infrastructure system.