Glossary

One line each, in alphabetical order. For the longer explanations, read Key concepts. Developers have their own glossary in the guides: Glossary.

Term	What it means
Acknowledged (acked)	An administration's system confirmed it received an announcement from ITS.
AfCFTA	The African Continental Free Trade Area, and the agreement that created it.
All areas	The panel in the header listing every area your account may open. ⌘K or Ctrl+K.
Announcement	ITS telling the administrations on a corridor that a declaration has a new version.
Arrived	The state after a country's office of entry recorded the goods. It is any country on the way, not only the destination.
Between administrations	Nobody holds the goods: one country has stamped its exit and the next has not stamped entry.
Cancelled	The state of a declaration withdrawn by the departure country before any exit stamp. Final.
Cargo tracking	The live position of a consignment with an electronic seal, asked for when you open the page and never stored.
Consignee	The importer: who receives the goods. Their TIN opens the Track page.
Consignor	The exporter: who sends the goods.
Correlation ID	The reference of one request to ITS. Quote it when reporting a problem; look it up in Failed transmissions.
Corridor	The countries a consignment has passed through or been sent to, worked out from the stamps.
Created	The day a declaration was lodged, in your browser's time zone.
Custody	The tile on a declaration's Overview showing who has held the goods, stamp by stamp.
Declarant	The person or company that lodged the declaration (TD box 34). Their TIN opens the Track page.
Declaration	The electronic transit declaration (eTD): one consignment's record in ITS, from lodging to discharge.
Departed	The state after goods are released to run inland. It does not mean they left the country.
Departure country	The country where the declaration was lodged. Only it may cancel the declaration.
Digest	The fingerprint of an attached file, stored by ITS and checked on every download.
Discharge	The destination's closing stamp, at the declared office of destination.
Discharged	The state of a closed transit. Final.
Electronic seal	A seal that can report the load's position. Shown as ELECTRONIC on a declaration.
Exit	The stamp a country cuts when the goods leave it, naming the next country.
Failed transmission	A request ITS refused. Listed on Overview → Failed Transmissions.
Filed by	The organisation whose system lodged the declaration: a State Party, or a REC filing for a member.
Guarantee	The bond covering the duties on goods in transit, checked with the departure country's guarantee platform.
Held by	The country holding the declaration now: the one that recorded the goods and has not stamped them out.
HS code	The Harmonized System tariff code of a commodity. The first six digits are international; national digits may follow.
In transit	The state between one country's exit and the next country's entry.
Leaflet	One copy of the printed Transit Document: leaflet I for the declarant, leaflet II for the customs office.
Lodge	To submit a new declaration. Done by a customs system, never in the portal.
Metallic seal	A normal mechanical seal. It reports no position.
Next declared	The country named on an exit stamp as the goods' next destination.
Notification	A notice ITS addressed to your organisation. See the bell and the notification centre.
Office	A customs office or station, written as a country code and a three-character code, such as ZW/BBG.
Office of departure / of destination	Where the transit starts, and where it must be discharged.
Organisation	The Secretariat, a State Party or a REC. Every account belongs to exactly one.
Overdue	Still open after the transit window closed.
REC	Regional Economic Community, such as IGAD, SADC or ECOWAS. A REC can file and follow declarations for its members.
Registered	The first state: lodged, goods not yet moved.
Release	The stamp that lets the goods run inland.
Scope	The declarations and figures your organisation may see.
Secretariat	The AfCFTA Secretariat, which governs ITS.
Serial number	A declaration's unique number, such as ZAJNBTD2609203: country, office, TD, date and counter.
Serve a copy	The card on the Transit document tab with Download PDF and Print. It changes nothing.
Signature	ITS's digital signature on every version.
Stamp	One customs act recorded against a declaration: Departure, Release, Exit, Transit entry or Discharge.
State	Where a declaration stands: Registered, Departed, In transit, Arrived, Discharged or Cancelled.
State Party	A country that is party to the AfCFTA agreement, represented in ITS by its customs administration.
TIN	Taxpayer Identification Number.
Track	The public page where the declarant or the consignee sees a consignment's corridor.
Transit document	The printed AfCFTA Transit Document, drawn by ITS from the latest signed version.
Transit entry	The stamp a country cuts when the goods enter it.
Transit window	The dates within which the transit should be completed (section G).
Transshipment	A change of vehicle during the transit.
Verification code	The 26-character code under the QR code on the Transit Document.
Verify	The public page that checks a Transit Document is genuine.
Version	One signed state of a declaration. Every act adds one.