**1. Introduction**

As of March 2020, the Covid-19 pandemic has had an enormous impact on trade volume, disrupting international and sometimes even national trade exchange for several months [1]. As experienced worldwide, the first common reaction to the widespread of the SARS-CoV-2 has been the implementation of travel restrictions and closures of borders, with the obvious consequence of directly affecting goods and services trade. From the first case identified in Wuhan (China) on December, 31st 2019 until March, 11th 2020 when the World Health Organization declared the pandemic, as shown in **Figure 1**, most countries have progressively introduced severe travel restrictions and border closures with the highest expression of this hard situation reached between April and May 2020, leading to a constant increase of shipping costs and transport duration [2].

#### **Figure 1.**

*International travel controls by stringency and date (1st January–1st August 2020). Source: World Trade Organization [2].*

Given that, it is estimated that regulatory and legislative differences, as well as trade policy barriers, still count for no less than 10 per cent of trade cost [2] it is of the utmost importance to ensure a safer and faster international trade: this concern is even truer in hard times as the one we are facing. As known, safety is often defined, in international trade, as the condition in which the various risk, which is linked to the exercised activity, has been acknowledged, in which the likelihood of some specific adverse events have been identified and in which all the feasible special measures have been taken to limit, as far as possible, the associated risks [3]. To achieve safety and velocity, several instruments could be taken into consideration, including trade facilitation. In this regard, the World Trade Organization (WTO) specifically highlights that, as done in the current pandemic time on medical products and personal protective equipment, countries should put in place electronic systems and certificates [2] to achieve the above-mentioned goals. Before specifically focusing on this issue, it is useful to recall some of the most efficient tools proposed and adopted by the World Customs Organization (WCO) Council in the last 20 years to reach velocity and safety in international trade: (i) SAFE Framework of Standards to Secure and Facilitate Global Trade (SAFE Framework) in 2005 and (ii) the Authorized Economic Operators (AEO) Program in 2007. The SAFE Framework is a non-binding unique international instrument that ushered in the supply chain which comprised technical security customs standards without obstructing international trade and creating a closer partnership between customs and business operators [4, 5], while the AEO is a voluntary certification that allows traders who meet certain criteria to assure the supply chain security and then to enjoy customs benefits throughout the European Union [6, 7]. Although, the SAFE Framework has proved to work well, in 2021 the WCO undertook a revision of it aiming at "*strengthen[ing] co-operation between Customs and Other Government Agencies; promot[ing] smart security devices to optimize Customs control and effectively monitor the movement of goods in a real-time basis; and, includ[ing] baseline provisions on the development of regional Customs union AEO programmes and the implementation of mutual recognition*" [8].

#### *Application of Internet of Things in the Movement of Goods at Customs Level during Covid-19… DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.5772/intechopen.102488*

Similarly, after the period 2016-2020 where the goal was to support European Union's (EU) competitiveness on the world markets, the—at the time—EU Commission's candidate U. Von Der Leyen highlighted those further steps should be taken to lead Customs Union up to the next level, as it is necessary to equip it with new and stronger legislation and framework which would eventually allow the Union to better protect the single market and the citizens [9]. As a result of the Covid-19 pandemic, the 2020–2024 Strategic Plan developed by the European Commission's Directorate-General for Taxation and Customs Union (DG TAXUD) highlights that the European Union needs today more than ever tax and customs policies which can support economic recovery and to guarantee that all the financial resources are correctly and sustainably allocated to create a level playing field capable of higher protection to both the citizens and the Single Market [10]. To achieve this ambitious plan, DG TAXUD started developing trader portals and single EU access points accelerating electronic exchanges between customs authorities and traders enabling 24/7 operativity to Union customs.

As known, to effectively guarantee safety and security in goods and services' trade, it is essential to develop a close partnership between national customs and businesses. To do so, one of the aspects to be taken into consideration consists in ensuring to have implemented an in-depth risk analysis enabling each custom to correctly assess its own procedures. A tool that is commonly accepted and that is gaining more and more importance is the Authorized Economic Operator (AEO) together with the information management and information technology (IT) tools.

As above-mentioned, AEO is recognized as a certification scheme using shared information to assess and lower risks associated with trade. The companies which can gain such certification are allowed to have softer or removed border controls that other companies normally undergo [11].

Given the above, this chapter presents an analysis of some of the Covid response papers issued by international organizations and bodies in the period 2020–2021 with a focus on the new technologies, to understand whether there could be some efficient trade facilitator in this global pandemic era to implement the performance of the whole supply chain.

With the purpose to achieve the aim of this research, the following hypothesis has been developed:

H. In international trade there is an increasing need to monitor the supply chain also about the movement of goods, furthermore, it is necessary to increase and facilitate the safety and velocity of these exchanges particularly in this pandemic period. Since the Internet of Things is considered a strategic tool in many sectors, it would be significant to identify nowadays strategies to help international trade to recover during the Covid-19 pandemic.

To the Author's knowledge, this is the first manuscript that analyses the international bodies' responses to the impact of Covid-19 and the different suggestions issued by the International Organizations.

The study is therefore organized in 3 further sections: Section 2, review on international bodies recommendation; Section 3, discussions and implications and, in Section 4, conclusions are presented.
