Project sheet
CALL: PRIN: RESEARCH PROJECTS OF RELEVANT NATIONAL INTEREST - Call 2022
TITLE: Innovative statistical tools for the analysis of large and heterogeneous customs data
DURATION: 24 months from 28.09.2023 to 27.09.2025
RESPONSIBLE: Prof. Riani Marco (Principal Investigator)
ERC (European Research Council) SECTOR: PE 1 - "Mathematics"
Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs): Goal 3: Health and well-being; Goal 8: Decent work economic growth; Goal 16: Peace justice and strong institutions
Brief description
The CFRAUD project aims to develop a multimodal analytical tool to detect customs fraud in advance, using advanced statistical methods to analyze customs declarations, which contain quantitative, textual, and multimodal (image and video) information. The goal is to identify anomalies and fraudulent behavior during the "pre-arrival phase," i.e., before or during the customs clearance process.
The project involves the use of robust techniques for textual analysis and automatic detection of anomalies in complex data. CFRAUD will receive support from two institutions: the Italian Customs Agency, which will provide samples from the Single Administrative Document (SAD), and the European Commission's Joint Research Center (JRC), which will provide anonymized samples from international trade data. SAD and EU customs surveillance data, including those from the DG TAXUD system, will provide information on traded goods, such as quantity, value, origin, and destination.
The analysis of these trade flows presents statistical challenges due to the presence of errors, market peculiarities, and fraud. The project will focus on identifying and resolving these issues, with guidance from the Italian Customs Agency and the JRC.
