Articles under section " Flash Info "

Non-intrusive inspection (NII) technology is now being used by Customs administrations around the world to increase the efficiency of their inspection capability, and speed up the clearance process. It consists of various technologies with different capabilities that are able to identify specific go...

WCO Conference on Illicit Financial Flows and Trade Mis-invoicing 23 May 2018, Brussels, Belgium The Conference is being organized by the WCO at its Headquarters, bringing together Members of the WCO and other relevant stakeholders to share their experiences and to discuss how they can cooperate a...

In October 2010, a bomb was found by police in the United Kingdom (UK) aboard a UPS plane after detailed information was passed through intelligence channels. Tests revealed that if the cargo plane’s journey had gone to schedule, the device – in a package addressed to a synagogue in Chicago ...

In major humanitarian crises, whether natural disasters or complex emergencies, many relief goods are delayed by Customs. Sometimes these items are only released months after their arrival, and, in the worst-case scenario, may never reach the affected population. The reason for such delays is that C...

The WCO’s Revenue Package (RP) is nearing the completion of its third phase, which will see the launch in June 2018 of a number of new tools and material for Customs administrations. The motto of the RP is “fair and efficient revenue collection,” the objective being to strengthen the capacity ...

An understanding of trade facilitation measures is also a key consideration. Facilitating the trade of compliant businesses is in fact compatible with the goal of effective revenue collection. By using risk management techniques to determine the compliance levels of individual businesses, Customs is...

The WCO is among the impressive range of contributors from policy, enforcement and academic circles who contributed to the 2015 volume of the Palgrave Studies in Green Criminology, titled ‘Environmental Crime and Collaborative State Intervention.’ The book sheds light on how collaborative netwo...

The Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) Agreement was signed on 4 February 2016. It aims to establish a more seamless trade and investment environment through commonly-agreed rules and the promotion of transparent laws and regulations, providing greater certainty for businesses, reducing costs and red t...

The adoption of the Trade Facilitation Agreement (TFA) in December 2013 at the World Trade Organization’s (WTO’s) Ministerial Conference held in Bali, Indonesia, was a landmark achievement for the global trade community. The so-called ‘Bali Package’ marked an end to trade negotiations that h...

As part of its Strategic Trade Controls Enforcement (STCE) Project, the WCO organized an unprecedented law enforcement operation to detect and prevent illicit trafficking of strategic goods in international supply chains. The operation, which went under the code name of ‘Cosmo’, brought together...

  There are currently over 400 free trade agreements and preferential trade arrangements in place worldwide, which establish lower rates of Customs duties for certain goods provided that specified origin criteria are met. However, many companies ignore the fact that they can claim tariff prefer...

One year ago, the WCO Secretariat launched a Strategic Trade Control Enforcement (STCE) Project as directed by the WCO Enforcement Committee and in response to calls for technical assistance from WCO Members. The Project’s anniversary marks a good opportunity to take stock of what has been accomp...

Uniting Africa with a common trade nomenclature is the goal of a new European Union (EU) funded programme being conducted by the WCO. The 41-month programme, called “Harmonizing the classification of goods based on WCO standards to enhance African trade,” focuses on the development of organiza...

Country focus The programme will particularly focus on countries meeting the following criteria: Countries that have not yet ratified the HS Convention; Countries not using the latest version of the HS, or facing recurrent difficulties in migrating to the latest versions of the HS on time; Countr...

When it all began, in 2013, the National Customs Enforcement Network (nCEN) application was only used in one country which needed a tool to collect, store, analyse, and disseminate law enforcement information efficiently in order to establish robust intelligence capabilities. . In the first year aft...

With the first version of the nCEN, the focus was primarily on data collection for risk management. As the user base grew and more countries began using the application, the communication component called Icomm was improved to allow for simpler and more comprehensive data exchange between Customs ad...

Fraud Detected Through Post-Clearance Audit and Its Techniques This publication brings together information on various fraud cases discovered though post-clearance audit (PCA) in 2022. It explains how the fraud was committed and how auditors examined information in order to reveal the facts. The f...

Finally, the publication is not a collection of investigation techniques. In the case of irregularities serious enough to warrant criminal rather than administrative penalties, the Criminal Investigation Division should take action. Instead, the publication presents cases of administrative control u...

A whole day will be devoted to “disruptive technologies” at the meeting of the WCO’s Permanent Technical Committee (PTC) that is scheduled to take place from 16 to 20 April 2018. Delegates will discuss, in detail, the potential benefits, risks and impact of technologies such as blockchain, art...

The new edition of the WCO Harmonized System (HS) Nomenclature entered into force on 1 January 2017. The changes in HS 2017 encompass 242 sets of amendments relating to a wide range of products and product groups, including: fish and fishery products; forestry products; antimalarial products; subst...

An important new instrument was finalized at the May 2017 session of the WCO Technical Committee on Customs Valuation (TCCV). The instrument, Advisory Opinion 4.17, deals with a scenario where royalties have been paid by a franchisee to a franchisor for the use of the brands and system connected to ...

Applications for the Global Montreal Protocol Award are now being accepted. Eligible nominees include Customs and enforcement officers or their respective organizations. Nominees must have successfully prevented illegal or unwanted trade in hydrochlorofluorocarbons (HCFCs) and hydrofluorocarbons (HF...

Goods classification and origin determination of goods are closely interlinked. Typically, the requirements for determining origin are specified for individual products or product categories identified according to their respective Harmonized System (HS) code. Classification of goods is, therefore, ...

An important new instrument was finalized at the April 2016 session of the WCO Technical Committee on Customs Valuation (TCCV). The instrument is Case Study 14.1, illustrating a specific scenario where Customs took into account transfer pricing information in the course of verifying the Customs valu...

2 July 2015 marked a sad day on the WCO calendar when the international Customs community learned of the passing of Professor Hironori Asakura, one of the founding fathers of the WCO’s Harmonized System (HS), at the age of 87. His relationship with the WCO dates back to 1968. Professor Asakura hel...

New tools have recently been developed as part of the WCO’s Revenue Package, which collates all material relevant to improving revenue collection and compliance levels. Diagnostic Tool on Tariff Classification, Valuation and Origin Work and Related Infrastructure; and Guidelines on Customs Infras...

  The WCO has released a new edition of the “Guide to Measure the Time Required for the Release of Goods,” known as the Time Release Study (TRS) Guide. An update of the TRS software and its User Manual will follow in the coming months. The WCO Time Release Study is an internationally accept...

The WCO Secretariat and Customs administrations worked in close consultation with other international organizations involved in cross-border policies in updating the latest edition of the TRS Guide, based on new and emerging strategic and business needs. In Version 3 of the Guide, the WCO strongly a...

The Global Informality Project is a research project aimed at collecting studies on informal practices and structures around the globe. Launched in 2014, the database is available online at www.in-formality.com and is searchable by region, country, keyword or type of practice. More than 250 scholars...

The WCO’s initiative on “Small Island Economies” (SIEs) was launched in June 2018 with the aim of providing the Customs administrations of such economies with tailor-made capacity building and technical assistance that would help them to curb illicit trade and smuggling more effectively, while...

Challenges they face, in varying degrees, include: lack of connectedness to global value chains, which negatively impacts their share of international trade and investment; remoteness from large markets, resulting in increased transportation costs; high communication costs, often exacerbated by poo...

Identifying shipments containing prohibited or smuggled goods is somewhat like searching for the proverbial “needle in a haystack” for Customs officers. Let’s keep this image in mind: modern container ships are like massive “haystacks,” each carrying up to 20,000 containers. It’s the sam...

Training delivery and gender mainstreaming At the outset, the two Organizations adopted a staged approach in the way they delivered the programme. Activities are organized over a period of at least three years in stages, referred to as the “crawl-walk-run” approach. While the WCO focuses on de...

Since the late 1980s, WCO Members have been drawing and sharing lessons from their experiences in combating corruption and promoting integrity. They identified various factors that effective national Customs integrity programmes must address, and consolidated them into 12 and later 10 factors[1] in ...

Different drivers of corruption If the word “factor” is used in the Revised Arusha Declaration, it is done so generically, referring to work areas, principles and practices that must be addressed or used to reduce or eliminate opportunities for corruption. Acknowledging that corruption is a hu...

In early 2019, and in partnership with the European Union, the WCO launched the COLIBRI Project to assist Customs administrations in Latin America, the Caribbean, and Africa in implementing effective controls of general aviation, a sector that incorporates all civil aviation activity other than comm...

The information that will be listed on the aircraft, together with the needs of a range of enforcement agencies, has been identified by a Steering Committee comprising the WCO Secretariat project team, national experts from Customs and other partner administrations (civil aviation, criminal investig...

The WCO has released an upgraded version of its Cargo Targeting System (WCO CTS). This enhancement has been made possible thanks to financial support provided by the U.S. Department of State Bureau of International Security and Nonproliferation, and assistance from U.S. Customs and Border Protection...

The software has been designed by the WCO, based on the best practice and expertise of Customs, shipping and the airline industry, and takes into account the Customs operational environment and the needs of Customs Officers in performing their daily tasks. It is owned by the WCO and is available exc...

In December 2019, the WCO Policy Commission clearly expressed the need to strengthen the linkage between the WCO Strategic Plan, a document that sets the objectives and concrete targets to be met by WCO Members over a three-year period, and the Environmental Scan, which offers an annual view of the ...

Although strategic foresight is still a relatively unknown concept within Customs administrations, it could represent the way forward by ensuring that Customs is equipped with the necessary regulatory and technical tools to respond adequately to a wide range of plausible futures. To quote the Organi...

The WCO Secretariat recently developed two new intellectual property right (IPR)-related tools: the Training Handbook on Legal and Practical Measures Against Offences Relating to Intellectual Property Rights and the IPR Self-Assessment Tool. They supplement the Model Legislation, the IPR Diagnostic ...

The Training Handbook aims to provide a comprehensive overview of legal and practical measures that can be taken to identify, deal with and stop IPR-related offences at borders. It comprises four sections covering: the legal framework for IPRs and related terminology; risk management and targeting ...

At the start of 2019, in partnership with the European Union, the WCO Secretariat launched the COLIBRI Project to help administrations responsible for enforcement in Latin America, the Caribbean and West Africa to implement effective controls in general aviation. General aviation covers all civil av...

An international database dedicated to general aviation The objective of the COLIBRI Geoportal is to bring together in one place data relevant to the effective surveillance of movements by general aviation. It therefore includes a database containing: the data sheets giving the registration and c...

As regards the Geoportal, users will be able to choose between several base maps: OpenStreetMap, an online geographical database managed by a foundation incorporated in England, crowdsourced and published under an open licence. Anyone who has created an account on the database website can contribut...

In 2020, the WCO Secretariat ran the first ever Operation STOP initiative to assist Customs enforcement services in enhancing their capacity to control the medical products which are generally used to diagnose or treat COVID-19. An article listing the achievements of the Operation was published in t...

Results A total of 83 administrations reported 3,434 seizures or detentions relating to illicit targeted products, including 13 seizures or detections of vaccines, which amounted to: 5 million units of medicines, as well as the equivalent of 13.4 million doses of COVID‑19 and other vaccines (5...

When COVID-19 was declared a pandemic in March 2020, the Government of Japan decided to provide funding to the WCO Secretariat to ensure Customs administrations had at their disposal comprehensive guidance material and tools to effectively respond to such disruptive events and could receive assist...

The WCO Secretariat had been promoting these tools through regional and national workshops, many of which were organized with the OCHA and the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies (IFRC) and included all stakeholders along the humanitarian supply chain. Back in 2016, than...

Following the signature of two new grant agreements with the European Union and the US Department of State, new activities have been scheduled under Programme Global Shield (PGS) for the next three years (mid-2022 to mid-2025) for the benefit of all WCO Members. Launched in 2010, PGS is an initia...

Whereas, in the past, support used to be provided to specific countries and regions based on grant agreements, the activities to be rolled out up to mid-2025 are now open to all WCO Members. They include: workshops on safety and security in handling, transporting and storage of dangerous goods; wor...

The WCO has published its first Trendspotter Study, with the aim of identifying trends in commercial fraud involving trade in goods. The Study was written by a project team with the assistance of experts from Customs administrations, and was funded by Korea Customs. The Trendspotter methodology was ...

  Certain areas – essentially because they are addressed at the WCO in the context of specific programmes and working bodies – were excluded from the scope of the Study: excise goods such as tobacco and alcohol products; illicit trade; transfer pricing; and money laundering. However, the St...

The threat of an improvised explosive device (IED) attack is a global problem. Although not a recent phenomenon, the use of IEDs in modern warfare and by terrorist groups has grown exponentially in the 21st century. Part of the reason that IEDs are so prevalent is that they are cheap and relatively ...

Programme Global Shield (PGS) Launched in 2010, PGS is an initiative aimed at building Customs capacity to monitor the licit movement and counter the illicit trafficking and diversion of explosive precursor chemicals and other components of IEDs. The team in charge of the Programme at the WCO Secr...

Results Some 24 administrations of the Americas and Caribbean region participated in the Operation and 1,788 licit shipments were reported during the operational phases. Among all PGS monitored goods, urea was the most prominent traded commodity in the region for both importation and exportation, ...

Comprehensive Comparative Study on applicable rules of origin in the East and Southern African (ESA) region The Study provides a comparative analysis of origin provisions in a region which has the most numerous and complex overlapping trade regimes of the entire African continent. It reveals subst...

Practical Guide for the implementation of the AfCFTA Rules of Origin The Guide aims to assist Customs administrations and economic operators with the practical implementation of Annex 2 on Rules of Origin to the AfCFTA Protocol on Trade, and its relevant appendices. The document provides detailed ...

The WCO is pleased to share the links to current work in this area and the news that an open Global Forum on Origin Interconnectivity will be held in February 2025. The WCO started the latest round of work looking at the digitalization of origin related procedures in 2022 when it conducted a survey ...

With a view to facilitating the establishment of smoother and more efficient exchanges of information related to COs, in September 2023 the WCO launched a project to develop an interconnectivity framework for the certificate of origin. An Informal Working Group (IWG), bringing together the intereste...

On 1 May 2018, the WCO will launch the “WCO Academy,” an online platform where representatives from the private sector will be able to access e-learning courses, webinars, books and news. The WCO has already developed 23 Customs-focused e-learning courses covering more than 500 hours of e-traini...

The brand new WCO e-learning portal aimed at building the Customs skills of trade professionals is now live. Courses currently address the following topics: Harmonized System (five sector specific courses) Agriculture & Agrifood Chemicals Industry & Construction Textiles Art & Jeweller...

In October 2014, the WCO launched a new project aimed at enhancing Customs’ capacity to counter wildlife trafficking by ensuring that all trade in wild plants and animals, and any products derived from them, is legal in terms of the implementing provisions of the Convention on International Trade ...

The Global Trade and Customs Journal (GTCJ) is celebrating its 10th year of publication. In its first decade, the Journal focused its work on the issues facing international business and the day-to-day challenges facing practitioners. It aims to provide its readers with new ideas, fresh insights and...

  © UNMEER Back in 2016, thanks to financial support provided by the Netherlands, the WCO launched a capacity building project entitled “Customs for Relief against Epidemic Diseases” (C-RED) aimed at providing support to six Customs administrations in West African countries affected by the...

Every Organization, whether public or private, national or international, must have a Strategic Plan, in other words a roadmap for achieving its objectives. When such a document is missing, or not reviewed regularly, each element of an Organization tends to work on its own, sometimes regardless of t...

The current Strategic Plan comprises over 70 tactical activities and over 90 key performance indicators, each of which must be examined and amended if necessary to take account of WCO Members’ new concerns and priorities. To assess where we stand, the level of relevance of these tactical activ...

Gender equality and diversity has been part of the WCO capacity building agenda since 2013. In continuing its efforts to promote the advancement of gender equality and diversity in Customs, the WCO launched a number of new tools and initiatives in the past year. Gender Equality Organizational Asses...

E-learning module: “Advancing Gender Equality in Customs” A new e-learning module on “Advancing gender equality in Customs” has been published on the WCO CLiKC! Platform. It is available in both English and French, and has been optimized for small screens and tablets. The module targets al...

The availability of quality and timely electronic data in a standardized and harmonized manner underpins the effective use of information and communication technologies (ICT) for modern border procedures. Some of the common challenges relating to data requirements for various Customs and border clea...

Currently, the WCO DM contains 727 data elements that support different data requirements for various Customs and border regulatory processes and systems, including the Single Window environment. It is a comprehensive technical dataset that is dynamically updated through an established Data Maintena...

WCO Members asked the Secretariat to place a new focus on the development of guidance and capacity to support the use of data analytics. As one of the responses, a team of experts was put in place under a project called BACUDA. The project’s name is an acronym, which stands for “BAnd of CUstoms ...

Objective BACUDA is a collaborative research project between Customs and data scientists whose objective is to develop data analytics methodologies, including algorithms in open-source programming languages (R1 or Python2). Methods and algorithms are explained and shared on the WCO website, where ...

It is often said that where there is a will there’s a way, but the reverse can also be true: improving Customs administrations’ capacity to understand and implement regulations might influence their willingness to make commitments. By developing and disseminating methods and tools to make strat...

When it comes to enforcing STCs, Customs is generally, although not always, the main agency involved at the border. Depending on the situation of a country, determining whether traders are compliant is a challenging task, especially for dual-use goods. As Renaud Chatelus explained in an article publ...

Measuring the programme’s performance The following data can be taken into account when trying to assess the impact of the programme: Operation Cosmo 2 gathered 114 countries, which makes it the most successful WCO global operation in terms of participation. A global network of STCE trainers ha...

WCO Secretariat has launched a COVID-19 Project to assist Customs administrations in dealing with unpredictable and disruptive events such as the COVID-19 pandemic. Thanks to the Government of Japan, which is providing financial support for the project, the Secretariat aims to develop guidelines, ba...

A preliminary draft of the Guidelines was developed based on best practices received from Customs administrations and other stakeholders such as the WCO Private Sector Consultative Group (PSCG). The draft was discussed at the Permanent Technical Committee’s 229/230th sessions in September and Octo...

Project TENTACLE, led  by the WCO Secretariat and funded by the U.S. Department of State – Bureau of International Narcotics and Law Enforcement Affairs (DoS INL) -, aims to raise awareness of money laundering activities and schemes in the Customs area, as well as to augment the enforcement ...

Transnational criminal organizations (TCOs) and terrorist organizations (TOs) perennially exploit Customs nodes for the movement and laundering of illicit money generated by their illegal activities. Customs, as the first line of defense at external borders and inland ports of entry, have a crucial ...

The WCO recently launched a new online platform, WCO Trade Tools (www.wcotradetools.org), which offers a single point of access to: the 2002, 2007, 2012 and 2017 Editions of the Harmonized System (HS), together with their Legal Notes, Explanatory Notes and Classification Opinions; more than 350 Fre...

In addition to a user-friendly interface design and efficient search engines, the platform enables users to: cross-reference information using a comparison tool for the HS and Preferential Rules of Origin; gain a direct overview of the latest HS updates, highlighting the changes introduced; track t...

Harmonized System (HS) HS 2022 and the last four editions of the HS (2002, 2007, 2012 and 2017) Advanced search engine Legal Notes, Explanatory Notes* and Classification Opinions* A history tool tracking the evolution of HS codes at subheading level across different editions* Option to add commen...

Preferential Rules of Origin The legal texts of over 350 FTAs are available, together with their annexes and samples of corresponding certificates of origin* Possibility to search if a product is covered by an FTA by entering related HS code or keyword as well as an origin and a destination* A se...

  More information www.wcotradetools.org publications@wcoomd.org    ...

It takes time and dedication for Customs officers to become familiar with WCO tools, instruments and recommended practices in the course of their daily work. First, there are numerous amounts of them. Second, some are highly technical, and getting to grips with them requires training from WCO staff ...

In 2009, with financial support from Japan Customs, the WCO Secretariat created the Career Development Programme (CDP) to enable Customs officers from developing countries to immerse themselves in WCO work, acquire as much knowledge and skills as possible, and grow at the professional and personal l...

More information http://www.wcoomd.org/en/topics/capacity-building/activities-and-programmes/people-development/learning/development-programmes/career-development-programme.aspx [1] Some of them have also been published in WCO News: https://mag.wcoomd.org/magazine/wco-news-88/working-as-a-wco-profes...

A new e-learning course introducing the concepts and elements of commodity classification according to the Harmonized System (HS) has been published on CLiCK!, the WCO learning platform for Customs officers. It complements the “HS Advanced” course which zooms in on individual sections, chapters ...

A Rights Holders’ Corner has been added to the Intellectual Property Rights (IPR) CENcomm Group, the secure communication tool developed by the WCO Secretariat to enable law enforcement officers to exchange information on goods infringing IPR or posing a danger to people’s health and safety. Suc...

An e-learning module on Internal Affairs was released in January 2023 on CLiKC! – the learning platform developed by the WCO for Customs officers. The course was first released in English, but will be available in French, Portuguese, Arabic and Spanish by the end of March 2023. The WCO’s Revise...

Through discussions held at meetings of WCO working bodies and following integrity development assessments conducted with administrations over the years, the WCO Secretariat identified the need to provide support on this topic and develop a training curriculum on Internal Affairs-related processes, ...

The Fellowship Programme will combine online and in-person activities from September 2023 onwards. Already used for several activities, the method is expected to be cost-effective and to provide Fellows with an equally rewarding experience. As with the rest of the world and other sectors, COVID-19...

The method is to be applied to the Fellowship Programme from its 87th session for French-speaking officers, which is scheduled from 18 September to 3 November 2023. Launched in 1985, the WCO Fellowship Programme forms part of the WCO’s initiatives to enable Customs officers from developing countri...

A common approach to performance measurement The WCO has developed many self-assessment tools over the years, to enable Customs administrations to determine where they stand with respect to the adoption of WCO standards and recommended practices, to monitor how the Customs clearance service is bei...

Customs administrations are also able to decide whether to make information on the results of the assessment public, to share it with other Customs administrations, or to keep it confidential. Conducting a PMM assessment is voluntary and is to be divided into two consecutive phases. First the admini...

In 2022, the WCO Secretariat sent a questionnaire to the Organization’s Members to gather information on certification of origin processes and the digitalization of the certificate of origin (CO). Eighty-four Customs administrations responded, and a Study on the Digitalization of the Certificate o...

Out of 82 responding Customs administrations that operate an authority issuance system, 48 indicated that they implement both paper-based and electronic certificates of origin; 33 responded that they implement paper-based certificates of origin only, while one administration indicated that it implem...

The WCO conducted a survey between April and June 2024 to identify technology adoption trends among Customs administrations, gauge the extent to which innovation is implemented, and ultimately identify gaps and needs in terms of assistance and guidance. It is not the first time that the WCO has cons...

Findings The Smart Customs Project Survey garnered substantial participation, with 116 Customs administrations sending their responses, representing 62% of the WCO Membership. The findings have been categorized under six main topics and are presented below. IT strategy and maturity A notable find...

WCO PICARD Conference, Malatya, Turkey, 9 to 11 October 2018 A Call for Papers was disseminated in February 2018 inviting practitioners, academics and anyone with a keen interest in Customs to submit any research that has been done on one of the following topics: securing the business environment;...

© chingraph – fotolia.com The Russian Customs Academy is the first institution ever created in Russia for training specialists with higher Customs education, and has, since 2002, been a recognized WCO Regional Training Centre. In 2007, following the suggestion of the WCO Secretariat, it was d...

Several countries around the world are facing the devastating effects of the African swine fever (ASF), a deadly pig disease of viral origin. The virus can travel from one country to another through people carrying infected pigs or contaminated pork products or clothing. Customs officials can play a...

Why is it important to stop the spread of this disease? The recent upsurge of ASF around the globe was responsible for massive losses in pigs and drastic socio-economic consequences. This disease is not a danger to human health. However, it poses a major threat to pig health and welfare and, there...

The Swiss State Secretariat for Economic Affairs (SECO) and the WCO have launched their first joint comprehensive capacity building programme to deliver capacity building and trade facilitation assistance in Bolivia, Colombia, Peru and Uzbekistan over the next four years. Through this initiative, bo...

The Career Development Programme (CDP) celebrated its 10th anniversary in 2019. Funded by Japan Customs, it offers on-the-job training to mid-managerial level Customs officers during a 10 month stint at the WCO Secretariat under the supervision of experts in different areas. So far, 95 officials fro...

The CDP stands out among WCO capacity building initiatives. Indeed, the type of support provided by the Secretariat can be divided into two, with some activities focusing on human resource and organizational development, and others focusing on the implementation of WCO instruments, tools and standar...

Since its launch in 1985, the WCO Fellowship Programme has run a total series of 80 sessions, enabling 950 participants from 143 Customs administrations in developing countries to acquire sound knowledge on internationally recognized Customs techniques and practices, and to bolster their manageme...

The Programme’s administrators have, over the years, sought to improve it by proposing a format that is more in tune with the concerns and needs of the target administrations. They have, in particular, focused on: the development of leadership capacities with a view to endowing Fellows with the k...

The WCO Secretariat has published an update of the Comparative Study on certification of origin, the previous version of which was issued in 2014, in order to take into consideration new trends both on non-preferential and preferential origin… With regard to non-preferential rules of origin, t...

With regard to preferential rules of origin, the Study compares the certification provisions found in 209 Free Trade Agreements (FTAs), as against 149 in 2014. As was the case in 2014, more than half of the FTAs studied include some form of self-certification of origin, i.e. approved exporter, fully...

As part of the WCO Environment Programme, the WCO Secretariat is working to solidify the role of Customs in environmental matters. Customs administrations are regularly reminded of the importance of implementing the various environmental agreements in force, existing training material is updated and...

Illegal Wildlife Trade A number of sub-Saharan African, Asian, and South American Customs administrations participating in the INAMA Project, which aims to enhance Customs’ capacity to counter wildlife trafficking by ensuring that all trade in wild plants and animals is legal, have been given th...

Niger Customs has developed, with the support of the World Bank, an online collaborative platform for use solely by Customs staff with expertise in the field of Customs data analysis. The platform, called “BODATA”, aims to establish a network of professionals who support each other, coll...

A wide range of online courses, e-learning modules, videos and webinars are made available to Customs officers via CLiKC!, the WCO learning platform. Thousands of officers have already registered on the platform. Below is an overview of what CLiKC! currently offers, and what is in the pipeline. Join...

We develop new courses on a regular basis, as well as translating existing ones and organizing learning events. Upcoming courses include: Data Analytics – Advanced New Harmonized System – Foundation course Updated Leadership and Management Development Updated WCO Data Model Updated Customs Val...

The workplace has undergone several radical changes in the past few years. According to literature, the traditional Human Resource Management (HRM) function has evolved to include new responsibilities such as an increased attention paid to people’s wellbeing. People are now seen as a ‘’Capital...

According to Professor Dave Ulrich, HCM professionals are required to play the following roles: Strategic positioner: they strategically position a business to win its market by evaluating the business environment, understanding stakeholders’ expectations and aligning them with internal business ...

WCO guide To develop the Guide to Managing Customs’ Human Capital through Crises and Beyond, WCO Secretariat staff conducted a survey among Customs administrations. They also interviewed Customs representatives as well as leaders in HR and emergency management from international organizations, t...

The guide therefore includes a broad range of perspectives and highlights solutions that can be replicated in a Customs environment. It particularly sheds light on: 19 guiding principles which are recognized as critical within Customs administrations in enabling staff to thrive in times of crisis a...

The WCO COPES Programme aims to initiate a dialogue reflecting on the working methods used to combat fraud, from the identification of an offence to the storage of seized assets, including reporting, collecting and preserving evidence. It does not advocate a particular means of enforcing legislation...

It looks at five areas: Compliance management Intelligence Risk management Enforcement operations Investigations Under each of these areas, the following dimensions are examined: Legal framework Procedural framework Cooperation and data sharing framework Organizational framework Human capital Inf...

Support requirements and procedures To receive the support of the WCO Secretariat, Customs administrations should submit a written request. The Institutional Assessment Project can either be funded by the beneficiary administration itself or by a donor. Once funding is secured, the beneficiary wil...

Post-clearance audit (PCA) includes a preparation phase during which data from various sources is collected and then analysed, especially import and export declaration data. The aim is to obtain a comprehensive overview of the auditee’s business structure and, on this basis, identify and analyse s...

At the WCO Secretariat, a modest three-person team decided to take up this matter and to develop a prototype dashboard using Microsoft Power BI. Launched nearly a decade ago as a standalone desktop data visualization tool, Power BI is now a business analytics service provided by Microsoft that enabl...

Classifying goods in the Harmonized System (HS) requires specific knowledge and skills, and, in some cases, a thorough understanding of the rules that govern it. While machine learning technology has enabled the development of various classification tools, these “are designed to assist classif...

To guide Customs administrations in their efforts to train their staff, the WCO Secretariat has developed the Strategic Guidance for Competency Development in the area of Tariff Classification of Goods for Customs Administrations. The guidance outlines a four-level competency development plan (see t...

Three HS Recommendations were adopted by the WCO Council in June 2023. These Recommendations relate to expected amendments and invite Parties to the HS Convention to insert new subheadings in their national statistical nomenclatures as an interim measure until the next version of the HS enters into ...

Waste oils Parties are invited to insert under the 6-digit subheading 2710.91 a national subheading for waste oils “containing polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs) at a concentration level of 50 mg/kg or more”, and another national subheading for the other waste oils “containing polychlorinated ...

The current subheading 2710.91 covers waste oils containing polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs), polychlorinated terphenyls (PCTs) or polybrominated biphenyls (PBBs), without any specific concentration. These new provisions will assist countries to collect data on the transboundary movement of these go...

A new version of the WCO Strategic Trade Control Enforcement Implementation Guide was published in December 2023. Annex I, which provides a list of countries and the non-proliferation and trade control regimes they have committed to, has been updated. The same applies to Annex III – strategic comm...

The Guide was developed in response to Customs administrations’ requests for practical assistance with the development or review of their Strategic Trade Control Enforcement processes and procedures. It is divided into two main sections. The first section, intended for senior Customs managers and ...

Most free trade agreements (FTAs) include provisions related to the cumulation of rules of origin. Simply put, such provisions allow parties to an FTA to use products originating in a country which is another party to the same FTA, or in countries which are not linked by an FTA or are linked by a di...

The document consists of the following three main sections: a technical explanation of the concept of cumulation with examples of cumulation provisions; findings from the review of the cumulation rules and procedural requirements in existing FTAs; presentation of the cumulation schemes, requirement...

According to a WCO survey from 2016, gathering approximately 60 responses from WCO Members, on average around 36% of officers employed by Customs administrations are women, with figures varying from 8% to 60% depending on the country. Moreover, the statistics showed that on average around 30% of sen...

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The WCO and the European Union (EU) are partners in a new project called “COLIBRI,” which aims to build the capacity of Customs administrations to control general aviation on routes between Latin America, the Caribbean and Africa, as well as between the EU and these regions. Background What we...

Control procedures Responses to the risks associated with this mode of transport vary. Some countries have military surveillance capabilities and have accordingly established proper airspace control, employing radar coverage to identify clandestine flights (where the transponder is switched off) o...

Taking stock of the global trends affecting trade is critical for Customs administrations who have to adapt constantly to industry and consumer practices as well as to emerging risks. To help WCO Members understand the social, political, economic, technological and legal developments as well as the ...

The WCO has taken several steps to strengthen performance measurement culture among Customs administrations. These have included looking at how performance measurement can be applied to fighting corruption. This article looks at the new approaches to measuring corruption and integrity which have be...

New responses to measuring integrity Despite not being an entirely new area of work, measuring corruption and integrity has remained a challenge. As noted in the publication of the World Bank’s “Enhancing Government Effectiveness and Transparency: The Fight Against Corruption”, information a...

The WCO Council adopted the final documents missing from the WCO E-Commerce Package at its December 2020 Session. The documents are three Annexes to the Framework of Standards on Cross-Border E-Commerce Technical Specifications entitled “Reference Datasets for Cross-Border E-Commerce”, “Revenu...

The document on “Reference Datasets for Cross-Border E-Commerce” provides examples of datasets which Customs administrations are currently collecting, either as part of a pilot project or when implementing the Framework, to effectively track, target and identify small e-commerce shipments. The �...

The Environmental Investigation Agency (EIA), a non-governmental organization dedicated to combating environmental crime, has developed the first public-domain online platform collating data on seizures, arrests and prosecution records which contextualize the dynamics of the illegal wildlife trade. ...

This platform, or Tracker, consists of dashboards and maps that illustrate the trafficking hotspots and transportation routes, and charts the links between the criminal networks and key individuals involved. © Environmental Investigation Agency The online Tracker is open-access and is a useful tool...

Gamification can be defined as the use of game principals in non-game contexts, including to deliver knowledge and know-how. For example, acquiring points and completing series of tasks or activities to advance to the next level may be used in contexts other than gaming to provide fun and stimulatio...

Virtual reality and gamification to enhance inspection skills To develop the first course, the RTC worked with the WCO Secretariat. The idea was to develop it using Immersive Learning, an experiential training methodology that uses Virtual Reality (VR) to simulate real-world scenarios. A team mixi...

Most Customs administrations devote a significant portion of their resources to training and competency development activities. The development and delivery of training also feature among the core activities of the WCO.[1] But how can these training activities be assessed to find out whether they a...

Figure 1 illustrates a possible WCO operating model for such training activities. It provides for an iterative process and evaluation at all stages, and is results- and impact-based. The initial step that would guide the whole process involves setting and agreeing on the beneficiary’s expectations...

Resource implications Implementing such a framework requires resources to be allocated to the WCO Secretariat. This will involve the establishment of a Monitoring and Evaluation Unit with dedicated staff, whose responsibilities will include the development of a WCO training strategy aligned with t...

Greening the HS is on the agenda, but how best to do it? To find answers to this question, the WCO is organizing a series of five symposia from October 2022 to January 2023. You may join the events either in-person, at the WCO headquarters in Brussels, or online via zoom. Participation will be free...

To enable private and public stakeholders share their ideas and HS amendment proposals, the WCO Secretariat is organizing a series of symposia which will each look at a different area of the HS (see box). There are principles governing the creation or amendment of a provision in the HS, and how to s...

  Several closed user groups (CUGs) have been set up in CENcomm, the WCO’s secure, web-based communication system. They aim at enabling information exchange on illicit trade and smuggling activities and/or the sharing of information of interest to field officers and analysts. The focus of the...

An operation dubbed Seascape 2 to combat counterfeiting and piracy, made possible by funding from Japan Customs, was organized by the WCO Secretariat in June 2022. It involved six Customs administrations from the Americas: Argentina, Brazil, Chile, Mexico, Panama and Peru. As is the case for all WCO...

Articles suspected of infringing intellectual property rights were split among 16 categories. Of the total number of articles, 52% fell into a category called “other”, which mainly includes face masks, hand tools and ball bearings. The other categories of articles with the highest volumes are m...

The Foundation for International Development Studies and Research has published a working paper[1], written by Thomas Cantens of the WCO Secretariat’s Research Unit, that examines the implications of the use of generative artificial intelligence (GAI) in the field of public administration. This a...

The author begins by analysing the potential specific benefits of GAI for Customs administrations: machine translation, creation of computer code for data analysis, uniformity and correctness of administrative language, content creation, assistance in drafting policy documents and assistance in frau...

In January 2019, the WCO launched the Anti-Corruption and Integrity Promotion (A-CIP) Programme to assist selected WCO Member Customs administrations in implementing measures to combat corruption and promote integrity in accordance with the 10 measures listed in the WCO Revised Arusha Declaration on...

Partner administrations and expectations Afghanistan, Ethiopia, Ghana, Lebanon, Liberia, Mali, Mozambique, Nepal, Sierra Leone, Tanzania and Tunisia are the A-CIP Programme’s initial partner administrations. Each is expected to develop a multi-annual action plan along with clear benchmarks and p...

An online data analytics training course on is now available in English and French via the WCO CLiKC! Platform in the eLearning section. Developed thanks to Korea Customs funding, the course is for Customs officials who wish to become entry-level data analysts. It is structured to  build a comprehe...

The WCO Secretariat has set up a team to study the possibilities for potential improvements to the HS and its tools. The team will collect views and suggestions from stakeholders. Details of how you can get involved in the HS Study can be found at the end of this article. The Harmonized System Con...

The system as a whole is largely unchanged from when it came into force in 1988, i.e., 34 years ago. The core elements of the HS, namely the General Interpretative Rules and the four-digit heading structure, are older still as they were taken over, with a few changes, from the predecessor of the HS ...

For this purpose, the WCO Secretariat has been given a mandate to establish a small project team for a two-year period. The team is tasked with collecting views and suggestions from stakeholders, studying the health of the system, and reporting to the WCO’s Members on the possibilities for potenti...

Our top priority is engagement with, and the participation of, stakeholders, including Member administrations, international organizations, industry and sector associations, and the trade community. Do you want to tell us what you think? Then check our website for details of how you can get involved...

In December 2021, the WCO Secretariat and the European Commission signed a partnership agreement establishing a programme on the implementation and application of rules of origin in Africa, commonly dubbed the EU-WCO Rules of Origin Africa Programme. This article provides an overview of the activit...

Supporting the AfCFTA Secretariat In the inception phase, the focus of the RoO Africa Programme team has been on supporting the AfCFTA Secretariat and the AfCFTA Sub-Committee on Rules of Origin in finalizing Appendix IV to Annex 2 on Rules of Origin, which includes Product Specific Rules (PSR) of O...

Eleven administrations contributed to the second edition of the Compendium on Gender Equality and Diversity in Customs. A short overview of their contributions is provided below. Argentina Customs Argentina’s Federal Administration of Public Revenues (AFIP) presents Argentina’s regulations r...

German Customs In Germany, as required by law, the Central Customs Authority and its 41 main Customs offices and 8 Customs investigation offices each have their own Gender Equality Plan, based on a common internal framework; each office can also include additional topics that may be relevant to th...

As part of its PICARD Programme, the WCO Secretariat has established a partnership with the Borders in Globalization (BIG) research programme of the University of Victoria, Canada, enabling some of the Customs officials who have submitted academic or policy research papers to the WCO Secretariat to ...

Using “nudges” to enhance compliance Veasna Yong from the Cambodian General Department of Customs and Excise wrote an article entitled Nudging Voluntary Compliance in Border Customs. “Nudging” is persuading or encouraging someone to do something in a way that is gentle, rather than forcefu...

The WCO Secretariat is about to launch a new version of the CLiKC! learning platform, in order to provide users with a comprehensive picture of the Organization’s training material and opportunities available to its Members. This initiative follows the endorsement by the WCO Capacity Building Comm...

To support this shift in the way training is delivered, the new CLiKC! platform will enable its users to: view all the training opportunities offered by the WCO Secretariat, such as the “course catalogue,” which includes e-learning courses, global and regional workshops, and other kinds of trai...

To help meet the growing demand from Customs administrations for support in developing Authorized Economic Operator (AEO) programmes and, more specifically, in setting up an AEO validation procedure, the WCO Secretariat has devised a new e-learning course which is available to Customs on the WCO CLi...

The e-learning course is expected to be of significant benefit to administrations that are currently embarking on AEO programme implementation or wishing to ensure that their validation procedures are aligned with recommended practices, as this will facilitate the negotiation of Mutual Recognition A...

Leadership competencies and skills oil the wheels of organizational progress and success. To support its Members in this field, the WCO has developed a Leadership and Management Development Programme. This article introduces the Maturity Model, one of the tools developed as part of this programme. ...

An assessment at four levels The LMD Programme has developed a Maturity Model to support Customs administrations wishing to assess their level of maturity in implementing and promoting a leadership-oriented culture. Results of the assessment then guide the Secretariat, when requests for assistance a...

New e-learning modules are available to Customs officers via CLiKC!, the WCO learning platform. Since April 2023, the platform also features a brand-new design that is both modern and intuitive, and an improved search function which allows users to quickly find the content they need. Last but not l...

The latest courses are: Internal Affairs New (English, French, Spanish, Portuguese, and Arabic) Authorized Economic Operator (AEO) Validation New (English, French) Role of Customs in Disaster Relief New (English, French) WCO course on simulation exercises in enhancing Customs’ operational readine...

The WCO has just released Version 4.0.0 of the WCO Data Model (WCO DM v4). A compilation of clearly structured, harmonized, standardized and reusable sets of data definitions and electronic messages to meet the operational and legal requirements of cross-border regulatory agencies, the WCO DM is a c...

In order to simplify its architecture, the components of the WCO DM are organized into small building blocks called information packages (IP). Each information package is a subset of the WCO DM and is relevant to a specific context. The WCO DM App includes a WCO DM mapping tool that allows WCO DM us...

The WCO Academy was launched in May 2018 to provide representatives from the private sector and academia with access to WCO distance learning courses. The aim is to disseminate knowledge related to WCO standards, tools and instruments to a wide audience, thereby supporting their worldwide implementa...

In 2022, the WCO Academy platform was redesigned and the purchasing options modified. Learners can now choose between: taking a standalone module – this is the ideal option for those who only want to access specific content and who do not wish to complete a full course; taking a full course a...