Articles under section " Dossier: Engaging partners "

Each year, the WCO Secretariat invites the Organization’s Members to focus on a theme it considers critical to the effective and efficient delivery of their missions. In 2024, under the slogan “Customs Engaging Traditional and New Partners with Purpose”, the Secretariat is inviting Customs adm...

In such a context, it is now, more than ever, essential that Customs administrations take a forward-thinking approach to their work and develop solutions that are not only based on their own knowledge, experience and wisdom, but are also developed collectively with the Customs community, including c...

Brazil is on the cusp of a groundbreaking transformation, with the rollout of an upgraded version 2.0 of its Foreign Trade Single Window, the Portal Único Siscomex. A core innovation within the Portal is the introduction of a catalogue describing products using pre-defined attributes. The new syst...

In Customs goods nomenclatures, some goods are subsumed within a broader group of goods in the same classification. As they are hidden as an unknown quantity within the broader class of goods with which they share a classification, enforcing regulations on the cross-border movements of these goods i...

Product Catalogue Once attributes are identified for each CMN code, exporters and importers are asked to register the products they currently trade or plan to trade, and to provide an accurate description using the attributes defined in the Attributes Registry, as well as provide documents releva...

Brazil’s Customs Authority and private sector representatives worked together to develop a compliance programme dedicated to e-commerce companies. Launched in August 2023, the programme is a testimony to how Customs-Business partnership can shape regulatory frameworks and foster innovative solutio...

The work undertaken at the WGEC led to the development of the WCO Cross-Border E-Commerce Framework of Standards, approved by the WCO Council in June 2018. The Framework is a testimony to effective public-private collaboration, shaping norms, systems, and processes. It also promotes such partnership...

Partnership Brazil’s legislation, crafted over two decades ago, proved inadequate for the volume of trade. In 2020, the Procomex Institute, the operational arm of the Procomex Alliance – a coalition of over 130 business associations in Brazil – created the Procomex E-Commerce Study Group, spea...

This article introduces the Ecosystem of Trust (EoT) project which aimed at testing whether the use of supply chain data, alongside technologies such as smart seals and smart containers, could be integrated into government systems to improve border processes. The project involved regulatory agencie...

Ecosystem of Trust A key part of reshaping our border is implementing technology and data innovations. This is at the heart of the Ecosystem of Trust (EoT) project. Initially set out in the 2025 UK Border Strategy, the EoT proposed a collaborative model for managing the border involving government...

Many law enforcement agencies have seen a dramatic increase in drug trafficking over the past five years, as well as in the number of violent events and the amount of social disruption linked to this trade. Over the years, shipping lines have invested significant resources in combating the movement ...

Mutual trust has grown quickly between the partners, reflected in WSC members’ participation in the global enforcement operation named TIN CAN, which was featured in a previous edition of this magazine. The operation stands as a model for successful collaboration. Led by the WCO and UNODC and invo...

This year’s International Customs Day theme, “Customs Engaging Traditional and New Partners with Purpose”, resonates deeply with Singapore Customs. In the ever-evolving landscape of international trade, growing interdependence and technological advancements demand that we adapt, in...

The implementation of the ASEAN Single Window has enabled the electronic exchange of the Certificate of Origin under the ASEAN Trade in Goods Agreement – known as the ATIGA e-Form D – and other trade-related documents among ASEAN Member States. The use of electronic documents saves time and mone...

In its drive to combat corruption and promote integrity, the WCO has always advocated the creation of partnerships, in particular with the private sector as set out under key factor 10, entitled “Relationship with the Private Sector”, of the Revised Arusha Declaration Concerning Good Governance...

Ghana’s collective action on tackling corruption in Customs In the light of its scoping work under the WCO A-CIP Programme, the Ghana Revenue Authority (GRA) reported the need for more active and impactful stakeholder engagement. Expanding on a series of training activities intended for official...

The WCO Secretariat, while supporting Customs administrations in their efforts to combat corruption and safeguard integrity, identified through its Anti-Corruption and Integrity Promotion (A-CIP) Programme recurring questions regarding anti-corruption measures for which the knowledge available was ...

The Helpdesk team receives corruption-related enquiries and, in response, provides within ten working days a synthesis of the state of research on a particular topic, lessons learned from case studies, and practical recommendations for anti-corruption approaches. The team does not answer questions t...