Articles under "#Coordinated Border Management" category

Issue: WCO News 90 October 2019

UNODC-WCO Container Control Programme: 15 years old and still going strong

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 ...

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 th...

Issue: WCO News 90 October 2019

WCO Data Model: understanding the WCO’s key data harmonization and standardization tool for cross-border regulatory processes

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 c...

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 Maint...

Issue: WCO News 85

Integrated border control between Peru and Chile

After six years of intensive efforts, on 16 August 2017, Peru and Chile opened their first joint integrated border control centres. This new system aims to facilitate the movement of people, baggage and motor vehicles, and is an example of the practical implementat...

Issue: WCO News 101 – Issue 2 / 2023

Working against a security crisis backdrop: the experience of units in South-West Cameroon

The security crisis gripping a number of regions in Cameroon has severely disrupted the day‑to-day operations of the local Customs surveillance units. Whether seeking to nurture a survival instinct, protect the physical integrity of staff or forge ahead with surv...

For almost an entire decade, a number of fragile situations have been observed in Cameroon. Since 2014, the armed terrorist group “Jama’atu Ahlul Sunna Lidda’awati Wal Jihad” (Group of the People of Sunnah for Dawa and Jihad), also known as Boko Haram, has held sway in the country’s Nor...

Enhanced cooperation with the defence and security forces

Cooperation between Customs and the other administrations is not a recent phenomenon. It has always been part of Customs’ remit to pledge support to the other ad...

Issue: WCO News 94 February 2021

How digital tools can improve compliance with SPS measures

Given increasing concerns about food security and food safety and the need to fight hunger and eliminate food waste, a review of the current processes for implementation of the World Trade Organization (WTO) Sanitary and Phytosanitary Agreement and adoption of ...

Many importing countries require a Sanitary/Phytosanitary Certificate which is an official document issued by a competent authority of the exporting country to the exporter. It certifies that the animals or plants, and their derived products, covered by the Certificate have been inspected and are...

Issue: WCO News 101 – Issue 2 / 2023

Inter-agency cooperation – the case of Argentina

In Argentina, the Customs, the National Gendarmerie, the Argentine Naval Prefecture, the Airport Security Police and the Federal Police are all responsible for protecting the country’s territory. Cooperating with these agencies is crucial for Customs in remote te...

Overnight, I went from working at a desk in Buenos Aires to La Quiaca, a small city in the north of Argentina, on the southern bank of the La Quiaca River, opposite the town of Villazón, Bolivia. I started my Customs control duties by checking baggage at the Customs office of the Horacio Guzmán...

The Customs Code (Law No. 22,415) divides Argentinian land, water and air territory into many different areas for the application of its control provisions. For the purposes of this article, the most important are:

  • The Primary Customs Zone, where special rules apply to the circulatio...

Issue: WCO News 90 October 2019

Botswana’s perspective on ensuring business continuity when transitioning from its Customs IT system to a more comprehensive national trade platform

The Botswana Unified Revenue Service recently implemented a new, modern IT system to manage their foreign trade operations. The migration from the old to the new system had to be smooth to ensure business continuity. This article presents the rationale behind the m...

Rationale for migrating to a new system

Several factors influenced the decision to move to a new system. Botswana’s rankings in the World Bank’s flagship report, Doing Business 2011, prompted measures that were aimed ...

Issue: WCO News 93 October 2020

Mapping of Customs Nomenclature with food safety standards in India: a far-sighted strategy to streamline clearance of food products

Several government and private stakeholders are involved in the clearance of imported food products. To ensure a smooth process, close coordination and sharing of information backed by robust information technology (IT) processes are needed. With this in mind, Indi...

Mapping

As part of India’s efforts to facilitate cross-border trade, the FSSAI has mapped ITC HS Codes relating to food products with the corresponding FCS and related Food Safety and Standards Regulations. Although a s...

Issue: WCO News 80

Customs-Police cooperation – the Canadian experience

The Canada Border Services Agency (CBSA) provides integrated border services that support national security and public safety priorities while facilitating the legitimate flow of people and goods. To fulfill this mandate, the Government of Canada has developed a legislative and regulatory framewo...

Issue: WCO News 94 February 2021

Single Window and Service Level Agreements facilitate cross border trade in Oman

During the past four years, the Oman Directorate General of Customs has been working on the Bayan system, the IT solution used by border regulatory agencies to process all trade procedures and declarations, and issue import permits and licenses. While deploying the system, the administration also...

Training

One of the challenges in implementing the Bayan System was to provide all parties connected with the necessary training on using the system. For example, some needed to understand how to issue import or export pe...

Issue: WCO News 77

What ‘coordinated border management’ means for Canada

This year’s WCO theme is ‘coordinated border management’ (CBM), which signals our collective aspiration to strengthen our working relationships with other government agencies responsible for Customs-related responsibilities, trade partners, and border agencies. For some time now, the WCO ha...

Issue: WCO News 94 February 2021

FOCUS: Controlling product quality and safety

All countries have regulations to ensure that products available on the market do not endanger consumers and workers. In this section of the magazine, we asked market surveillance authorities and Customs administrations to share their experience regarding controlling the compliance of imported pr...

Issue: WCO News 94 February 2021

Operation STOP: Achievements and future prospects

In April 2020, the WCO Secretariat drew up a list of medical products which are generally used to diagnose or treat COVID-19, with their respective HS codes. The aim was to help governments to get an overall idea of trade in and stocks of these suddenly much sought-after products and to allow the...

Preparation stage

An indicative list of targeted products and their HS codes was drawn up. These were, in particular, test kits, reagents and diagnostic test instruments, protective clothing, thermometers, medical devices...

Results

A total of 51 administrations carried out 1,683 seizures or detentions, with 12 administrations reporting the broad ma...

Issue: WCO News 78

Singapore’s ‘whole-of-government’ approach to coordinated border management: maintaining its edge amidst new challenges

A dynamic and challenging operating environment

Trade is of paramount importance to Singapore, as a globally-oriented and open economy. The importance of trade to the country is reflected in the fact that the value of Sin...

Whereas the former Customs and Excise Department was mainly focused on revenue matters, the new Singapore Customs is vested with responsibility for both revenue and trade facilitation matters. This working arrangement allows the ICA and Singapore Customs to share the responsibility of securing Si...

Issue: WCO News 94 February 2021

Controlling product safety and security in times of COVID-19

Market surveillance system

In Italy, responsibilities for market surveillance are met by the Ministry of Economic Development (hereinafter MISE), as well as by other sector-specific agencies, such as the Ministry of Healt...

Where the release for free circulation is suspended, Italian Customs must immediately notify the competent market surveillance agency, which is given three working days to perform a preliminary investigation and to decide if the products can be released or must be detained for further checks on t...

Issue: WCO News 94 February 2021

Food and feed safety: identifying missing links to unleash the full benefits of cooperation

In the Netherlands, the Customs Administration supervises the flow of goods that enter or leave the European Union (EU) via the country’s external borders. “Supervision” is to be understood in a broad sense, and includes all acts aimed at establishing compliance with the wide range of legis...

Cooperation between the NVWA and Dutch Customs is facilitated by covenants signed at ministerial level. Although enforcing regulations at the border is not the NVWA’s core business, we would like, in this article, to open the discussion on how to improve this cooperation, especially in the area...

Improving joint risk assessment

Although controls are organized to be as seamless as possible for trade, the joint risk assessment process does have scope for improvement. Even though they share a mutual ambition to addre...

Issue: WCO News 94 February 2021

Nigeria: two agencies, one mission

In Nigeria, the authority responsible for ensuring that foods, drugs, cosmetics, medical devices, chemicals, detergents and packaged water leaving or reaching Nigeria’s shores meet prescribed quality standards is the National Agency for Food and Drug Administration and Control (NAFDAC). NAFDAC ...

The establishment of a good working relationship between the NCS and NAFDAC has set in motion effective and efficient control processes enabling both agencies to safeguard human health and protect the environment. This collaboration is especially welcomed in times of crisis, such as the COVID-19 ...