Articles under "#Data Analysis" category

Issue: WCO News 101 – Issue 2 / 2023

Post-clearance audit: two new publications for Customs authorities

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 commit...

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 contro...

Issue: WCO News 93 October 2020

WCO Cargo Targeting system gets upgraded

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 Protect...

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 ...

Issue: WCO News 96 October 2021

The COLIBRI Geoportal: a mapping tool for enforcement

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...

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 databas...

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 websit...

Issue: WCO News 91 February 2020

BACUDA: supporting Customs with data analytics

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 CUsto...

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

Issue: WCO News 77

API and PNR: two key words on the global security agenda

 

In this article, I would like to share my thoughts on Customs’ use of Advance Passenger Information (API) and Passenger Name Record (PNR) data, which is a vital tool in deterring the threat of terrorism and organized crime, while facilitating international travel.

 

Issue: WCO News 95 – June 2021

BODATA: a new platform for Customs data analysts

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 o...

Issue: WCO News 100 – Issue 1 / 2023

WCO Secretariat develops a dashboard for PCA

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 analys...

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 en...

Issue: WCO News 80

Risk management: an upgraded version of the nCEN now available

The WCO digital toolbox contains an extensive variety of instruments and tools to help Customs incorporate information and communications technology (ICT) into their daily work, one of which is the National Customs Enforcement Network (nCEN) application.

It has been almost three years sinc...

Issue: WCO News 77

Challenges and opportunities of passenger data systems

Physical inspection of a traveller and a travel document is nowadays only part of the border controls on passengers arriving by air, or any other means of transport. In an increasing number of countries, the rest of the border control process relies on secure electronic data sent before the arriv...

Issue: WCO News 94 February 2021

Data Analytics course available on CLiKC!

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 compr...

Issue: WCO News 82

Data analysis in risk management: Singapore Customs’ perspective

As a partner of business and a guardian of trade, Singapore Customs strives to strike a fine balance between making sure sufficient controls are in place to interdict illicit trade, and ensuring that legitimate trade continues to flow unhindered. This requires Singapore Customs to be adept at dat...

Issue: WCO News 77

The French API-PNR programme

The French Advance Passenger Information (API) and Passenger Name Record (PNR) programme generated considerable media coverage in the wake of the tragic events in France in early 2015. The plan to implement an automated passenger information processing system in Fr...

Issue: WCO News 82

API-PNR: an overview of the French system and the challenges faced

The European context

European Union (EU) Directive 2016/681 on the use of Passenger Name Record (PNR) data was adopted on 27 April 2016. It requires EU Member States to collect and use both PNR data and Advanced Passenger...

API-PNR France project

Without waiting for the Directive to be adopted, France established a set of national legal measures, authorizing the collection, storage and processing of API-PNR data on air passengers and crew. T...

Issue: WCO News 77

Japan’s new approach to Passenger Name Records

A record high of 13.4 million foreign passengers visited Japan during the last year, according to statistics compiled by the Japan Tourism Agency. This number has doubled in the last three years; a trend which is expected to continue and may reach more than 20 million in 2020 when the Olympic and...

Issue: WCO News 97 – Issue 1 / 2022

How Botswana Customs is leveraging data-driven technologies to rethink ways of doing, working, measuring and collaborating

The Botswana Government wants to build a tech-driven economy, in other words, an economy where development is driven by the potential of available technologies and the innovations they unlock. The Botswana Unified Revenue Service (BURS) shares that ambition and is ...

Performance measurement

BURS aims to be an agile organization and its strategic plan is updated every five years. To monitor implementation of the plan, Key Performance Indicators (KPIs) have been developed for each busin...

Issue: WCO News 97 – Issue 1 / 2022

Collecting data on Customs administrations: lessons learned from the first International Survey on Customs Administration

Co-managed by the WCO and the IMF, the first International Survey on Customs Administration (ISOCA) was finalized in June 2020 and a report presenting some of the results was released in November 2021. Whilst a higher number of participants is required for the Surv...

There was strong initial commitment by Customs administrations to participate in the Survey, with 102 responding positively to the invitation of the WCO and the IMF (93 of them were WCO Members). However, 30 of them did not complete the Survey and 21 did so only partially. A number of reasons wer...

Some key lessons learned

The first round of the Survey should be seen as a proof of concept demonstrating the feasibility of collecting Customs administrations...

Issue: WCO News 97 – Issue 1 / 2022

Transforming Dominican Customs through effective data analysis

Today, a lot of what we do generates data. These data can be analysed in real time thanks to hyperconnected infrastructures – a state of communications where electronic and computer devices of all kinds can communicate among each other to whatever extent each individual user desires – as well...

Together on time

A great deal has changed in the DGA since the publication of that article. In August 2020, a new administration took command and set the objective of turning the Dominican Republic into the logistics epicentre par excelle...

Starting from the premise that time is a key factor in attracting new cargo volumes and foreign investment into our country, the DGA launched the “Release in 24 Hours” (D24H) programme under the motto “Together on time” in June 2021. The main objective is to motivate all importers regard...

Issue: WCO News 99- Issue 3 / 2022

Bahamas Customs takes huge leap forward on recouping lost and evaded revenue

Through the use of AI analytics, Bahamas has identified over 115 million USD in evaded revenue since 2020, while simultaneously modernizing its revenue collection management capabilities.

In 2020, Bahamas Customs began seeking solutions to help iden...

...

How the Solution Works

The technology selected by Bahamas is deployed as a service under a subscription license. Called the “Risk Assessment Screening Service (RASS)”, the solution uses a combination of deduc...

Issue: WCO News 79

Start small, think big: big data!

Ninety-three percent of federal government respondents to a recent survey by Unisys Corp. said that the quality and speed of decision-making improved when applying data analytics; yet nearly 70% reported that they are concerned about their agency’s ability to analyse key data rather than simply...

Issue: WCO News 88

Korea pilots blockchain technology as it prepares for the future

Since the Fourth Industrial Revolution was mentioned in 2016 at the World Economic Forum, the impact of technologies such as artificial intelligence (AI), the blockchain and “big data” have become issues discussed at length worldwide. In Korea, in preparing for the future, the governm...

2018: Project design

The KCS’s second step was to review areas where the use of blockchain solutions would make sense. The import/export clearance process was identified as a good start, given that it would benefit ...

Issue: WCO News 96 October 2021

Extending the ISO Audit Data Collection Standard to improve Customs and indirect tax audits and bring some innovation into this field

International Standard ISO[1] 21378:2019 aims to make data collection for financial audits more efficient and reliable. In this article, Dutch Customs explains the structure of this ISO Standard and why the Neth...

ADCS: the universal adapter for ERP systems

What auditors need is a universal adapter for ERP systems, just like we use an adapter to plug in electronic devices when we are in a country that uses a ...

Issue: WCO News 99- Issue 3 / 2022

Automated detection: Dutch Customs shares its experience

In our “Pushing Boundaries” vision, we described our “dot” on the horizon, a helpful focal point when dealing with challenges we are, and will be, confronted with. The most prominent one is how to cope with a rising number of declarations and, consequently, a growing need for inspections....

ACXIS

One objective was to develop an automated support system for image analysts. Participants worked in their respective areas of competence to deliver the various components required to create such a system. Some work...

Issue: WCO News 102 – Issue 3 / 2023

Implementing the principles of “Smart Borders” at a medium-sized port

Bulgaria has been a fully-fledged Member State of the European Union (EU) since 1 January 2007 and exerts controls over one of the external maritime borders of the EU with the Black Sea, in accordance with EU Customs policies. The number of inbound and outbound container units going through its l...

Customs risk analysis

In all EU countries, the Customs administration has the legal obligation to carry out the security and safety risk analysis on all the cargo, regardless of the EU country of destination. To do so, C...

The NMSWe is to be transformed following the establishment of a European Maritime Single Window Environment (EMSWe) by 15 August 2025. The EMSWe aims to lower the administrative burden on ship operators by harmonizing rules for the provision of the information that is required for port calls, in ...

Issue: WCO News 85

Combating overvaluation: Malawi’s experience

Trade-based money laundering (TBML) is defined by the Financial Action Task Force (FATF) as the process of disguising the proceeds of crime, and moving the money into the formal economy through the use of trade transactions in an attempt to legitimize its illicit origins. In practice, this can be...

Issue: WCO News 79

Using open data to combat transnational criminal networks

Over the past decade the global security environment has evolved, allowing rogue nation-states, sanctioned terrorist organizations, and violent criminal syndicates to operate on a transnational scale, converging in pursuit of common objectives. Today, these illicit...

Issue: WCO News 98 – Issue 2 / 2022

High-performance analytical tools to revolutionize Customs control

There are many suppliers of analytical tools that Customs can call on to enhance its risk assessment capabilities. Some propose to use selectivity models and specialized databases to analyse the transactions that Customs has to ensure are compliant.

It is advisable, however, to carry out a...

Although we had the infrastructure and technical expertise to provide this service, we still needed three key elements:

  • access to comprehensive data in real time on companies, individual goods, routes and vessels;
  • algorithms that could perform multidimensional modelling; and...

Issue: WCO News 99- Issue 3 / 2022

The AI revolution is underway, and this is good news for Customs

Customs authorities are showing a growing interest in adopting artificial intelligence (AI), the broad category of science that entails simulating human thinking capability and behaviour. As stated in a joint paper published by the World Customs Organization, (WCO) and the World Trade Organizatio...

Streamlining en-route processes

For seaborne containers, such automatic detection offers opportunities in transforming Customs inspection into a streamlined en-route process, significantly increasing inspection rates with...

Issue: WCO News 105 – Issue 3 / 2024

How Brazil transformed Customs control through artificial intelligence and other technologies

The landscape formed by IT Customs systems in Brazil has undergone significant transformation in recent years, redefining how the Customs Administration manages and mitigates risks. Through the innovative use of artificial intelligence, including machine learni...

Together, these solutions swiftly propelled the modernization of Brazil’s Customs control procedures, marking a pivotal step forward in enhancing efficiency and effectiveness. These tools have all evolved to become essential in shaping the way Brazil handles Customs operations.

ANIITA an...

Helping well-intentioned users

SISAM was designed to detect errors in classification codes, not to assist well-intentioned importers and exporters in classifying goods. For that purpose, a new system called CLASSIF

Issue: WCO News 79

Customs, cultural goods and data

For years, Customs administrations have been able to transform the raw information they collect on drugs, weapons, and humans trafficking into data which could be analysed to provide meaningful insights in the fight against these illegal activities. However, when i...

Issue: WCO News 80

Thoughts on ‘Big Data’ and our real world

There has been much hype, and for good reason, around the Big Data revolution. Dramatic advances in technology have made it possible to develop services with large volumes of data that could never have been done with smaller data sets – allowing authorities to spot new patterns, and id...

Issue: WCO News 90 October 2019

Dubai Customs uses artificial intelligence to boost productivity

Improving workplace productivity and helping people get their jobs done efficiently is critical for Customs administrations that have to deal with an increase in the number of cross-border movements, be it cargo or people.

With a forecasted growth in trade and travel being driven by EXPO 2...

The system acts like a tiny coach sitting on a manager’s shoulder throughout the day. And every now and then, the coach whispers something like, “this person did something great recently,” or “this process could be improved.”

The Productivity Engine produces a productivity score ...

Issue: WCO News 98 – Issue 2 / 2022

Protecting importers’ information while improving Customs controls

Customs administrations and trade operators both want to reduce the complexity of compiling and exchanging data. However, there can be tension between the Customs administration’s need to access data and the company’s need to protect confidential informatio...

SFML: developing analytical algorithms without exchanging data

As an example, let us consider the case of secure federated machine learning (SFML),[1] a machine-learning technique that...

Vietnam Customs use case

In Vietnam, material used for export production can be imported duty-free. Material import and consumption are controlled by the General Departmen...

Issue: WCO News 99- Issue 3 / 2022

The Future of Trade Lies in Artificial Intelligence

World trade is the lifeblood of the global economy. It not only is a vital component in the ongoing operations of businesses (large and small), governments and NGOs around the world, it has the power to grow economies, increase productivity and transform the quality of life for citizens in the na...

The industry is starting to see the benefits of AI integration across the digitalisation of the trade ecosystem. An example is the Single Window system that uses Artificial Intelligence (AI) taking automation to the next level. Beyond targeting and managing all areas of import/export processes th...

Issue: WCO News 105 – Issue 3 / 2024

Leveraging big data: China Customs’ journey towards data-driven smart risk management

In 2022, the WCO and its Members identified “Technology and Innovation” as one of the three focus areas of the WCO Strategic Plan 2022-2025. For the past few years, China Customs has been implementing the concept of “Smart Customs, Smart Borders and Smart Connectivity”, which established ...

Constructing a unified database

China Customs has comprehensively collected multi-source data and formed a data lake with over 15,000 data tables and more than 260 billion data entries in a local centralized manner.

...

The principle of the model construction is as follows:

  • a database was created from internal and external Customs data, including Customs declaration forms, manifests, enterprise reports, logistics documents, inspection reports, anti-smuggling filing, audit and inspection results, fun...

Issue: WCO News 85

Air passenger control: how Brazil changed the game

In 2013, as Brazil was preparing to host the 2014 World Cup and the 2016 Olympic Games, the Brazilian Customs administration started exploring ways to improve air passenger control in order to be able to effectively process the athletes and millions of tourists who were expected to attend or part...

New analytical tools

Until 2014, Customs officers posted at the airport based their decision on whether to select and control a passenger and his/her baggage on the results of behavioural analysis, questioning, baggage surveillance, and o...

Issue: WCO News 89

Potential uses of geodata for border management

The management of land or maritime borders is different from that of points of entry such as ports or airports, where the main constraint is not the scale of the territory, but rather the scale of the flows. If time is the principle constraint in ports or airports, then space is the main challeng...

Geodata in use today

State agencies use geographic tools for many purposes: to analyse land use; to plan traffic infrastructure; to monitor the environment and agriculture; to respond to disaster management; and to manage...

Issue: WCO News 91 February 2020

How digitalization combined with artificial intelligence can increase sustainability in global supply chain operations

Increasing the efficiency of transportation is key to reducing the impact of trade operations on the environment. To achieve significant results, Customs, border agencies, traders and logistics operators must digitalize their processes and share relevant data. Howe...

Working with industry leaders such as DHL, DPD, Cosco and Kuehne + Nagel, as well as with Customs administrations and other public authorities, MJC2 has developed new AI-driven algorithms and optimization solutions, which address areas such as real-time logistics planning, manufacturin...

Issue: WCO News 94 February 2021

Improving Strategic Trade Detection and Classification through Machine Learning

Ensuring the enforcement of a national strategic trade control (STC) system is a key requirement for all Customs administrations. Strategic goods comprise weapons of mass destruction (WMD), conventional weapons, and the materials, technology and equipment that may be used in their development or ...

In the United States, for example, the Department of Commerce uses identifiers called export control classification numbers (ECCNs) to categorize items that are subject to export control regulations. These ECCNs predominantly contain strategic goods. US Customs and Border Protection uses the Harm...

Issue: WCO News 98 – Issue 2 / 2022

French Customs puts data science to work for all its officials

In late 2019, French Customs set up a programme called “Valorisation des Données” (“Data Exploitation”), placing data at the heart of its various lines of work. Its intention in embarking on this project was to seek out new tools to transform the way in which its officers carry out their...

Apps

Below is a brief overview of the apps that have been developed.

“Minoration de valeur” (“Unde...

Issue: WCO News 92 June 2020

Evolution of data analysis at Dominican Customs

Talking about competitiveness, effectiveness, quality control, risk management, and compliance is meaningless if we do not talk as well about access to technology and data analysis tools, including the need for trained personnel who are able to develop and manage these very tools.

At the G...

Purpose

Every organization needs a purpose, a well-defined north, a shared vision capable of igniting the spark and keeping the organization moving. The five general objectives of the DGA Strategic Plan state that Customs...

Issue: WCO News 81

Georgia, Europe’s first nCEN country

In a modern globalized world, Customs services require efficient and convenient tools to capture seizure data, data which will enable to strengthen its risk management capacities. The Georgia Revenue Service (GRS), which gathers the Tax and Customs Administration and the Sanitary and Phytosanitar...

Issue: WCO News 89

PROFILE: Enhancing Customs Risk Management

PROFILE, a project funded under the European Union’s (EU) Horizon 2020 research and innovation programme, aims to develop and test modern data analytics tools with a view to improving Customs risk management techniques.

Ultimately, the project will facilitate and accelerate the uptake by...

Project consortium

The project brings together 14 partners from eight countries across Europe: five Customs administrations, leading technology providers, and universities...

Issue: WCO News 92 June 2020

Implementing nCEN helped Uganda strengthen its targeting capacities

Uganda Customs adopted the National Customs Enforcement Network (nCEN) back in 2015. It took time to enter information in the application and to convince enforcement officers of its benefits. But today, with 1,200 cases validated in the database, the appreciation of the system has greatly improve...

The nCEN consists of three independent databases. The principal database of national seizures and offences comprises data required for analysis, as well as means of conveyance, routes, and the possibility to view photos depicting exceptional concealment methods. Two supplementary databases contai...

Issue: WCO News 100 – Issue 1 / 2023

Armenia Customs strengthen anti-counterfeiting enforcement thanks to high-performance analytical tools

This article gives a snapshot of the evolution of risk management within Armenia Customs. It looks in particular into the analytical tools developed to strengthen anti-counterfeiting enforcement.

The implementation of a risk management tool to manage ...

Flexibility and continuous improvements

The tool built is flexible and undergoes continuous development and expansion. Like other automated systems, it collects, organizes and categorizes data from various IT systems on t...

At the Georgian Cyber Security and IT Innovation Conference held in 2019, the IPR module developed by the State Revenue Committee of the Republic of Armenia won the prize for “Best Online Information Resource”. During the event, the State Revenue Committee was also awarded “The Best IT Mana...

Issue: WCO News 89

Fighting illicit financial flows: Brazilian Customs´ approach

The role of Customs has become increasingly complex over the years. On the one hand, international corporations and supply chains actors in general have put pressure on governments to shape a new operating model at the border, based on simplifying procedures and expediting the release of traded g...

Brazil’s approach

In 2014, Global Financial Integrity (GFI)[4], undertook a study in Brazil, producing a report entitled “Brazil: Capital Flight, Illicit Flows, and Macroeconomic Crises, 1960-2012....

Issue: WCO News 77

Ecuador undertakes a mirror analysis

How do we discover new fraud? On what basis and on which data do we rely in deciding when to investigate certain commodities or trade flows rather than others? Chance, intuition, experience and intelligence are useful, but can we complement them using a more object...

Issue: WCO News 97 – Issue 1 / 2022

Digital Vetting: using multi-dimensional data and AI-driven selectivity models to enhance enforcement

Harnessing the Data Revolution

Global digitalization is leading to an exponential increase in the volume and production of data, which, in turn, is matched by a growing demand for data from all parts of society. This phen...

Examples

The following example shows an import transaction analysis using one-dimensional data:

Transaction: Consignment X is sent to importer Y by shipper Z with a value of $m and a weight of N.<...

Issue: WCO News 88

National Customs Enforcement Network: a look at country-specific implementation

Intelligence-based risk management is a term widely used in the Customs sector and everyone agrees that today, it is the way to go to support global trade facilitation efforts and deal with resource constraints. One of the key measures to implement such a policy is to have a systematic and accura...

Georgia’s experience

Back in 2016, the Georgia Revenue Service (GRS), which brings together under one umbrella the Tax and Customs Administration and the Sanitary and Ph...

Issue: WCO News 100 – Issue 1 / 2023

Controlling inputs of cigarette production: rationale, challenges and recommendations

Cigarette factories need various raw materials, intermediate goods, and manufacturing equipment to operate. Controlling trade in such inputs should therefore be part of Customs’ strategy in the fight against illicit cigarettes trade. This article presents the var...

Some key inputs may be substituted with alternative materials, while others may be used to manufacture products other than cigarettes. They also differ in terms of number of suppliers which produce them, and ease with which they can be identified referring to their trade names and WCO Harmonized ...

Issue: WCO News 99- Issue 3 / 2022

Introduction

Collecting, storing, analysing and disseminating law-enforcement information efficiently is critical for establishing robust intelligence capabilities. To support Customs administrations in this area, three WCO applications have been developed:

  • The Customs Enforcement Network (CEN), ...

Issue: WCO News 102 – Issue 3 / 2023

How Indian Customs leverages data analytics for efficient risk management

Selecting cargo for inspections and examinations using basic methods has limitations, so, to enhance their enforcement capability, Customs administrations need a paradigm shift in the way they deal with targeting. They need to leverage data science, an interdiscipl...

The architecture’s robustness is underpinned by its ability to combine multiple advanced data science components with human intelligence. It enables Indian Customs to integrate multiple data sources, generate meaningful insights and utilize targets derived from both data science and human exper...

Issue: WCO News 91 February 2020

Customs implements the WCO nCEN in Palestine

Palestine Customs aims at creating an environment supportive of the national economy by preserving the security and safety of the community and combating smuggling, tax evasion, and commercial fraud in all its forms. All laudable activities for a territory that faces enormous daily challenges on ...

The nCEN was installed at the beginning of 2018. In February of the same year, two Palestinian Customs officers working respectively in IT and in risk management participated in a workshop organized by the WCO, giving them the opportunity to learn:

  • how to administer the tool;

    • Customs analysts use the nCEN data to identify risk criteria and set up the data analytics functionality such as automated searches on new data, and matching rules that allow users to identify connections between data elements in the application.

    The fact that the latest version of CENcomm...

Issue: WCO News 99- Issue 3 / 2022

Enhancing data collection – A call to action!

When the first discussions on the creation of the Customs Enforcement Network (CEN) were initiated during the Enforcement Committee in 1999, there was agreement that the CEN would have positive implications for the organization of Customs enforcement services around the world. The project was una...

Engaging WCO Members

As a basic principle, the CEN Charter calls on heads of Customs administrations to raise awareness among their staff as to the added value of the CEN at the national level, in order to convince them t...

“Ideas mean nothing without execution”

While the strategic initiative is critical to fulfilling our goals, every initiative has to have its own strategy. For the WCO Secretariat, this means, on the one hand, putting ...

Issue: WCO News 104 – Issue 2 / 2024

Leveraging AI for Proactive Customs Compliance: Giving Shipments a Voice

The recent changes in trade compliance has created a need for better tools that allow enterprises to abide by international laws and regulations. Artificial intelligence has become one of the most important pieces of this puzzle. Used for broad tasks such as mapping supply chains down to classify...

These are insufficient tools being used to solve complex problems. A value chain encompasses the entire lifecycle of a product, from the raw materials to the assembly, to the sales and shipping – and it includes aspects of finance, logistics, marketing and legal. Compliance profess...

Issue: WCO News 90 October 2019

Perspective on risk management systems for Customs administrations

As a vendor who designs and deploys border processing systems, we have seen many Customs and border administrations make significant investments towards optimizing and modernizing their border processing capabilities and methodologies in an effort to meet the demands of today’s fast-paced inter...

Random assignments for inspection are simply not effective, yet have emerged as a way for many Customs administrations to manage the growing volume of trade arriving at their borders. To compound the problem, some widely used systems automate this obsolete approach to border management, and refer...

Issue: WCO News 93 October 2020

Using Customs data to follow crisis trends: the experience of Niger Customs

To date, African countries have been only moderately affected by the COVID‑19 pandemic.[1] Governments took measures promptly: as early as March 2020, borders were closed except for goods, large gatherings were banned, curfews imposed and capital cities lock...

The specific features of the COVID‑19 crisis and Customs involvement

The consequences of this crisis and the counter-measures taken by governments, such a...

Issue: WCO News 95 – June 2021

Analysis of trade data pays off, so why is Customs not embracing it more widely?

As billions of dollars are lost each year to trade fraud, and Covid-19 is pressuring economies around the globe, it is imperative that governments understand how software and data can be used to target trade crime. Having spent years working on this topic, I would like in this article to share so...

The backbone of the TTU programme was two-fold:

  • a bilateral mechanism was established to enable trade data to be exchanged with countries who had signed a Customs Mutual Assistance Agreement with the US;
  • a computer system acted as an investigative tool that allowed users to ...

Issue: WCO News 99- Issue 3 / 2022

nCEN: a look into user practice and upcoming upgrades

Detecting the illicit trade of prohibited or regulated commodities is extremely challenging. One way to enhance identification capacities is to analyse data related to seizures and detentions and develop a set of rules: deductive rules based on watchlists; inductive rules, using indicators or ano...

Data analysis: the case of Georgia Customs

“Smuggling trends and patterns change very fast. Having quality data on seizures is key to identify emerging risks in terms of commodities and modus operandi”, explained a representative of Georgia Customs

Communication component: the case of North Macedonia Customs

Deployments of the nCEN application in Customs administrations already possessing centralized systems for enfo...

Issue: WCO News 100 – Issue 1 / 2023

Moving from risk management to decision intelligence: what it means and where to start

The delicate balance between facilitating legitimate trade and combatting illicit trade raises numerous challenges for Customs administrations. Three of these appear to be common to all administrations.

The first shared challenge is a disproportionate ratio of personnel to workload. This h...

Going beyond risk management

What does it mean to shift to decision intelligence? Rather than considering one container or shipment at a time, Customs authorities can use a variety of exploration techniques to unveil hid...

Issue: WCO News 101 – Issue 2 / 2023

How India Customs contributes to data-informed decision-making

“In God we trust, all others must bring data”. Widely attributed to statistician and management theorist W. Edwards Deming, this quote epitomizes the importance of data in decision-making. With technologies for extracting, collecting, storing and processing data having progressed rapidly over...

Conducting Time Release Studies to drive and assess changes

The WCO Time Release Study (TRS) is an internationally-accepted strategic tool for measuring the actual time taken for the release and/or clearance of goods – ...

Providing data on the usage of preference treatments established by Free Trade Agreements

Trade negotiators need Customs data both when considering the signing of a Free T...

Issue: WCO News 93 October 2020

Seeing deeper into supply chains is key to overcoming disruptions such as COVID-19

Every year, procurement officers and supply chain professionals are confronted by a myriad of natural disasters, factory fires, corporate restructuring and other disruptive events that have slowed their supply chains or even brought them to a halt. But for many it took the COVID-19 pandemic, a bl...

This disruption is especially evident in China, where 460,000 factories shut down in the first quarter of the year, according to one bi...

Issue: WCO News 94 February 2021

Transforming Customs operations management teams into strategic players

Within companies, Customs operations management teams are typically slow to adopt new technology. Yet by adopting trade software solutions, they could centralize and automate their Customs and trade compliance processes and harness the value of data, saving time an...

Customs data – are you in control?

As a company, if you are in control of the data required for Customs compliance, you are ahead of the game. But often compliance data is unstructured, sprinkled across internal systems as well as a...

Issue: WCO News 99- Issue 3 / 2022

Indian Customs enhances its Customs Offence Management System

The COVID-19 pandemic presented many challenges to the international trade community. Many of these were new to the officers working for the Central Board of Indirect Taxes and Customs (CBIC), the Government of India’s nodal body responsible for formulation a...

Review

At the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic, the DIGIT team decided it was time to look again at the system to ensure it was still fit for purpose and to identify ways to enhance it. They first focused on analysing t...

Impetus from the top

This comprehensive review of DIGIT was not only supported but also driven by the highest echelons of the Indian Customs Department, ultimately culminating in the development of a dashboard for the Fin...

Issue: WCO News 91 February 2020

How Machine Learning Can Automate the Determination of the Valuation of Goods

Machine learning, i.e. the process of teaching a computer system how to make accurate predictions when fed data, can help Customs administrations to identify revenue fraud or other illegal activities. In this article, TTEK, a technology solutions firm, explains how...

At the time of writing, there are 164 countries that are members of the WTO; the most recent addition being Afghanistan in July 2016. In addition, several other countries have chosen voluntarily to adopt the Agreement as the basis for determining Customs value. To meet the terms of their internat...

Issue: WCO News 100 – Issue 1 / 2023

Effective enforcement of international trade regulations requires powerful data analytics

New regulatory frameworks are constantly being introduced by governments with the aim of ensuring that the trading of goods remains compliant with their goals. While the regulators place the onus of compliance mainly on the importers themselves, Customs are also faced with the immense responsibil...

Analyzing the regulators’ datasets is no longer sufficient

More than 10,000 regulatory frameworks impacting international trade were introduced in 2022 alone, and it is no longer possible to manage trade flows without t...

Issue: WCO News 86

Brazil’s new integrated risk management solutions

In 1993, the Department of Federal Revenue of Brazil (RFB), which has under its umbrella both the Customs service and the internal revenue service, launched Brazil’s Integrated International Trade System (Siscomex) as part of its efforts to implement computer-based procedures and controls. The ...

Machine learning

The artificial intelligence (AI) tool is called SISAM, a Portuguese acronym for “Customs Selection System through Machine Learning” in English. This computerized tool has been in use since August 2014...

Issue: WCO News 102 – Issue 3 / 2023

The importance of data in DHL Express

Quality data is the lifeblood of an efficient Customs clearance process. All Customs tasks and responsibilities are performed, at least in part, on the basis of data received from businesses engaged in trade – for example, data for purposes of revenue collection, risk management, admissibility ...

Educating customers

Usually, express couriers’ shippers are their customers. They consist of big and small companies selling goods, as well as private individuals who may or may not be selling goods, or wish to return the goods they bou...

Issue: WCO News 86

Clearance of express cargo and postal items: Korea tests new analytical tools to root out fraud

Customs administrations collate a significant volume of data on a daily basis. For instance, the Korea Customs Service (KCS) accumulates 45 GB of structured data and 30 GB of unstructured data in its database every day. However, most Customs administrations were until now not able to leverage suc...

The challenge

With the exponential growth in e-commerce, the number of small parcels to be cleared by Customs has skyrocketed, stretching the limits of Customs enforcement capacities. Korea has a tax-exemption system and ...