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 toget...
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 ...
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...
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...
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 inves...
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:
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 a...
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 ...
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 pr...
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 Tra...
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 disseminati...
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 p...
Measuring the programme’s performance
The following data can be taken into account when trying to assess the impact of the programme:
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, ...
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 cruci...
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 ...
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 en...
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 legislat...
It looks at five areas:
Under each of these areas, the following dimensions are examined:
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 admi...
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.
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 cover...
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 global Customs theme for 2020 reads “Customs Fostering Sustainability for People, Prosperity and the Planet,” and, although the three focus areas are inter-linked, each warrants separate consideration due to their wide-ranging scope.
It is thought-provoking to note that global GDP ...
Sustainable Development Goals
World leaders committed, for the first time, to the goal of sustainable development at the Earth Summit in Rio de Janeiro in 1992. In 2000, 189 States signed a declaration to achieve eight Mi...
Environmental sustainability
Environmental sustainability lies at the heart of most of the SDGs, and cannot be detached from the SDGs and future prosperity. The UN acknowledges environmental sustainability as key to achie...
Working towards environmental sustainability
Various environmental and social treaties and goals have been adopted internationally, but more progress has been made in relation to social goals than environmental ones.
Conclusion It is imperative for Customs administrations to acknowledge and respond to environmental risks and crimes, and to ensure that such crimes receive the strategic and policy recognition and operational attention t...
In pursuance of the WCO’s objective to support global sustainability efforts, its Secretariat recently conducted a survey among Customs administrations to ascertain their level of engagement with regards to the implementation of Multilateral Environmental Agreements, or MEAs, as they are common...
Findings
Importance given to MEAs
Customs administrations were asked to rate the importance they attached to the implementation of each of the eight MEAs in their countries. Th...
Security Programme
Under the Strategic Trade Controls Enforcement (STCE) Programme, a curriculum and modules for training purposes have been developed to as...
New Publications
How the Harmonized System supports a safer, greener world by specifying goods of environmental concern or interest.
“Here be dragons”
Dragons and other mythological beasts...
Goods posing environmental risks
In every new edition of the HS, there are changes designed to make it simpler for administrations to monitor and control the trade in goods posing an environmental risk. For example, goods...
There is a long-standing concern that trade flows in hazardous and other wastes could lead to negative impacts on human health and the environment if such wastes end up in countries without capacities for their proper management. On the other hand, trade in was...
Latest developments
In May 2019, the Conference of the Parties to the Basel Convention, the Convention’s decision-making body, adopted numerous decisions. They include the adoption of the Plastic Wastes Amendments, whic...
The environmentally sound management of wastes covered under the Convention also has its own specificities and implementation challenges. First of all, the definition and classification of waste, scrap and secondary materials can be different from country to country. The Convention specifies haza...
Available support
Fourteen regional centres for training and technology transfers related to the management of hazardous wastes and other wastes and the minimization of their generation have been established to support th...
Although the term has not been defined in international law, it is commonly held that light aviation comes under the heading of general aviation, a generic term covering all civil aviation operations other than commercial transport, in other words sports and leisure aviation, aerial work and priv...
The ozone layer, which lies in the atmosphere high above our heads, is vital for protecting human health and the environment from dangerous ultraviolet radiation reaching the earth’s surface. Without it, life on earth could not exist. Depletion of this thin layer of gas is caused by the emissio...
Montreal Protocol
This environmental success story is testament to the achievements of the Montreal Protocol on Substances that Deplete the Ozone Layer, under which nations of the world have phased-out 99% of ODS. One may conclude, therefore, that a global environmental ca...
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...
Our names are Mary and Edwin, and we are Customs officers working in the city of Tumbes, located on the northern Peruvian coast, only 30 km from the Ecuadorian border. Despite the fact that we work in different sections of the Administration, we both have an interest in, and passion for, internat...
The global demand for timber, and its products, is only partly being met from legal sources. According to a 2012 Legal framework One of the key global agreements is the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora (CITES) that came into force in 1975. CITES, which has 183 signature countries, aims ... Organizations such as the WCO, working with its partners like INTERPOL, are investing a great deal in fostering collaboration among Customs administrations and relevant enforcement bodies to curb the illicit trade in various commodities, including through enforcement operations. One of these,
Results and remaining challenges Data collected by the UNEP’s World Conservation Monitoring Centre...
Saudi Customs is the latest Customs administration to implement an authorized economic operator (AEO) programme. In doing so, its objective is to modernize border processing and support the trade facilitation objectives outlined in “Vision 2030,” a national blueprint for the Kingdom of Saudi ...
Trade has always been one of the manifestations of freedom and power. The idea of a “free port” can be traced back to 167 BC, when the Roman Senate made a decision to turn the then Roman island Delos into a free port[1]. City-States in the early Middle Age...
The same characteristics that make free zones attractive to legitimate business also lure fraudsters and criminals. They can forge documents and use free zones to repackage or relabel goods, or manufacture and assemble new goods in these zones. The transit and transshipment of goods pose the high...
With the current global spotlight on wild animal markets as a possible source of the COVID-19 epidemic, it is easy to forget that the biggest flows of “wildlife” in trade involve plants, not animals. There are also important conservation and health reasons to...
It is assessed that direct overexploitation, including for international trade, combined with land-use changes and habitat loss, threatens the survival of as many as 20% of the plants used for medicinal and aromatic purposes. The extinction of these species threatens the livelihoods and well-bein...
Interview with Ms Louise van Greunen, Director, Building Respect for IP Division, World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO), and Dr Martin Guard, Chartered Environmentalist and Hazardous Waste Specialist
What must be taken into account before storing IP-infringing goods, and who is liable for storage costs? Dr Martin Guard: Storage of IP-infringing goods can be both complex and expensive. Firstly, IP-in...
Partner States of the East African Community (EAC) have developed a Regional Authorized Economic Operator (AEO) programme with the support of the WCO and in partnership with the EAC Secretariat. Under this scheme, regional AEOs will be mutually recognized in all Pa...
Studies have shown that the air mode has become a sought-after transport avenue for criminals wishing to move illicit wildlife products from one country to another. Not only is air transport fast and convenient, it also allows large consignments to be broken up into smaller ones, thereby reducing...
Questionnaire
In order to carry out the assessments, experts developed a model questionnaire that was tested during two assessments which took place in 2016. The model drew on existing tools dealing with similar issues,...
Export controls are inherently challenging to implement, and no country has a perfect or fool-proof system. In this article, the Customs Department of Lithuania shares information about the specific challenges that the country is facing with dual-use goods, and the...
The EU regulation (No. 428/2009) requires dual-use items to be subject to effective control when they are exported from or transit through the Union, or are delivered to a third country as a result of brokering services provided by a broker resident or established in the Union.
Each entry ...
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...
Operation TIN CAN was the first enforcement activity actively involving the shipping industry to combat the contamination of legitimate cargo with drugs through the rip-on/rip-off method. This article explains how it opened new horizons for enhancing the capacity o...
We are not talking about “small” quantities. In 2020, police in Costa Rica made the biggest seizure of drugs in the country’s history, finding more than five tons of cocaine in 202 suitcases which had been placed in a container with a consignment of flowers headed for the Netherlands. T...
Testing technology
Drugs used to be found mainly inside bags near the door of the container and were therefore visible once it was opened. Nowadays, however, they are more likely to be found behind the first rows of boxes...
Many countries have seen a significant and rapid growth in the volume of low-value imports of physical goods on which duties and taxes are not collected. There are growing concerns about matters related to potential revenue loss, fraud, and the disadvantages experi...
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...
Cross-border e-commerce is increasing sharply in Korea. This is not surprising given that the country ranked No.1 in the world in terms of Internet connection speed at the beginning of 2015, and that the Korean economy is extremely dependent on foreign trade. Howev...
The first Free Zone Park in the Dominican Republic was established in 1969, in the city of La Romana, by the Gulf and Western Corporation, an American firm, which has grown to become the largest private operator in the country. The legal provisions regulating such “free zones” are laid out in...
Dynamic growth
By 2017, the free zone sector in the Dominican Republic consisted of 71 parks, bringing together 665 companies. The Free Zone Parks generate 165,724 direct jobs and account for exports amounting to just und...
The Maldives Customs Service recently installed the Global Travel Assessment System (GTAS), an advance passenger data risk assessment system that enables advance passenger information (API) and passenger name record (PNR) data to be collected and analysed. In this ...
Implementation journey
Up until 2017, the Maldives Customs Service did not have a clear action plan for the implementation of an API and PNR transmission and processing system. But in October 2017, a representative of th...
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...
In terms of the WCO International Convention on the Simplification and Harmonization of Customs Procedures (Revised Kyoto Convention), “free zone” means a part of the territory of a Contracting Party [to the Convention] where any goods introduced are generally regarded, insof...
At present, the national legislative framework governing Georgia’s free industrial zones includes:
Hong Kong Customs’ enforcement strategy is multi-pronged. The administration attaches equal importance to developing efficient enforcement tactics, educating the public and engaging with it, maintaining close collaboration with its overseas enforcement counterpar...
Memoranda of Understanding
After some discussions, in March 2015, Hong Kong Customs signed Memoranda of Understanding (MOUs) with five major express courier operators, namely DHL Express (Hong Kong) Limited, Federal Expre...
Body-worn cameras are small cameras which can be clipped onto clothes or worn as a headset and turned on to record video and audio. In some countries, enforcement agencies are using the devices to monitor officers on patrol or on other assignments that bring them i...
Research
The Department conducted extensive research and practical experiments to determine the required specifications to be met by the cameras. The team in charge of the...
Monitoring and combating illicit financial flows (IFFs) represent a substantial challenge to all countries. This is particularly true for Germany with its growing significance as a financial centre. This article introduces the German Customs organizational structur...
Organizational structure
Germany’s authorities and, in particular, the German Customs administration, are taking up the challenge: the fight against IFFs that make use of the facilities provided by financial regulations...
According to the United Nations Environment Programme, the continent of Asia is the world’s largest dumping ground for illegally traded waste. The region also grapples with the enormous amount of plastic waste it generates on its own, which has already wreaked havoc on local ecosystems. In fact...
Scale of the issue
A growing number of waste shipments reach the Philippines each year. Some contain legitimate waste that can be recycled, but others are made up of garbage and general household trash fit only for incine...
Imagine being less than two feet tall and having to navigate the luggage carousel at one of the busiest airports in America. This could be a daunting and intimidating task, but every day a non-intimidating canine battles through the large crowds sniffing backpacks and luggage looking for food.
When people think of law enforcement canines, beagles are probably one of the last breeds someone would envision. Anderson believes the programme to start using beagles began in the 80s. “We wanted to create public awareness of the agricultural programme. Beagles are cute and cuddly and not int...
The use of sophisticated concealment methods by traffickers requires the use of proper inspection equipment by Customs administrations. As with all modes of transport, vessels present their own challenges when it comes to search operations. Rummaging vessels is extremely time consuming and expens...
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:
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...
Although Burkina Faso has long been regarded as a land lacking in natural resources, over the space of just a few years, the country has been transformed into a mining player specializing in the production of gold. Among the reasons for this growth in the country’s extractive industries are the...
Gold exports
The gold exported by the industrial mines is sold to Metalor Technologies International, a Switzerland-based limited company, which specializes in the refining of precious metals. Artisanal miners, individual...
The State of Israel has a rich history, with more than 30,000 known antiquity sites across the country. Most of these sites are out in the open, unguarded, and easily reached by the public. Neighbouring countries, such as Jordan, Egypt, Syria, Lebanon, Iraq and Turkey, are in the same situation, ...
Enhancing protection
The efforts of the Antiquities Theft Prevention Unit (ATPU) of the IAA to overcome this phenomenon consist of several activities that include:
Dubai, the second largest emirate of the UAE, stands among the fastest growing e-commerce markets in the Middle East and North Africa (MENA), bearing the fruits of adopting incentivizing policies and “smart government” initiatives. Recently, the Government of Dubai rolled out the emirate’s ...
E-commerce challenges
With a 25% yearly growth rate, the MENA region is the world’s fastest growing e-commerce market. Dubai consumers and businesses are major contributors to this growth, which is expected to continue ...
WCO Members have been drawing and sharing lessons from their experiences in combating illicit trade associated with Free Zones (FZs) for decades now. One lesson is that there is a need for effective or better monitoring and control by Customs over these zones. However, changing existing FZ regime...
WCO research paper
Many papers, such as those produced by the Financial Action Task Force (2010), the International Chamber of Commerce (2013), INTERPOL (2013), Viski et al. (2016), The Economist (2018), the Organisation ...
Between 2021 and 2023, French Customs trialled the use of cameras in covert surveillance systems on the roads. Positioned discreetly on the ground and connected to a 4G system, they allow Customs officers to detect suspicious movements remotely. As mobile devic...
Covert surveillance: Daily working hypothesis for inland Customs
The image of a Customs officer standing at a barrier has never been anything but an illusion. The annals o...
The New Year kicked off with positive news for wildlife, with the Chinese authorities announcing the capture and repatriation of a prolific ivory trafficker. This was the culmination of a major investigation led by the Anti-Smuggling Bureau of China Customs, which has disrupted two major wildlife...
The sea cucumber trail
In-depth research and investigations by the EIA between 2014 and 2017 provided unique insights into the role of a major Chinese criminal syndicate involved in the trafficking of elephant ivory from ...
Computers identify websites with an IP address, a long string of numbers separated by periods, which are difficult for humans to remember. Websites also have an address, made up of alphanumeric letters that usually spell out a word or brand name, called a domain name.
Since the creation of...
However, the availability of this data to law enforcement authorities and other good actors has been significantly reduced as a result of the European Union’s General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR), which went into effect in May 2018. Overreaction...
The land of Peru can be divided into three natural areas: the coastal region; the mountains; and the forests. All these areas have different species of fauna and flora, making it a country with a rich and varied biodiversity, and the home of species sought by colle...
One of the chapters of the innovation white paper[1] recently published by the International Association of Ports and Harbours (IAPH) is titled “Innovation in ports – not only about technology”. It argues that innovation is also about process efficiency,...
A regular steel container can be turned into a Smart Container by having devices and sensors installed in it. At the end of the contract with the IoT service provider, they will be dismounted. There are also containers with IoT hardware embedded into the original design during the manufacturing p...
Customs administrations have a full array of tools and technologies at their disposal to test material and substances – both in the field and in their labs. These tools all have benefits and limitations. This article introduces an innovation which enables field o...
IMS is most familiar to the air traveling community when airport security, such as the U.S. Transportation Security Administration (TSA), pulls travellers aside to check their bags for explosives using a trace explosives-detection device (TEDD). When airport security use a TEDD, they are looking ...
A rising global population and higher standards of living have in turn led to an exponential increase in the consumption of goods, resulting in greater quantities of waste. The word “waste” covers a very wide spectrum of discarded material, encompassing household items, electrical and electro...
Waste trade
Between 1992 and 2012, the volume of waste traded grew from 45.6 million tonnes to 222.6 million tonnes, an increase of more than 500% in just two decades! The proportion of the world’s waste being exported ...
Many experiences were shared during the International Conference “Respect for IP – Growing from the Tip of Africa,” which took place at the end of October 2018 in Sandton, South Africa. The conference was co-organized by South Africa’s Companies and Intellectual Property Commission (CIPC)...
Potential development tool
Opening the conference, Joan Fubbs, the South African Parliament’s Chairperson of the Portfolio Committee on Trade and Industry, summarized what was at stake: “Lately, there is a widening co...
Destruction, illegal excavations, theft, plundering and the illicit export of legally-protected cultural heritage can rob a country of its national treasures, and can often cause irreparable damage to a country’s history and cultural identity.
The illicit trade in cultural objects is a w...