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...
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 disrupti...
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 ...
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 pla...
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 ...
When it was announced by the World Health Organization (WHO) that COVID-19 had become a pandemic, the WCO Secretariat’s management team quickly sprang into action, listing the urgent tasks to be done to support Customs administrations in managing the crisis and developing a business continuity ...
While the world is gripped by the fight against COVID-19, criminals have turned this into an opportunity for fraudulent activity. There have been an alarming number of reports quoting seizures of counterfeit and substandard critical medical supplies, such as face masks and hand sanitizers in part...
After 14 years of service, Kateshumbwa Dicksons left the Uganda Revenue Authority a few weeks ago. In this article, he shares the experience of Uganda Customs in dealing with the COVID-19 pandemic.
Since the year 2000, Uganda has experienced repeated ...
In light of this unprecedented reality, governments took to adopting various policies and measures to curb the spread of this highly infectious disease, with a number of them implementing a lockdown of their population. After most neighbouring countries had confirmed COVID-19 cases, the governmen...
The first positive coronavirus case in Sri Lanka was reported on 3 March and by 8 May nearly 820 people were found to be infected out of a 22 million population. On 16 March a wide curfew was imposed on the island, followed by other stringent measures to protect the further spread of th...
Lower trade volumes
The Port of Colombo, the island’s main entry point, benefits from a unique geographic location and Sri Lanka’s ambition to make it an important hub for international trade. According to the Sri Lanka Ports Authorit...
As more countries imposed restrictions on movements and gatherings to fight the spread of COVID-19, online training that might have been a useful tool before, suddenly became a necessity. In this article, Japan Customs explains how it quickly adapted to the situati...
The Japan Customs Training Institute (CTI) provides various kinds of training programmes, which are designed according to officers’ skills and career paths. Among these various training programmes, the one developed for newly recruited officers is of particular importance. It is indeed imperati...
In every discussion I have about aviation, people ask me when they will be able to fly again. Still remains to be seen when the recovery from COVID-19 firmly starts, but from all assessments, it may take several years for the industry to come back to its pre-crisis level, especially when it comes...
With the grounding of most passenger planes, the air cargo industry suddenly lost between 80-90% of its existing belly capacity, which severely disrupted air cargo flows. However, the sector was able to quickly adjust to this sudden change with innovative measures such as increased utilization of...
The COVID-19 pandemic has changed our lives in ways that we never imagined. One thing, however, has become very clear; the continued importance of global trade and of initiatives supporting the smooth flow of goods across borders, especially essential goods to areas where they are most needed. Gl...
Those countries that have minimized bureaucracy and cost at the border have been able to benefit ahead of those that haven’t; and now there has never been a more important time to implement even the most basic reforms to support countries both from a health and safety as well as an economic per...
Early 2020 saw the spread of the COVID-19 pandemic to almost every country on the planet. Healthcare workers, road hauliers, logistics specialists, international freight forwarders, agrifood cooperatives… much has been said and written in the media about the ...
New working practices
As in many other sectors, it has been necessary for Customs brokers to switch to remote working in order to continue operating throughout the crisis – a process made easier for AKANEA’s customers...
In 2020, the European Commission signed Advance Purchase Agreements (APAs) with COVID-19 vaccine manufacturers on behalf of the European Union (EU) Member States to ensure affordable and timely access to COVID-19 vaccines for their population. Financial support had been given to vaccine manufactu...
The export authorization was to be granted by the competent authority of the Member State where the vaccines were manufactured. It had to be produced when the goods were declared for export or, at the latest, at the moment of the release of the goods. In Belgium, the authority competent for grant...
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...
Southern Brazil was hit by the worst floods in more than 80 years in 2024, forcing hundreds of thousands of people to flee their homes. People from all over the world reacted to the news by sending donations. To rapidly process those shipments, the Brazilian Federa...
Extending payment deadlines and speeding up the release of tax credits
Deadlines for all procedural and tax obligations were extended by up to 120 days to keep resources that, under normal circumstances would have been co...
The disaster sparked an immense sense of solidarity, and a large number of goods declared as donations on the bill of lading kept on arriving for weeks at dozens of Customs offices spread across Brazil’s large territory.
The government did not publish a list of essential goods or equipme...
Vanuatu is one of the few countries in the world to have almost evaded the COVID-19 pandemic. This is mainly due to the implementation of stringent border control measures in the archipelago. This article examines how the Vanuatu Department of Customs and Inlan...
Cargo
It was essential to ensure minimum physical interaction during cargo offloading and processing. At the airport, terminal workers were provided with full personal protective equipment (PPE) and were asked to have no ...
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...
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...
The devastating earthquakes that hit the southeast of Türkiye on 6 February 2023 destroyed 13 cities, directly affecting approximately 16 million people. Immediately, a fourth-level state of alert was declared, triggering a call for international help. Around 7,800 humanitarian aid shipments fro...
The National Disaster Response Plan establishes a Disaster International Support and Cooperation Group, which is primarily responsible for coordinating the distribution of aid to disaster victims. Within this Group, Turkish Customs’ role is to ensure fast clearance of international aid and dire...
Ukraine declared itself an independent country on 24 August 1991 and, shortly afterwards, established its own Customs Service. As it is the case for any new organization, the challenge was to find highly qualified specialists and focus was consequently placed on the training of newly recruited of...
The Department also selects and trains dogs and dog handler teams, manages the logistics and infrastructure of the Dog Training Centre (kennels, vehicles and training tools used), ensures participation by Ukrainian dog handler teams in special events, and cooperates with other agenc...
In Peru, the COVID-19 pandemic led to a contraction of the volume of exports and imports, which has negatively impacted tax revenues. However, the crisis did not stop the supply of goods deemed critical to deal with the pandemic, nor did it stop the imports and exports vital to supporting the cou...
Adjusting to a new reality
The measures aimed at supporting the continuity of foreign trade operations during the pandemic included:
The Kingdom of Saudi Arabia was among the first countries to respond to the global COVID‑19 pandemic, adopting a series of measures designed to prevent the virus from spreading. Saudi Customs has followed the Government’s lead by imposing strict internal and external precautionary measures wh...
Safety First Strategy
At the end of February 2020, a “Safety First Strategy” was adopted. It consisted of three phases: Before, During and After. Throughout the “Before” phase, which lasted only a few days, preven...
During a natural catastrophe or epidemic, it is essential for Customs administrations to facilitate or even speed up the delivery of relief consignments to victims, thereby helping to reduce the number of possible deaths. In fact, it would be unacceptable should this number increase as a result o...
Late on 13 March 2015, tropical Cyclone Pam hit Vanuatu, packing wind gusts of up to 320 kilometres (200 miles) an hour, and causing widespread damage in the archipelago nation located in the South Pacific Ocean. It was the most devastating tropical cyclone that the southern hemisphere has ever e...
On 26 December 2004 almost two-thirds of the Sri Lankan coast was severely affected by the Indian Ocean tsunami, which left thousands of people displaced, injured or dead in its wake, highlighting the country’s vulnerability to a natural disaster.
Besides low-frequency but high impact ev...
