In October 2010, a bomb was found by police in the United Kingdom (UK) aboard a UPS plane after detailed information was passed through intelligence channels. Tests revealed that if the cargo plane’s journey had gone to schedule, the device – in a package addressed to a synagogue in Chica...
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...
Following the signature of two new grant agreements with the European Union and the US Department of State, new activities have been scheduled under Programme Global Shield (PGS) for the next three years (mid-2022 to mid-2025) for the benefit of all WCO Members.
Whereas, in the past, support used to be provided to specific countries and regions based on grant agreements, the activities to be rolled out up to mid-2025 are now open to all WCO Members. They include:
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...
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:
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.
A new version of the WCO Strategic Trade Control Enforcement Implementation Guide wa...
The Guide was developed in response to Customs administrations’ requests for practical assistance with the development or review of their Strategic Trade Control Enforcement processes and procedures. It is divided into two main sections. The first section, intended for senior Customs managers a...
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...
Indonesian Customs began working on the electronic exchange of passenger data between airlines and Customs in early 2008, as part of their implementation of an Advance Passenger Information (API) transmission system. At that time, passenger processing techniques consisted of screening API data tr...
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...
The Brazilian Authorized Economic Operator (AEO) Programme can be considered one of the most advanced and successful in the world. Indeed, from the outset, the Programme has featured some prominent characteristics. Among other things, an internationally renowned consulting firm was involved in it...
Staged implementation
The implementation of the Brazilian AEO Programme has been carried out in stages: AEO-Security certification was launched in 2014 and AEO-Compliance certification in 2015. In 2016, steps were taken t...
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...
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...
In Haiti, the political instability that followed the departure of President Jean-Claude Duvalier in 1986 was compounded by a security crisis caused by the military coup against President Jean-Bertrand Aristide in 1991. This culminated in the assassination of Presi...
In terms of its organizational structure, the AGD has a general management and technical and administrative departments. It also has 17 field Customs offices responsible for Customs clearance operations and formalities, 12 of which are based in ports and airports and four along the land border. ...
Abductions
The current security situation in Haiti is also having an impact on the working conditions of the AGD and its officials. According to a press release by the UN ...
The Central African Republic (CAR) gained independence in 1960, but has a chequered history of coups d’état and ongoing guerrilla attacks. In 2013, Séléka – a Muslim-dominated coalition of rebel groups from the north, which ousted the former President François Bozizé – be...
In an article published in WCO News in June 2015, Indonesian Customs shared its experience of buil...
nalysis of the data enables Customs to identify anomalies such as travel itineraries involving sensitive or illogical routes, passengers travelling with a suspicious amount of luggage for the length of their stay, unusual forms of payment, suspect travel agencies, etc., or a combination of these ...
Until recently, therefore, officers of the air passenger analysis unit needed to open two separate applications in order to be able to visualize the data, and carrying out the analysis was very time-consuming and energy-intensive. They reported that the excessive amount of data displayed on the s...
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...
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 ...
The French and Nigerien authorities have been working on setting up a region-specific national training centre on coordinated border management. Its purpose is to train the internal security services of the countries of West Africa that have seen security in their ...
The Sahelian border areas, where trade is the main economic resource, were subject to 65% of the violent incidents in 2022. These areas have become sources of financial revenue and influence, for which the armed groups are jostling with the states. In the past, there was little investment in thes...
A region-specific national training centre in Niger
Niger has a 5,690-kilometre-long border with seven countries: Algeria and Libya to...
For more than 10 years, counter-terrorism units have been witnessing the establishment of caliphates by jihadist groups in the Sahel. Although the activities of militant Islamist groups were initially focused on Mali, they have gradually shifted towards the west and south of Burkina Faso and spr...
Groups of traffickers organized into networks have taken advantage of the situation to step up their illicit activities (trafficking in arms, drugs and human beings etc.) in the border areas of the region and of Benin.
At the end of June 2016, a group of WCO experts went to Tunisia as part of a research programme on barriers to trade facilitation with a particular focus on potential obstacles linked to the implementation of the World Trade Organization’s (WTO’s) Trade Facilitation Agreement (TFA). The WCO-l...
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...
Several European Union (EU) Member States recently participated in a simulation exercise aimed at analysing practices related to the implementation of the EU Dual-Use Export Control Regulation and identifying related challenges. The simulation gathered both Customs...
Outcomes and recommendations
The purpose of SimEX 2015 was not to teach that a particular way of implementing export control would be better than another. All participants in the preparation/master team and in the playing...
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 ...
Since 2009, within the framework of the Integrated Plan to support Cuba’s Nuclear Physical Security, the General Customs of the Republic of Cuba (GCR) has been developing a nuclear physical security detection architecture at the border, in conjunction with national agencies and multilateral org...
Standard Operating Procedures
Given the risks involved in controlling nuclear and radiological materials, the response to a radiation alarm is strictly regulated; Standard Operating Procedures have been developed by the T...
Nigeria is the fourth largest economy in Africa. Given its market size and strategic location on the African continent, international trade plays a key role in its economy, and the country is home to a network of bustling ports, airports and border crossings. In recent years, the Nigerian Governm...
The AEO programme will gradually replace the Fast Track Scheme (FTS) introduced in 2003, which was compliance-focused and open only to manufacturers, with the key benefit of allowing goods arriving in Nigeria to be immediately transferred to a trader’s premises under NCS escort.
Setting up the foundation: AEO Steering Committee and Technical Working Group
One of the milestones of the project was the inauguration ceremony held on 2 August 2023 for the newly established AEO Steering Committee and ...
This text is inspired by experience gained in field studies undertaken in Sub-Saharan Africa since 2000 and anthropological research conducted over a period of 18 months in seven border areas that can be considered “fragile,” namely in Tunisia, Libya, Jordan, S...
The United Arab Emirates (UAE) is one of the world’s largest and fastest growing trading hubs, as a result of its accelerated and extensive modernization initiatives in recent years, the quality of its infrastructure, the intellectual power of its workforce, and ...
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...
Embedded in the Framework of Standards to Secure and Facilitate Global Trade, which was adopted by the WCO in 2005, is the concept of an Authorized Economic Operator (AEO) that has been widely implemented by Customs administrations around the world. In the South American region, preparations for ...
These figures do not tell us much if not compared with the total number of importers. Let’s do an exercise with Colombia. In this country, 920 companies are recognized as big importers and are already benefitting from a facilitation scheme. Given that most existing and potential AEOs are and wo...
The national security environment is one of uncertainty and complexity, with security threats emerging from different conflicts and threatening different interests. Despite its relatively remote geographic location, the threat to Australia and Australians from terrorists and violent extremists is...
Rail freight transport is expected to grow, alongside the projected growth in global trade, more than threefold to US$27 trillion in 2030.[1] Two growth factors for rail freight transport’s growth are China’s ambitious Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) ̵...
Recent tech advancements
In rail transport, high-energy X-ray systems are most often used to screen rail freight and detect threats or anomalies. In recent years, advances...
The flow of consignments delivered by postal operators or express courier services, sometimes over borders, is increasing at a rapid rate. Most of the consignments are small and generally of “low value.” The fact that the value is low often means not only are t...
Today, it is widely recognized that the growing e-commerce sector is beneficial to economies, providing new growth engines, developing new trade modes, driving new consumption trends, and creating new jobs. It has especially opened up growth opportunities to micro, small and medium-sized enterpri...
The European Union has developed a new Customs pre-arrival security and safety programme, underpinned by a large-scale advance cargo information system called the Import Control System 2 (ICS2). DHL Express, a leading global logistics provider, has undertaken exten...
When the new regime first entered into force, new security threats emerged. In October 2010, a shipment containing improvised explosive devices was found on board an aeroplane arriving from Yemen and transiting the EU towards the United States. The focus of Customs security shifted towards improv...
Challenges faced
DHL Express encountered several challenges during the preparation and implementation of ICS2, each requiring innovative solutions and concerted efforts in order to be overcome.
People, goods and capital involved in preparing and perpetrating terrorist acts generally, cross borders and transit between different countries. The border is therefore the ideal place for thwarting the preparation of violent acts in advance, and for intercepting individuals linked to a terroris...
In light of the spate of terror attacks in various regions around the world, on 10 December 2015, the WCO Policy Commission issued the Punta Cana Resolution, which emphasizes the key role that Customs administrations play in tackling illicit cross-border movements of goods that could ultimately s...
WCO Asia Pacific Security Project in action
Thanks to financial support from the Government of Japan, a specific project was developed for Customs administrations in South East Asia and the Pacific Islands to strengthen their capacity in ...
The WCO has been prioritizing security-related issues for some years now, developing norms and practices to secure the supply chain and advocating that Customs administrations play an active role in addressing border security-related challenges. In fact, in December 2015 WCO Members adopted the P...
WCO Security Programme
A key part of the arsenal of tools developed by the WCO to assist countries in securing the supply chain is the WCO SAFE Framework of Standards to Secure and Facilitate Global Trade (SAFE Framework)...