Articles

The speed of processing goods, people and conveyances at East Africa’s land borders is a test of the extent to which the principles underlying the Treaty Establishing the East African Community … (EAC) are being applied. Th ese principles include a commitment to the elimination of nontariff barriers in inter-regional trade, the simplifi cation and harmonization of trade documentation and procedures, 24-hour operations at border posts, and joint operations by Customs and other law enforcement agencies to promote border security. Given the robust provisions of the Treaty in regard to trade facilitation, it was possible to commence one-stop border post (OSBP) procedures at some borders on the basis of bilateral Memoranda of Understanding as enabling legislation had not been enacted. Th is situation is about to change with the expected enactment, by mid 2011, of the One Stop Border Posts Bill (2010) by the East African Legislative Assembly. This article will highlight the situation at two border posts in East Africa as a pointer to the direction in which Customs in East Africa is moving with regards to the processing of goods, people and conveyances at land borders.

On 20 May 2011, on the occasion of the Japan-Korea Customs Cooperation Meeting held in Tokyo, Atsuo Shibota, Director General of the Customs and Tariff Bureau in Japan, and Yoon Young-Sun, Commissioner … of the Korea Customs Service (KCS), signed a Mutual Recognition Arrangement (MRA) relating to their Authorized Economic Operator (AEO) programmes. Upon signing the MRA, Director General Shibota and Commissioner Yoon reaffi rmed their view that the Arrangement should be implemented as soon as possible for the sake of further facilitating bilateral trade.

In april 2011 Customs officials in Thailand seized 1,800 monitor lizards near the Malaysian border. Global trade in these reptiles is banned as they are listed as endangered under the Convention … on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora (CITES).

As the state customs service of Ukraine (SCSU) celebrates its 20th anniversary in June 2011, it can look back with pride at what has been achieved over the years. Today Ukraine Customs manages … 28 Customs offi ces and 244 border control points, processes 349 million tonnes of freight and 23 million vehicles entering the country, and collects 86 billion hryvnas (almost 7.56 billion euro) or 35% of the total state budget.

Customs has had a presence in The Bahamas as early as 1729 when the first Collector of Customs was appointed. In 1854 an Act of Parliament established the Customs Department and the Treasury … Department as one department under a Receiver General. On 21 March 1914 the Customs Department was established as a stand-alone department and the position of Comptroller of Customs was officially created. After independence from the United Kingdom on 10 July 1973, Customs became known officially as The Bahamas Customs Department.

Further financial and procedural burdens on economic operators with no apparent return would serve a key terrorist objective in choking trade expansion, so the best answer to the latest attack … on international trade would be a critical review of the most complicated existing constraints on major trade flows and a shift towards devising and exploiting practical routes to a much higher level of truly global vigilance.

The WCO secretariat is currently rounding off its work related to the implementation of the 2012 version of the Harmonized System (HS) Nomenclature, which mainly comprises updating HS publications … and tools, such as the Explanatory Notes, the Alphabetical Index and the Compendium of Classifi cation Opinions.

After having dedicated 2010 to Customs-Business Partnerships and having addressed the themes of Coordinated Border Management, risk management and the use of high-performance technologies and … tools through a number of diff erent activities, the time was ripe to focus on the cornerstone of Customs modernization: human resources and training, that is to say a “professional, knowledge-based service culture”. This is one of the building blocks of the WCO Customs in the 21st Century vision, and the theme for 2011.

Customs administrations and the IT industry gathered in Seattle from 11 to 13 May 2011 for the 10th WCO IT Conference & Exhibition to discuss developments around Cloud Computing and how this … new technology could help Customs and border security agencies to accomplish their mission of facilitating and securing legitimate international trade with higher effi ciency. Th e opening statements covered the full spectrum of issues explored during the event. Kunio Mikuriya, the Secretary General of the WCO, mentioned that borders divide but Customs connects. He regarded Cloud Computing as a means to facilitate Customs connectivity. Th e Deputy Commissioner of US Customs and Border Protection, David Aguilar, in turn emphasized the role of IT as a critical backbone of a country and, as such, ICT and Cloud Computing had to respond to the need to protect the sovereignty, privacy and confi dentiality of information.

TIACA has welcomed the WCO's decision to work towards reducing the profuse paper-based documentation that accompanies international air cargo shipments as a ‘significant step forward’.

“Screening all cargo shipments for suspicious packages is not the best way to prevent terrorist attacks,” stated US Secretary for Homeland Security, Janet Napolitano, during a Policy Briefing … on securing the global supply chain organized by the European Policy Centre in Brussels in early January, instead, addressing senior international trade and security stakeholders, she called for "...an intelligence-risk-based approach."

1 January 2012 marks an important date on the international Customs and trade calendar: from then onwards the HS Nomenclature 2012 edition will be in effect.

As the global Customs community enters the Year of Knowledge it is only fitting that we have dedicated this edition's Special Dossier to knowledge with a selection of articles covering just some … of its many elements and angles.

The global economic situation has reinforced the need for Customs administrations to be adaptable. Many of us are being asked to re-look at how we function and to do more with less. During my … time as Council Chair I have been promoting three key themes for the WCO – the need for the organization to be visionary, relevant, and indispensible. To achieve this, Customs services in the 21st century need to be receptive to new ideas, to new ways of working, and to embrace change.

Administrations, just like private enterprises, are faced with an ever-changing, rapidly evolving environment. Change is right at the heart of an administration and the success of the Columbus … Programme demonstrates that Customs administrations are not lagging behind and are undertaking vast reform and modernization projects. The integration of new technologies, the internationalization of professions or the priority given to service are but a few examples of this new state of affairs.

Knowledge management is right at the heart of problems relating both to organizational performance and the technical dimension of Customs in the 21st century.