Reflections on the six areas of work identified by WCO Members as a priority

At the December 2016 WCO Policy Commission session in Moscow, Russia, Members asked the WCO Secretariat to identify the priorities it would focus on. Six areas of work were identified, based on the outcomes of WCO regional meetings: trade facilitation; e-commerce; security; Customs-tax cooperation; illicit financial flows; and performance measurement. The Council, at its July 2017 sessions, agreed with this work programme. In this article, I take up each of these topics in turn.