The World Customs Organization (WCO) has recently established a working group on e-commerce that is tasked to collect and exchange data on best practices in the field, noting the key role of Customs in creating a sustainable and efficient e-commerce ecosystem.
It said the WCO Working Group on E-Commerce will conduct a study to assess and promote initiatives in the area of e-commerce, as well propose practical solutions for clearing digital shipments, including appropriate duty/tax collection mechanisms and control procedures.
“A previous analysis of preliminary data underscored the need for digitalization of processes, better sharing of information between e-commerce stakeholders and customs for improved risk management and the necessity for harmonization in the low-value shipment processes,” said WCO in a written release.
The creation of the working group was announced at the recent WCO Policy Commission held in Moscow, Russian Federation, where WCO Secretary General Kunio Mikuriya confirmed the WCO theme for 2017, “Data Analysis for Effective Border Management.”
Mikuriya stressed the impact of the digital revolution and the need to address promptly the challenges posed to the global economy.
The secretary general urged WCO members to promote and share information in the coming months on how they are leveraging the potential of data to advance and achieve their objectives, and respond to the expectations of traders, transport, and logistics operators, and governments.
Earlier, WCO announced it has adopted “Data Analysis for Effective Border Management” as its campaign theme for 2017, and will launch the theme on International Customs Day on January 26, 2017.
“Customs has a substantial amount of data at its disposal, such as data submitted for the Customs clearance process. Customs can also tap data from other government agencies, commercially available databases, and open source information platforms such as digitized global public records and multilingual news sources,” Mikuriya had explained.
But he said that simply collecting data for its own sake is insufficient and may lead to information overload. Instead, he said, Customs administrations must learn to leverage data to make informed decisions, especially in the face of sophisticated and evolving challenges in Customs administration.
WCO said data analysis can prove beneficial by ensuring compliance with Customs regulations, hastening Customs processes, and improving risk management. Specifically, it can help to detect irregularities, illicit consignments, and suspicious movements of people and financial flows, while facilitating legitimate trade.
It can also enable Customs administrators to learn from historical activity to predict trader or passenger behavior, exchange experiences and expertise with other government agencies, and conduct quantitative research for building knowledge.
At the same time, data analysis can aid in measuring performance of Customs officers to improve their practices and integrity.
“Data analysis thus can greatly support the core Customs’ objectives of revenue collection, border security, collection of trade statistics, and trade facilitation,” said WCO.
Photo: MVCOSHOP
