Customs administrations in Central America have developed strategic and operational recommendations to address challenges arising from COVID-19, such as other infectious diseases, natural disasters and disruptive events, the World Customs Organization (WCO) reported.
The initiative is the result of the workshop that took place from November 15 to 17, 2021, organized by the COVID-19 project of the WCO and funded by the Government of Japan. Thus, opportunity brought Guatemala together, Costa Rica, Panama, Honduras, Nicaragua and El Salvadorr to raise awareness of the role of Customs in disaster relief operations, exchange good practices in the importation of relief items and provide information on the most relevant international instruments and tools for the control of goods.
Ovalle Ramírez, President Pro Tempore of the Central American Customs Committee and Superintendent of Customs of Guatemala, highlighted in his opening remarks that natural disasters occur regularly in the region, hence the importance of the Presidency organizing this workshop. Along these lines, several speakers shared the need to foster cooperation.
To this end, Bárbara Batista Rodríguez, Regional Disaster Response Advisor of the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs, He said: "Customs must join the mechanisms for coordinating humanitarian aid."
In this regard, the Deputy Secretary General of the WCO, Ricardo Treviño Chapa, who moderated the session, indicated that the workshop was an important opportunity to strengthen regional and subregional synergies and “exchange views with the Directors General of customs administrations on the achievements of recent months and to pave the way for future cooperation.” Participants reviewed current legislation, paying particular attention to the Central American Uniform Customs Code (CAUCA) and related regulations (RECAUCA). They then made strategic and operational recommendations to harmonize procedures and processes related to a series of critical imported products and align them with international standards, making them “more capable of facing present and future disruptive events and meeting the demands of all stakeholders in humanitarian operations,” in the words of the WCO Deputy Secretary General.
To improve the processing of relief shipments, digitalization of procedures and capacity building of customs staff and stakeholders were mentioned.
"The recommendations will be presented and discussed at the next meeting of the Members of the Central American Customs Committee. in December, possibly in the presence of other actors involved in the humanitarian supply chain, in order to develop a roadmap and achieve a general and common vision at the subregional level,” the statement said.WCO Press Release)
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