Customs efficiency and digitalization: what the WCO expects from Customs in 2025 and what we expect from it

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Introduction

It is a great honor for us to have the opportunity to participate in this space reserved by Customs News in 2025 for Portuguese language texts, especially because Brazilians, in this customs awakening (1) have become avid readers of the newspaper. With the task of addressing issues of regional or global scope, on this first occasion we highlight the theme proposed by the World Customs Organization (WCO) for its annual celebration on January 26 (2).

This year, in declaring this theme, the WCO invited Customs administrations to transform their commitments into concrete actions that simultaneously promote trade facilitation, ensure security, and foster sustainable economic growth. This set of objectives was expressed in a single sentence by Ian Saunders, Secretary-General of the WCO: "Customs fulfilling its commitment to efficiency, security, and prosperity"(3).

While Customs must work every day to promote efficiency, improve security, and support prosperity, Saunders emphasizes in his open letter that this year's mission is to more visibly demonstrate to governments and the public how they are acting and achieving results.

According to him, the efficiency It should be driven by modernizing customs procedures and developing digital services; promoting data-driven operations and analytical tools; using inspection and monitoring devices; and cooperating and engaging with public and private entities.

As for the scope of the security,, always based on an operational risk management approach, activities include strengthening the supply chain, preventing the trafficking of illicit goods, combating money laundering, and improving crisis preparedness.

The ultimate goal of all this is the prosperity, which, according to the WCO, will be achieved through fair revenue collection, fostering innovation and entrepreneurship, supporting sustainable economic development, and creating inclusive environments that address the diverse needs of society.

While efficiency has been highlighted as a tool for achieving various objectives—and indeed it is, like all principles of public administration (4)—it seems important to reflect on its scope. What are the dimensions of efficiency promoted by the WCO in this context? Is it only a matter of its political and economic dimension, or is efficiency also being considered in its legal dimension?

Should efficiency be considered the main driver of modernizing customs control procedures? How can efficiency and due process be harmonized, taking into account the legal consequences that could arise from the improper use of digital technologies? These are questions we pose as a stimulus for a brief exploration of this challenging and complex topic.

1. Modern customs control and its current methodologies

Since the origin of customs, it is possible to identify in all of them, with their particularities of time and space, a common thematic axis: the exercise of surveillance and control activities over the entry and exit of goods from territories, whether in city-states, kingdoms or empires (5). These functions require that, beforehand, customs submit said goods to its control.

Only after knowing the nature of the merchandise, either through physical verification or classification in the nomenclature, can it be determined whether it is subject to any restriction or prohibition(6).

Considering the paradigm shift in customs(7), which have gone from being mere collecting agencies to becoming entities controlling international traffic of goods, the idea of ​​a minimum intervention customs control. The General Annex, Chapter 6, Rule 6.2 of the Revised Kyoto Convention, with the aim of integrating the new functions assigned to customs institutions, establishes that: "Customs control shall be limited to what is necessary to ensure compliance with customs legislation.”(8)

To make this type of control viable, it has become essential for customs to implement risk management processes to reduce the randomness of document and merchandise inspections. This entails adopting planned working methods with well-defined objectives, maximizing customs resources (General Annex, Chapter 6, Rule 6.4). Risk profiles, for their part, constitute the mechanism for determining when and how to exercise such control, the timing and strategies of which will vary depending on the corresponding customs regime.

The "when" and "how" are also defined in the guidelines of Chapter 6, General Annex, of the Convention. These are movement controls and audit controls. As Efrén Antonio Minuche Zambrano recalls, motion control It involves measures applicable to goods and means of transport before or after their arrival, departure or during a customs procedure, until they are cleared. audit control, on the other hand, consists of reviews after the release of goods, through audits of the operators' systems.(9) In both cases, the Revised Kyoto Convention recommends the intensive use of new technologies to facilitate and make more efficient customs control (General Annex, Chapter 6, Rule 6.9).

Although customs uses technological resources in audit controls, in this case we will focus solely on customs movement controls, due to the urgency that this type of administrative action requires. Before delving into this point, we want to recall the WCO's goals for 2025 and what has been—or should have been—considered by the organization when urging customs to act more efficiently.

2. Some reflections on customs efficiency

The growth of the functions assigned to the Customs of the 21st century It coexists with a notable reduction in its operational structure. And this apparatus, embodied in bureaucratic structures, is currently much less significant than its political and economic dimension, which permeates almost all international movements of people, vehicles, and goods, making us increasingly dependent on its regulations and controls.

The Customs State is increasingly being asked to optimize its performance and adequately guide the achievement of the goals pursued by society. Its inaction, the appropriateness of its actions, and the quality of its performance are being questioned. However, since efficiency has been established as a legal principle, its observance is a requirement in many national legal systems.(10)

And it is not only a question of negative demands, intended to censure the validity of conduct that contravenes the values ​​it expresses, but they also have a positive validity, especially to impose on customs administrations the observance of measures that allow the greatest possible optimization in the materialization of the legal assets that the legal system promises.

For administrators and customs administrations, efficiency often represents a problem of optimizing resources and maximizing results; for the jurist, it involves both optimization of resources as the quality of the final act.

Therefore, the assessment of this quality will always be essential, and will be verified through the customs process, provided that its respective guarantees are respected.

The premises on which customs efficiency is based – optimization of means and maximization of results –, both highlighted by the WCO this year, are strongly influenced by the utilitarianism, a theoretical current of moral philosophy that is very present in economic sciences and that is also justified based on the results obtained.

It is a theory in which the value of an action is measured based on its consequences. There will always be some kind of calculation of utility (11) by which the appropriateness of a decision will be evaluated and, consequently, its legitimacy. For this reason, in moral theory it has been pointed out on many occasions that utilitarianism is linked to consequentialismFrom this perspective, it is the consequences that determine the actions and not necessarily their values.(12)

This does not mean that customs administrators should not be concerned about the consequences of their decisions. Rather, the legal basis for these decisions should not be based solely on their effects. Principles—of law, not just of customs management—should guide their decision-making.

Therefore, although customs efficiency has economic or even political foundations, it clearly entails legal consequences that cannot be ignored, especially in cases where movement controls are now operated by digital decision-making technologies, as is the case with risk profiling and customs selectivity.

3. Applications of technology for risk profile segmentation and customs selectivity

One of the main international instruments aimed at customs risk management is the SAFE Regulatory Framework (Safe Framework of Standards), which, like the Revised Kyoto Convention, was created with the purpose of ensuring the protection and facilitation of legitimate international trade, without neglecting customs' obligation to combat global threats. Its structure is based on three pillars: relations between customs; the partnership between customs and the private sector; and, finally, relations between customs and other government agencies responsible for regulating international trade.

Standard 5 of the customs-customs pillar addresses the selectivity, profiling and segmentationThrough this, the SAFE Framework not only recommends but also establishes that Customs must employ sophisticated methods to identify and route high-risk cargo. These include, among others, the use of advance electronic information, strategic intelligence, automated trade data, and analysis of security-related anomalies at suppliers in the supply chain. With these strategies, Customs seeks to reduce the risk of certain operations and, consequently, redefine their scoring and destination: selection for inspection or immediate release.

To this end, there are several potential applications of technology for risk management and mitigation. Recently, representatives from Brazilian Customs have highlighted some of these: vehicle monitoring systems; air passenger screening; automated analysis of X-ray images; automated analysis of small shipments and passenger luggage; artificial intelligence to assist in the classification of goods; and machine learning to detect errors and fraud in customs clearance.(13)

While all of these tools are applied in so-called "customs movement controls," some are limited to the risk deterrence phase, that is, when state intervention occurs once the presence of a higher level of risk has been confirmed.

In the case of selectivity systems based on machine learning, such as SISAM (14) in Brazil, its application is given former before, that is, in the detection Early risk assessment. Unlike the first case, where technologies are merely instrumental, in this case, technology can participate in the decision-making process, either to support a human decision or even to make the decision for them.

4. Efficiency, digitalization and due process: pillars for the modernization of customs procedures

For risk-based customs selection to be carried out, the State (15) must make two types of decisions. On the one hand, it must determine what thethe elements of fact considered relevant for assigning the different levels of risk in the risk management structure of the customs administration.

These criteria may refer to both the personal characteristics of the parties involved in the customs legal relationship and the different types of goods, their provenance, origin, etc. The definition and combination of these elements, as well as the assessment of the risk they represent, requires a prior decision by the State.

Once the risk assessment criteria have been defined, their application to each specific situation or operation will involve another state decisionIt consists of analyzing the actual situation, comparing it with predefined risk assessment parameters, and determining the level of control to be applied to the specific operation.

It is interesting to note that authors such as Raúl González Berro (16) and Juan José Lacoste (17) have already explored the topic of risk management from the perspective of stakeholder safeguards in the past. Their concerns, at that time, focused on the automated mechanisms that determined what should be audited and what should be No..

Similarly, Andrés Rohde Ponce, when analyzing more recently the automated selectivity operated by Mexican customs, points out that it is the mechanism The one who decides which goods will be inspected and which will not. This can result in one operator facing harm and inconvenience, while another, with similar goods, is not affected by these problems.(18)

It should be noted that, at the time and in the countries where these texts were drafted, automated selection mechanisms based on artificial intelligence were not contemplated. In MERCOSUR countries, with the exception of Brazil, customs selection, especially during clearance, continues to be carried out exclusively through parameterizations in systems similar to Siscomex.(19)

With the introduction of machine learning, significant power has been given to the technological mechanism. Based on data collected in the past and processed by autonomous algorithms, it is the machine that decides which errors it considers most significant and worthy of further attention from the customs agent.

When the machine determines what should be audited, it also decides what does not require the State's attention. Contrary to what it may seem, the power of the machine lies precisely in deciding what should not be audited.(20)

Only after any intervention by the (human) customs agent will the importer have access to an explanation regarding the alleged violation of a legal provision, which he or she may challenge in administrative and/or judicial proceedings. However, the importer will never be able to directly question the system, its premises, or its conclusions, as these are not subject to external oversight to date.

The only possible challenge will always and solely be against the decision of the customs agent, who, in turn, based his decision on the indications provided by the machine(21), which raises questions about the principle of due process.

Even if it is argued that due process is a purely instrumental principle, it is essential to remember that unnecessary or inadequate selection can lead to excessive logistical costs and unforeseen delays in the delivery of imported goods. This would indirectly affect fundamental rights such as liberty and property.

As Enrique Barreira teaches us, although the procedure is usually categorized as derecho adjective Within legal theory, in Public Law it undoubtedly becomes a right noun, because there is no right if there are no means to enforce it. (22) We agree with his teachings and add: with the adoption of automated decision-making processes, this condition will evidently be amplified in customs procedures.

5. CONCLUSIONS

Although the World Customs Organization expects administrations to achieve procedural modernization through extensive digitalization, customs efficiency cannot be reduced solely to the optimization of resources and the maximization of results. Its legal dimension must also be considered, which imposes on the administrator and, ultimately, on those who review its decisions, the responsibility to evaluate the effectiveness of the procedures. quality of the final action.

In customs movement controls, where administrations must quickly profile risks and select personnel, digital technologies are undoubtedly great allies. Given the scarcity of available human resources, the decision on what should be inspected is delegated to machines, thereby reducing the time it would take human agents to process and complete all the customs declarations entered daily.

However, what we law enforcement officials expect from customs in 2025 and beyond is that the fundamental rights and guarantees of citizens be the basic principle upon which these tools are designed. Optimization must be achieved within this framework, and not at any cost.

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 1. To learn about the recent history of Brazilians and their relationship with Customs Law, we invite you to read the article published by Rosaldo Trevisan in this section of Aduana News: TREVISAN, Rosaldo. The “Awakening” of Customs Law in Brazil. Available on: https://aduananews.com/pt/el-despertar-del-derecho-aduanero-en-brasil/

2. Many governments celebrate International Customs Day on January 26, a date that commemorates the first session of the Customs Cooperation Council, held in Belgium in 1953. Now 72 years old, the organization currently known as the World Customs Organization (WCO) has 185 members, covering more than 90% of customs services worldwide.

3. World Customs Organization. International Customs Day 2025. Available in: https://www.wcoomd.org/en/about-us/international-customs-day/icd-2025.aspx Accessed on March 20th. 2025.

4. According to Paulo Modesto, the principle of efficiency is an instrumental principle, like all principles of public administration. No principle of administrative law has self-sufficient substantial value. It is integrated with the other principles, without being able to prevail over them or affect their validity.Notes for a debate on the efficiency principle. Legal Review of the Presidency, v. 2, no. 18, 2000, p. 112.

 5.Claude J. Berr and Henri Trémeau, exploring the meaning of the term control, reveal two closely related but distinct dimensions of this expression. The first evokes the idea of ​​monitoring the movement of goods motivated by fraudulent intent, whether for the purpose of evading taxes, introducing illicit goods, or exporting goods in violation of current legislation. The second dimension of control refers to regular commercial operations. BERR, Claude J.; TRÉMEAU, Henri. Le droit douanier communautaire et national. 7th ed. Paris: Economica, 2006, p. 14.

6. BASALDÚA, Ricardo Xavier. The legal principles of modernized customs control in contemporary cross-border traffic. In: PARDO CARRERO, Germán; ROHDE PONCE, Andrés (eds.).Proceedings of the World Customs Law Meeting – Brussels. Bogotá: Temis, 2015. p. 10

7. The Declaration for 50st Century Customs, a document formulated during the XNUMXth anniversary of the World Customs Organization, states that the development and implementation of the set of policies and procedures to ensure greater security, as well as trade facilitation, will necessarily be supported by the efficient and effective use of tools and information. In: WCO. Customs in the 21st Century. Enhancing Growth and Development through Trade Facilitation and Border Security. June 2008. Available at: https://www.wcoomd.org/-/media/wco/public/global/pdf/topics/key-issues/customs-in-the-21st-century/annexes/annex_ii_en.pdf?la=en. Accessed March 25, 2025.

8. WCO. Kyoto Convention. General Annex Guidelines. Chapter 6. Customs ControlAvailable in: . Accessed on: March 6, 25

9. ZAMBRANO, Efrén Antonio Minuche. Customs control procedures: Between efficiency and due process in comparative law. In: PARDO CARRERO, Germán (ed.); MARSILLA, Santiago Ibáñez; YEBRA, Felipe Modeno (ed.). Customs Law Volume II. Bogotá: Tirant lo Blanch, 2020, p. 567

10. MODESTO, Paulo. Notes for a debate on the principle of efficiency. Legal Review of the Presidency, v. 2, no. 18, 2000, p. 105.

11. Bentham defines the principle of utility as "the principle which approves or disapproves of any action according to its tendency to increase or diminish the happiness of the person whose interest is at stake, or, in other words, according to its tendency to promote or jeopardize that happiness." In: DIAS, Maria Cristina Longo Cardoso. The measure of ethics in Bentham. Cadernos of Ethics and Political Philosophy, v. 1, no. 20, 2012. p. 6-21.

12. KOCKE, Rafael. Artificial intelligence at the service of taxation: Customs Seleção System by Machine Learning (SISAM). In: MACHADO, Hugo de Brito (cood). Taxation and New Technologies. Indaiatuba: Focus, 2021. p. 193. 

13. JAMBEIRO FILHO, Jorge; COUTINHO, Gustavo Lacerda; MORGERO, Kelly. How Brazil transformed Customs control through artificial intelligence and other Technologies. WCO News 105 – Issue 3 / 2024 > Dossier: Illicit Trade. 

14. Although the Brazilian customs administration has not regulated its implementation or made available official documents explaining its parameters, metrics, and expected results, its creator claims that SISAM is considered the most advanced active system worldwide in terms of customs control and seeks to demonstrate this through various examples.

These can be found in the monograph presented at the 14th edition of the Creativity and Innovation Award, organized by the Brazilian Federal Revenue Service in conjunction with the now-defunct School of Tax Administration (ESAF) in 2015.

15. BERRO, Raúl González. Customs procedures and principles of law. Memories of the Second Ibero-American Meeting. Mexico: ISEF Publishing House, 2006. p. 121.

16. BERRO, Raúl González. Customs procedures and principles of law. Memories of the Second Ibero-American Meeting. Mexico: ISEF Publishing House, 2006. p. 117

17. LACOSTE, Juan José. Foreign trade operators: Risk management, impartiality and legal equality. Proceedings of the World Customs Law Meeting – New YorkBogotá: Temis, 2015. p. 115.

18. ROHDE PONCE, Andrés. Mexican Customs Law Volume II. 2. Ed. Mexico City: Tirant lo Blanch, 2022. p. 971

19. In Argentina, customs declaration records are kept through the Malvinas System. The SEDI (Statistical Import System) creates risk profiles from collected data, but does not use artificial intelligence with machine learning to select declarations for verification.

In Uruguay, the LUCIA System is the environment in which customs declarations are recorded and through which risk analyses are also conducted based on predetermined profiles. As in Argentina, the system operates through electronic messaging, but so far it does not employ machine learning.

In Paraguay, the SOFIA System is used to record customs declarations; it interacts directly with its users and incorporates various functionalities and technologies, although it does not use artificial intelligence.

20. KOCKE, Rafael. Artificial intelligence at the service of taxation: Customs Seleção System by Machine Learning (SISAM). In: MACHADO, Hugo de Brito (cood). Taxation and New Technologies. Indaiatuba: Focus, 2021. p. 194.

21. KOCKE, Rafael. Artificial intelligence at the service of taxation: Customs Seleção System by Machine Learning (SISAM). In: MACHADO, Hugo de Brito (cood). Taxation and New Technologies. Indaiatuba: Focus, 2021. p. 196.

22. The passage is contained in Enrique Barreira's prologue to Horacio Félix Alais's prestigious work on automatic customs administrative acts. ALAIS, Horacio Félix. Automatic customs administrative acts: Their implementation within the framework of the WTO Trade Facilitation Agreement and the recommendations of the World Customs Organization. Buenos Aires: Marcial Pons, 2019. p. 11.