Days ago, the Deputy Secretary General of the World Customs Organization, Ricardo Treviño, highlighted a key element for the global customs community.
“Integrity in Customs is important to promote global trade,” said Treviño.
The senior customs official added that “lack of integrity undermines the work of Customs, weakens the international supply chain and creates adverse consequences for societies.” As a result, he urged “addressing these problems on a permanent basis.”
Ricardo Treviño opened the 21st session of the World Customs Organization's Integrity Subcommittee which was held in Brussels on 10 and 11 February 2022, and was also broadcast virtually, according to the WCO statement.
On the challenges of this priority issue, the Deputy Secretary-General stated: “Integrity challenges can be addressed more effectively when there is a strong sense of collaboration not only between Customs administrations but also between other stakeholders.”
Customs administrations do not exist in isolation, hence the growing need for cooperation with all stakeholders to advance a common integrity agenda.
Thus, with its renewed presence, the Chairman of the Global Commission on Customs and Facilitation of the International Chamber of Commerce, John Bescec, In his speech, as a special guest, he referred to times of crisis and integrity as a vital element to ensure that the global supply chain remains efficient. In this regard, he said that the pandemic increased the risks of corruption by disrupting the international supply chain and causing delays in customs. He then highlighted three areas to maintain integrity: trust, digitalization and the need to improve harmonization to ensure the consistent implementation of standards and guidelines.
To this end, the WCO Secretariat made a presentation on the organization's instruments and tools that support the adoption of a collaborative approach, and two different perspectives on this matter were presented. The first was shared by the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC) and the second by two WCO members.
Within this framework, the session addressed the following topics on the second day: preventive surveillance to curb corruption in Customs through internal controls, data-based integrity measurement in Customs, a proposal to improve the WCO Guide for Corruption Risk Mapping and the future Work Plan of the Integrity Subcommittee, which will be approved in the course of 2023.WCO Press Release)
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