Based on extensive interviews with informal importers and brokers in Cameroon, this paper explains why customs reform aimed at reducing fraud and corruption may be difficult to achieve.
... See More + Informal traders and brokers (without licenses) follow various business models and practices, which are product-specific. Overall, what matters first are customs brokers' practices. Information asymmetries mark transactions between brokers and importers and are accompanied by misperceptions of the costs and risks of informal brokers working among informal importers. In a low-governance environment with widespread informal practices, blanket policies should be avoided in order to discourage activities of unprofessional and systematic bribe-taker brokers. It is also essential that customs officials disrupt information asymmetries and better disseminate information to informal importers on customs processes and official costs. Finally, customs should more strongly sanction some informal brokers in order to reduce collusion with some customs officers.
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Policy Research Working Paper WPS6788 FEB 01, 2014
Ratings for the Customs Development Project for Russian Federation were as follows: outcomes were satisfactory; risk to development outcome was moderate; Bank performance was satisfactory and borrower performance was also satisfactory.
... See More + Some lessons learned includes: customs (in fact all revenue administration) reforms can succeed only with strong high level political will and commitment complemented by sustained technical support from the entity itself. A medium to long-term strategic vision, owned by the implementing agency, is a prerequisite for sustained revenue administration reform and capacity-building. Successful customs reforms must address institutional constraints to customs performance, and not center reforms exclusively on information technology and systems solutions. Business process re-engineering and related automated applications must be fully (though gradually) integrated throughout the customs administration, with appropriate management of the organizational transition (including human resource and training aspects) as central elements of this process. Creation of a sustainable revenue administration system requires changes to the policy/legal and institutional frameworks as well as administrative actions to support institutional reforms. Strong and consistent support for customs modernization from the head of customs is essential for sustained reform. A dedicated project implementation/management team needs to work effectively with key operational parts of customs in supporting and coordinating reforms, rather than succumbing to time-driven pressures and becoming directly involved in implementing reforms. Appropriate sequencing of reform/modernization activities is critical to their success and to the achievement of intended development outcomes. Complex, risky and longer-term public sector institutional reforms can often benefit from World Bank support in significant ways, not often appreciated or understood.
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Implementation Completion and Results Report ICR2946 DEC 24, 2013
The trade of goods and services and the inflows from Foreign Direct Investments (FDI) represent large proportions of their Gross Domestic Products (GDP), especially in English Speaking Caribbean (ESC) countries.
... See More + Therefore, the proper functioning of the channels that connect them to the rest of the world, including customs offices, is essential to the performance of their economies. This note shows that, despite integration into the world economy, customs performance in the Caribbean countries is comparatively low. This note presents data from the Customs Assessment Trade Toolkit (CATT), which provides empirical evidence that processes do not meet adequate standards in terms of speed, predictability and transparency. This inconsistency is partially explained by the lack of an effective complementarity between the use of Information and Communication Technologies (ICT) systems and the actual operational practices. This policy note is organized as follows: section three presents evidence on the economic profile of the Caribbean countries to show high integration to the world economy. Trade and FDI are they key aspects being considered in this regard. Section four discusses the role of customs systems for economic development. It analyzes the performance of the Caribbean customs offices in a number of aspects (clearance times, predictability, and transparency) that the literature has identified as critical to promote competitiveness and development. Section five expands this analysis by focusing on how the use of ICT can improve customs performance in those aspects. Section six summarizes the lessons learned by the analysis of these data. Finally, the conclusions section presents some policy recommendations to deal with the inconsistency between high economic openness and low customs performance in the Caribbean countries.
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Working Paper 78585 JUN 01, 2013
Ossio, Jose Eduardo Gutierrez; Alessandro, Martin; Neyra, Juan JoseSpanish
The trade of goods and services and the inflows from Foreign Direct Investments (FDI) represent large proportions of their Gross Domestic Products (GDP), especially in English Speaking Caribbean (ESC) countries.
... See More + Therefore, the proper functioning of the channels that connect them to the rest of the world, including customs offices, is essential to the performance of their economies. This note shows that, despite integration into the world economy, customs performance in the Caribbean countries is comparatively low. This note presents data from the Customs Assessment Trade Toolkit (CATT), which provides empirical evidence that processes do not meet adequate standards in terms of speed, predictability and transparency. This inconsistency is partially explained by the lack of an effective complementarity between the use of Information and Communication Technologies (ICT) systems and the actual operational practices. This policy note is organized as follows: section three presents evidence on the economic profile of the Caribbean countries to show high integration to the world economy. Trade and FDI are they key aspects being considered in this regard. Section four discusses the role of customs systems for economic development. It analyzes the performance of the Caribbean customs offices in a number of aspects (clearance times, predictability, and transparency) that the literature has identified as critical to promote competitiveness and development. Section five expands this analysis by focusing on how the use of ICT can improve customs performance in those aspects. Section six summarizes the lessons learned by the analysis of these data. Finally, the conclusions section presents some policy recommendations to deal with the inconsistency between high economic openness and low customs performance in the Caribbean countries.
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Working Paper 78585 JUN 01, 2013
Ossio, Jose Eduardo Gutierrez; Alessandro, Martin; Neyra, Juan JoseEnglish
In 2010, Kazakhstan entered into a customs union with Belarus and Russia. The first, relatively easy step in the implementation of the customs union was accomplished in 2010 with the adoption of a common external tariff, with varying exceptions in each of the three member countries.
... See More + It is the intention of the customs union to eliminate the exceptions, in phases, by 2015. In fact, the goals of the customs union are much more ambitious than implementation of the common external tariff. The governments of the member countries are working to achieve deep integration in key areas. Clearly, successfully addressing the challenge of reducing trade-facilitation costs is a major task that requires significant institutional development both in Kazakhstan and in the other member countries of the customs union. It is very difficult, however, to assess the probability of success that the customs union will have with the reduction of these costs.
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This paper is organized as follows. In chapter two, Samson Bilangna and Marcellin Djeuwo from the Cameroon customs administration present the history and the outcomes of the performance measurement policy launched by their administra-tion: the General Directorate of Customs signed 'performance contracts' with the frontline customs officers in 2010 and with some importers in 2011.
... See More + In chapter three, Jose-Maria Munoz, an anthropologist, offers a complementary view of the introduction of figures in the Cameroon tax administration. The fourth chapter ends the book's first part, which focuses on performance measurement. Xavier Pascual from the French customs administration describes the system implemented by his administration to measure the collective performance of customs units and bureaus. In chapter five, Anne-Marie Geourjon and Bertrand Laporte, who are both economists, and Ousmane Coundoul and Massene Gadiaga, who are from the Senegalese customs administration, present the use of data mining to select imports for inspection. This project is being developed in Senegal and embodies the concept of risk analysis. Sharing the same global aim to make controls more efficient, economists Gael Raballand and Guillermo Arenas from the World Bank and anthropologist Thomas Cantens from the World Customs Organization suggest, in chapter six, using mirror statistics to detect potentially fraudulent import flows. Mirror statistics calculate the gaps of foreign trade statistics between two trading partner countries. To conclude the second part on the integration of measurement in information systems, Soyoung Yang from the Korea Customs Service (KCS), in chapter eight, offers a case study on KCS's implementation of a single window system. With respect to risk analysis, the concept of single window is widespread in the trade and customs environments, but few concrete achievements have been presented and analyzed.
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In 2010, Kazakhstan entered into a customs union with Belarus and Russia. The first, relatively easy step in the implementation of the customs union was accomplished in 2010 with the adoption of a common external tariff, with varying exceptions in each of the three member countries.
... See More + It is the intention of the customs union to eliminate the exceptions, in phases, by 2015. International experience has shown, however, that successful preferential trade arrangements are frequently based on 'deep integration,' that is, integration that goes beyond the tariff preferences. In fact, the goals of the customs union are much more ambitious than implementation of the common external tariff. The governments of the member countries are working to achieve deep integration in key areas. One area where the governments are working to deepen integration is in trade facilitation. It is the announced intention of the governments to eliminate customs posts between Russia and Kazakhstan and to reduce the costs of other aspects of trade between the countries such as the number of required documents and the difficulty of obtaining them. Some freight forwarders in Kazakhstan, however, complain of seeing little progress in this area as of the spring of 2011. Another key area where the governments are working to deepen integration is in the reduction of nontariff barriers (NTBs). Technical regulations, including sanitary and phyto-sanitary (SPS) measures, are cited by exporters in Kazakhstan as significant cost-increasing barriers on their exports to Russia. The governments are working to harmonize technical regulations and to introduce mutual recognition agreements, but little concrete progress had been reported as of the spring of 2011.
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This paper revolves around the World Customs Organization's (WCO) 2011 theme of the year, 'knowledge as a catalyst for excellence'. The contracts clearly define the scope and procedures for their implementation.
... See More + In light of the foregoing, the policy for performance contracts is part of the effort to implement the plan to reform the Customs Administration. These contracts aim to combat customs fraud and corruption more effectively, and introduce speed and efficiency in the processing of files. In other words, the contracts, which are based on objective indicators, seek performance, responsibility, and transparency, with a particular emphasis on ethics. Inspectors who sign the contract must work swiftly, while seeking to uncover fraud. To that end, they must be present at their work stations, behave in a professional manner, and themselves be confident that their contribution to efforts to reduce clearance times and costs of goods is essential. In sum, the procedure seeks to enhance the performance of Cameroon customs with a view to providing quality service to enterprises, improving the effectiveness of controls, and simplifying administrative procedures during border crossings.
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Working Paper (Numbered Series) 66937 DEC 01, 2011
This paper revolves around the World Customs Organization's (WCO) 2011 theme of the year, 'knowledge as a catalyst for excellence'. The contracts clearly define the scope and procedures for their implementation.
... See More + In light of the foregoing, the policy for performance contracts is part of the effort to implement the plan to reform the Customs Administration. These contracts aim to combat customs fraud and corruption more effectively, and introduce speed and efficiency in the processing of files. In other words, the contracts, which are based on objective indicators, seek performance, responsibility, and transparency, with a particular emphasis on ethics. Inspectors who sign the contract must work swiftly, while seeking to uncover fraud. To that end, they must be present at their work stations, behave in a professional manner, and themselves be confident that their contribution to efforts to reduce clearance times and costs of goods is essential. In sum, the procedure seeks to enhance the performance of Cameroon customs with a view to providing quality service to enterprises, improving the effectiveness of controls, and simplifying administrative procedures during border crossings.
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Working Paper (Numbered Series) 66937 DEC 01, 2011
The Russian Federation Customs Development Project (CDP), launched in 2003, has been helping reform and modernizes the country's federal customs service.
... See More + Reforms under the CDP have resulted in improved performance: both customs clearance times and rent-seeking incidents have been reduced. However, despite major progress in critical areas, global rankings such as the world economic forum's enabling trade index and the World Bank's logistics performance index suggest there is still significant room for further improvement in customs administration.
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The Russian Federation Customs Development Project (CDP), launched in 2003, has been helping reform and modernizes the country's federal customs service.
... See More + Reforms under the CDP have resulted in improved performance: both customs clearance times and rent-seeking incidents have been reduced. However, despite major progress in critical areas, global rankings such as the world economic forum's enabling trade index and the World Bank's logistics performance index suggest there is still significant room for further improvement in customs administration.
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The objective of the Second Trade and Transport Facilitation Project for Macedonia, former Yugoslav Republic of is to facilitate the movement of trade between the Borrower and neighboring countries in South East Europe, through the removal of selected border-zone infrastructure bottlenecks and improving the efficiency and quality of road and rail services along trans-European transport corridor X on the territory of the Borrower.
... See More + As of end May 2011, physical progress with the civil works at the Blace border crossing is only at about 34 percent completion. This is attributed to the accumulated delays from the beginning of the construction, and also to the impact of adverse weather conditions, which not only halted the earthworks construction several times, but also required some of the earthworks to be reconstructed. In consultation with the Bank, the customs administration has prioritized a list of key actions that need to be completed to maintain timely progress. With respect to the remaining activities related to the implementation of software packages for the customs administration, the extension will provide additional time to ensure quality of delivery. This will be the first extension of the project. A revised implementation plan has been agreed with the customs administration. It is planned that civil works will now be completed by end December ahead of the proposed new closing date in March 2012.
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The development objective of the Russian Federation Customs Development Project is to reform and modernize the Russian customs administration, with a view to: a) promote internationally acceptable practices for processing of international trade flows by customs, so as to further integrate the country into the world trading community, improve the investment climate and secure the benefits from foreign and domestic investments in the economy; and b) increase taxpayer compliance with the customs code and ensure uniformity in its application, to support macro-economic stability and increase transparency, timely transfer of collected revenues to the federal budget, and equity and predictability in customs operations.
... See More + The project has been implemented effectively since the first extension in 2009 in regard to procurement and contract management. The last implementation status and results report rates implementation as satisfactory. The closing date for the project will be extended from June 30, 2011 until June 30, 2013. This will be the second extension of the project.
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The development objective of the Russian Federation Customs Development Project is to reform and modernize the Russian customs administration, with a view to: a) promote internationally acceptable practices for processing of international trade flows by customs, so as to further integrate the country into the world trading community, improve the investment climate and secure the benefits from foreign and domestic investments in the economy; and b) increase taxpayer compliance with the customs code and ensure uniformity in its application, to support macro-economic stability and increase transparency, timely transfer of collected revenues to the federal budget, and equity and predictability in customs operations.
... See More + The project has been implemented effectively since the first extension in 2009 in regard to procurement and contract management. The last implementation status and results report rates implementation as satisfactory. The closing date for the project will be extended from June 30, 2011 until June 30, 2013. This will be the second extension of the project.
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Ratings for the Additional Financing for Emergency Customs Modernization and Trade Facilitation Project for Afghanistan were as follows: outcomes were highly satisfactory; the risk to development outcome was high; the Bank's performance was highly satisfactory; and the Borrower's performance was also satisfactory.
... See More + Some lessons learned included: donor coordination was rightly given considerable attention, as is warranted in any post-conflict situation where the government severely lacks administrative capacity and strategic priorities may not be clear. The Bank was one among half a dozen major donors to customs. The sequencing of project activities, starting with computerization of the internal transit process, was wise and proved its worth compared with other options. Using United Nations office for Project Services (UNOPS) was warranted, given the thinness of the civil service and its governance weaknesses. This project provided an opportunity to clarify the issue of revenue targets that has arisen here and elsewhere, where the Bank and the International Monetary Fund (IMF) may have different viewpoints.
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Implementation Completion and Results Report ICR1536 JUN 08, 2011
In 2010, Kazakhstan entered into a customs union with Belarus and Russia. The first, relatively easy step in the implementation of the customs union was accomplished in 2010 with the adoption of a common external tariff, with varying exceptions in each of the three member countries.
... See More + It is the intention of the customs union to eliminate the exceptions, in phases, by 2015. In fact, the goals of the customs union are much more ambitious than implementation of the common external tariff. The governments of the member countries are working to achieve deep integration in key areas. Clearly, successfully addressing the challenge of reducing trade-facilitation costs is a major task that requires significant institutional development both in Kazakhstan and in the other member countries of the customs union. It is very difficult, however, to assess the probability of success that the customs union will have with the reduction of these costs.
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This policy note examines the current role of clearing and forwarding agents within the international trade logistics chain in the East African Community (EAC), this note discusses policies, particularly with regards to training and education that can be enacted in order to strengthen the participation of Clearing and Forwarding (C&F) agents in the international trade logistics chain, and can help to facilitate greater flows of international trade throughout the EAC, an aspect of the logistics industry that has been relatively under-examined.
... See More + Inefficient and low quality services offered by some C&F agents, who are supposed to act as representatives of the importer, as well as occasional rent seeking behavior, can have a negative effect throughout the logistics chain, hindering the flow of international trade. In addition, this policy note considers the wider problem of the fragmented and fractured nature of the logistics chain itself, a structure that can lead to fundamental inefficiencies throughout the system.
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Brief 63804 MAY 01, 2011
Arnold, John; Mathenge, John; Dihel, Nora; Strychacz, Nicholas