The WCO supports The Philippines’s Bureau of Customs in implementing the World Trade Organization’s Trade Facilitation Agreement

The WCO Accelerate Trade Facilitation Programme, funded by the United Kingdom's His Majesty's Revenue & Customs (HMRC), conducted a Risk Management mission from 13-17 February 2024 in The Philippines in conjunction with a donor/HMRC Monitoring & Evaluation mission. The objective was to take stock of the progress made in recent years and to reaffirm the various collaborations in strengthening the capacity of the Bureau of Customs (BOC) to effectively implement the World Trade Organization's Trade Facilitation Agreement (TFA).

The Accelerate Trade Facilitation Programme has a multi-year strategic partnership with the BOC including capacity building on TFA technical measures such as Expedited Shipments, Time Release Study, Authorized Economic Operator, and Risk Management, while also supporting cross-cutting enablers within the Customs organizational development domain such as Gender & Diversity, Competency-based Human Resource Management, Integrity, and Leadership & Management Development.

Following the assessment of the progress in the various collaboration areas, Mr. Lewis Cameron, HMRC Head of Multilateral Engagement and serving as the Senior Responsible Officer overseeing the WCO's Accelerate Trade Facilitation Partnership, commented: "I was extremely pleased to see colleagues from the BOC and WCO working in close collaboration to deliver on their shared ambitions. I was able to see first-hand that by developing needs-driven partnerships, our Programme is delivering sustainable and meaningful results built on a foundation of trust and respect."

BOC Commissioner Bienvenido Rubio conveyed his heartfelt gratitude to the WCO and the United Kingdom for the partnership. Zooming in on the importance of a holistic approach to Risk Management, Commissioner Rubio also underlined its importance as a central driver for increasing revenue and trade facilitation.

The Risk Management mission aimed to follow-up on the 2020 joint WCO and World Bank fact-finding mission, which was conducted under the Trade Facilitation in Middle Income Countries programme at the time also supported by the United Kingdom. Meetings were conducted at the BOC's headquarters in Manila, Ninoy Aquino International Airport, and the Port of Cebu. WCO experts from The Netherlands and Thailand assessed the implemented reforms and identified potential room for further enhancement towards strategically integrating Risk Management in a holistic manner across the BOC. In this context, the WCO team also focused on the alignment between the WCO Risk Management approach and standards and the BOC's strategy and priorities.

For more information on the WCO Accelerate Trade Facilitation Programme, please see here or contact [email protected].