The WCO supports the Philippines’ Bureau of Customs (BOC) in further developing its AEO Programme

The WCO conducted a five-day capacity building mission from 10 to 14 July 2023 in Manila, The Philippines. The mission took place under the auspices of the Accelerate Trade Facilitation Programme, funded by the United Kingdom's His Majesty's Revenue and Customs (HMRC), as part of its multi-year Mercator partnership with the BOC for effective implementation of the WTO's Trade Facilitation Agreement (TFA). The purpose of the mission was to enhance The Philippines' Authorized Economic Operator (AEO) programme and further build the necessary skillset of BOC officials to conduct validations of AEO security criteria in line with the WCO SAFE Framework of Standards and Article 7.7 of the WTO TFA.

Two WCO AEO accredited experts from the United States and South Korea provided the support mission, which consisted of classroom training followed by two hands-on AEO security validation exercises at the traders' premises. Through the hands-on validation process, BOC received practical technical training and insights on the application of validation techniques to ensure the WCO AEO security criteria are met. A total of 17 BOC staff participated and benefited from the two AEO validation exercises. This initiative will support BOC's effective validation process, including during joint validations with other Members in the ASEAN region, and will lead to a more enabling business environment.

Further to the interactive sessions and discussions with the management of the BOC AEO programme, follow-up support for more in-depth training on the criteria and pre-validation process was identified. This will include capacity building to set timelines and standard operating procedures, develop a scorecard for objective accreditation, and a more streamlined and simplified self-assessment questionnaire.

For more information on the Accelerate Trade Facilitation Programme, please see here.

For more information on WCO capacity building, please, contact [email protected]