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The Mercator Programme is an initiative in support of implementation of the World Trade Organization’s Trade Facilitation Agreement.
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World Customs Organization and Bureau of Customs officials attended the recently concluded Mercator Programme meeting
The Bureau of Customs (BOC) is committed to becoming a customs administration “at par with global standards” through participation in the World Customs Organization’s (WCO) Mercator Programme, Customs Commissioner Rey Leonardo Guerrero said.
Guerrero made the commitment at the kick-off of the Mercator Programme meeting between WCO and BOC on October 21, the customs bureau said in a statement. The Mercator Programme is an initiative in support of the implementation of the World Trade Organization’s (WTO) Trade Facilitation Agreement (TFA).
BOC said that amidst the pandemic, it remains committed to enhancing trade facilitation even as it intensifies border protection against unscrupulous individuals who try to exploit the challenging time.
In June 2014, WCO launched the Mercator Programme as a means to ensure the WTO TFA is implemented in a uniform manner using WCO instruments and tools as most of the TFA provisions relate to Customs.
With the WTO FTA, which entered into force in 2017, WTO members aim to expedite the movement, release and clearance of goods, including goods in transit; facilitate cooperation among members in trade facilitation and customs compliance issues; and enhance assistance and support for capacity building for developing and least developed country members.
Under the Mercator Programme, a WCO-BOC team conducted in August 2019 a gap analysis of the Philippine customs bureau’s implementation of the WTO-TFA.
BOC said this month’s meeting “served to kick-off already identified areas for BOC-WCO collaboration with the respective leadership’s full support and further discuss BOC’s organizational development and technical areas under the programme.”
The customs bureau noted that according to the WCO, the global Customs administration has been declared as an essential sector in the ongoing global COVID-19 crisis.
“Customs’ strategic role against the pandemic is becoming a challenge and opportunity to keep the role of Customs relevant and consistent on innovating to secure the concrete actions being undertaken,” WCO said.
For its part, WCO expressed continuous support for BOC’s 2019 Mercator Implementation Plan, carried out under the UK government-supported Trade Facilitation in Middle Income Countries Programme.
The virtual meeting was joined by WCO deputy secretary-general Ricardo Treviño and his delegation, BOC officials led by Guerrero, and other guests and experts.
