CAREC Customs Cooperation Meeting and Time Release Study Seminar

Purpose

The event is intended to support efforts by the Customs Cooperation Committee^* of the Central Asia Regional Economic Cooperation (CAREC) Program to identify, design, and implement a regional customs modernization program.

* This link takes you outside the ADBI.org website

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Background

The CAREC Program^* is a partnership of 8 countries and 6 multilateral institutions: Afghanistan, Azerbaijan, People's Republic of China, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyz Republic, Mongolia, Tajikistan, and Uzbekistan; with ADB, European Bank for Reconstruction and Development, International Monetary Fund, Islamic Development Bank, United Nations Development Program, and World Bank.

The CAREC region sits at the heart of the rapidly integrating Eurasian continent. CAREC countries are working together to improve the region's transport infrastructure and reduce the cost of trade across regions. The CAREC Transport and Trade Facilitation Strategy^* presents a shared vision of transport and trade facilitation development in the region to 2017.

The Strategy identifies three trade facilitation goals:

• Improve administrative efficiency and simplify, standardize, and harmonize trade procedures to significantly reduce transaction costs and time.
• Encourage free movement of goods and business people.
• Enhance the transparency of laws, regulations, procedures, and forms, and share information on these and other trade issues.

In support of the Strategy, the CAREC Program is pursuing a regional customs modernization project. The Program started a Corridor Performance Measurement and Monitoring^* scheme in 2009 to monitor traffic movement and identify key bottlenecks along the six CAREC transport corridors^*. The scheme has identified border crossing points including customs clearance as a bottleneck for transport and trade in the CAREC region. The Program plans to conduct a detailed study of participating countries' customs systems to identify appropriate focus areas for investment activities to improve cross-border flows. The World Customs Organization's (WCO) Time Release Study^* methodology is being considered for this purpose.

The first component of the event will feature progress reports and experience sharing among the CAREC countries and multilateral partners on agreed areas of focus in deepening customs cooperation:

• Joint Customs Control;
• Simplification and Harmonization of Customs Procedures and Documentation; Regional Transit Development; TIR Transit System; and other regional transit arrangements (focus on rail);
• ICT and Customs Modernization;
• Single Window and Data Exchange;
• Risk Management and Post-Entry Audit; and
• Capacity Building.

The second component of the event will provide training on the WCO Time Release Study approach to customs efficiency analysis. It will comprise

• An introduction and overview of the Time Release Study approach and methodology by the WCO;
• A case study of Japan's experience in conducting a Time Release Study on its customs operations, the findings, and their impact on policy and process changes at Japan Customs; and
• An introduction to Japan Customs' special programs to promote efficiency, including
  • Authorized Economic Operators Program;
  • Intellectual Property Rights Enforcement;
  • Customs Mutual Assistance Agreements; and
  • Technical Cooperation and Training.

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Objectives

This activity will:

• Facilitate the exchange of information and experience among senior customs officials in the CAREC countries on the Program's priority areas for customs cooperation;
• Provide training on the objectives and approach of the WCO Time Release Study methodology, with a focus on learning from Japan's experience; and
• Enable CAREC officials to explore options for employing the Time Release Study to deepen customs cooperation among Program countries.

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Outputs

The activity will provide participants with

• Updated knowledge on each CAREC countries' activities in the Program's priority areas for customs cooperation;
• Training on the WCO Time Release Study methodology and an opportunity to discuss the methodology with ADB, Japanese, and WCO experts;
• Exposure to Japan Customs' experience in implementing the Time Release Study and integrating findings into policy and process changes; and
• An opportunity to expand their network of senior customs officials and establish new professional contacts.

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Participants

Participants will include Heads and senior officials of the Customs Administrations of the CAREC countries.

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Language

English and Russian

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Partners

• Asian Development Bank^*
• Customs and Tariff Bureau, Ministry of Finance, Japan
• World Customs Organization^*

* These links take you outside the ADBI.org website