Mini-blog: CBRA at WCO PTC meeting 4/2017

Next to our “full length CBRA Blogs” – some so long (over 2-3 pages) that we split them into two parts – we start publishing now “CBRA Mini-Blogs”, which can be just few paragraphs in length – still hopefully with some timely links or messages, in the broader context of supply chain security and trade facilitation. #supplychainsecurity  #tradefacilitation

 

 

Myself, Juha Hintsa, had the pleasure to join the main part of the WCO Permanent Technical Committee (PTC) meetings some three weeks ago (3-5.4.2017, to be exact). I made couple of interventions from the academia side during those days – and, following the suggestion of one of the PTC sub-group chairs, I also prepared this small “final suggestion”, which was read out by a kind colleague on the last day of the PTC (Friday 5.4) when I could not join any more at the WCO:

 

“We heard several times during the week about the rich set of guidelines and other tools WCO has produced during the past decades. One example mentioned by GEA, Dietmar Jost, on Tuesday, is the single window guidelines. Dietmar also pointed that often these great tools may be underused by WCO members.

CBRA would like to propose an exercise where we first cooperate with WCO and few members to set up a straight forward measurement system focusing on the actual level of usage, and potential benefits, members may experience, thanks to select WCO tools – particularly those with WTO TFA relevance. And after that, slowly but surely, we could start assessing the actual guidebook etc. usage among members, including collecting anecdotes of progress made and results achieved.

For the next 12 months, this could be carried out in the context of FP7-CORE project, the one discussed already this week by IBM and others. After April 2018, we plan to launch a new, global research network on trade facilitation, titled G-FAN, initially consisting of 10 to 12 state universities from all continents – and this type of continuous monitoring activity could fit very well into the scope of the new G-FAN network!

Finally, thanks to WCO for 15 consecutive years of customs-academia cooperation with us, as we first entered the building in April 2002; not quite the numerous years Mr. Jost has been around, with his integrated supply chain guidelines and stone-age-blockchain technologies, but almost…”