The Zambia Revenue Authority (ZRA) says support from the World Customs Organisation (WCO) has helped the Authority to enhance its customs modernisation agenda with Zambia’s neighbouring countries such Botswana, Malawi, Zimbabwe and Tanzania.
Speaking at the side lines of the 141st/142nd Sessions of the WCO Council meeting in Brussels, Belgium, ZRA Commissioner Customs Services, Ernest Sigande said the Authority has networked with different Revenue Administrations during the Council Meeting to understand different customs administration operations.
Mr. Sigande said the Authority has the mandate of ensuring that trade facilitation- both local and international is enhanced in order to speed up sustainable development.
He said while ZRA has implemented the concept of One-Stop Border Posts (OSBPs) the Authority is already trying to benchmark and research on the best practices for the implementation of Non-Stop Borders Posts to allow for seamless movement of goods, passengers and services.
Mr. Sigande said the Authority will continue engaging the WCO for capacity building in areas of customs valuation and classification, e-commerce taxation and origin in order to improve service delivery to taxpayers.
The WCO Council meeting saw the election of Ian Sanders from the United States of America being elected as the new World Customs Organisation Secretary General replacing Kunio Mikuriya who has been in office since 1st January, 2009. South Africa Revenue Service Commissioner General Edward Kieswetter was elected as the new WCO Council Chairperson.
The World Customs Organization (WCO), established in 1952 as the Customs Co-operation Council (CCC) is an independent intergovernmental body whose mission is to enhance the effectiveness and efficiency of Customs administrations.
The Council is the highest decision-making body of the WCO and saw the participation of Commissioners and Director- Generals of Customs representing the WCO’s 185 Members.
The Council focussed its discussions mainly on capacity building, Rules of Origin, Valuation, Nomenclature and Classification, Compliance and Trade Facilitation and other administrative matters.
Today, the WCO collectively processe approximately 98% of world trade. As the global centre of Customs expertise, the WCO is the only international organization with competence in Customs matters and can rightly call itself the voice of the international Customs community.
