Facilitating Trade:
Improving Customs Risk Management Systems
In the OIC Member States
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In spite of the fact that these elements must be seen as an integral part of the daily work of
customs operational staff, much work needs are done to develop operational staff’s capabilities
to carry out Risk Analysis, Intelligence, and Investigation.
The main problems that Intelligence is facing in OIC MS CA:
 No or limited intelligence function within the administration;
 Managers do not see the link between strategies and the different levels of intelligence;
 No policy and/or support for information management;
 No independent collection and collation of information;
 Operational staff unaware of what intelligence is and/or how to use it;
 Enforcement officials do not trust Intelligence and rely more on physical checks;
 Work as a process unknown;
 No enforcement/investigations database;
 Lack of cooperation and provision of information for enforcement activities;
 Lack of sufficient feedback;
 No legislative authority for the use of informants;
 There may be possible data protection issues;
 Definitions or types of product unknown;
 Lack of interest or resource for data input;
 Lack of information security or integrity;
 Lack of relevant internal guidelines;
 Lack of information dissemination processes.
4.3.1.2.2 Change management and continuous improvement
In most of the OIC MS CA, insufficient attention is paid to developing a sound change
management strategy to underpin reform and modernization efforts occurring within the
administration. Major changes are typically imposed on staff and stakeholders without sufficient
attention to developing a clear vision for the future, a sound communication strategy, and
without a strategy for obtaining the participation and commitment of key stakeholders including
staff.
Moreover, little attention is paid to identifying potential barriers to implementation. As a result,
many reforms and modernization programmes do not achieve their stated objectives or prove
unsustainable in the longer term. In many CA, reform and modernization of systems and
procedures occur only as a result of external pressure for change brought about by changes in
government policies or as a result of reports and recommendations prepared by external parties
such as consultants.
4.3.1.2.3 Human resource development
In most of the cases, distribution of staffing resources between CA business functions may be
based on historical contingency rather than focus on the current and short-term priorities.
There is no information related to the selection and hiring of customs personnel that need to be
based on transparent and competitive processes. The CRM staff must have experience in
customs procedures, and knowledgeable in risk analysis tools and techniques, like predictive
analytics and data mining. CRM staff should be recruited based on the well-defined job
descriptions.