Improving the Border Agency Cooperation
Among the OIC Member States for Facilitating Trade
12
1.1.2. Border control tasks and agencies
Regarding the tasks carried out at the border, the WCO’s Revised Kyoto Convention defines
customs formalities as “all the operations which must be carried out by the persons concerned
and by the customs in order to comply with the customs law.” The convention continues that
customs law refers to customs related “statutory and regulative requirements relating to
importation, exportation, movement or storage of goods, the administration and enforcement.”
Most developed and many emerging countries subscribe to the RKC, customs being the main
agency with authority to control the importation and exportation of goods in any given
country. However, other government agencies also have an interest in controlling trade
operations, as will be outlined below.
In international trade, cross-border cargo goods movements are subject to basic customs
procedures, regarding imports, transit and exports. Calculation and collection of customs
duties and taxes typically cover all trade commodities, while there are many commodities that
are subject to one or more special regulatory requirements (e.g. licensing), that come from
outside the customs law. In fact, the list of special regulatory requirements that go beyond a
typical customs law is rather long. Companies trading in hazardous goods, for instance, must
comply with transport safety and security requirements that customs and other border control
agencies enforce. Pharmaceutical imports must comply with safety requirements and laws
protecting intellectual property (IP). Food and agricultural products may be subject to quality
controls and certificates. Moreover, animal and plant species and related by-products are
subject to phytosanitary and biosecurity controls that protect local environment and
agriculture from unwanted organisms. Products and commodities that have military use in
addition to civil use - so called dual-use goods - are subject to special export requirements.
Also, clothes and toys must comply with (national) product safety requirements.
While the tasks performed at the border tend to be relatively generic, different countries vary
in terms of how they have organised their border control. Many government agencies have an
interest to monitor and control cross-border trade and travel. In most countries, customs
administration is the primary, leading agency at the border. Other important agencies that are
oftentimes present at the border include border guard and immigration agency. Besides these
usual border control agencies, a broad array of other government agencies is responsible for
regulatory control, law enforcement or other activities at borders. Many countries, for
instance, have a specialised regulatory body to ensure that imported pharmaceuticals comply
with safety and quality standards and do not violate intellectual property rights. These
regulatory agencies belong to a broad range of ministries that manage their special policy
areas, and include the ministries of agriculture, defence, finance, health, transport,
environment, interior and foreign affairs.
According to a recent study, typical areas of customs-border guard inter-agency cooperation
can include strategic planning, communication and information exchange, coordination of
workflow of border crossing points, risk analysis, criminal investigations, joint operations,
control outside border control points, mobile units, contingency and emergency, infrastructure
and equipment sharing, and training and human resource management.7 Furthermore, it is not
uncommon that responsibilities of various border control agencies overlap to some extent.
7 CSD, 2011