Facilitating Trade:
Improving Customs Risk Management Systems
In the OIC Member States
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increase/decrease in traffic can be identified to enable management decisions on staffing
numbers at specified locations, etc. Information becomes intelligence when it is analyzed to
identify trends in risk areas or areas of potential fraud, or when it is used to build up a case
against a fraudulent or potentially fraudulent individual/organization. The intelligence is
playing a major part in the identification and prioritization of the risk indicators. There are three
types of intelligence:
 Tactical intelligence is the actionable information on the current or imminent location
and movement of, for example, a suspicious consignment arriving from an export
country for customs clearance at a specific point of entry. It requires immediate
enforcement response to effect detection and seizure; tactical intelligence is often time-
critical and applies to fraud and smuggling in general.
 Operational intelligence refers to information gathered to provide analytical support to
the investigation and prosecution process. Information relating to individuals or
organizations is collected and analyzed. The analysis reveals the identity and activity of
organizations, establishes relationships and uncovers conspiracies.
 Strategic intelligence is evaluated information on broad patterns and trends to be used
by customs policy planners and management to identify problem areas and make
appropriate resource and legislative decisions. Strategic intelligence includes
information on smuggling methods and trends and the identification of fraud patterns.
3.1.4.1 Regional intelligence networks
The importance of exchange of intelligence can be recognized by WCO’s Regional Intelligence
Liaison Office (RILO)36 that was established by the WCO with the intent of creating a Global
Intelligence Network. Each of the 11 Regional RILO offices assists the CAs and responds to their
intelligence needs at the regional level. In addition to intelligence related requests, the RILO
network supports its WCO Member administrations by providing the operational support,
designing and implementing target-oriented intelligence analysis projects and regional
intelligence-led operations, facilitating mutual administrative assistance and promoting and
maintaining regional co-operation with other law enforcement agencies and organizations. The
RILO network reports to the WCO Enforcement Committee. Each participating WCO Member
needs to designate a National Contact Point (NCP) of RILO that will regularly:
 Collect information on seizures, including all required details relating to Customs
offenses, from existing sources at national level;
 Distribute intelligence reports, alerts and other relevant publications received from the
WCO and RILOs at the national level;
 Initiate and participate in special regional projects conducted by RILOs to identify new
trans-border smuggling threats and trends
 Cooperate nationally with the full gamut of enforcement agencies or services
 Task the RILO with specific analytical studies and participate in the process of
evaluating the effectiveness
3.1.5 Trends Related to Risk Analysis
A major changed occurred in the way CAs analyses information, in particular as a result of more
fluent and scientifically proven analytical techniques that integrate both transactional and
behavioral risk analysis. Some of the global trends in this field are following:
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