COMCEC Trade Outlook 2018
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March 7-8, 2018, in Ankara, Turkey with the theme of “Facilitating Trade: Improving Customs
Risk Management Systems in the OIC Member States.” During the Meeting, the participants
deliberated on the conceptual framework, global practices and trends in customs risk
management and the status of the OIC Member Countries regarding the implementation of the
customs risk management systems. In line with the relevant resolution of the 33rd Session of the
COMCEC, this meeting also served to the preparations for the Exchange of Views Session of the
34th COMCEC Ministerial Meeting to be held under the same theme.
Improving customs risk management (CRM) systems is of particular importance for the Member
Countries for ensuring optimal balance between trade facilitation and customs control. Through
these effective mechanisms, customs administrations can allocate their resources more
effectively and efficiently through focusing on high-risk areas. Therefore, these systems
provides enhanced decision-making process during the customs control, while ensuring the
security.
According to the report prepared for the Meeting, the OIC member states are positioned at
different stages regarding the level of CRM. Accordingly, while 17 (29.8%) of the 57 OIC Member
Countries have fully implemented CRM, 4 (7%) of them are at the advanced stage, 25 (43.9%)
of them at medium performance. On the other hand, 2 (3.5%) Member Countries have CRM
systems at basic level, and 9 (15.8%) Member States have no CRM. Moreover, within the
framework of the report, field visits were conducted to three OIC member countries namely
Albania, Senegal and Turkey to get insights about the policy environment on the subject.
The research report also highlighted that some member countries have limited coordination
among the relevant stakeholders with respect to customs risk management and there is a need
for a sound risk management strategy. Moreover, inadequate IT infrastructure and insufficient
use of audit-based controls and risk assessment techniques are the main challenges faced by the
Member Countries in operating customs risk management.
In this regard, the Trade WG has come up with a set of policy recommendations for improving
customs risk management systems, among others:
 Establishing a riskmanagement committee and developing an efficient and effective risk
management strategy for improving the CRM performances and modernization efforts;
 Maintaining adequate IT support for the electronic submission of pre-arrival/pre-
departure information for risk assessment;
 Utilizing Integrated CRM system including Data Warehouse, Business Intelligence, and
Data Mining;
 Using advanced techniques and tools for risk assessment; such as usage of appropriate
statistical models etc;
 Enhancing customs audit based controls; including post-clearance.
Moreover, the TWG has also considered the other aspects of the trade facilitation and come up
with policy recommendations, which will be submitted to the 34th COMCEC Session, under the
following six headings:
 Simplifying trade procedures and documentation,
 Legal and regulatory framework,
 Physical infrastructure and modernization,
 Harmonization and alignment of standards and conformity,