At the invitation of Namibia Customs & Excise (NCE), the WCO carried out a Preferred Trader Programme (PTP) Gap Assessment mission in Namibia under the WCO-SACU Connect Project from 20 to 24 June 2016.

The WCO experts in collaboration with the SACU Secretariat and NCE officials identified strengths, gaps, challenges, and potential solutions related to the pilot and roll-out of the Preferred Trader Programme. This analysis resulted in the design of a draft work plan with a particular focus on critical areas such as risk management, post-clearance audit, legal reform, IT upgrade as well as stakeholder engagement and human resource management.

The key findings of the mission and the draft work plan were presented to the Commissioner and senior NCE officials, which were agreed to as future ways forward for an early launch of a NCE PTP pilot and full implementation thereof by 2018.

The WCO-SACU Connect Project, financed by the government of Sweden, will pursue its efforts in establishing the Regional PTP and mutual recognition arrangements through the successful implementation of the national PTPs in the SACU region.

For more information about this activity and the WCO-SACU Connect Project, please contact the Project Manager – Mr. Dalton Nxumalo (dalton.nxumalo@wcoomd.org ).