Following a request for capacity building in the area of effective revenue assurance, a Regional Workshop on Post-Clearance Audit (PCA) for the Asia/Pacific (AP) Region was organized by the WCO at the Regional Training Centre (RTC) in Kashiwa, Japan, from 12 to 16 September 2016, with the financial support of the Japanese Customs Co-operation Fund (CCF).

Development and improvement of the Post-Clearance Audit system is among the key priorities for some Customs Administrations in the region. This Workshop was aimed at assisting Administrations in the region in the use and implementation of the WCO PCA Guidelines and related tools. Middle-level Customs managers in charge of PCA from 23 countries attended this event and learned about the WCO PCA concept and its practical application.

The participants actively contributed to the Workshop and a number of issues were raised and discussed with a special interest on the question on how best to ensure the cooperation with traders. Participants exchanged information and views about their legal authority, policy tools and measures in place in their administration in order to come up with possible options.

The country reports and case studies by participants were also useful in learning about emerging issues in neighboring countries and the techniques to detect them. In addition, participants underwent exercises on targeting and finding irregularities in a cooperative manner, and exchanged views on the practical application of the PCA Guidelines.

The Workshop concluded successfully with positive feedback from the participants, who gained confidence in implementing PCA in a more effective way.