The WCO participated in the Customs-Tax Conference on “Innovation, Digitalization, Knowledge Management” in Budapest, Hungary on 22 and 23 November 2017. 120 Participants from twelve neighboring countries participated in the Conference.
In her opening remarks, Mrs. Csilla Tamás Czinege, the Deputy State Secretary, Director General for Taxation Issues of the Hungarian National Tax and Customs Administration (NTCA) said that the NTCA was a newly integrated organization. The organization faced a high expectation from the Government to collect national revenue, fight against economic crime, and simplify tax and customs procedures. In order to meet the expectations, the NTCA had developed a simple and transparent organization structure to improve the quality of service and extend the organizational competence.
In the Conference the WCO shared that in this modern era, the optimum use of ICT could potentially enhance the efficiency of the work of Customs. The use of ICT could enable the implementation of modern risk management, big-data analytics and digital interoperability. In addition, digitalization helped Customs to standardize Customs procedures, simplify data requirements, and increase compliance.
The WCO moderated a discussion on knowledge management and capacity building. The WCO suggested that in addition to the development of ICT capabilities, Customs and Tax organizations should develop the capacity of the people through knowledge management. The WCO shared its activities relating to the knowledge management and standard setting in the area of Customs and Tax cooperation, inter alia on the development, update, and promotion of the Guidelines on Customs and Tax Cooperation, and of the Guidelines on Customs Valuation and Transfer Pricing.
In the session, several speakers shared experiences relating to knowledge management activities, such as the development of a new curriculum that related to Customs and Tax in the National University of Public Service, regional activities on joint Customs training by the Visegrad Group, the use of technology for supporting capacity building using e-learning platforms, as well as the characteristics of a new generation, namely the generation Z, relating to the requirements of Administrations on the competence of human resources.