On 13 September 2018, the second meeting on PICARD Professional Standards (PS) Review was held at the WCO in Brussels. The meeting was attended by representatives from the Capacity Building Directorate and Academia. The meeting was officiated by the Deputy Secretary General of the WCO, Mr. Ricardo Treviño Chapa.

The PS have served over the last decade as benchmarks for academic development, support of in-house training of Customs Administrations, and a reference for recognition of Customs University courses; all of which have contributed to raise the profile of the Customs profession. Based on the successful results achieved over the last ten years, the WCO Secretariat launched a revision of the PS to include the new challenges stemming from the change in the operational environment along with other new factors that have arisen over the last decade.  

With the critical support of highly qualified representatives from the North-West Institute of Management RANEPA (Russian Federation), Charles Sturt University (Australia), Universität Münster (Germany), Universidad de Costa Rica, Cross-Border Research Association (Switzerland) and Riga Technical University (Latvia), the Secretariat is conducting a revision and update of the PS.  The updated version will include, inter alia, cooperation between the public and private sector, the enhanced relationship between customs and revenue functions, and the new facets of Coordinated Border Management.  It also seeks to increase awareness of emerging trends, security, trade facilitation, technological advancements and project management.

The two-day meeting also served to prepare for participation at a roundtable on the future of PS at the 13th PICARD Conference which will be held in Turkey in October 2018. 

For more information on the PS, please contact capacity.building@wcoomd.org .