Under the sponsorship of the China Customs Cooperation Fund (CCF- China), a World Customs Organization (WCO) Accreditation Workshop for Technical Operational Advisers (TOAs) in the area of the WCO Time Release Study (TRS) was held at the WCO Regional Training Centre in Xiamen, China, from 11 to 15 March 2019.
The event was organized as part of the WCO strategic approach to obtain a greater number of experts to assist WCO Members in conducting a TRS. It was attended by Customs officials from the Asia Pacific (AP) region.
During the workshop, WCO facilitators (from the Secretariat and China Customs) presented a general overview of the organization of a TRS activity, and subsequently focused on TRS objectives, challenges, opportunity and ways forward as well as communication skills.
10 selected Customs officers from the WCO AP region participated in the workshop and were continuously assessed against a set of criteria that included their overall knowledge and strategic application of key WCO instruments and tools, their level of technical expertise, their ability to support Member administrations in preparing and conducting a TRS and their ability to facilitate discussion with senior Customs officials, including Directors/Commissioners General or equivalent.
At the end of the event, several participants successfully completed phase 1 of the accreditation process as they had demonstrated their potential to become TOAs in the area of TRS. The successful candidates will now be able to support the WCO in future TRS missions and, if appropriate, be finally considered by the WCO as full Accredited TOA in the area of TRS.