The 28th Meeting of the SAFE Working Group (SWG) was held in-person at WCO Headquarters, following more than 2 years of online only meetings. The in-person meeting was attended by approximately 100 participants drawn from Customs administrations, PSCG members and other international organizations.
The Meeting was opened by the Director of Compliance and Facilitation, Mr. Pranab Kumar Das, who reported that despite the disruption caused by the pandemic, a number of activities had been accomplished online and that the SAFE Review Cycle 2021 had been delivered successfully. He took the opportunity to praise the excellent collaboration between Customs and PSCG participants in the joint development of important instruments and tools in the SAFE and AEO areas, which provide constant support to Members for the implementation of the SAFE and AEO. In this connection, he noted that the online AEO Compendium and the AEO Validation e-learning course, among others, were highly appreciated.
The Meeting included fruitful discussions about the survey questionnaire on monitoring implementation of the SAFE FoS, and about the SAFE FoS review proposals. Thanks to the great work done intersessionally, the 28th SWG Meeting was able to finalize the draft survey questionnaire on monitoring the implementation of the SAFE FoS, and agree on the initiation of the survey process.
In addition, the SWG was informed of the outcomes of the WCO Council Sessions, held in June 2022, in respect of the WCO Data Strategy and Green Customs initiatives. Delegates highlighted the fact that the SWG has an important role to play in contributing to the implementation of these initiatives.
SWG delegates were also updated on the substantial work that has been done regarding Capacity Building activities, including the accreditation process, the development of the e-learning course and the conduct of technical assistance missions. The e-learning course on AEO Validation is being made available to Customs administrations on the CLiKC! Platform and to the private sector on the WCO Academy platform, thanks to the financial support of the United Kingdom through the WCO Accelerate Trade Facilitation Programme.
The Meeting endorsed a revised draft SWG Work Programme, and provided strategic guidance for the conduct of its work during the period 2022-2025. To achieve alignment between the SWG Work Programme and the three-year cycle of the WCO Strategic Plan, the SWG agreed to amend its Terms of Reference in this respect and extended the current review cycle of the SAFE FoS until 2025.
Regarding coordinated border management in the Customs - Aviation context, the SWG endorsed the draft third edition of the Joint ICAO – WCO Brochure on Moving Air Cargo Globally; with this, the ICAO-WCO joint action plan for the period from 2020-2022 has been accomplished. Delegates praised the ongoing work, by a mini-group led by the Secretariats of the WCO and the International Association of Ports and Harbors (IAPH), on developing the Customs - Ports Cooperation Guidelines, and welcomed best practices shared by Customs administrations in this area.
The 29th Meeting of the SWG is scheduled to take place in the first week of April 2023.