The 17th session of the Virtual Customs Orientation Academy (VCOA) for English-speaking Customs officers came to a successful close on 16 June 2023. The 14-week online course took place on CLiKC!, the WCO’s e-learning platform, and involved 42 participants from across all WCO regions.
The VCOA is a WCO programme uniquely aimed at Customs officers with less than four years of experience working within their Customs administration. The objective of the online programme is to provide officers with a basic grounding in key areas of Customs. The topics covered in the course include the roles and responsibilities of Customs administrations, procedures for trade facilitation and security, principles of revenue collection, and approaches to enforcement and compliance to ensure security. The course also encourages exchange among the students with the aim of developing professional networks at the start of their career in Customs.
Special thanks are to be given to the ten WCO-accredited experts from the Customs authorities of Cambodia, Eswatini, India, Kenya, Malaysia, Maldives, Mauritius, Nigeria, Peru and Türkiye. The experts participated as tutors in the course, providing advice and guidance to students on written assignments. Additionally, live presentations were given by WCO technical staff on the topics of Integrity, Coordinated Border Management, the Harmonized System and the Customs Enforcement Network (CEN). The presentations were followed by question and answer sessions which gave students the chance to gain further insight into these areas.
Following the successful completion of the 17th session, the 18th session of the VCOA will run from 11 September to 15 December 2023. The application period is now open for this session. Member administrations are invited to nominate candidates to participate. Nominated students should complete the application form available on CLiKC! by 18 August 2023.
For more information about the VCOA programme, please contact capacity.building@wcoomd.org.