Following the recommendation stated in the Mercator Programme Diagnostic Report for Guyana, the WCO conducted a five- day diagnostic mission on Post Clearance Audit (PCA) from 29 October to 2 November 2018 in Georgetown, Guyana. This WCO PCA diagnostic mission was funded by the Government of the United Kingdom through Her Majesty’s Revenue and Customs under the framework of the extended HMRC-WCO-UNCTAD Programme.
After a brief opening and introduction session with the Commissioner General of Guyana Revenue Authority (GRA), the mission started with extensive consultations with different departments and sections within the GRA including Risk Management, IT, ASYCUDA, Legal, Commercial Operations, Revenue Protection, Human Resources, among others. Furthermore, a visit was made to the John Fernandes Wharf Limited to directly observe the examination processes and impact on trade facilitation.
In concluding the mission, discussions were held with external stakeholders at the GRA Headquarters in Georgetown. Attendance was mainly from the licensed Customs brokers in Guyana. The discussions surrounded the role of PCA regarding trade facilitation and compliance improvement, traders and Customs brokers’ understanding, expectations on PCA activities and their obligations on record keeping for effective post clearance control and compliance improvement. The external stakeholders were very pleased to learn the WCO concept of PCA and that GRA has taken initiatives to implement PCA function in accordance with WCO Guidelines and international best practices. Also, GRA is very pleased with the ongoing support provided by the WCO in other areas identified in the Mercator Scoping Report and is looking forward to the PCA Diagnostic Mission Report.