Between 26 and 30 August in Kathmandu, Nepal, senior managers from across the Nepal Department of Customs (DOC) conducted an integrity self-assessment, facilitated by experts from the WCO. As a Partner Administration of the WCO’s Anti-Corruption and Integrity Promotion (A-CIP) Programme for Customs, this was the first step for Nepal DOC to better understand how its current integrity initiatives align with each of the 10 key factors of the Revised Arusha Declaration, and identify gaps and new measures that could be implemented to fight corruption and build integrity.
The resulting recommendations from the assessment were then shared with other government stakeholders and private sector representatives during a meeting of the National Trade and Transport Facilitation Committee (NTTFC) for their feedback and inputs. This information will be used to construct an integrity action plan, the implementation of which the WCO will support through the A-CIP Programme. During the self-assessment process and the NTTFC meeting, participants acknowledge considerable efforts already being made to improve governance and transparency in DOC under their Customs Reform and Modernization Strategies and Action Plan (CRMSAP) 2017-2021 and spoke openly about continued challenges and ways forward to address them.
Recognizing that Customs does not operate in a vacuum, engagement with stakeholders to generate collective action, has been demonstrated as a most effective way to address corruption. By engaging a variety of internal and external stakeholders, including with the NTTFC, Nepal DOC have set an excellent example under the A-CIP Programme. Launched in January 2019, the WCO A-CIP Programme aims to help Partner Administrations implement new measures to fight corruption and promote integrity in accordance with the Revised Arusha Declaration, with the overall objective to improve the business environment for cross-border trade.
For more details, please contact capacity.building@wcoomd.org or visit the WCO A-CIP Programme Page.