From 5 to 9 June 2023, the Secretariat of the World Customs Organization (WCO), in cooperation with Guatemalan Customs, conducted a National Workshop on Post-Clearance Audit (PCA) in Guatemala. The Workshop was sponsored by the Customs Cooperation Fund of Japan (CCF/Japan).
The goal of this Workshop was to develop, in collaboration with Guatemalan Customs, PCA data analysis tools that could be shared among Members in the future. The Workshop also provided the Administration with support for the effective implementation of the PCA function in line with the WCO PCA Guidelines.
Fourteen PCA auditors and officers responsible for targeting participated in the Workshop. The first stage of the Workshop involved enhancing participants' understanding of the PCA concept, with emphasis on the key points, i.e. that PCA serves as a means of measuring and improving traders' compliance levels; it is based on international standards that outline the general principles of Customs administration; and it aims to enforce national legislation effectively by building consultative relationships with trade stakeholders. Next, the participants learned about the strategic implementation of PCA based on risk assessment, a voluntary compliance framework and human resource management. Building on this strategic understanding, they then developed two data analysis tools for PCA targeting, and a dashboard which will be useful for analysing auditee businesses.
Participants analysed Customs data related to origin, HS classification and Customs valuation, and created tools to measure the risk represented by traders. The tools can visualize the risks involved and effectively select high-risk transactions and traders based on the large amount of data held by Customs. This process of creating the tools enabled participants to enhance their understanding of data analysis techniques for risk assessment.
During the closing session, Guatemala’s Director General of Customs, Mr. Werner Ovalle, expressed his sincere gratitude to the WCO Secretariat and CCF/Japan for their support. He also emphasized the importance of cooperation between the different unit teams, and acknowledged the need for the strategic implementation of PCA in line with international standards.
Thanks to the participants' collaborative efforts in developing the data analysis tools, and the insights gained from the data analysis tasks performed in the Workshop, the WCO will be able to further improve the tools. The participants expressed their warm thanks to the WCO for this opportunity, which had enhanced their auditing skills and their confidence in risk assessment. The WCO will continue to improve this PCA tools for effective, risk-based Customs compliance management through PCA.