Following the National Mercator Plan for Zimbabwe, designed to provide multi-year, interactive and results-oriented capacity building support to enable effective implementation of the WTO’s Agreement on Trade Facilitation (TFA), the WCO facilitated a workshop to strengthen the Zimbabwe Revenue Authority’s (ZIMRA) capacities on Post Clearance Audit (PCA). The workshop was held in Harare on the 24 to 28 July 2017 and was delivered in the framework of the HMRC-WCO-UNCTAD Programme, financially supported by the Government of the United Kingdom through Her Majesty’s Revenue and Customs (HMRC). 

In total 15 representatives from various PCA regions and other Customs units including Risk Management and Enforcement teams, participated in the workshop. The participants were introduced to the WCO PCA concept of measuring and improving compliance and gained an increased understanding of the importance of PCA as an integrated part of customs Risk Management strategy and processes, in order to increase efficiency of controls and promote trade facilitation. The workshop also provided an opportunity for participants to practically implement PCA using a system based audit approach focusing on targeting methodologies, sampling selection, data and information gathering methods. Through role plays and case studies examples, participants were able to practice interview techniques to better understand auditable business processes and systems used by large multinationals.

The workshop also included a fruitful discussion with the PCA management of ZIMRA around developing an action plan to assist the Administration in enhancing their PCA function. The participants showed willingness to continue improving their skills and understanding of PCA techniques in line with the WCO Guidelines and international best practices. The WCO looks forward to continuing its collaboration with Zimbabwe in line with the tailor-made track of the Mercator Programme.