Following an invitation from the Ethiopian Revenue and Customs Authority (ERCA) and in line with the National Mercator Implementation Plan for Ethiopia, the WCO undertook a Risk Management Diagnostic in Addis Ababa on the 28th of May to the 2nd of June 2017. This mission was conducted under the framework of the HMRC-WCO-UNCTAD Programme with the generous financial support of the Government of the United Kingdom through Her Majesty’s Revenue and Customs (HMRC).

The main objective of this mission was to complete a diagnostic of ERCA’s Risk Management processes while building on work carried out in previous missions and following the WCO Mercator Programme approach. The mission consisted of comprehensive presentations by the ERCA Risk Management Directorate on their current legislation, policies and processes related to Risk Management. The WCO team of experts then presented the WCO approach on Risk Management covering various relevant instruments and tools such as the Revised Kyoto Convention (RKC), Risk Management Compendium, the SAFE Framework of Standards and the WCO Data Model.

To ensure involvement of all concerned departments, meetings were organized with ERCA Directors from different divisions relevant to support Risk Management including IT, Intelligence, Legal, Customs Procedures and Human Resources among others. Moreover, study visits were made to the Bole Main Airport and to the Modjo Inland Port to study how intelligence based risk management supports the clearance process, trade facilitation and security. The WCO team of experts also analysed the supply chain movement of goods from Djibouti Port transiting through the Galafi Border to the Inland Container Ports. Discussions were held with local teams on the actual process, including risk identification, analysis and targeting against the Risk Management procedure manual.

In concluding the mission, the WCO team presented the outcomes of the diagnostic to the ERCA management. A draft action plan for forward capacity building support related to Risk Management was also developed to further build on the findings of this mission under Ethiopia’s Mercator Implementation Plan.