From 10 to 13 December, a national training workshop was held in Niamey, Niger, for experts and trainers from Niger’s General Directorate of Customs. Over a four-day period, some thirty managers from Niger’s General Directorate of Customs received capacity building on Customs valuation of imported goods.
This training workshop was financed entirely by the World Customs Organization (WCO) from its own funds. It followed on from a diagnostic mission on Niger’s valuation and tariff classification infrastructure which had taken place in Niamey from 17 to 21 December 2018. Priority actions recommended at the end of the diagnostic mission included the training of a pool of Customs valuation experts and trainers as a further step. The objective of this WCO technical assistance mission was to enable Niger’s General Directorate of Customs to successfully re-appropriate previously outsourced functions, following the termination of the goods inspection contract entered into with a private inspection company.
The workshop was led by two WCO experts. Various aspects of Customs valuation were addressed, including the principles and the rules of the WTO Customs Valuation Agreement, the control of Customs valuation and its challenges, Customs valuation and transfer pricing, and Customs valuation of e-commerce goods. At the same time participants were familiarized with, and displayed a keen interest in, the content and use of the practical instruments and tools which make up the WCO Revenue Package.
The experts and trainers who received this training are now themselves equipped to train their colleagues in the field. They also undertook to continue their research efforts in this essential area of Customs competence, using the instruments and tools made available under the WCO’s Revenue Package programme and by participating actively in the sessions of the Technical Committee on Customs Valuation.
Niger’s General Directorate of Customs is to be congratulated on the excellent working conditions in which the workshop was conducted.