Following the debut of the national Customs Enforcement Network (nCEN) application in Europe, the WCO has now taken its nCEN application to Asia-Pacific, where Maldives Customs became the first Administration to benefit from this useful enforcement tool.
As a last step of the implementation process, Maldives Customs organized a successful training workshop in Malé, where a motivated group of officers acquired practical knowledge on the functionality of the system, a theoretical background on data gathering and the analytical possibilities provided by the nCEN application, and engaged in dynamic discussions on the practical uses of the application in the daily work of the Administration.
The National Customs Enforcement Network (nCEN) is an application intended for the collection and storage of law-enforcement information on the national level, with the additional capability to exchange this information at the regional and international levels. The nCEN application consists of three independent databases (Seizure database, Suspect database, Company database), as well as a secure internal communication system.
The core database of national seizures and offences comprises a full set of nominal data required for analysis, including linked persons, companies, related means of conveyance, routes, and the possibility to view pictures or X-rays of exceptional concealment methods. The suspect database enables Customs to hold information on all types of alerts or in-progress investigations. A predefined workflow within this database allows for officers to be assigned to specific investigations, while additional system functionality manages all communications related to investigations in a structured manner. The third database consists of company records and assists Customs in tracking fraudulent activities associated with these companies.
An Information Communication Interface (Icomm) included in the nCEN allows for the exchange of data on seizure cases with other Customs administrations using nCEN (provided the existence of a legal premise), and/or the transfer of the non-nominal components of the data directly to the global CEN database.
More information on the nCEN can be obtained by contacting the WCO CEN Program at nCEN@wcoomd.org.