Given the progress made by the Jordanian Customs Department in the implementation of the international customs standards, the World Customs Organization (WCO) has chosen Jordan, among other Member Administrations, to perform a research study on trade facilitation and security at borders.
The study was conducted from 30 July to 4 August 2016 and included field visits to Amman Customs, Cargo Airport, Aqaba Customs, Jaber Customs, Omari Customs, Customs of the Jordan Valley and the Section of Customs procedures at the tariff and agreements Directorate. The field visits also included meetings with representatives from the supply chain as well as the single window to identify the problems in the clearance process and discuss the way to further improve the current situation.
The research study aimed at identifying the difficulties towards the full implementation of the WTO TFA. The study also stressed the importance of the effective implementation of the TFA on the ground and the improvement of the current customs procedure including to fully performing customs procedures at the first point on entry of the goods which will have a positive impact on the cost of cross-border trade and the time needed for the clearance of goods.
Moreover, the study focused on the best practices related to the implementation of Mercator programme and how to make Member Administrations benefit from each other’s experience. In addition, the mission stressed on the way to increase and improve the support provided by the WCO to help implement the trade facilitation agenda and especially the provisions of the RKC and the WTO TFA.