As part of its work on stakeholder engagement and measuring the performance of the protagonists involved, the Burkina Faso Customs Administration sought support from the WCO, via the WACAM Project funded by the Swedish Government, in carrying out its very first Time Release Study (TRS). This led to the WCO facilitating a five-day TRS Workshop from 5 to 9 February 2018 in Ouagadougou, Burkina Faso. The Workshop, conducted in French, provided TRS training to some 30 Customs managers and representatives of the stakeholders involved in the goods clearance process and enabled them to map out an initial draft of the procedures for releasing and clearing goods arriving at the OUAGA-Route Customs office from the border with Ghana. This major Workshop included a presentation of TRS methodology, following the WCO’s Guide, and also gave participants the opportunity to work with the WCO’s TRS software.

In his opening speech to the Workshop, Customs Director General Mr. Adama Sawadogo stressed the importance of this activity, which will enable his Administration to identify procedural bottlenecks affecting all those involved in the release and clearance of goods and, above all, to work together on solutions to facilitate trade and improve the business climate.

Carrying out its very first TRS will enable Burkina Faso to comply with the requirements of Article 7.6 of the WTO Trade Facilitation Agreement (TFA). The TFA encourages WTO Members to measure and publish their average release time of goods periodically and in a consistent manner, using tools such as, inter alia, the Time Release Study of the World Customs Organization (WCO).

For more information about this activity or the WCO’s WACAM Project in general, please contact the WCO-Sweden Programme Director, Mr. Richard Chopra (richard.chopra@wcoomd.org).