Under the sponsorship of the WCO Reserve Fund, a World Customs Organization (WCO) Accreditation Workshop for Technical Operational Advisers (TOAs) in the area of the WCO Time Release Study (TRS) was held in Lima, Peru, from 21-25 May 2018. 

The event was organized as part of the WCO strategic approach to obtain a greater number of experts to assist WCO Members in conducting a TRS. It was attended by Customs officials from the Americas and Caribbean region.  The event was coordinated locally by the Superintendencia Nacional de Aduanas y de Administración Tributaria (SUNAT) including but not limited to all logistics related to transportation, the workshop venue, interpreters, IT technical support, photography, and catering.  The head of  SUNAT, Superintendent Rafael Garcia Melgar provided the opening and closing remarks.

During the workshop, WCO facilitators presented a general overview of the organization of a TRS, and subsequently focused on TRS objectives, challenges, opportunities and ways forward.  Twelve (12) Customs officers from the WCO Americas and Caribbean region participated in the workshop and were continuously assessed against a set of criteria that included their overall knowledge and strategic application of key WCO tools and instruments, level of technical expertise, ability to support Member administrations in preparing and conducting a TRS and their ability to facilitate discussions with senior Customs officials.

At the end of the event, five participants were determined to have successfully completed Step 1 of the accreditation process as they demonstrated their potential to become TOAs in the area of TRS. The successful candidates will now be able to support the WCO in future TRS missions.  The Superintendent of SUNAT took the opportunity at the closing session to announce that Peru had completed their most recent TRS assessment and provided the workshop participants with a one-page Fact Sheet in Spanish and English.