The World Customs Organization (WCO) has delivered a five-day National Workshop on Time Release Study (TRS) in Guatemala from 19 to 23 November 2018. The Workshop aimed at creating the necessary environment for Guatemala to conduct a TRS at some of the identified cross-border points, with a view to not only find the bottlenecks in the clearance process, but also to explore corrective measures in order to reduce clearance time in relation to the flow process of import, export and transit goods. Guatemala Customs Administration organized the workshop in collaboration with the local “Customs - Private Sector Dialogue Group” as a part of Pillar II of SAFE Framework of Standards and as a part of Pillar III with the Customs Coordinated Focal Group
The workshop was facilitated by two WCO experts who guided participants through some of the key WCO instruments and tools related to trade facilitation, such as the Revised Kyoto Convention, Single Window, AEO and others. The experts explained in detail the WCO TRS concept, methodology and the various steps that Guatemala Customs is recommended to follow to ensure a successful implementation of TRS at the national level.
Additionally, the participants had an opportunity to visit the COMBEX-IM customs warehouse, the Guatemala Customs controlled warehouse for storing air cargo, to observe several processes relating to the clearance of air cargo in accordance with national laws.
To provide a strategic roadmap for the Guatemala Customs to lead the TRS, with the inputs provided by the WCO experts, participants drafted a TRS national action plan which will be subject to periodic review once Guatemala TRS Working Group is constituted by the national Customs Authority.
On the last day of the Workshop, the WCO experts held a meeting with the senior management of Guatemala Customs - the Superintendent de Administration Tributaria (SAT), Mr. Abel Francisco Cruz Calderón, and the Intendente de Aduanas, Mr. Werner Ramirez (Customs Director) - wherein it was noted that SAT considers TRS as one of the top priority to measure and reduce the clearance time in near future, TRS is also as an action of their Strategic Plan 2018-2023