The 15th session of the Virtual Customs Orientation Academy (VCOA) for English-speaking Customs officers came to a successful close on 24th June 2022. The 14-week online course took place on CLiKC!, the WCO’s e-learning platform, and involved 40 participants from across all WCO regions.
The VCOA is a WCO programme uniquely aimed at Customs officers with less than four years of experience working within their Customs administration. The objective of the online programme is to provide officers with a basic grounding in key areas of Customs. The topics covered in the course include the roles and responsibilities of Customs administrations, procedures for trade facilitation and security, principles of revenue collection, and approaches to enforcement and compliance to ensure security. The course also encourages exchange among the students with the aim of developing professional networks at the start of their career in Customs.
Special thanks are to be given to the nine WCO accredited experts from the Customs authorities of Turkey, Namibia, Mauritius, Italy, Mexico, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Malaysia, Iran and India. The experts participated as tutors in the course, providing advice and guidance to students on written assignments. Additionally, live presentations were given by WCO technical staff on the topics of Integrity, Coordinated Border Management, Rules of Origin and the WCO Environmental Programme. The presentations were followed by question and answer sessions which gave students the chance to learn from these experts in their field.
Following the successful completion of the 15th session, the 16th session of the VCOA will run from 12 September to 16 December 2022. The application period is now open for this session. Member administrations are invited to nominate candidates to participate. Nominated students should complete the application form available on CLiKC! by 18 August 2022.
For more information about the VCOA programme, please contact capacity.building@wcoomd.org.