WCO 2015 Council Meets, New Office Bearers Elected

India Loses to Brazil in Contest for Directors Post

India staked its claim on the Director Capacity Building post with Mr Sandeep Bhatnagar, Joint Secretary Customs in the Board. However, he lost by a narrow margin of some 20 votes to Brazilian candidate Mr. Ernani Checcucci. It is believed that given that the Secretary General is a Japanese, the European Union put the stamp on a non Asian.

This is the second India has lost to Brazil in the race to WCO posts. Mr C Satpathy, former member of Settlement Commission had unsuccessfully contested for the Directors post some years back. In yet another case, Mr AM Prasad had put in his claim for the Secretary General post but lost only because the Indian Government did not do the lobbying with other member countries for support.

It is sad that number of Indians in WCO is now down to zero, in the past there were always one or two Indians in the body on important posts. The diminution of India is partly due to the Government policy which does not groom the best in the revenue service for top posts in WCO. India has lost the stature that it had at one time.

Summary of the WCO Council proceedings is given below:

The 125^th/126^th Annual Sessions of the World Customs Organization’s Council – the Organization’s highest decision-making body – took place in Brussels from 11 to 13 June under Chairperson Zouhair Chorfi, the Director General of the Moroccan Customs Administration, and with the participation of Directors Generals of Customs representing the 180 Members of the WCO.

Several elections took place during the Sessions with the following results:

· Mr. Zouhair Chorfi of Morocco was re-elected as Chairperson of the Council.

· Ms. Ana Hinojosa of the United States was elected as Director of Compliance and Facilitation.

· Mr. Ernani Checcucci of Brazil was elected as Director of Capacity Building.

· Mr. Ping Liu of China was elected as Director for Tariff and Trade Affairs.

The Chairperson raised four specific issues which were to guide the discussions, namely; digital Customs, performance measurement, strategic planning, and Coordinated Border Management (CBM), the WCO’s theme for 2015. Members welcomed the revised Revenue Package, new additions to the security programme such as the I2C, and a set of 20 indicators to guide discussions on performance measurement.

The Council celebrated the 10^th Anniversary of the SAFE Framework of Standards to Secure and Facilitate Global Trade by adopting a third pillar, Customs to Other Government Agencies and Inter-Government Agencies, as well as the incorporation of standards for “Pre-loading Advance Cargo Information” with respect to air cargo to facilitate a first layer of security risk analysis in collaboration with civil aviation authorities.

There were further accessions to key WCO Conventions, including Thailand and Sierra Leone which deposited their instruments of accession to the International Convention.

The Council welcomed Palestine, the WCO’s newest and 180^th Member, which attended the Council for the first time.

The WCO and Jordan signed a Memorandum of Understanding on the creation of a Regional Training Centre in Amman.  A Cooperation Agreement was also signed between the WCO and the World Organisation for Animal Health (OIE) to strengthen cooperation between the two Organizations and to boost collaboration between Customs and veterinary services on the ground around the world.

In the course of the Sessions, several Members announced an increase in their voluntary contributions in support of the activities of the Organization.  This commitment was warmly welcomed by the Secretary General and by the membership as a whole.