The World Customs Organization is the global centre of Customs expertise and the voice of the international customs community. The WCO represents 186 customs administrations that collectively process approximately 98% of world trade. "Trade facilitation" is one the four strategic objectives of the organization highlighted in its Strategic Plan 2022-2025. To achieve this objective, the WCO develops and updates instruments and tools, reinforces customs cooperation and collaboration with key stakeholders, while building its members' capacity.

To support its Members with World Trade Organization (WTO) Trade Facilitation Agreement (TFA) implementation, in June 2014 the WCO launched its flagship Mercator Programme in the field of trade facilitation. The Mercator Programme is a unique initiative that allows for uniform implementation of the TFA by applying WCO instruments and tools and is supported by the practical experiences of the global Customs community. Support under Mercator Programme is available to all WCO Members, as all activities directly associated to a specific TFA article are part of the programme.

TFA Specific TACB resources

Under the Multi-Year (MY) Mercator Implementation activities can be delivered to a member engaged with the WCO under the MY Mercator approach, associated to or delivered directly from a MY Mercator Implementation Plan, irrespective of whether the activity is related to a specific TFA Article: related to specific TFA article includes TFA diagnostic missions and implementation planning activities; not related to a specific TFA article focuses on organizational development (Train of Trainers Stakeholder Engagement, Donor Engagement, Performance Measurement, Gender Equality and Diversity (GED), Integrity, Strategic Planning, etc.). Additional WCO initiatives help underpin the effectiveness of the TFA.

Brief description of any upcoming assistance and activities

• Building on the achievements and positive impact of the Global Trade Facilitation Programme from 2018 to 2023, the State Secretariat for Economic Affairs of Switzerland (SECO) and the WCO have decided to pursue a second phase of the Programme from 2024 to 2027, to continue empowering beneficiary Customs administrations to lead, plan, and implement sustainable and transparent Customs reforms (GTFP).
•  The WCO Anti-Corruption and Integrity Promotion (A-CIP) Programme started in 2019 as a multi-donor initiative that supports Members seeking to implement integrity-related initiatives in line with the WCO Revised Arusha Declaration. These include customs modernization and reform, transparency, automation, and regulatory framework focus areas reflected in Members' category C TFA commitments. A new phase of the Programme is expected to begin January 2026 with funding from the Norwegian Agency for Development Cooperation (Norad) and includes a facility to provide technical assistance and capacity building support to all requesting WCO Members.
• The Accelerate Trade Facilitation Programme, supported by the United Kingdom's His Majesty's Revenue & Customs (HMRC) and implemented jointly by UNCTAD aims to support effective implementation of the TFA. Initiated in 2015, the programme is currently in its 2022-2026 funding cycle and the WCO supports customs administrations in 13 Member administrations – both on TFA measures as well as cross-cutting enablers in Customs organisational development such as integrity, leadership, Gender, Equality and Diversity (GED) and performance measurement.
• The WCO/Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA) Joint Project started in 2016, and its flagship programme is the Master Trainer Programme (MTP) aims to establish more sustainable and autonomous training capacity through the development of a pool of expert trainers. Under this programme, a pool of approximately 210 Master Trainers has been developed in East, Southern and West Africa and the Pacific Islands until June 2024 on the following Customs subjects: HS Classification, Customs Valuation (CV), Post-Clearance Audit (PCA), Risk Management (RM)/Intelligence Analysis, and Rules of Origin (RoO). During 2018 – 2024, MTs in Africa delivered training for more than 58,000 people of Customs administrations, other government agencies and the private sectors, not only in their own countries but also in other countries. Ongoing and upcoming activities of project are the MTP on RM and a programme on Time Release Study (TRS) for Central Asia and the Caucasus; the MTP on RM and that on PCA for the Pacific Islands; and the MTP on GEOINT (geospatial intelligence) for Africa.

How to request assistance (contact point(s))

WCO Capacity Building delivery is based on multi-year project planning as well as on the annual capacity building needs assessment carried out by the Secretariat together with Member Customs administrations and supported by the Regional Offices for Capacity Building (ROCBs).

Exceptionally, developing and least developed countries (LDCs) could submit urgent and important unaddressed needs for assistance to the WCO Implementation and Capacity Development Directorate (capacity.building [at] wcoomd.org (capacity[dot]building[at]wcoomd[dot]org)) throughout the WCO financial year, which will be assessed and prioritized before potentially being included in the Organization’s work plans.

Interested development partners and donor institutions may contact the Project Management Office and the Stakeholder Engagement Office regarding further cooperation, including financial support for technical assistance and capacity building projects.