What do practitioners and traders need to know and what can be done to make them work for trade facilitation?

Customs administrations advance and implement cohesive sets of policies, procedures and tools that enhance safety, secure global supply chains, and support effective cross-border trade facilitation and revenue collection. To achieve these objectives, Customs administrations largely rely on the broader complementary functions and guiding approaches of the World Trade Organisation (WTO) and the World Customs Organisation (WCO). The WTO Trade Facilitation Agreement – the first multilateral trade agreement concluded since the establishment of the WTO in 1995 – is aimed at ensuring smooth, predict-able movement of goods across borders. Administratively, the WCO complements the WTO through the development and provision of several international standards, procedures, policies, and tools for use by Customs administrations as they carry out their responsibilities.

This Trade Brief discusses disruptive technologies and the potential use by Customs to advance the trade facilitation agenda within the continent. The aim is to outline what both the practitioners and traders need to know about disruptive technologies and their application in the context of Africa. 

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