Rationale for OSBP Projects in Sub-Saharan Africa

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1 Appendix 2 Rationale for OSBP Projects in Sub-Saharan Africa Border posts are constructed by nation States to control entry and exit of persons, vehicles and goods. The objective is to protect national interest and security. The number and type of additional controls carried out at borders is determined by nation States depending on the interests each seeks to protect. Border posts are a key component in any logistics chain. Africa has the largest number of landlocked countries 16 countries with more than 256 million people, nearly 25% of the region s total population. On average, landlocked countries trade 30% less than maritime countries 1 with average growth that is reduced by 1.5 percentage points 2. High performing transport corridors are critical to successfully exporting goods to international markets and importing critical food supplies, fertilizers and seeds to enhance internal food production, fuel, consumer goods and other products. OSBPs are designed to make the border a facilitation point rather than a bottleneck in transit systems serving landlocked and coastal States. The WCO, World Trade Organization (WTO) and specialized UN agencies have designed and implemented supportive conventions on trade facilitation procedures that emphasize the one stop concept. Chapter 3 of the General Appendix to the Revised Kyoto Convention (RKC), which is an international convention of the WCO on trade facilitation and Customs modernization, sets the following standards: 3.4 At common border crossings, the Customs administrations concerned shall, whenever possible, operate joint controls 3.5 Where Customs intend to establish a new Customs office or to convert an existing office to a common border crossing, they shall, wherever possible, cooperate with the neighbouring Customs to establish a juxtaposed Customs office to facilitate joint controls Article 8 of the WTO Agreement on Trade Facilitation (ATF) agreed in December 2013 at Bali requires WTO Members to adopt an OSBP approach: ARTICLE 8: BORDER AGENCY COOPERATION 1. A Member shall ensure that its authorities and agencies responsible for border controls and procedures dealing with the importation, exportation and transit of goods cooperate with one 1 Irwin and Tervio, Does Trade Raise Income?, Journal of International Economics, Vol.58 (1), 2002, pp Limao, Nuno and Anthony J. Venables, Infrastructure, Geographic Disadvantage, Transport Costs and Trade, The World Bank Economic Review 15 (3), 2001.

2 another and coordinate their activities in order to facilitate trade. 2. Members shall, to the extent possible and practicable, cooperate on mutually agreed terms with other Members with whom they share a common border with a view to coordinating procedures at border crossings to facilitate cross-border trade. Such cooperation and coordination may include: i. alignment of working days and hours; ii. alignment of procedures and formalities; iii. development and sharing of common facilities; iv. joint controls; v. establishment of one stop border post control. The rationale for introducing OSBPs is to achieve greater trade facilitation by combining border clearance activities in a single location so as to benefit from economies of scale, reduce transit delays, simplify clearance procedures, increase cooperation and coordination of controls, foster data and intelligence sharing and to improve risk management and control over fraud. Furthermore, the OSBP fosters optimal utilization of available resources like scanning equipment, weighbridges and office accommodation. The diagram below illustrates the efficiency of an OSBP for passengers, who park outside and at a set of counters are able to exit one country and enter the next all in a matter of minutes. For officers, they have offices at their end of the building, the space between the two sides is work area, but also allows officers to move to the other side where a queue is forming, while customs officers can check cars parked outside. Figure 1: Passenger clearance in an OSBP Parking Botswana Botswana Offices Enter Bot Cus Enter Bot Imm Exit Nam Imm ExitNam Cus Namibia Offices Exit Bot Cus Exit Bot Imm Enter Nam ImmEnter Nam Cus Namibia Parking

3 Selection of the OSBP model depends on the topography of the border area, the condition of the existing border facilities, the willingness of countries to share facilities, traffic volumes and the degree of political integration. All three models are being used in Africa. Straddle Border Post This type is built on the border with common facilities on both sides. Single Country Border Post This type is located wholly in one country. It offers the efficiency of a single facility, but requires extraterritorial jurisdiction. It is the main model used in West Africa. Juxtaposed Border Post This model has a dedicated facility in each country, each serving one direction of traffic. This is the most commonly used type of OSBP in Eastern and Southern Africa.

4 Appendix 3 Tools to improve border and transit operations Risk Management and Compliance Programs. An important tool is to provide incentives for compliance with Customs and other agency regulations. Risk management is a system for identifying individuals and companies that habitually avoid controls and/or payment of duties. Software was designed that would identify those shippers, forwarders and transporters with a good record for compliance as well as those who undervalue products, smuggle prohibited goods and seek to bribe officers rather than following the regulations of Customs and other border agencies, though correct and sufficient data inputs are necessary to utilize such software. This approach expedites the handling of compliant companies to provide an incentive, while targeted companies for documentary and physical inspections that have a record of evading controls. Compliant companies are rewarded by benefits such as faster clearance, which allows border control officers to concentrate on the shipments with the greatest risk of non-compliance. Most African countries have access to risk management modules in ASYCUDA and other Customs IT systems, such as Simba in Kenya and GAINDE in Senegal. To be effective, officers must regularly enter the parameters of new risks and remove those companies who have not attained a good record. Authorized Economic Operator. This program uses applications, interviews and audits to identity companies that have both a good record with Customs and enough security standards and offer them special privileges that allow faster clearances. This is beneficial for the companies and for customs and other agencies that are part of the system. Zambia (2008), Kenya (2010), and Algeria (2012) all have AEO programs and some other countries such as Botswana, Côte-d Ivoire, Ghana and Morocco are currently introducing them. The EAC is working to launch a regional AEO program. Some countries including Egypt, Rwanda, Senegal and Tanzania all have Customs compliance programs 3 as well. Countries with AEOs are seeking to launch mutual recognition agreements (MRA) with its major trading partners. The SAFE Framework of Standards supports the contribution of MRAs to facilitation of international supply chains by balancing supply chain security and facilitation. 4 Pre-arrival lodgment of declaration or Pre-Clearance. Pre-arrival lodgment of declaration/pre-clearance allows Customs and other agencies to review documentation in 3 The different between AEO and compliance program is that compliance program don t have security criteria for accreditation. 4 Polner, Mariya, Compendium of Authorized Economic Operator Programmes, WCO Research Paper No. 25, This paper has information on the specific requirements, operations and ncentives for each national program. African programs can also be compared with other regions.

5 advance in order to plan their interventions. If pre-arrival lodgment/pre-clearance is introduced to both countries, it allows processing on arrival to proceed quickly and efficiently. At Chirundu, it was planned that mutual pre-clearance with all duties paid would allow expedited clearance on a separate fast track through the border post. Single Windows. A single window is an IT system that can accept documentation and inputs for all border agency controls and distribute it to each agency for exercising their controls. The clearance information is then transmitted to the filer and to the clearance points. It reduces the total time of border clearance by allowing presentation and distribution of inputs electronically and receipt of releases electronically. It facilitates pre-arrival lodgment of declaration/pre-clearance at borders and reduces the movement of paper throughout the facility, thereby reducing time and cost. Coordinated Border Management (CBM). For the past decade, it was assumed that the major cause of delay at borders was Customs and improvements were sought in Customs operations. More recently, it has been realized that the lack of coordination among the increasing number of agencies at the border was an even greater source of delays. Programs designed to address coordination issues are called Coordinated Border Management (CBM) or Integrated Border Management (IBM). Coordinated border management exists at several levels, among the agencies of one country and among agencies on both sides of a border. In an OSBP, clearances are sequenced with exit procedures completed first and entry second. Therefore if each country has good coordination among its agencies, the overall clearance will be faster and confusion reduced. The information exchange and joint operations that are hallmarks of good CBM are key features of OSBPs where officers of two or more countries work in close proximity. Other border agencies often have limited staff at borders and exercise controls based on the same international databases. Officers of the same agency will often alert each other that a consignment of interest is coming. As officers work together, they can often agree that a single officer will carry out clearances on behalf of both countries. Because coordination is highly dependent on communications, another aspect of CBM, is improving communications among agencies at the border, between border staff and headquarters and between headquarters and Ministry policy makers. 5 Real Time Monitoring System/Cargo Control System (RTMS/CCS). It is an ICT system that provides a single window services for border procedures on goods. This covers not only 5 Polner, Mariya, Coordinated border management: from theory to practice, World Customs Journal, Vol. 5, Number 2. This article provides brief case studies from different regions.

6 customs procedures but also those of related agencies. RTMS/CCS automatically receive information on goods coming from the outside of EAC and those leaving the EAC area, then send such information at relevant border posts where such information is shared among agencies in both adjacent countries. This enables preparations of documents before arrival of cargo at the border and joint control by relevant agencies, leading to a facilitated border crossing. In addition, CCS itself makes the flow of border procedures visible, resulting in transparent and facilitated procedures.