Combating corruption in customs through trade facilitation : case of East Africa community

Abstract

“The World Customs Organization Arusha Declaration for customs integrity proposes two elements to improve integrity: simplification of procedures, including automation, and adequate human resource management. The declaration, along with the Integrity Development Guide, a set of comprehensive integrity tools specifically designed to help customs administrations implement the principles contained in the Arusha Declaration, casts light on customs reform and modernization from the angle of fighting corruption, as improving integrity should be a cornerstone of any capacity building activities.” <ul> <li>Kunio Mikuriya, Deputy Secretary General, World Customs Organization In J.Edgardo C and S.Pradhan (eds) (2007) 367,The Many Faces of Corruption: Tracking Vulnerabilities at the Sector Level, Washington DC, World Bank.</li> </ul> Customs inefficiencies are well known to impede the integration of developing countries into the global economy. There are a number of bottlenecks to trading across borders. Among these bottlenecks, with their attendant costs, are: Excessive documentation, inadequate procedures and lack of audit-based controls; lack of risk assessment and management techniques; lack of modern infrastructure; lack of automation and use of computerized procedures; and lack of transparency. All these couples together create an environment rife with corruption as traders seek to process their transaction at whatever cost. Paying bribes then becomes the order of the day and result into an added cost to trading. In this era of globalization, an enormous demand has been placed on customs administrations especially in Africa to simplify their procedures so as to enable firms to participate meaningfully in international and regional trade. The complexity and costs of transactions, including corruption must be eliminated, thus the urgent need for trade facilitation. This study seeks to emphasize the potential of trade facilitation as a policy measure that can reduce the prevalence and negative effects of corruption in customs. While obviously not a cure-all for the wide variety of corrupt transactions taking place in customs administrations, this study will show that trade facilitation can nonetheless be of considerable help in dealing with corruption in customs.