Facilitating secure and efficient global trade requires the steady hand of customs

Serving data-driven customs for a connected world is not only the title of the World Customs Organization’s Strategic Plan for 2025–2028, but also a reflection of the significant evolution of the role of customs in global trade. When our 186 members of the global customs community approved this plan, it signalled both their shared priorities and an ambition for the WCO to sharpen its focus through prioritising and empowering customs to drive prosperity, security and sustainability.

Digital supply chains, real-time data exchanges and many operational imperatives have challenged customs to innovate and adapt how trade is managed at our borders. The strategic plan’s focus on technology, e-commerce and green customs reflects today’s realities, as the ever-evolving global trading system has transformed not only what crosses our borders, but also how, when and why we act at those borders.

The WCO is set to deliver on these focus areas following recent modernisation of its internal structure to align resources to efficiently execute its strategic plan and address the issues of importance to its members. However, that transformation also demands that the global community resets the collective ambition and recognition of customs.

SAFE Framework 2025

The WCO SAFE Framework of Standards to Secure and Facilitate Global Trade protects supply chains from disruption by strengthening the relationships between customs, businesses and partner government agencies. It expressly recommends deploying technology to support inspection and cargo integrity, and has guided efforts to balance the imperatives of supply chain security and facilitation of legitimate trade in response to evolving conditions. As the 20th anniversary of the SAFE Framework approached, the WCO updated it to address sustainability and enable more private sector engagement while continuing to articulate standards to which all customs administrations should aspire.

Through its commitment to the SAFE Framework, the WCO led a critical set of considerations that support customs’ ability to administer cross-border trade in a time of increasing complexity and rising demands for efficiency, while ensuring safety and the appropriate collection of revenues. The cooperative approaches at the core of the SAFE Framework have been constant, but their scope and application have evolved, mobilising a wider range of partners, attention and resources to help manage international trade at borders effectively.

Responding to society – technology and innovation

The WCO brings customs administrations together to develop innovative solutions to global issues. With the rapid advance of technologies, growth in digital trade requires ongoing assessment and development of tools and standards to facilitate the timely movement of goods. Digital solutions are a necessity, rather than an option, for ensuring that customs is not a barrier to the efficient and effective delivery of goods worldwide.

Customs administrations are vital in enabling digital trade by embracing innovation and cutting-edge technology. As cross-border e-commerce continues to grow, efficient and secure customs processes are essential. The WCO’s focus on innovation and developing the framework to support e-commerce, as well as the examination of digital tools such as data analytics, blockchain and automated risk management systems, positions customs to improve transparency, reduce delays and lower trade costs. Realising the potential, however, often entails investments to make available the tools on which effective digitalisation depends, a fact that warrants discussion in circles beyond customs.

Supported in this way, digital trade not only boosts economic growth and competitiveness; it also strengthens trust among businesses, consumers and governments in the global trading system. These are conditions worth creating and maintaining, so we can address today’s trade challenges as well as those we can expect in coming years.

The WCO and the G20

The WCO stands ready to partner with the G20 to advance the goals of sustainability, security and solidarity in international trade. As G20 leaders gather in Johannesburg, the WCO urges them to consider how to support the mission of customs to protect society, enhance trade and ensure fair collection of revenue, and to reflect on how to do this both through local action and through international support via the WCO. To remain agile and responsive to emerging trends and public expectations, customs needs the right tools: sound and proven practices, the most supportive technology and information, and the broadest network of positively motivated partners.

This is not beyond reach, but at a time of accelerating change, increasing demand and high expectations, action to mobilise and empower customs is more urgent than ever. Governments’ attention to and investment in their customs administrations are critical ingredients. Customs’ commitment to implementing best practices and using proven tools identified by the WCO is equally fundamental. Stakeholders’ cooperation and sense of shared responsibility are indispensable, as the challenges of efficiency and security are greater than any one actor can address alone.

Safe and secure global trade is built on resilient supply chains. It is also built on effective and agile customs. My hope is that the G20 can drive the development of greater capacity and resilience in customs, in partnership with the WCO, to support the better lives and livelihoods so many seek through trade.