The World Customs Organization (WCO), established in 1952 as the Customs Co-operation Council (CCC) is an independent intergovernmental body whose mission is to enhance the effectiveness and efficiency of Customs administrations.

Today, the WCO represents 184 Customs administrations across the globe that collectively process approximately 98% of world trade. As the global centre of Customs expertise, the WCO is the only international organization with competence in Customs matters and can rightly call itself the voice of the international Customs community.

The WCO’s Mission is “The World Customs Organization develops international standards, fosters cooperation and builds capacity to facilitate legitimate trade, to secure a fair revenue collection and to protect society, providing leadership, guidance and support to Customs administrations”.

In order to fulfil its Mission and deliver the appropriate support in terms of trade facilitation, revenue collection and protection of society, the WCO relies on three types of activities.

• INTERNATIONAL STANDARDS: developing international standards and promoting WCO key Packages: the Economic Competitiveness Package (ECP), the Revenue Package (RP), the Compliance and Enforcement Package (CEP), and the Organizational Development Package (ODP).
• COOPERATION: fostering cooperation among Members and with other border agencies through the conduct of joint operations based on the exchange of information, harmonization of procedures, analysis and interpretation of data, and the common use of technologies.
• CAPACITY BUILDING: delivering tailor-made capacity building and technical assistance to support and implement modern Customs standards and tools to assist Members in strengthening their overall performance.

In December 2021, the WCO signed the Memoranda of Understanding (MoUs) with the University of Victoria, Canada. The signature of the MoU further enhances their cooperation and research capacities of the WCO.

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