The Solomon Islands Customs and Excise Division (SICED) officers within the Ministry of Finance and Treasury (MoFT) have completed a one-week Workshop training on the World Customs Organization (WCO) Post-Clearance Audit (PCA) & Risk Management, from 2nd to 6th February at the Customs Headquarters in Honiara.
Both senior and newly inducted Customs Officers from various sectors took part in the training.
During the PCA Workshop, the experts introduced key elements and advanced topics in HS classification and Customs Valuation, which were thoroughly discussed among the participants, including the General Interpretative Rules (GIRs) of the Harmonized System and the transaction value of imported goods.
The WCO workshop covered important technical areas of Post-Clearance Audit (PCA), including the WCO PCA Policy, the PCA cycle, the transition from desk audits to site audits, desk audit exercises, audit findings, and how these support risk management.
As part of the training, officers conducted practical activities, including field audits and pre-audit research, which involved HS Classification (HS) and Customs Valuation (CV). They also learned about voluntary compliance and the legal framework that supports PCA practices.
In his opening remarks, Comptroller of Customs & Excise, Mr. John Lagi, thanked the WCO experts for supporting the Division’s request to hold the Post‑Clearance Audit Workshop and for the continued assistance from the World Customs Organization.
“This Post-Clearance Audit Workshop is very important for those officers who are working in the Post-Clearance Audit sector, and also other areas of work in the organization, to support them in carrying out their roles and responsibilities working as customs officers.
“I believe this will not only be helpful in the area of post-clearance audit, but also in all areas of customs where they may be posted to, to carry out their work within the Division,” the Comptroller highlighted.
In his response, Mr. Mizuguchi, the WCO Lead Technical Officer for PCA, pointed out that the Post-clearance Audit plays a very important role under the customs control in terms of revenue collection, trade facilitation, and the Compliance section.
“As Customs encourages the traders to comply, that’s why the post-clearance audit is important.
“If the Post-Clearance Audit works very well, we can also support the Border Control as well.
“So that we can allocate our resources to the other higher-risk Traders,” the WCO Expert explained.
The PCA Workshop is part of the WCO’s capacity-building initiative, which the WCO fully funds. Due to the recruitment of new officers into the PCA, there is a need for training to enhance their existing knowledge and skills in line with the SICED Reform, Modernization, and Capacity Strategy 2023-2027.
The Workshop also testified to the strong collaboration between the World Customs Organization (WCO) and the Solomon Islands Customs and Excise Division in strengthening the country’s Customs administrations’ capacity for proper revenue collection and trade facilitation. It was also crucial for implementing the WCO’s capacity-building strategy, as they utilized the pool of experts in the beneficiary country.
A total of 19 participants attended: WCO Experts and Lead facilitator for PCA, Mr. Takahiro Mizuguchi from Japan, Accredited expert Hermaz Wibisono from Indonesia, and Pre-accredited expert Shalesh Dayal from Fiji, facilitated the Workshop.
