In a context where trade facilitation has become an essential instrument for the efficiency of international trade because of its growing ability to attract foreign investment, where the economic operator is becoming increasingly timid in comparison with the long delays recorded in the clearance of goods, Customs administrations must deploy new customs clearance procedures in order to minimize the time required for the release of goods in accordance with the recommendations of the World Trade Organization Agreement on Trade Facilitation (WTA).

It is in order to meet all these requirements on the one hand and to improve the doing business ranking of Benin on the other hand that the Director General of Customs and Indirect Rights has put on foot through memo N°1953/DGDDI of 21 June 2018the Committee « Times Release Study ». The Committee is composed of officials from the Customs Administration and stakeholders, including the Cotonou Autonomous Port, Webb Fontaine, Benin Control, SEGUB, etc., and has the task of first assessing the average customs clearance time at the Port of Cotonou, adopting a methodology for the definition of working standards for all port operations necessary for the removal of goods and, in a second stage, proposing corrective actions according to the methodology proposed by the World Customs Organisation to improve the passage time of goods at the Port of Cotonou.

In order to support the Committee in the exercise of its functions, the Directorate-General for Customs has therefore requested the World Customs Organization (WCO) to strengthen the capacity of its Members to control the time and time taken to move goods across borders.

Thus, since Monday 13 January 2020, a national workshop on the Time Study Necessary for Release (ETNM) has been organized in Cotonou at the Golden Tulip Hotel, which brings together customs officials and representatives of stakeholders including the private sector and WCO emissaries.

The opening ceremony was attended by the Director General of Customs and Indirect Rights and all Central Technical Directors. The Chairman of the Committee, the Customs Inspector Ibrahim GADO, pointed out through his introductory speech that he urged each country to embark on the path that would enable it to remain competitive in the international market. He further stated that «The Committee's work so far has been to clear the ground by collecting various data from supply chain stakeholders and to identify bottlenecks that do not facilitate our country's competitiveness.».

Sir Samson BILANGNA, Senior Technical Administrator at the WCO Control and Facilitation Directorate, indicated that the delegation he is leading is in Cotonou to accompany the Benin Customs Administration on its path through the establishment of a committee that works perfectly well. He then stated that he wanted to work with her and all the actors involved on the platform in the process of customs clearance in a coordinated approach to border management so that the objectives set were achieved.

In his opening speech, the Director General of Customs and Indirect Rights, the Colonel Charles Inousa SACCA BOCO indicated that this seminar will raise awareness among stakeholders on the need to measure the time needed for release, train Benin Customs Administration managers and stakeholders on the WCO methodology on the Time Required for Release Study and the use of the WCO software required for the conduct of the study, prepare a complete mapping of procedures leading to release of goods and develop a specific action programme for this activity in order to conduct a first study in 2020. He also thanked the WCO through its Secretary General, Mr Kunio MIKURIYA, for taking charge of the financing of this workshop.

Following the five days of the workshop, the following objectives should be achieved:

• carry out a description of customs processes with a view to mapping relevant and measurable procedures;
• measure the average time required for the release of goods from the arrival of the vessel until the physical and actual release of the goods;
• measure the time required for each step of the customs clearance process;
• assess the extent to which pre-established and estimated working standards are met;
• identify bottlenecks in the customs clearance process;
• make specific recommendations to shorten the time required for release.

The achievement of these objectives will enable the Benin Customs Administration to achieve the following results:

• the time required to release the goods is known;
• the average time required for each step of the customs clearance process is known;
• bottlenecks in the customs clearance process are identified;
• a plan of actions to deal with bottlenecks is drawn up;
• a final support of the TRS study is prepared in collaboration with the TRS and WCO Committee and forwarded to the Director General of Customs and Indirect Rights by October 2020 for wide dissemination;
• monitor and evaluate the action plan.