Jordan benefits from national capacity-building support on e-commerce

From 25 to 28 July 2022 the Global Trade Facilitation Programme (GTFP) of the Swiss State Secretariat for Economic Affairs (SECO) and the World Customs Organization (WCO) delivered a national workshop on e-commerce for the Jordan Customs Department (JCD). The 4-day workshop benefited from the active participation of 20 participants from JCD and was held at the WCO Regional Training Centre for the North of Africa, Near and Middle East (MENA) region in Amman, Jordan.

This was the first national workshop on e-commerce delivered by the WCO after the Permanent Technical Committee endorsed the capacity building plan for e-commerce in June 2020. The first phases of implementation of this capacity building plan comprised an accreditation workshop and a series of regional workshops covering the six WCO regions. After successfully completing these phases of the plan, the Secretariat commenced, with the workshop in Jordan, the delivery of national capacity building support for the implementation of the WCO Framework of Standards on Cross-Border E-Commerce (E-Commerce FoS). The event was part of the GTFP’s light-touch intervention in Jordan that, on its part, was launched in May 2022.

In his opening remarks, the Director of the MENA Regional Training Center welcomed the opportunity to host the e-commerce workshop under the GTFP and expressed the will of the JCD to leverage the knowledge obtained during the workshop to implement the E-Commerce FoS in view of addressing the challenges emanating from the growing volumes of e-commerce.

During the workshop, two WCO accredited experts delivered presentations on the eight principles and sixteen standards of the E-Commerce FoS, as well as on the WCO tools related to the implementation of the Framework. The workshop sessions were held in an interactive manner where the implementation of the FoS was discussed in detail with particular attention to the operational environment of Jordan Customs. The participants appreciated the recommendations provided by the WCO experts and defined the way forward for implementation of the E-Commerce FoS.

In his closing remarks, the Deputy Director General of JCD thanked SECO and the WCO for providing capacity building support for implementation of the E-Commerce FoS and for modernisation of Customs procedures to meet the growing challenges of cross-border e-commerce.

The Global Trade Facilitation Programme (GTFP) is a WCO flagship programme funded by SECO and aimed at fostering and facilitating international trade, through the implementation and application of international standards and best practices.

The WCO E-Commerce FoS, first adopted in June 2018 and updated in June 2022, provides 16 baseline global standards with a focus on the exchange of advance electronic data for effective risk management and enhanced facilitation of the growing volumes of cross-border small and low-value Business-to-Consumer (B2C) and Consumer-to-Consumer (C2C) shipments, through simplified procedures with respect to areas such as clearance, revenue collection and return, in close partnership with E-Commerce stakeholders. It also encourages the use of the Authorized Economic Operator (AEO) concept, non-intrusive inspection (NII) equipment, data analytics, and other cutting-edge technologies to support safe, secure and sustainable cross-border E-Commerce.

The E-Commerce FoS is supplemented by a package of tools containing detailed guidance and good practices to support the implementation of the Framework.