Customs and trade expertise on both sides of the border

We help governments and development partners modernise customs administrations and facilitate legitimate trade, and we help businesses move goods across borders lawfully, efficiently and at the lowest sustainable cost. Senior, hands-on advice from thirty-five years of practice in more than sixty countries.

For businessesFor governments and donors

Consulting firm or programme team looking for a customs specialist? Work with us as a partner

35+ years60+ countriesGovernments, donors and businessCustoms, trade facilitation and digital transformation

Public Sector Services

Private Sector Services

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What we do

Global Customs Compliance is an independent customs and international trade consultancy. We advise governments and international agencies on the modernisation of customs administrations and the facilitation of legitimate trade, and we advise businesses on how to move goods across borders efficiently, lawfully and at the lowest sustainable cost. The practice is led by James Lenaghan, who has worked on both sides of the border: as a Director of Customs and Vice-Chair of a World Customs Organization region, modernising administrations in more than sixty countries, and as a Big Four customs partner, advising companies on how to reduce duty exposure and run their international trade efficiently.

What we do, and for whom

Public sector: governments and development partners

Customs modernisation and reform, risk management, review and drafting of customs legislation, trade facilitation, single window and capacity building for customs and border agencies, delivered for ministries and revenue authorities and through donors and development banks.

Private sector: businesses trading across borders

Customs compliance reviews, duty planning, classification, valuation and origin advice, export controls, duty recovery and the design of customs-efficient supply chains for multinationals and mid-market companies.

Our projects

Seventy-five assignments in more than sixty countries, from single window design in the Gulf to risk management in Cambodia and customs law reform in Vietnam, presented by region and theme.

What differentiates us

Both sides of the border

Most customs advisers have seen one side. We have run a customs administration, represented twenty-four administrations at the World Customs Organization, and spent two decades in Big Four practice helping companies reduce duty and trade efficiently.

Written to be implemented

Our advice sets out the practical steps and the institutional politics, is evidenced against the primary legal texts and international instruments, and says plainly where the position is uncertain.

A small senior team, a wide network

Clients deal with the people who do the work. Where an assignment needs more depth we draw on associates we have worked with for many years: trade lawyers, customs IT architects, classification specialists and local experts.

James Lenaghan, CEO of Global Customs Compliance
Led by

James Lenaghan

James has spent thirty-five years in customs and international trade, as a Director of Customs, a Vice-Chair of a World Customs Organization region, a Big Four customs partner and an adviser to governments, donors and multinationals. He has led or delivered reform, trade-facilitation and compliance assignments in more than sixty countries, and he still does the work himself.

  • Former Vice-Chair, WCO East and Southern Africa region
  • Former Director of Customs, Mauritius Revenue Authority
  • Former customs partner, Big Four (Deloitte, KPMG, EY, PwC)
  • Double MA in International Customs Law and International Revenue Management
  • Specialisms: customs modernisation, risk management, valuation, origin, classification, single window, WTO TFA
  • Based in the United Kingdom and the Philippines
Read James's full profile →Connect on LinkedIn

Talk to us

If you are planning a customs reform programme, preparing a bid that needs a customs or trade facilitation specialist, or facing a customs question that has real money attached to it, we would be glad to talk. We respond within one working day.
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Our clients

steinbeis
apec
olam
Federal Cusoms Authority
kearney
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Where we work

Two strands of work, on both sides of the border: customs reform and capacity-building assignments delivered in more than sixty developing countries for governments, donors and international agencies, and nearly twenty years advising private-sector companies importing into the United Kingdom, the European Union, Australia, New Zealand, the United States, Canada, Japan and Korea. Hover over a country for detail; see the Projects page for the assignments themselves.

Fiji — customs reform and capacity buildingTanzania — customs reform and capacity buildingCanada — private-sector import and market-access advisoryUnited States of America — private-sector import and market-access advisoryKazakhstan — customs reform and capacity buildingUzbekistan — customs reform and capacity buildingPapua New Guinea — customs reform and capacity buildingIndonesia — customs reform and capacity buildingChile — customs reform and capacity buildingKenya — customs reform and capacity buildingBahamas — customs reform and capacity buildingNorway — private-sector import and market-access advisorySouth Africa — customs reform and capacity buildingLesotho — customs reform and capacity buildingPanama — customs reform and capacity buildingFrance — private-sector import and market-access advisoryJamaica — customs reform and capacity buildingBotswana — customs reform and capacity buildingNamibia — customs reform and capacity buildingNigeria — customs reform and capacity buildingTogo — customs reform and capacity buildingGhana — customs reform and capacity buildingZambia — customs reform and capacity buildingMalawi — customs reform and capacity buildingMozambique — customs reform and capacity buildingEswatini — customs reform and capacity buildingAngola — customs reform and capacity buildingMadagascar — customs reform and capacity buildingUnited Arab Emirates — customs reform and capacity buildingQatar — customs reform and capacity buildingKuwait — customs reform and capacity buildingOman — customs reform and capacity buildingVanuatu — customs reform and capacity buildingCambodia — customs reform and capacity buildingThailand — customs reform and capacity buildingLao PDR — customs reform and capacity buildingMyanmar — customs reform and capacity buildingVietnam — customs reform and capacity buildingSouth Korea — private-sector import and market-access advisoryIndia — customs reform and capacity buildingBangladesh — customs reform and capacity buildingBhutan — customs reform and capacity buildingNepal — customs reform and capacity buildingTajikistan — customs reform and capacity buildingKyrgyzstan — customs reform and capacity buildingTurkmenistan — customs reform and capacity buildingSweden — private-sector import and market-access advisoryUkraine — customs reform and capacity buildingPoland — private-sector import and market-access advisoryAustria — private-sector import and market-access advisoryHungary — private-sector import and market-access advisoryMoldova — customs reform and capacity buildingRomania — customs reform and capacity building; private-sector import advisoryLithuania — private-sector import and market-access advisoryLatvia — private-sector import and market-access advisoryEstonia — private-sector import and market-access advisoryGermany — private-sector import and market-access advisoryBulgaria — customs reform and capacity building; private-sector import advisoryGreece — private-sector import and market-access advisoryAlbania — customs reform and capacity buildingCroatia — private-sector import and market-access advisorySwitzerland — private-sector import and market-access advisoryLuxembourg — private-sector import and market-access advisoryBelgium — private-sector import and market-access advisoryNetherlands — private-sector import and market-access advisoryPortugal — private-sector import and market-access advisorySpain — private-sector import and market-access advisoryIreland — private-sector import and market-access advisoryNew Zealand — private-sector import and market-access advisoryAustralia — private-sector import and market-access advisoryChina — customs reform and capacity buildingItaly — private-sector import and market-access advisoryDenmark — private-sector import and market-access advisoryUnited Kingdom — customs reform and capacity building; private-sector import advisoryPhilippines — customs reform and capacity buildingMalaysia — customs reform and capacity buildingSlovenia — private-sector import and market-access advisoryFinland — private-sector import and market-access advisorySlovakia — private-sector import and market-access advisoryCzechia — private-sector import and market-access advisoryJapan — private-sector import and market-access advisorySaudi Arabia — customs reform and capacity buildingCyprus — private-sector import and market-access advisoryEgypt — customs reform and capacity buildingEthiopia — customs reform and capacity buildingUganda — customs reform and capacity buildingBosnia and Herzegovina — customs reform and capacity buildingNorth Macedonia — customs reform and capacity buildingSerbia — customs reform and capacity buildingMontenegro — customs reform and capacity buildingKosovo — customs reform and capacity building Mauritius — customs reform and capacity buildingSeychelles — customs reform and capacity buildingSingapore — customs reform and capacity buildingBahrain — customs reform and capacity buildingHong Kong — customs reform and capacity buildingPalau — customs reform and capacity buildingMarshall Islands — customs reform and capacity buildingTuvalu — customs reform and capacity buildingKiribati — customs reform and capacity buildingNiue — customs reform and capacity buildingBermuda — customs reform and capacity buildingAruba — customs reform and capacity buildingCuraçao — customs reform and capacity buildingCayman Islands — customs reform and capacity buildingMontserrat — customs reform and capacity buildingTurks and Caicos Islands — customs reform and capacity building

Customs reform and capacity building    Private-sector import and market-access advisory    Both

Selected assignments

A sample of the work, from a current tariff index for a global nutrition alliance to three years running a national customs administration. Each opens as a short case study.

Premix Taxes and Tariffs Index
GAIN · 2026

Premix Taxes and Tariffs Index

A sixty-six country baseline of the duties, taxes and charges on micronutrient premix, with a transition map to HS 2028.

 Modernising Ethiopia’s customs management system
GIZ · 2025 to 2026

Modernising Ethiopia’s customs management system

Project set-up for a harmonised customs system, an electronic single window and a valuation capacity programme.

 ZATCA declaration management system and single window
Saudi Arabia, through Deloitte · 2023 to 2024

ZATCA declaration management system and single window

Functional and technical architecture on the WCO Data Model, from current-state assessment to target-state blueprint.

 Risk management at Cambodian Customs
GIZ · 2020 to 2024

Risk management at Cambodian Customs

Four years leading the modernisation of selectivity rules, governance, analyst training and AEO design.

 Trade facilitation and trade remedies in Indonesia
EU ARISE Plus · 2019 to 2023

Trade facilitation and trade remedies in Indonesia

Standing up the National Committee on Trade Facilitation and training government and the private sector on the WTO TFA.

 Director of Customs, Mauritius Revenue Authority
2012 to 2015

Director of Customs, Mauritius Revenue Authority

Operational command of 650 officers and a billion dollars of revenue while delivering single window, AEO and integrity reforms.
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Head Office

Suite 1404, Tung Wai Commercial Building,
109-111 Gloucester Road, Hong Kong
Phone: +852 8120 5452
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