Our public-sector practice is customs capacity building and customs modernisation. We help customs administrations become more effective at collecting revenue, controlling risk and facilitating trade. Our work ranges from diagnostic reviews and modernisation strategies to the detailed design and implementation of new procedures, organisational structures and systems. We have led or contributed to modernisation programmes for administrations in Africa, Asia, the Pacific, the Middle East and Europe, financed by the European Union, the World Bank, the Asian Development Bank, UNDP, GIZ and national governments.

We support governments in implementing the WTO Trade Facilitation Agreement and the World Customs Organization’s Revised Kyoto Convention and SAFE Framework, from the initial gap analysis and categorisation of commitments through to the design of advance rulings, pre-arrival processing, authorised economic operator programmes, coordinated border management and time release studies. We have particular depth in South East Asia, where we have worked for nearly two decades.

Modernisation fails when the law does not permit it. We review draft and existing customs legislation against the international instruments a country has signed and against the practical needs of modern procedures, and we produce article-by-article gap analyses, drafting recommendations and implementation roadmaps that legislators and administrators can act on. Recent work includes a full gap analysis of a revised national customs law in South East Asia for a European development agency.

We design customs risk management frameworks, selectivity criteria and post-clearance audit functions, and we advise on the institutional and functional design of national single windows, including their integration with customs management systems such as ASYCUDA. We have delivered risk management work in Cambodia and advised on single window and customs system modernisation in Ethiopia and Bangladesh.

We analyse tariff structures, preferential trade arrangements and non-tariff barriers, and we advise on the customs and border implications of trade agreements, preference schemes and graduation from least developed country status. Recent assignments include tariff and non-tariff barrier analysis for agricultural trade in Cambodia for the Asian Development Bank and rules of origin advisory on the Panama–Canada Free Trade Agreement.

We design and deliver training for customs officers and border agencies on valuation, origin, classification, post-clearance audit, risk management and supply chain security, including train-the-trainer programmes, and we have managed regional training institutions on behalf of the World Customs Organization.