Jamaica Customs – poised to be a world leader

ON JANUARY 26, 2017, the Jamaica Customs Agency (JCA) joins other customs administrations to celebrate International Customs Day. Celebrated within the last quarter of the financial year, as an organisation, it is also an appropriate time for the JCA to celebrate its accomplishments, take note of the challenges, and put the relevant strategies in place to improve efficiency and effectiveness as the agency moves into a new financial year.

The agency has experienced several changes over the past five years, to include the transitioning of the organisation into an executive agency, the implementation of the Automated System for Customs Data (ASYCUDA), and commencement of reform to the Customs Act and Regulations, which charted the course for the JCA to become more technologydriven, more customer-centred, and more strategically focused

MAJOR (RET’D) REECE

for the sustainability and growth of our economy.

This year’s theme, ‘Data Analysis for Effective Border Management’, captures in a real way the agency’s intensified thrust in how it seeks to protect Jamaica’s borders from illicit trading.

The new paradigm in border protection worldwide requires that customs administrations, like the JCA, to utilise more intelligence-led and riskmanagement-based approaches in its analysis, and systems such as the Advance Passenger Information System, set to be launched early this year, along with other ASYCUDA World modules (performance management, offences and infractions, permits and licences) will serve to improve our capabilities in this area.

The current integration of ASYCUDA World with the Port Community System (PCS) is another significant step, which will serve to enhance the agency’s trade facilitation capabilities and ease of doing business.

The JCA has also strengthened the relationship with our partners through the collaboration and streamlining of several of our business processes which have served to positively enhance the experience of the agency’s stakeholders, clients and customers. To this end, the Customs Business Partnership Forum has recently been launched.

We also recognise the importance of engaging and interacting with our stakeholders at the local level and, as a result, the agency will also be launching a new community-based initiative – 'Customs Meets the Community' – during this week.

Enhancing the organisation’s internal processes is of paramount importance, evidenced with the implementation of the Enterprise Content Management (ECM) system, a precursor to the Human Capital Management Enterprise System (HCMES), to be implemented in February 2017, and which will enhance the JCA’s internal processes.

The ECM project, having been initiated by the Ministry of Finance and the Public Service, will enhance inter-agency collaboration and foster more effective information management. The HCMES forms part of the transformation of the human resource (HR) management portfolio, which will see the modernisation and harmonisation of HR policies, procedures and approaches. The HCMES is now in a pre-live mode and will provide online access to features which include, but are not limited to, self-service functionalities for all staff, with fully integrated payroll services.

These and other strategic changes will serve to assist the JCA on becoming a flagship public-sector entity. I, therefore, urge employees of the agency to continue to work diligently and to carry out the key mandates of facilitating trade, protecting our borders and collecting revenue as the JCA continues to significantly impact Jamaica’s growth and national development. MAJOR (RET’D) RICHARD B. REESE CEO/Commissioner