Partnership In Customs Academic Research and Development - PICARD
THE WCO PICARD programme was launched in 2006 to provide a framework for cooperation between Customs and the academic world. Through PICARD, academic institutions have created the International Network of Customs Universities (INCU) and a rich vein of research in the field of Customs, generated through its flagship publication - the World Customs Journal.
Working together, the WCO and INCU have undertaken a range of initiatives in the areas of educational programmes, strategic management development, professional standards, and academic research and development.
In relation to standards, the WCO in partnership with the INCU has developed a set of Professional Standards necessary for operational and strategic Customs managers to meet the requirements of the new strategic environment. In addition, the WCO has established a process of assessing university curricula against the Standards.
The 2010 PICARD Conference in Abu Dhabi, UAE from 28 through 30 September 2010 will focus on the following specific issues:
++ Customs Business partnerships – examining the objectives and expectations of such partnerships, and ways to improve public and private sector performance through partnerships
++ Performance measurement – with a view to identifying appropriate methods to measure and benchmark Customs performance;
++ Customs and Revenue Collection derived from Customs Duties, VAT, and other taxes on traded goods– with a focus on ways of mitigating revenue risks caused by misclassification and misdescription , under-valuation, over-valuation, origin fraud, informal trade, and corruption;
++ The Impact of Climate Change on International Trade and Customs Management in the post-Copenhagen Era – the consequences of climate change policies on trade facilitation, revenue collection, and supply chain security with a focus on issues such as Border tax adjustments (BTAs), carbon leakage, VAT fraud on carbon credits, trade barriers to Clean Development Mechanisms (especially clean technologies).