achieved by campaigning that practical steps are taken to draw the private
sector into customs discus sions on both national and regional levels.
b) Where possible, provide regional examples of how Customs to Business
involvement has resulted in successful cooperation or more effective
implementation of decisions.
c) Inform regional industry associations of the possibilities of engagement about
Customs issues at the national level as well as the regional level.
Resource implications:
Information and publications that will raise awareness of the role of the private
sector must be developed, and existing literature that is suitable must be
identified and be made available from the SADC Unit Customs webpage.
Relevant contact information must be uploaded onto the website in a format
that is easy to maintain and that is short yet informative to the private sector.
A presentation must be developed that explains the role of the private sector
in customs modernisation, and especially how a Customs Administration
could engage with the private sector in a more formal way.
More capacity building events in the Member States to build the capacity of
the private sector.
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Strengthening private sector involvement on customs issues at the
regional level (KRA 3)
7.1
Desired outcome: The bottom up flow of customs issues via National dialogue
Fora to the region is supplemented by a mechanism that allows for regional
customs trends or issues to be identified and escalated directly to the SADC
Customs Unit and the SCCC. This allows for a high level engagement and
response to issues that are identified as regional issues or patterns. Regional
and Sector specific Business Organisations are invited by the SADC Customs
Unit to comment on regional issues that are deemed to be relevant to the
private sector. It is also essential to establish a regional forum for the private
sector stakeholders to allow them to interact with the SCCC on regional
issues such as border management.
The main activities are discussed under the next headings.
7.2
Regional customs issues are identified by SADC Secretariat and
escalated to SCCC
a) Customs issues identified by the SADC Customs Unit to be relevant to the
private sector are added to the agenda of the SCCC meetings, with regional
issues being the main priority. This might be supplemented with an invitation
to certain stakeholders to make presentations to the SCCC or to a premeeting to foster high-level interaction between the SCCC and the private
sector on specific issues.
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