Accessible and Secure Customs Service: A Conference Organized by the National Customs School
The National Customs School (END) organized a conference yesterday under the theme "An accessible and secure customs service." The conference, titled "Focus End 2025," brought together a large number of speakers and experts from the Ministry of Finance, the Customs Directorate, and the economic sphere.
Objectives of the Conference
The conference aimed to highlight examples of customs action involving the securing and facilitation of the supply chain, as well as the challenges and prospects for evolving or improving these procedures and tools. It was also an opportunity to listen to the concerns and issues raised by economic operators.
Main Axes of the Conference
The conference was structured around three main axes:
- Securing: The conference discussed ways to secure the customs process and prevent fraud.
- Facilitating: The conference explored ways to facilitate the customs process and reduce bureaucratic hurdles.
- Training: The conference emphasized the importance of training and capacity-building for customs officials and economic operators.
Key Takeaways
In a statement to the press, Mohamed Hedi Safer, Director General of Customs, highlighted that the conference reflected the strategic orientations of the Customs Directorate, particularly in terms of partnership between Customs and economic operators. He also emphasized that the conference was an opportunity to present new developments in simplifying and facilitating customs procedures, including the Authorized Economic Operator (OEA) status granted by the customs services.
Currently, 202 companies benefit from this status, and the Customs Directorate aims to increase this number and expand the benefits offered by this status. Safer also mentioned that the Customs Directorate is working to integrate artificial intelligence into risk management to accelerate customs clearance operations and improve control quality while optimizing human and material resources.
Kais Ben Zayed, Head of the OEA Bureau at the Customs Directorate, explained that this service aims to better frame companies to reduce customs declaration times and the cost of export and import operations.
Aslan Berjeb, President of the Confederation of Citizen Enterprises of Tunisia (Conect), noted that having OEA status is a quality certificate that grants companies several facilities in import and export operations. However, he estimated that the number of companies with this status, 202 out of a total of 900,000 economic operators, remains very low compared to expectations.
Berjeb also emphasized the importance of working towards international recognition of this status, which should facilitate procedures for Tunisian operators and serve Tunisia as a logistics services platform.
