Publication: Gazing Into the Mirror II : Performance Contracts in Cameroon Customs
Loading...
Files in English
205 downloads
68 downloads
403 downloads
61 downloads
Published
2011-12
ISSN
Date
2014-04-14
Editor(s)
Abstract
This paper revolves around the World Customs Organization's (WCO) 2011 theme of the year, 'knowledge as a catalyst for excellence'. The contracts clearly define the scope and procedures for their implementation. In light of the foregoing, the policy for performance contracts is part of the effort to implement the plan to reform the Customs Administration. These contracts aim to combat customs fraud and corruption more effectively, and introduce speed and efficiency in the processing of files. In other words, the contracts, which are based on objective indicators, seek performance, responsibility, and transparency, with a particular emphasis on ethics. Inspectors who sign the contract must work swiftly, while seeking to uncover fraud. To that end, they must be present at their work stations, behave in a professional manner, and themselves be confident that their contribution to efforts to reduce clearance times and costs of goods is essential. In sum, the procedure seeks to enhance the performance of Cameroon customs with a view to providing quality service to enterprises, improving the effectiveness of controls, and simplifying administrative procedures during border crossings.
Link to Data Set
Citation
“Likeng, Minette Libom Li; Djeuwo, Marcellin; Bilangna, Samson. 2011. Gazing Into the Mirror II : Performance Contracts in Cameroon Customs. Sub-Saharan Africa Transport Policy Program
(SSATP) good practice paper;no. 1. © http://hdl.handle.net/10986/17780 License: CC BY 3.0 IGO.”
Digital Object Identifier
Associated URLs
Associated content
Other publications in this report series
Journal
Journal Volume
Journal Issue
Collections
Related items
Showing items related by metadata.
Publication Gazing into the Mirror : Operational Internal Control in Cameroon Customs(World Bank, Washington, DC, 2009-01)Cameroon is a model example of a developing country facing the challenges of trade facilitation, in light of its geographic location within Central Africa. Close to 20 percent of its customs revenues are used to finance the national budget. Cameroon's customs administration therefore plays a critical role in its economy. This paper presents the modernization process launched in Cameroon customs in 2006 and, in particular, the original approach adopted the very early introduction of operational internal control as the keystone of the reform process under way. Beyond the technical measures in and of themselves, the document seeks to show one aspect of Cameroon's reform experience: how technical measures, namely the definition and dissemination of indicators based on a number of principles, have contributed to increased revenues and stronger ethics, an experience that could be replicated in other Sub-Saharan African countries.Publication Customs, Brokers, and Informal Sectors : A Cameroon Case Study(World Bank, Washington, DC, 2014-02)Based on extensive interviews with informal importers and brokers in Cameroon, this paper explains why customs reform aimed at reducing fraud and corruption may be difficult to achieve. Informal traders and brokers (without licenses) follow various business models and practices, which are product-specific. Overall, what matters first are customs brokers' practices. Information asymmetries mark transactions between brokers and importers and are accompanied by misperceptions of the costs and risks of informal brokers working among informal importers. In a low-governance environment with widespread informal practices, blanket policies should be avoided in order to discourage activities of unprofessional and systematic bribe-taker brokers. It is also essential that customs officials disrupt information asymmetries and better disseminate information to informal importers on customs processes and official costs. Finally, customs should more strongly sanction some informal brokers in order to reduce collusion with some customs officers.Publication Reform by Numbers : Measurement Applied to Customs and Tax Administrations in Developing Countries(Washington, DC: World Bank, 2013)This paper is organized as follows. In chapter two, Samson Bilangna and Marcellin Djeuwo from the Cameroon customs administration present the history and the outcomes of the performance measurement policy launched by their administra-tion: the General Directorate of Customs signed 'performance contracts' with the frontline customs officers in 2010 and with some importers in 2011. In chapter three, Jose-Maria Munoz, an anthropologist, offers a complementary view of the introduction of figures in the Cameroon tax administration. The fourth chapter ends the book's first part, which focuses on performance measurement. Xavier Pascual from the French customs administration describes the system implemented by his administration to measure the collective performance of customs units and bureaus. In chapter five, Anne-Marie Geourjon and Bertrand Laporte, who are both economists, and Ousmane Coundoul and Massene Gadiaga, who are from the Senegalese customs administration, present the use of data mining to select imports for inspection. This project is being developed in Senegal and embodies the concept of risk analysis. Sharing the same global aim to make controls more efficient, economists Gael Raballand and Guillermo Arenas from the World Bank and anthropologist Thomas Cantens from the World Customs Organization suggest, in chapter six, using mirror statistics to detect potentially fraudulent import flows. Mirror statistics calculate the gaps of foreign trade statistics between two trading partner countries. To conclude the second part on the integration of measurement in information systems, Soyoung Yang from the Korea Customs Service (KCS), in chapter eight, offers a case study on KCS's implementation of a single window system. With respect to risk analysis, the concept of single window is widespread in the trade and customs environments, but few concrete achievements have been presented and analyzed.Publication Trade Facilitation in the Caribbean : The Case of Customs Performance(World Bank, Washington, DC, 2013-06)The trade of goods and services and the inflows from Foreign Direct Investments (FDI) represent large proportions of their Gross Domestic Products (GDP), especially in English Speaking Caribbean (ESC) countries. Therefore, the proper functioning of the channels that connect them to the rest of the world, including customs offices, is essential to the performance of their economies. This note shows that, despite integration into the world economy, customs performance in the Caribbean countries is comparatively low. This note presents data from the Customs Assessment Trade Toolkit (CATT), which provides empirical evidence that processes do not meet adequate standards in terms of speed, predictability and transparency. This inconsistency is partially explained by the lack of an effective complementarity between the use of Information and Communication Technologies (ICT) systems and the actual operational practices. This policy note is organized as follows: section three presents evidence on the economic profile of the Caribbean countries to show high integration to the world economy. Trade and FDI are they key aspects being considered in this regard. Section four discusses the role of customs systems for economic development. It analyzes the performance of the Caribbean customs offices in a number of aspects (clearance times, predictability, and transparency) that the literature has identified as critical to promote competitiveness and development. Section five expands this analysis by focusing on how the use of ICT can improve customs performance in those aspects. Section six summarizes the lessons learned by the analysis of these data. Finally, the conclusions section presents some policy recommendations to deal with the inconsistency between high economic openness and low customs performance in the Caribbean countries.Publication DB 14 Case Studies : Understanding Regulations for Small and Medium-Size Enterprises(Washington, DC, 2013-11-15)The Doing Business (DB) project measures the number of procedures, time and cost for a small and medium-size limited liability company to start up and formally operate. This DB 2014 report addresses issues such as minimum capital requirements, and the role of risk-based inspections in construction, and their relevance, functions, challenges and implementation. Case studies from Trinidad and Tobago, Malaysia, Singapore, Colombia and Azerbaijan, and Korea are discussed in detail, elaborating on the issues faced, the solutions or outcomes, and benefits.
Users also downloaded
Showing related downloaded files
Publication Direct and Indirect Impacts of Transport Mobility on Access to Jobs: Evidence from South Africa(Washington, DC: World Bank, 2025-11-12)Access to jobs is essential for economic growth. In Africa, unemployment rates are notably high. This paper reexamines the relationship between transport mobility and labor market outcomes, with a particular focus on the direct and indirect effects of transport connectivity. As predicted by theory, wages are influenced by the level of commuting deterrence. Generally, higher earnings are associated with longer commute times and/or higher commuting costs. Local accessibility is also important, especially for individuals with time constraints. Both direct and indirect impacts are found to be significant in South Africa, where job accessibility has been challenging since the end of apartheid. For the direct impact, the wage elasticity associated with commuting costs is significant. Returns on commute are particularly high for women. Local accessibility to socioeconomic facilities, such as shops and health services, is also found to have a significant impact, consistent with the concept of mobility of care. To enhance employment, therefore, it is crucial to connect people not only to job locations but also to various socioeconomic points of interest, such as markets and hospitals, in an integrated manner. This integration will enable individuals to spend more time working and commuting longer distances.Publication Digital Africa(Washington, DC: World Bank, 2023-03-13)All African countries need better and more jobs for their growing populations. "Digital Africa: Technological Transformation for Jobs" shows that broader use of productivity-enhancing, digital technologies by enterprises and households is imperative to generate such jobs, including for lower-skilled people. At the same time, it can support not only countries’ short-term objective of postpandemic economic recovery but also their vision of economic transformation with more inclusive growth. These outcomes are not automatic, however. Mobile internet availability has increased throughout the continent in recent years, but Africa’s uptake gap is the highest in the world. Areas with at least 3G mobile internet service now cover 84 percent of Africa’s population, but only 22 percent uses such services. And the average African business lags in the use of smartphones and computers as well as more sophisticated digital technologies that catalyze further productivity gains. Two issues explain the usage gap: affordability of these new technologies and willingness to use them. For the 40 percent of Africans below the extreme poverty line, mobile data plans alone would cost one-third of their incomes—in addition to the price of access devices, apps, and electricity. Data plans for small- and medium-size businesses are also more expensive than in other regions. Moreover, shortcomings in the quality of internet services—and in the supply of attractive, skills-appropriate apps that promote entrepreneurship and raise earnings—dampen people’s willingness to use them. For those countries already using these technologies, the development payoffs are significant. New empirical studies for this report add to the rapidly growing evidence that mobile internet availability directly raises enterprise productivity, increases jobs, and reduces poverty throughout Africa. To realize these and other benefits more widely, Africa’s countries must implement complementary and mutually reinforcing policies to strengthen both consumers’ ability to pay and willingness to use digital technologies. These interventions must prioritize productive use to generate large numbers of inclusive jobs in a region poised to benefit from a massive, youthful workforce—one projected to become the world’s largest by the end of this century.Publication Taxes, Spending, and Equity: International Patterns and Lessons for Developing Countries(Washington, DC: World Bank, 2025-11-17)Taxes and public spending underpin the basic administration of government and finance the human capital and infrastructure investments needed for economic growth. They can also have a significant and immediate impact on poverty and inequality. The question of how public finance can support longer-term growth objectives while promoting equity has become even more important in recent years, given the high fiscal deficits and debt levels most countries emerged with in the aftermath of the COVID-19 pandemic. These included the increasing cost of debt and the need to restart environmentally sustainable growth while helping households address the learning losses and other social scars caused by the pandemic. This paper examines the global evidence on which households pay which taxes and who benefits from what spending, and critically, the net effect on different households across the income distribution. The aim is to identify the patterns and lessons that emerge for designing progressive fiscal policies. A global dataset of 96 countries is assembled, spanning all regions of the world and all national income levels, grounded in the Commitment to Equity (CEQ) approach to fiscal incidence.Publication Corruption as a Push and Pull Factor of Migration Flows(World Bank, Washington, DC, 2023-09-14)Conclusive evidence on the relationship between corruption and migration has remained scant in the literature to date. Using data from 2008 to 2018 on bilateral migration flows across European Union and European Free Trade Association countries and four measures of corruption, this paper shows that corruption acts as both a push factor and a pull factor for migration patterns. Based on a gravity model, a one-unit increase in the corruption level in the origin country is associated with a 11 percent increase in out-migration. The same one-unit increase in the destination country is associated with a 10 percent decline in in-migration.Publication Addressing Regulatory Software Barriers to Business Growth(World Bank, Washington, DC, 2012-12)This policy paper explores the relative importance of the software regulatory barriers to growth in Pakistan. Such software barriers have been identified as part of the major constraint in the Framework for Economic Growth of the Government of Pakistan. Indeed, adequate software is needed to provide an environment in which the hardware of growth (physical infrastructure) could be expanded and made more productive. Among possible software constraints, the findings of various international surveys allow to disentangle the relative importance of multiple possible regulatory barriers; first by identifying what is in the books, and then by assessing what is actually experienced on the ground by entrepreneurs. Following the ensuing prioritization of the identified barriers, this paper suggests that the new growth strategy would benefit from focused policy efforts in seven key areas, where regulatory barriers and perceived obstacles are most constraining to business development: getting electricity, paying taxes, enforcing contracts, registering property, obtaining construction permits, starting a business, trading across barriers, and having access to finance (particularly among small firms). The paper also expounds a detailed description of the provincial disaggregation of those barriers, which attempt to complement the general findings and allow for provincially-led customized solutions.