Customs reform

The objective of the project was to strengthen the institutional and people capacity of the ACD to in following areas, in order to contribute to the role of Customs to facilitate trade and investment to generate domestic revenues and make a contribution to the economic and social development of Afghanistan:

• Strategic Policy;
• Organisation and Management;
• Human Resource Management;
• Human Resource Development; and ethics.

ASI led comprehensive reform of customs policies and procedures, including working to establish and develop the Customs Department and its relations with tax administration and other functions within the reformed Government structure.  This involved reviewing and reforming customs policy and operations to improve collections; removing administrative bottlenecks; reducing corruption and smuggling; improving the operation of transit trade agreement with Pakistan; and modernisation of Kabul airport.
 
This support combined root and branch institutional reorganisation with day-to-day support with customs tasks. We supported the preparation and submission of a successful PRR (Priority Reform and Restructuring) application.
 
The most important measure of success in relation to Customs reform in the context of Afghanistan is the impact of reform on revenues. In this regard, during the sub-Project period there has been a significant growth in collections. Specifically, revenue collection has increased by approximately 54%, from 1383 (2004/5) to 1384 (2005/6), and is expected to achieve a compound annual growth rate of approximately 23% in the five years from the sub-Project start to 1387.