Australian Customs Service Annual Report 2000-01 >> Overview of Customs >> Organisational arrangements

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Organisational arrangements

There are six divisions of Customs – Border, Coastwatch, Commercial, Financial Management, Office of Business Systems and Passengers and Information Technology – with several non-aligned branches.

The agency has made use of competitive tendering and contracting. Major outsourced functions include Coastwatch aerial surveillance, information technology support, legal services and internal audit. More detail on competitive tendering and contracting is provided in the Management and accountability section of this report.

The divisions and branches are supported through permanent representation at overseas posts in Bangkok, Brussels, Tokyo and Washington. The location of offices in Australia is illustrated in figure 3.

Figure 3: Locations of offices

*	Responsibility for the Broome District Office transferred from the Northern Territory Region to the Western Australian Region on 5 February 2001.
^	Coolangatta District Office commenced operation on 5 August 2000.
#	Lord Howe Island District Office is staffed by acting Customs officers.

Figure 4: Customs - Organisational structure - 30 June 2001

Organisational structure

The organisational structure at 30 June 2001 is shown in figure 4.

A significant organisational change occurred in February 2001 with the creation of the Passengers and Information Technology Division, headed by a National Director. This shifted the Passenger Processing function from the Border Division and combined it with Information Technology. This change better aligned the structure of Customs to its outputs, with Border Division primarily responsible for output 1 and Passengers and Information Technology Division primarily responsible for output 2.

Consultative mechanisms

Internal management committees

The Executive Group is the peak internal decision-making body of Customs. Its primary purpose is providing executive leadership and guidance, and considering and deciding on a range of strategic and operational issues.

Membership of the Executive Group includes the CEO, Deputy CEOs, National Directors, Director-General Coastwatch, the Chief Financial Officer, National Manager Planning and International and Regional Directors from NSW, Victoria and Queensland. The group meets weekly in Canberra, with video-conference links to regional offices. Every fourth week, a larger meeting of all SES staff is held, with video-conference links again used for regional offices.

Before Executive Group meetings, briefing notes on significant issues in the day-to-day management and operation of Customs are distributed to SES staff. All areas are able to contribute material to these notes.

Customs has a number of other high-level internal management committees:

Audit and Evaluation Committee
Cargo Management Re-engineering Board
Exports Steering Committee
Flexible Learning Committee
Intelligence Policy Committee
IT Policy Committee
National Quality Council
Security Policy Committee
Tax Reform Steering Committee.

There are also a number of project-specific steering committees.

Key methods of internal communication to staff include the Customs Intranet, all staff messages, a weekly bulletin and a staff newspaper – Customs News.

Customs is also involved in a variety of external management and consultative committees. Key committees are outlined below.

Customs National Consultative Committee (CNCC)

The CEO chairs the CNCC, which provides a national forum for communicating policies, practices and procedures of Customs that are relevant to the trading community. The CNCC works in partnership with the trading community to resolve perceived difficulties. It is the major forum for regular consultation on a wide range of matters.

During 2000-01 the committee considered issues including the implementation of tax reform, preparations for the Sydney 2000 Olympic and Paralympic Games, cost-recovery, cargo management re-engineering and the impact of foot and mouth disease measures.

Heads of Commonwealth Operational Law Enforcement Agencies (HOCOLEA)

HOCOLEA is the Commonwealth Government’s primary consultative mechanism for law-enforcement policy issues extending beyond the responsibilities of the Commonwealth Attorney-General’s portfolio. The Committee includes the heads of the 11 Commonwealth law-enforcement, taxation and regulatory agencies and departments.

The CEO and Deputy CEO participated in HOCOLEA meetings and Customs provided secretariat support to the committee. HOCOLEA deliberations focussed on law-enforcement, management and regulatory challenges facing HOCOLEA agencies. Customs participated in initiatives, such as joint-agency task forces (on issues including electronic commerce, investigations standards and training and identity fraud), established to explore these challenges.

National Passenger Processing Committee (NPPC)

Customs chairs the NPPC, which provides advice on policy issues relating to the processing of passengers. It also coordinates the activities of the various government agencies involved. There are nine Commonwealth departments and agencies represented on the NPPC. A subcommittee of the NPPC was established in 1997, with representatives of the airline industry and several of Australia’s international airports.

Major issues addressed by the committee during 2000-01 included the Sydney 2000 Olympic and Paralympic Games and measures being taken to prevent the introduction of foot and mouth disease and other exotic pests and diseases into Australia.

External scrutiny

There was a substantial increase in parliamentary and other external scrutiny of Customs. This included:

the Senate Legal and Constitutional Committee and the Senate Scrutiny of Bills Committee, which considered legislation relating to cargo management re-engineering
the Senate Finance and Public Administration Committee and the Senate Legal and Constitutional Committee, which considered the outsourcing of IT services by Customs
the Joint Committee of Public Accounts and Audit, which conducted an inquiry into Coastwatch.

Further information on external scrutiny.

International activity

Customs contributes to the implementation of the Government’s foreign policy and trade objectives by simplifying and improving international customs procedures to enhance global trading. It works actively through various forums including committees and commissions of the United Nations (UN), the World Trade Organization (WTO), the World Customs Organization (WCO), the Oceania Customs Organisation (OCO) and the Asia Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) Sub-Committee on Customs Procedures (SCCP).

During 2000-01, Australian Customs was involved in an initiative to improve the strategic capacity and performance of the WCO. It was also the coordinator of activity under the APEC SCCP Collective Action Plan (CAP) programs in integrity, paperless trading and risk management. In addition to these CAP items, the expertise of Customs was sought to assist the modernisation efforts of other APEC administrations in implementing:

provisions for temporary imports
international standards for customs clearance of express consignments
customs-related WTO agreements.

Customs also hosted a number of visits to Australia by other Customs administrations seeking to exchange ideas on technical customs issues.

Implementing the Kyoto convention

Customs administrations throughout the world aim to promote the facilitation of trade while maintaining the traditional, legislated, role of community protection and revenue collection. To achieve this on an international basis requires harmonised information requirements and common, simplified procedures. With this in mind, the WCO has revised the international convention on the simplification and harmonisation of customs procedures (the Kyoto Convention). The revised convention encourages using automated systems, risk management, a shift from transaction-based control procedures to audit-based controls, transparency of customs regulations and developing partnerships between customs organisations and traders.

Australia was the sixth country to lodge an instrument of ratification for the revised treaty. On 10 October 2000 Australia’s Ambassador to Belgium ratified the convention in Brussels on behalf of the Government.

Acceptance and implementation of the revised convention will provide Australian industry, particularly exporters, with uniform and predictable customs procedures. This should cut trade costs and reduce non-tariff barriers to trade.

Australian Customs is promoting acceptance and implementation of the revised convention through various forums including the OCO and the APEC SCCP, and by increasing the business sector’s awareness of the convention. At a practical level, Australian Customs provides experts to help other Customs administrations to adopt the revised Kyoto Convention.

Significant changes in functions or services of Customs

There were no significant changes to the services or functions of Customs during 2000-01. Significant issues that may impact on the operations of Customs are reported under Key Priorities for 2000-01.