Transparency Customs Verification Portal for Minerals

Enhancing Customs Agencies’ capacity to combat the illicit flow of mineral resources

In early 2018, the Revenue Development Foundation (External link) (RDF) and BMZ/GIZ embarked on a joint project that aims to tackle illicit financial flows in the trade of minerals. The project established a portal in which customs officers from importing countries can verify the validity of mineral export permits that importers present at the border.

With the beta version (External link) being up and running, the Project is attracting attention from customs officers worldwide. The World Customs Organization recently published an article (External link) describing the project in detail in the context of its efforts to curb illicit financial flows from mineral trade.

The international non-profit consultancy Revenue Development Foundation designed the Customs Verification Portal to verify export licenses efficiently and in a transparent manner. Although manual verification of the export documents has successfully uncovered fraud in the past, it has limited scalability. In contrast, the Customs Verification Portal draws data directly from the Mining Cadastre Administration Systems (MCAS), which manage mining licenses and payments in several mineral exporting countries and is also an RDF system. Ghana, Liberia and Sierra Leone are currently piloting the Portal, with more countries set to join in the near future. The Portal will become an essential tool for customs agencies worldwide in addressing the smuggling of minerals such as gold and related illicit financial flows.

Further information please contact Janne Kaiser-Tedesco (External link).