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Compendium of Best Practices for Customs Agencies - Americas Region

A collection of case studies from countries participating in the Combating Illicit Trade Summits of Customs Director Generals – Americas.
​One of the key takeaways from the first summit held with Autoridad Nacional de Anduanas of Panama (ANA) in Panama City in 2024, was the universal appreciation of the forum as a valuable means to share experiences and best practices with each other.
 
This spirit of collaboration and commitment to promoting dialogue and knowledge exchange carried over to our second summit, hosted with the Dirección de Impuestos y Aduanas Nacionales (DIAN) in Cartagena in 2025.
 
This compendium records those outputs and presents them in a way that adds value to the everyday operational task of mitigating illicit trade. The “best practices” delineated here seek to improve effectiveness, reduce costs and inefficiencies, accelerate innovation and shorten the overall learning curve for neighboring customs authorities from Canada to the southern-most tip of South America.
A living document

This Compendium is designed to function as a platform for continued exchange. It is a working document, built from Summits insights and ongoing collaboration. The Compendium captures what works today and provides a structure to continuously update and expand that knowledge base.
Key findings

Inputs gathered by TRACIT through previous Summits, in-depth interviews, survey responses, and ongoing Summit discussions show a high level of alignment across Customs administrations in the region. Input invariably point to: 
  • Operational challenges related to e-commerce and small parcels challenges.
  • Structural constraints including, interoperability gaps, legal barriers, resource limitations.
  • Initiatives and strategies to strengthen risk management, data sharing, and enforcement capacity.
  • The need for more data-driven, intelligence-led, and anticipatory operating models.

Administrations expect cooperation to:
  • Accelerate access to actionable intelligence.
  • Enable coordinated enforcement actions.
  • Strengthen capabilities through continuous exchange.
  • Extend operational reach by pooling resources.
Inside the Compendium
Each practice in this Compendium is presented as an operational case:
  • Challenge addressed: the specific gap or pressure point.
  • Approach: how the administration responded.
  • How it works: systems, processes, and coordination in practice.
  • Results: measurable impact on control, facilitation, or revenue.
  • Key learnings: elements that enable replication.
The focus is on usability, enabling stakeholders to understand, assess, and adapt these approaches in their own context.
“E-commerce and express shipments have transformed the risk landscape. Criminal organizations now exploit speed, volume, and fragmentation. At the same time, traditional threats such as undervaluation, misclassification, and smuggling are becoming more organized and data-driven.

​This context requires a clear shift from reactive controls to intelligence-led, risk-based, and anticipatory action. Customs must act earlier in the supply chain, with better data, stronger targeting, and closer cooperation.”
Fabiano Coelho
Undersecretary of Customs Administration
Special Secretariat of the Federal Revenue - Brazil
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Transnational Alliance to Combat Illicit Trade (TRACIT) is an independent, non-governmental, not-for-profit organisation under US tax code 501(c)(6).
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