A place of the RILO network in a customs prevention institutional mechanism

Abstract

The Customs administrations around the world are the first defenders on the borders Customs dministrations around the world are responsible for detection and prevention of dangerous, restricted and prohibited goods. Thus the issues of crime prevention are now directly related to the competence of Customs administrations. In the paper the author would like to draw attention to already existing mechanism which might be used in a more efficient way. The Regional Intelligence Liaison Office (further – RILO) Network and the Customs Enforcement Network (further – CEN) database have a great potential for being used as the institutional prevention mechanism since both tools facilitate the exchange of information among Customs administrations globally. In general, the topic of the Global RILO Network is underestimated and little known, even among the Customs officers, especially those, who are not dealing with international cooperation. The author wants to draw attention of the Customs community worldwide, but also representatives of other law enforcement agencies to the potential of existing instruments and tools provided by the World Customs Organization (further – WCO). It is important to acknowledge the number of obtainable tools, in order to save the resources, both financial and human, which might be spent on creating completely new mechanisms. In order to achieve the main goal, the author has analyzed the basic tools and instruments of the WCO in two areas of Customs duties, namely: trade facilitation and Customs enforcement. Additionally, the role of the WCO as a unique institutional body in Customs matters has been emphasized. The author wanted to give comprehensive background information on a RILO Network and highlighted its place in a modern Customs administration using Information and Communication Technologies (ICT). The scientific methods used in the paper were as follows: characterization for experience and observation, source criticism, deduction. The final conclusion led to the fact, that in order to get the highest level of efficiency, both the technical and networking aspects of exchange of information must be in place. The proper managing of the exchange of information may cause a better allocation of human resources and technology, improve the data quality, influence on more precise risk assessment then lead to the better detection of illegal trade and finally may contribute to the growth in government revenue. Thus the information exchange, the RILO Network, is a trigger mechanism which plays a vital role in crime prevention.