As part of the European Customs Practitioners’ Conference, held in Vilnius, Lithuania, and online on 26 May, an interactive workshop ‘Increasing competencies in the field of customs’ was held by the members of the CKC. The main focus was on the current challenges related to the acquisition and management of customs knowledge in accordance with the requirements of the modern trade and customs environment. The need to update approaches to the training of specialists in all areas of customs, who could ensure customs and trade compliance, was also discussed.

The workshop started with a welcome to participants by Kevin Shakespeare, Chair of the CKC Management Council and Director of Strategic Projects and International Development at the Institute of Export & International Trade.

In particular, the following topics were discussed:

• ‘Competencies of a customs broker’ facilitator Dr Momchil Antov, Chairman of the Board of the National Organization of Customs Agents (NOCA), Bulgaria and CKC member
• ‘Customs knowledge management in companies’ facilitator Anthony Buckley, Chair of Customs Knowledge Institute, Ireland and CKC member
• ‘Competencies required in the future’ facilitator Dr Erika Besuspariene, Associate Professor, Vytautas Magnus University, Lithuania and CKC member
• ‘Ensuring compliance with export control and sanctions’ facilitator Christelle Dubouchet, Attorney at law (Barreau de Paris, New York State Bar & State Bar of California), France and CKC member

Participants, both onsite and online, took part in surveys, the results of which will be presented in articles soon.