Training of customs officers

Level 1 is a two-hour awareness course, accessible online, which explains what cultural property is and why it matters to protect it. Level 2, lasting one day, teaches recognition of types of property and first reflexes. Level 3, lasting three days, covers the full procedure: risk analysis, verification, seizure.

Level 4 is for referents: investigators, experts, trainers. It lasts five days and includes practical cases, the conduct of an appraisal and training of trainers.

The training draws on anonymised real cases, teaching objects and exercises in realistic situations. Trainees handle identification sheets, simulate a seizure, consult the BIOP database and write a report. A role-play puts officers face to face with a recalcitrant freight forwarder.

Each level ends with an evaluation, as a questionnaire or an exercise. Officers who pass receive a certificate, valid for five years, which can be renewed by a refresher session.

The training is free for OIMAP Member States. Administrations enrol their officers through their customs correspondent. In-person sessions are held in Paris, Brussels, Nairobi, Singapore and regional centres.

The Protection Fund covers travel costs for officers from low-income States. In 2024, seventy officers benefited from this support.

Each year, the WCO and OIMAP evaluate the impact of the training through three indicators: the number of officers trained, the number of cases reported and the rate of confirmation by experts. The results show that ports and airports where more than ten per cent of officers are trained detect twice as many cases as the others.

These results justify continuing and extending the programme, with particular attention to the least well-equipped border posts.