Good governance in customs: The case of the republic of Macedonia

Abstract

The complexity of the economic and social global and regional impacts considerably influences not only the business sector, but the national governmental authorities, as well. As public service providers, governments should discover new methods and paths to manage their activities in national social developments. There are several concepts that elaborate public management. One of the most prominent concepts is the good governance, which was established in the early 1990's. There is no generally accepted definition of good governance and usually it is defined mainly by emphasizing its core principles. Most governments present good governance as an important objective for reform of judicial systems, public administration reform, anti-corruption, decentralization, and public expenditure management. The Customs administrations are core governmental institutions directly involved in international economic relations. As a governmental institution mainly tasked to control and to facilitate trade, Customs administrations had to modernize their management structure and organization, complying with national and international trade and customs regulations. This paper is dedicated to the specifics of good governance in Customs, with a special emphasis on the Macedonian Customs Administration's experience. Generally, the implementation of customs risk management and its usage in customs simplifications in the Macedonian Customs Administration (MCA) will be analyzed.