Hereunder a short overview of the ongoing projects of General Business Consulting:
- Excise Movement Control System (EMCS) ... XSIZE the Business Case!
- Modernization of the Customs Transit System (Russian Federation)
- Technical Support for the Capacity-Building of the Statistical Offices of Serbia and Montenegro
- Development of immigration legislation (Russian Federation)
- European Technical Assistance Program for Vietnam (ETV2)
- Technical Assistance to the Sector for the Implementation of the Ohrid Framework Agreement and Training of Category I Civil Servants (fy Republic of Macedonia)
Modernization of the Customs Transit System (Russian Federation)
The development of trade relations between the European Union and the Russian Federation has progressively highlighted the need to modernize the customs administration and approximate customs rules between the EU and the Russian Federation, and notably transit rules. This project is part of the initiative to support Russia’s integration in the world economy and closer economic relations in the perspective of the Common Economic Space. The overall objective of the project is to support the Russian customs administration in developing a well functioning Russian automated transit system. This will in turn support effective customs controls while facilitating legitimate trade, in line with international customs rules, procedures and practice.
The Operations Section of the Delegation of the European Commission in Russia is responsible for managing this contract. The Project Partner, i.e. the organization officially designated by the Russian Government as Russian counterpart for the project under EC-Russia cooperation rules, is the Federal Customs Service.
Atos Origin Belgium is the lead partner in an international consortium consisting of four companies in total, including one local consultancy company with proven experience in the Russian Public Customs Sector.
Atos Origin Belgium is working closely with the Federal Customs Service to improve the Russian transit rules and procedures compatible with EU/EFTA rules and to set up a Russian Computerized Transit System. Our consultants are enhancing the capacity of the Customs administration to operate the new transit system and to improve the transparency of customs rules and the dialogue with economic operators.
The project started in 2006 and is ongoing until end 2009.
Technical Support for the Capacity-Building of the Statistical Offices of Serbia and Montenegro
Statistics are an essential tool for policy-decision making, good governance and monitoring the economic and social trends. During many years, Serbia and Montenegro were excluded from contacts with the international community and notably with institutions responsible for the elaboration of standards and methodologies.
As a consequence, statistical systems suffers from a lagging-behind situation regarding the compliance of produced statistics with the needs to monitor a market-oriented economy.
From early 2001, a set of activities was implemented in Serbia and Montenegro through international assistance aiming at starting the statistical reform. Inside the institutions responsible for statistics, investments in the purely statistical areas needed to be complemented by general capacity-building actions in view of optimizing the added-value of the specific assistance programs.
This project is designed to improve the basic knowledge infrastructure of the statistical offices of the 2 countries including the Regional Offices in view of creating appropriate ground for the further implementation of EU-compatible methodology in statistics.
The overall objective of the project is to contribute to the upgrading of the statistical system in Serbia and Montenegro through the:
- Strengthening of the appropriate ability of the Statistical Systems to properly integrate methods and standards compatible with the European Statistical System (ESS).
- Establishing of fundamental grounds to support and enhance the ongoing and foreseen technical assistance in purely statistical areas.
Atos Origin Belgium is lead partner in a consortium consisting of six companies, including one local partner from Serbia.
Atos Origin specializes in the project management and training aspects of the project and formed the consortium in line with the strengths provided by its partners that are required for the project i.e. capacity building, IT training in state administrations, database management and statistical data processing, design and implementation of training curriculum and training in market economy issues.
The relevant unit of the European Agency for Reconstruction in Belgrade manages the project which started January 2006 and runs till December 2008.
Development of immigration legislation (Russian Federation)
The overall objective of the project is to contribute to the improvement of the efficiency of the immigration legislation and practice, and its harmonization with EU standards. The Operations Section of the Delegation of the European Commission to Russia is responsible for managing this project. The Project Partner, i.e. the organisation officially designated by the Russian Government as Russian counterpart for the project under EC-Russia cooperation rules, is the Federal Migration Service (FMS).
The project has two main components that are managed by Atos Origin Belgium, as lead partner, supported by a specialized consultancy company in the region:
Monitoring and evaluation of the immigration management system and of the implementation of new texts and procedures regulating immigration since January 2007. The Federal Migration Service (FMS) through its offices in Moscow and the regions is facing an increasing amount of work generated by applications from new migrants and legalization of migrants already residing and working in Russia, which should be matched by the number of staff and the quality of the infrastructures.
Crucially, this requires an efficient management system, methods of work and monitoring capacity to ensure that proper services are rendered and in time. The specialists who are working on these issues are keen to benefit from experience elsewhere on a common approach to the tasks involved and a systematic set of methods. The initiative enables the gathering of reliable data to support policy recommendations.
Policy assistance and legal drafting to improve the normative basis regulating immigration in the Russian Federation, harmonization of legislation with EU policies, experience and best practices, and compliance of legislation with international treaties and obligations. Atos Origin Belgium supports the FMS in its liberal approach to immigration and continues to seek support for the concept from the legislator and the general public. There is much to be done to formulate new policies in this sector and to draft suitable texts that would enable these policies to be put into effect. Senior officials of the FMS have been promoting this debate and they welcome international advice and assistance.
The project commenced last quarter 2007. The period of execution of the contract is 27 months with completion date set no later than 31/12/2009.
European Technical Assistance Program for Vietnam (ETV2)
To support Vietnam in its efforts to develop a properly functioning market economy, one of the first priorities is to establish transparent, effective and efficient public finance management capacities. The European Commission contributes to Vietnam’s transition towards a market economy through the Technical Assistance programs. The overall objective being to improve economic and social development in Vietnam by facilitating better decision making in the public and private sectors.
The objective of this project led by Atos Origin Belgium in partnership with five specialised consultancy companies is to provide technical expertise to the Socialist Republic of Vietnam for the implementation, management and coordination of the components of the ETV2 project, which focuses on:
- Increasing output and efficiency of the customs, tax system and domestic revenue system for the Ministry of Finance,
- Improving policy and legal advisory services in Insurance and Auditing/Accounting at the Ministry of Finance, and
- Improving data analysis/processing and information management at the Ministry of planning and Investment.
The project aims to achieve the following results:
- Increased revenue raising capacities as a consequence of an improved policy making process;
- Effective taxation/customs laws and procedures and a fair and equitable tax collecting system;
- The completion of legal frameworks for accounting, auditing and insurance in accordance with international standards;
- Accurate statistical analysis, forecasting and monitoring to support policy decision making processes, and
- A legal framework for standards and quality assurance in line with international standards, establishment of national normative corpus completed.
The project is ongoing since 2005 with a period of execution of 38 calendar months. Technical assistance provided by the consortium mainly supports the appropriate department, units and officials of the Ministry of Finance and Ministry of Planning and Investment in the Socialist Republic of Vietnam under the contractual authority of the European Commission.
Technical Assistance to the Sector for the Implementation of the Ohrid Framework Agreement and Training of Category I Civil Servants (fy Republic of Macedonia)
The Ohrid Framework Agreement, signed on 13 August 2001, put an end to the inter-ethnic conflict in the fYR of Macedonia. The main Macedonian parties representing the ethnic Macedonians and ethnic Albanians reached an agreement, with the mediation of the international community, to embark on a constitutional and legal reform process, with the aim of promoting a peaceful and harmonious development of the Macedonian citizens while respecting their ethnic identity and interests.
The purpose of the project is to provide technical assistance to The European Agency for Reconstruction in carrying out the following project objectives:
- Strengthen the Sector for the Implementation of the Ohrid Framework Agreement in its institutional capacity for performing its functions with the required levels of efficiency and effectiveness, and
- Train a number of at least 25 managerial civil servants belonging to the non-majority communities with the aim of enhancing their knowledge and skills for successfully fulfilling their tasks and developing their career in the civil service.
In fulfilling the project objectives the consortium led by Atos Origin Belgium conducted a thorough training needs assessment of the staff members of the sector, as well as of the members of the Deputy Prime Minister’s Cabinet and staff members from other related institutions, and designed and delivered training both on cross-cutting themes for all target groups, and on specific themes for specific target groups in the field of each Sector’s unit.
The training component consisted of training managerial civil servants from the minorities through one training program comprising a 6-month course and a 1-month ‘stage’ in the public administration of a Member State. The Atos Origin Belgium consortium carried out a training needs assessment of all category I civil servants from the non-majority communities. Based on the results of the training needs assessment, the consortium prepared the curriculum in co-operation with the Civil Service Agency. The training program was delivered to more than 25 trainees according to the trainee’s field of work and language skills.
The project started in end 2005 and is due for completion end 2007.