Border crossing points have an important place in the priorities of Iraqi governments. In addition to being a major supplier of non-oil imports to the Iraqi State, border crossings have become a window of corruption for gangs, outlaws, and public money abusers, especially since the precarious security situation over the past years has helped to create a fertile environment for these gangs to commit various corrupt practices, and the absence of firm policy in managing the entry points has helped greatly in scattering revenues; Reforming these outlets is a priority for successive Governments.
A network of State institutions, security, and services sectors at border entry points, including the General Customs Service, the National Security Service, and the General Tax Service, are working on the management of border entry points within their respective job descriptions and functions. In 2016, the General Authority for Border Entry Points was established with responsibility for supervision, control, organization, and control of the various institutions operating at border crossings. It was given the authority to issue penalties that have been granted to employees from ministries and non-Ministry-affiliated agencies for breach of their employment at border crossings.
The file of border crossings has emerged as a top priority of the Iraqi government headed by Prime Minister Mustafa Al-Kadhimi in 2020, the Border Outlets Authority initiated an action plan to combat corruption and improve the work in the outlets, when the Chairman of the Authority, Dr. Omar Al-Waeli, recalled in a televised interview that the outline of the action plan was “to rotate and transfer personnel, provide security cover, automate procedures and institutional cooperation”. Several months after his statement, we found that there was a kind of seriousness and effort to move towards the automation of border entry points. The Chairman recently confirmed that work had begun on automation of import leave, certificate of origin, and other transactions. The General Secretariat of the Prime Minister also confirmed the Government’s commitment to implementing this project and to local self-efforts. In our research, we will seek to discuss the policy of automation of border entry points in terms of vision for the future and to overcome challenges in an effort to enhance the development of border entry points and to combat corruption in them.
