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In an effort to reduce ambiguity around customs clearance of items deemed pernicious to public morality and present lessons for customs administration, this research aims to explore ways to improve customs clearance for RealDolls. Furthermore, by suggesting specific ideas to improve the process, this research also aims to contribute to the future customs clearance of socially controversial and legally ambiguous items.

The authors have decided to review studies from ethical and legal perspectives to focus on the legislation and its enforcement issues. The literature review is designed to provide insights on how to incorporate legal and ethical reasoning in the customs clearance process for RealDolls. Supplementary interviews were also conducted with criminal lawyers and customs officials to obtain expert knowledge on domestic legislation and customs control against the sex toys industry.

As a result of the study, it is found that a complete ban on RealDoll infringes on individuals' right to pursue happiness guaranteed by the Constitution and in most cases, cannot be implemented without loopholes. Therefore, it is suggested that the import regulation on RealDolls should be changed to the negative list system, which selectively disapproves certain RealDolls based on a list of RealDolls previously denied clearance by either the Supreme Court or the Customs Clearance Screening Committee. In addition, to have sufficient ethical and legal grounds, it is necessary to expand research on RealDolls regulation and actively introduce the process of obtaining social consensus.

There has been little discussion on regulating RealDolls on the customs clearance level; no specific criterion exists except the public morality clause. This study is vital in that it reviews issues of RealDolls customs clearance from legal and ethical perspectives. Doing so also has a practical significance of providing implications for the customs policies regarding items deemed pernicious to public morality.

This study aims to explain the mutual interaction between digital accounting systems and information technology in public sector transformation, Jordan Customs.

This paper adopts an interpretive case study approach. This study uses the triangulation method of data collection, including interviews, observations, documents and archival records. It responds to the recent call by Myers and Newman (2007, p. 1) as “The qualitative interview is one of the most important data gathering tools in qualitative research, yet it has remained an unexamined craft in IS research.”

This paper concludes that the digital accounting systems and information technology are inextricably linked; each leads to the other. The interaction process between digital accounting systems and information technology helps identify and recognize the dynamics that have been manifested between them. The relationships between the information technology and digital accounting dynamics at the inherent organizational and accounting levels are both recursive and have two-way, with the two concepts inextricably interwoven.

The specificity of location and organization type in the case study impede the generalization of the findings. Digital accounting systems bind organizations to fundamental choices about how their accounting activities should be organized as unquestioned choices. This paper thus has important implications for academics and practitioners on accounting systems and information technology in responding to recent calls to bridge the gap between the extra- and intraorganizational levels of analysis.

The originality of this research is that dealing with digital government development and accounting systems and rules does not limit one to tackling only technical issues. These two pivotal digitalization and accounting reforms can lead to accounting changes and new organizational approaches, thus affecting public organizations’ economic and political lives. To the best of the authors’ knowledge, this paper is one of the few case studies in the information technology and accounting literature to analyze organizations’ digitalization issues when changing their way of doing as influenced by information technology.

Customs risk management has been widely recognized as a powerful tool to balance between trade facilitation and revenue maximization. However, most customs administrations worldwide, particularly in developing countries, are suffering from a lack of experience and knowledge to assess their risk management systems for revenue protection (RP). Customs risk management has a very limited legacy in the literature. Academic research is quite scarce and very limited, although its relevance to customs administrations. This paper aims to identify the key risk profiles and indicators that contribute to the protection of customs revenue and investigate the role of these risk profiles and indicators on customs RP using the case of Jordan Customs.

This study adopts a panel data approach by using the case of Jordan Customs. Data were collected from the risk targeting and selectivity system at Jordan Customs for the year 2019, a total of 600 observations.

The findings show that all risk targeting criteria except random selectivity (RS) and HS code have a significant positive association with RP. The findings also revealed that RS is an effective tool to prevent traders with fraud and offenses history from a prediction of targeting patterns and to assess the traders’ compliance and make sure their declarations are free from fraud or offenses. Moreover, the findings of this study indicate that customs administrations should adopt alternative programs such as authorized economic operator and post clearance audit as an effective means to measure and improve compliance.

The main contribution of this study lies in proposing a model to assist customs administrations in assessing the performance of risk management systems to protect revenue. This model provides a comprehensive conceptualization and explanations necessary for numerous aspects of risk management projects and it assists to predict the outcomes based on formulated indicators.

This study provides guidelines for risk analysts on how to identify and assess the key risk profiles and indicators that effect on maximizing the detection of revenue leakage and to obtain interpretable and predictable results. In addition, the findings of this study will assist customs administrations in supporting revenue collection, minimizing uncertainty, allocating resources more effectively to target high-risk consignments, while simplifying the procedures for the safe consignments.

This paper is of significant value because it is one of the preliminary studies that empirically identify the risk indicators/profiles that contribute to the protection of revenue and investigate the predictive power of these risk indicators/profiles as a key predictor to protect customs revenue.

The purpose of this study is to identify the risks associated with money laundering in the scope of non-oil products export and related strategies to manage them.

The statistical population of the research was the managers and experts of the Islamic Republic of Iran Customs Administration in Tehran. The sample needed for qualitative interviews was collected to the extent of theoretical saturation through a targeted judgment sampling. The qualitative data was analyzed by thematic analysis. In sum, 20 interviews were conducted.

Out of 181 subcategories extracted from verbal propositions, 41 core categories were extracted. In this way, 23 subcategories constructed final codes, 6 codes were export risks and 70 codes were final and 12 codes constructed strategy of export risk management.

This qualitative study provides the first exploration of the state-of-art on export risk management and money laundering.

In today’s world, the prevention and detection of corruption offences are becoming increasingly important. The most important tasks are to create an intolerant public attitude towards this phenomenon, to monitor it in dynamics and to develop new ways of combating it, responding to the development and improvement of criminal techniques. The purpose of this paper is to study the practice of introducing e-customs, the possible prospects related to the creation of an intellectual customs office.

An analytical method was used, including the study of scientific literature and publications, current legislation, statistics, customs plans and practices and foreign experience.

It is indicated that the variability of the nature and methods of committing crimes in the context of the Fourth Industrial Revolution makes it appropriate to formulate corruption as a formal offence.

This study may be of use to students and academics, as well as practitioners in customs, law enforcement agencies and legislative bodies.

Suggestions have been made to improve approaches to planning work towards digitalisation in the customs sector, in terms of analysing and considering the potential for corruption-proneness and anti-corruption potential of innovations, exploring the use of blockchain for conducting procedures, maintaining registers and other record-keeping systems.

This study aims to investigate the motives for and the benefits of authorized economic operator (AEO) certification in the supply chain. Also, whether there are significant differences in the perception of the AEO status as a necessity or privilege among cargo owners and service providers.

The research design includes an international survey of 159 AEO-certified companies from four European Union (EU) countries performing various roles in the supply chain. The data are analyzed using quantitative methods, including factor analysis and analysis of variance.

Based on factor analysis, the research reveals the motives for and benefits of AEO certification. This reveals significant differences between two distinct groups of supply chain participants, namely, cargo owners and service providers. Service providers are mainly driven by the need to gain or maintain their competitive advantage and treat AEO certification as a standard that is required by customers. Cargo owners are relatively more focused on the improvement of internal processes and treat AEO certification as a privilege that helps them achieve a high level of efficiency.

The study fills the existing literature gap as it focuses on the differences between two distinct groups (cargo owners and service providers) in terms of their perception of the AEO certification. As empirical research in this area is scarce, especially at the cross-country level, this study also significantly complements knowledge on AEO certification in the EU.

Discussion of security in supply chains has been intensified since the tragedy of 9/11 in the United States. The World Customs Organization's SAFE Framework with its Authorized Economic Operators (AEO) program is one of the prominent supply chain security initiatives. At the time of its introduction in 2005, 168 member countries signed their support for its implementation. However, the last AEO Compendium reports only 69 countries currently have AEO program in place. This relatively slow development indicates the complexity of issues that might challenge countries to implement the initiative. Against this background, this paper aims to look at the AEO implementation in an environment where supply chain security initiative is relatively new. It focuses on policy development perspectives where the case study of Indonesia might represent challenges of other countries. Involving methods of desk research, interviews, and field observation, this paper starts with the development of various international supply chain security programs where the AEO finds it prominence. It follows with a discussion on the Indonesian AEO implementation where challenges and its policy development process are explored.

Electronic government (e-government) is perceived as an effective tool to enhance accountability in public organizations. However, e-government implementation to enhance accountability is still unclear and involves many complex processes because of the multiple accountabilities disorder. The e-government elements that contribute to mitigate the disorders and dysfunctions of accountability relationships are still underdeveloped in the current literature. This paper aims to provide understanding on how e-government enhances public organizations’ accountability by highlighting the key elements of e-government that mitigate the disorders and dysfunctions of accountability relationships.

This study adopts a qualitative case study approach by using the case of Jordan Customs. Data were collected using a triangulation approach that involved semi-structured interviews, document reviews and observation.

The findings revealed that the e-government elements that mitigate the disorders and dysfunctions of accountability relationships are classified into three contexts, namely, technological, environmental and organizational aspects. The technological elements include systems integration, single window and electronic connectivity. The environmental elements embrace public participation and partnership council. The organizational elements comprise having well-defined strategic plan and risk management approach.

This study contributes and gives further insight into how to address the confusion, fuzziness and dysfunctions in accountability relationships existing in the literature by providing several success elements that mitigate the problematic of disorder between accountability relationships in public organizations. The paper highlights the need to investigate further elements, particularly, in the organizational context, to assist public organizations in improving their performance to enhance accountability in their operations.

This study provides guidelines for future e-government implementation strategy in public organizations, particularly, in the context of developing countries, as most of the recent studies of e-government in developing countries indicated that they are suffering from difficulty of managing e-government implementation to promote accountability successfully and are struggling with a lack of resources and experiences to handle this new trend of technology.

This study is of a significant value, as it is one of the preliminary studies that empirically extend the accountability dimensions suggested by Koppell (2005) with the key success elements of e-government that enhance accountability proposed by Heeks (1998b) and other current literature. This paper enriches the body of literature by providing some new key success elements of e-government that enhance accountability in public organizations. It also contributes to the expansion of the boundaries of knowledge by adding further interpretation on how these elements reduce the existing confusions and dysfunctions in accountability relationships.

The purpose of this paper is to investigate effects on global supply chain reconfigured in the customs duty rate of parts and specific material types brought about by Brexit and the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP).

The supply chain network is modeled and formulated using mixed integer programming. Numerical experiments are conducted using bill of materials with information such as the procurement cost of each part, 3D-CAD and an industry census.

The experiments indicates that if the customs duty rate increases by Brexit, manufacturers would be necessary to restructure supply chain configuration and locate the domestic factory and market. Additionally, when the UK leaves the EU and joins the TPP, there is a case where the total cost decreases in the global supply chain network compared to the baseline without Brexit. Therefore, it is reasonable for the UK to join the TPP.

The study shows how new trading rules from non-partnership countries can critically disrupt existing global supply chain equilibrium. Asian manufacturers should evaluate a move to more local sourcing, opening new facilities and setting up warehouses to stock finished goods or raw materials in different trading areas to overcome any barriers to the goods movement.

This study enables us to quantitatively evaluate what there are opportunities or cost increasing risks by the selection of supply chain configuration for Asian manufacturers by political and economic factors of each country, such as Brexit and participation in TPP.

This paper aims to explain the implementation process of risk management (RM) practices as a trade facilitation initiative in a public organization undergoing public sector reform and modernization processes in Jordan.

The paper draws on the institutional theory and presents a qualitative case study of Jordan Customs (JC). It synthesizes an institutional isomorphism framework to interpret the interplay between the JC institutional environment and the JC RM practices. The data were collected and analyzed by using the triangulation of interviews, observations and documents.

The study findings reveal that JC has experienced institutional pressures that mobilize the emerging of RM as a managerial tool that contributes to facilitating international trade, improving state revenues and reducing the public budget deficit. To be internationally recognized, JC benchmark its RM practices with international practices recommended by International Agencies such as World Customs Organizations (WCO). The study concludes that RM practices have been tailored and aligned with the JC’s external and internal context and role and RM has been embedded as an integral part of all organizational processes including strategic and business planning, as well as all accounting change and management activities. The study finds that coercive, normative and mimetic pressures are the driving forces with coercive mechanisms being the most influential.

This paper has important implications for practitioners, academics and students, as well as international donors especially U.S. Agency for International Development. It mainly depends on the analysis of documents and records to elucidate the development of RM, yet corroborated by interviews. It also uses a retrospective approach with interviewees being asked to describe, explain and reflect upon the events they had experienced during the JC change processes.

This paper significantly contributes to the scarce of knowledge that currently exists about RM in the public sector of developing countries and in particular “customs administrations.” It recognizes how the public sector in Jordan responded to the international community and WCO’s recommendation in implementing RM.

This study shows that JC’s experience of institutional pressures mobilized by the enactment of RM as a managerial tool that enabled a higher quality of custom services, trade facilitation, improvement of state revenues and a reduction of the state’s budget deficit.