Hans Pieters World Customs Organization

Hans Pieters joined the World Customs Organization (WCO) in October 2018 as the Head of Administration and Personnel. In this capacity he oversees the Organization’s Accounting Service, the Information and Telecommunications Service, the Employee Service Unit, the Communications and Events Service, the Interpretation Service, the Publications Service and Central Service. He oversees all Human Resource matters and advises the Secretary General on a wide range of policy and technical matters being discussed in the Organization. He is also responsible for the WCO Finance Committee, and contributes to the organization and execution of the Organization’s Audit Committee, Policy Commission and Council. He previously served as personal advisor to the Belgian Minister of Finance, Mr. Johan Van Overtveldt, on all matters related to Customs and excise. In this role, he was leading the technical negotiations on new legislative initiatives on these topics within the Belgian Government. He was also in charge of preparing the Minister’s interventions in Parliament, as well as addressing queries coming from the media. Furthermore, he was the Minister’s representative in the Belgian Customs’ Management Team, which meets on a weekly basis to discuss the day-to-day management of the Administration. Prior to his work at the Cabinet of the Minister of Finance, Mr. Pieters worked for the Belgian Customs and Excise Administration. In 2013 he was the youngest ever officer to be appointed as Belgium’s Permanent Representative at the WCO. During that time he was also responsible for all bilateral non-EU relations and was in charge of coordinating a number of trade facilitation projects (e.g. Smart and Secure Trade Lanes, Green Lanes, Benelux-India project on paperless Customs, among others). Moreover, in 2016, he chaired one of three working groups dedicated to the strategic reform of the Organization and the development of the new Strategic Plan. From 2011 to 2013 he worked as a Customs officer at Brussels airport, starting as a field officer conducting inspections of import and export cargo, as well as postal parcels. Later he had the opportunity to lead a small team dealing with all regularization claims concerning Customs declarations. He holds a Master of Arts Degree in English and Spanish from Ghent University, a Master of Arts Degree in Multilingual Business Communication from Antwerp University and a Master of Science Degree in Customs and Supply Chain Compliance from the Rotterdam School of Management, Erasmus University. During his Bachelor of Arts Degree in English and Spanish, he also studied at the Universidad de Valladolid in Spain. In addition to Dutch (mother tongue), English and Spanish, he is also fluent in French and has notions of German and Portuguese.