Articles under section " Focus "

In order to provide a clear understanding of practices relating to the role of brokers, including institutional frameworks and the regulatory/licensing requirements, and to further provide guidance to its Members, the WCO developed a Study Report on Customs Brokers. Besides reviewing Members’ pra...

Of the 99 reporting administrations, 72 stated that the use of Customs brokers was optional. Nine reported that the use of Customs brokers for Customs transactions was mandatory. Fourteen indicated that the use of Customs brokers was mandatory, except for certain specified categories of Customs clea...

Of the 95 reporting administrations which have set out some sort of mechanism for Customs brokers, 84 require Customs brokers, and wherever applicable third parties, to meet certain requirements before being allowed to handle Customs clearances. Detailed results on the requirements as well as their ...

Challenges Consideration: Challenges posed by some brokers, including informal/unauthorized brokers, could be met to some extent by increased use of information and communications technology (ICT), the application of demonstrative sanctions and penalties in appropriate cases, and through constan...

Bilateral consultation, including through a brokers association (in a few cases by way of a Memorandum of Understanding, or MoU – e.g. Bhutan, Moldova, and Uruguay), is the most prevalent mechanism stated by 76 reporting administrations. Sixty-six countries have a broad consultative process involv...

With the entry into force of the WTO Agreement on Trade Facilitation (TFA), some governments face a renewed urgency to modernize and reform their Customs administrations over the next few years. Fortunately, one of the main priorities for the international donor community is to ensure the effective ...

This is a time when there is a high level of interest worldwide in the use of Customs brokers, especially the value of Customs brokers in creating efficiencies for moving goods across borders in a cost effective way, and in securing revenue while protecting the public interest. Yet, Customs brokers ...

While many traded goods can be correctly identified and classified by simple visual inspection or documentation review, some require chemical or scientific testing to ascertain their identity and enable their correct classification. Products as diverse as acetaminophen (a pharmaceutical product), sa...

In Japan, about 920 companies or individuals are engaged in Customs brokerage as of April 2016. The Japanese Customs broker regime has the following characteristics: the use of a broker is optional; brokers require a licence to operate; brokers must employ qualified staff; and brokers may apply to ...

At the end of July 1882, a strange package arrived at the Madrid Customs laboratory which was under the direction of Gabriel de la Puerta-Ródenas, a Spanish chemist who lived from 1839-1908. Destined for Spain’s Prime Minister, the Spanish authorities, fearing for the Prime Minister’s life, dec...

In Cameroon, a licensed Customs broker (LCB) plays a very important role in the national supply chain. The national directory of LCBs lists almost 200 brokers, with the number changing as licences are withdrawn or brokers cease their activities. Under the current regulations it is compulsory to use ...

Ninety-three percent of federal government respondents to a recent survey by Unisys Corp. said that the quality and speed of decision-making improved when applying data analytics; yet nearly 70% reported that they are concerned about their agency’s ability to analyse key data rather than simply co...

On 18 February 2015, the General Directorate of Customs (DGA) of the Dominican Republic officially opened a modern scientific laboratory occupying a site measuring 1,217 square metres in the city of Santo Domingo. The facility has an uninterruptible power supply (UPS), an emergency generator, kitche...

Numerous media outlets often publish alarming articles about the dire state of the environment, but is this really the case? The answer to this is, unfortunately, an unambiguous YES! Even rudimentary research substantiates that the environment, in all its facets, is deplorably under severe threat an...

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The opportunity As enhanced trade facilitation and refined Customs risk management strategies make possible the opportunity for common Customs frameworks and modernization efforts, such as regional Single Window initiatives, it is critical to educate both the public and private sector on the benef...

Over the past decade the global security environment has evolved, allowing rogue nation-states, sanctioned terrorist organizations, and violent criminal syndicates to operate on a transnational scale, converging in pursuit of common objectives. Today, these illicit actors are deeply embedded within...

In June 2015, when the partially decomposed body of an unidentified little girl, known as Baby Doe, was found in a trash bag on a beach on Deer Island in Boston Harbour, the National Center for Missing & Exploited Children in the United States (US) contacted US Customs and Border Protection’s...

In one word: Yes! At least, that is the experience of the Danish Customs and Tax Administration (SKAT). There are, of course, issues to be considered and addressed before taking the decision to use a private laboratory as a Customs laboratory, but once the issues have been addressed, it is entirely ...

Launched in October 2014, the INAMA project aims to strengthen the enforcement capacity of Customs administrations in Sub-Saharan Africa, while focusing on the illegal trade in wildlife, particularly on species listed in the appendices of the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species o...

For years, Customs administrations have been able to transform the raw information they collect on drugs, weapons, and humans trafficking into data which could be analysed to provide meaningful insights in the fight against these illegal activities. However, when it comes to the illicit trade in cu...

In late December 2010, the news broke about a Seattle court case involving counterfeit honey. A 70-year old Bellevue, Washington man, Chung Po Liu, had been sentenced to a year and a day in prison and was ordered to pay 400,000 US dollars (USD) in restitution for importing falsely declared Chinese h...

Changing strategies Then the Chinese exporters changed their strategy. This time the shipments were sent from China, but they weren’t declared as honey. The shipping documents labelled the cargo as sugar syrup. “They began to adulterate the honey with sugar syrups in an effort to find another ...

The Montreal Protocol on Substances that Deplete the Ozone Layer has been in the news a great deal recently. This is something quite unusual for a ‘lesser known’ convention. But how has this landmark environmental treaty, which some see as the most successful international agreement of any kind,...

The WCO organized the first edition of its Global Transit Conference from 10 to 11 July 2017 with the double objective of stimulating discussions on how to improve transit regimes and to promote the Organization’s newly published ‘Transit Guidelines.’ Many speakers and participants highlighted...

With the diffusion of user-friendly technologies and increasing penetration of the Internet globally, e-commerce is witnessing exponential growth: the global online retail market now topping 1 trillion US dollars a year, and is set to double within four years. Some of these online transactions are c...

A decade ago, transit of goods in Central America suffered from lack of coordination of border agencies, cumbersome and slow Customs and administrative procedures, and limited use of information technologies. More precisely, exporters with shipments in transit had to clear Customs at each side of co...

Many countries have seen a significant and rapid growth in the volume of low-value imports of physical goods on which duties and taxes are not collected. There are growing concerns about matters related to potential revenue loss, fraud, and the disadvantages experienced by domestic retailers. There...

When it comes to Customs, Europe is at a turning point. In a globalized and fast-paced world, where trade is becoming increasingly liberalized, the role of Customs is changing. Governments around the world are increasingly emphasizing the removal of barriers and the creation of a seamless flow of go...

This section of the magazine gathers several articles addressing the topic of illicit financial flows (IFFs), including its links to the smuggling of minerals such as gold. The first article gives an overview of the discussions which took place during the WCO Conference on Illicit Financial Flows an...

Cross-border e-commerce is increasing sharply in Korea. This is not surprising given that the country ranked No.1 in the world in terms of Internet connection speed at the beginning of 2015, and that the Korean economy is extremely dependent on foreign trade. However, the increase poses a number of...

Borderless Alliance is a private sector-led initiative that was established in 2012 to promote free movement of goods in West Africa through the removal of trade and transport barriers, and the simplification and harmonization of procedures. Consequently, it envisions a West Africa, where a truck ca...

Illicit financial flows (IFFs) have been an issue of increasing concern over the past two decades, with many discussions, raising questions on what IFFs include, what we know about them, and how they can be measured. Estimates of the scale of the phenomenon have played a key role in attracting atten...

The rapid growth in e-commerce has facilitated Australia’s increasing domestic appetite for Internet-based trading and online shopping. Although recent online growth has been more subdued than the 20-30% annual growth rates recorded in earlier years, it is expected that growth will continue and vo...

Monitoring and combating illicit financial flows (IFFs) represent a substantial challenge to all countries. This is particularly true for Germany with its growing significance as a financial centre. This article introduces the German Customs organizational structure and work processes to detect IFF...

Organizational structure Germany’s authorities and, in particular, the German Customs administration, are taking up the challenge: the fight against IFFs that make use of the facilities provided by financial regulations, and the offshore secrecy system. In Germany, IFFs include various criminal ...

Opportunities E-commerce ─ broadly defined as the use of the Internet as a platform for sales, sourcing, and the exchange of market information ─ will play an increasingly important role in supporting global economic growth. According to the McKinsey Global Institute, e-commerce’s share of t...

The WCO has taken measures and developed tools to ensure business continuity within its working bodies during the current exceptional circumstances caused by the COVID-19 pandemic. In consultation with the Council Chairperson and Vice-Chairpersons, as well as the Chairpersons and Vice-Chairpersons o...

Some 140 delegates, representing Customs administrations, international organizations and the private sector, participated in the meeting. Over the seven-week period of the meeting, more than 390 contributions and comments were submitted by 32 administrations, seven observers and the Secretariat. ...

Three West African countries announced the publication of a joint portal for Customs verification of minerals at this year’s Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) Forum for Responsible Mineral Supply Chains[1]. The portal allows Customs officers around the world to look up...

The COVID-19 pandemic has caused a major shift in how we work, live and engage with each other – both on a personal and a professional level. After the initial shockwave, and following an adjustment period, we now find ourselves in a situation that is commonly referred to as ‘the new normal’. ...

The context: providing support despite COVID-19 travel constraints Capacity building and technical assistance-related activities have traditionally primarily been delivered face-to-face. When it became evident that travel restrictions were likely to remain in place for months, the team in charge o...

Although Burkina Faso has long been regarded as a land lacking in natural resources, over the space of just a few years, the country has been transformed into a mining player specializing in the production of gold. Among the reasons for this growth in the country’s extractive industries are the ta...

Gold exports The gold exported by the industrial mines is sold to Metalor Technologies International, a Switzerland-based limited company, which specializes in the refining of precious metals. Artisanal miners, individual gold panners and holders of artisanal production permits are obliged to hand...

This section of the magazine gathers several articles on the “Blockchain,” a term which refers to a type of data structure that identifies and tracks transactions digitally and shares this information across a distributed network of computers. Blockchain is one type of distributed ledger: distri...

In terms of governance, Blockchain technology is decentralized. There is, however, an operator function that sets the rules for everyone in the network, along with regulators and government agencies. If the network detects that something “untoward” may be going on, the associated individual part...

The International Convention on the Simplification and Harmonization of Customs Procedures, known as the Kyoto Convention, was adopted on 19 May 1973 and entered into force on 25 September 1974 with 63 Contracting Parties. Twenty years later, in 1994, a decision to revise the Convention was taken, ...

RKC review: rationale and scope It is now 20 years since the adoption of the current RKC by the WCO Council in 1999. Though no amendments have been carried out thus far, comprehensive Guidelines relating to the General Annex and Specific Annexes of the RKC were developed at an early stage to assis...

During the RKC review process, several underlying principles and issues were identified by the Members, including in particular: the renewed importance of promoting modern and efficient Customs procedures to both facilitate legitimate trade and ensure security; the significance and strengths of the...

To date, African countries have been only moderately affected by the COVID‑19 pandemic.[1] Governments took measures promptly: as early as March 2020, borders were closed except for goods, large gatherings were banned, curfews imposed and capital cities locked down, teleworking was introduced in e...

The specific features of the COVID‑19 crisis and Customs involvement The consequences of this crisis and the counter-measures taken by governments, such as lockdown and the closure of borders, were difficult to predict. At the start of the crisis, analyses indicated dramatic effects on economic cy...

The border is a national asset. To boost national competitiveness, facilitating legitimate cross-border trade must be high on every government’s agenda. The World Trade Organization (WTO) estimates that ratification of the Trade Facilitation Agreement could boost global trade by up to 1 trillion U...

Blockchain: a new perspective for cross-border trade Two years ago, blockchain was still largely a buzzword. Today, it’s high on the agenda of most leading Customs and trade organizations. Rather than asking whether blockchain should be applied, the question is when and where. With so much buzz ...

WCO Members have been drawing and sharing lessons from their experiences in combating illicit trade associated with Free Zones (FZs) for decades now. One lesson is that there is a need for effective or better monitoring and control by Customs over these zones. However, changing existing FZ regimes r...

WCO research paper Many papers, such as those produced by the Financial Action Task Force (2010), the International Chamber of Commerce (2013), INTERPOL (2013), Viski et al. (2016), The Economist (2018), the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (2018), and McKinsey & Company ...

Every year, procurement officers and supply chain professionals are confronted by a myriad of natural disasters, factory fires, corporate restructuring and other disruptive events that have slowed their supply chains or even brought them to a halt. But for many it took the COVID-19 pandemic, a black...

This disruption is especially evident in China, where 460,000 factories shut down in the first quarter of the year, according to one big data service company, and 4,800 Chinese companies issued force majeure notifications in early March. This weighs heavily on the global supply chain since more than...

The movement of goods and means of transport from, across or to, the European Union (EU) involves many actors in the supply chain who must exchange information and comply with several pieces of EU legislation and, in particular, with Customs, transport, environmental protection, safety, and security...

Computers identify websites with an IP address, a long string of numbers separated by periods, which are difficult for humans to remember. Websites also have an address, made up of alphanumeric letters that usually spell out a word or brand name, called a domain name. Since the creation of the inter...

However, the availability of this data to law enforcement authorities and other good actors has been significantly reduced as a result of the European Union’s General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR), which went into effect in May 2018. Overreaction based on fears of GDPR’s potential for cripp...

Ukraine declared itself an independent country on 24 August 1991 and, shortly afterwards, established its own Customs Service. As it is the case for any new organization, the challenge was to find highly qualified specialists and focus was consequently placed on the training of newly recruited offic...

  The Department also selects and trains dogs and dog handler teams, manages the logistics and infrastructure of the Dog Training Centre (kennels, vehicles and training tools used), ensures participation by Ukrainian dog handler teams in special events, and cooperates with other agencies at int...

All countries have regulations to ensure that products available on the market do not endanger consumers and workers. In this section of the magazine, we asked market surveillance authorities and Customs administrations to share their experience regarding controlling the compliance of imported produ...

The WCO Secretariat organized the second edition of its Global Origin Conference, held from 10 to 12 March 2021, with the objective of stimulating the exchange of knowledge on the management and implementation of rules of origin, both from a Customs and a trade operator perspective. Funded by the K...

A study on the use of FTAs by European importers[2] was presented during the Conference. It showed that company size and the preference margin do not matter, but that transaction values and the experience of the importer do. In the case of the AfCFTA, manufacturers may need to restructure production...

Lack of clarity and consistency is what really determines whether an FTA achieves its objectives or not As Customs administrations play a key role in the administration of rules of origin, they are well placed to address the inconsistencies and confusion attaching to procedures laid down in trade ag...

The Inter-American Development Bank (IADB) has been supporting the development of a blockchain solution to enable automated, secure and efficient information sharing on Authorized Economic Operators (AEOs) among the Customs administrations of Mexico, Peru and Costa Rica to ensure the efficient impl...

To inform each other, designated Customs officers in each administration send, by email, an excel file containing the data elements that the countries agreed to exchange on their respective AEOs. Customs administrations engaged in an MRA also determine the period during which data should be exchange...

In Peru, the COVID-19 pandemic led to a contraction of the volume of exports and imports, which has negatively impacted tax revenues. However, the crisis did not stop the supply of goods deemed critical to deal with the pandemic, nor did it stop the imports and exports vital to supporting the countr...

Adjusting to a new reality The measures aimed at supporting the continuity of foreign trade operations during the pandemic included: the suspension of deadlines related to the completion of Customs procedures, to preclude goods from being classed as legally abandoned, as well as the suspension of d...

In April 2020, the WCO Secretariat drew up a list of medical products which are generally used to diagnose or treat COVID-19, with their respective HS codes. The aim was to help governments to get an overall idea of trade in and stocks of these suddenly much sought-after products and to allow them t...

Preparation stage An indicative list of targeted products and their HS codes was drawn up. These were, in particular, test kits, reagents and diagnostic test instruments, protective clothing, thermometers, medical devices, and drugs and precursors used to treat the illness. Illicit medicines in ge...

Results A total of 51 administrations carried out 1,683 seizures or detentions, with 12 administrations reporting the broad majority: Qatar, the United Kingdom, Peru, Portugal, China, Togo, the United States, Denmark, Norway, Nigeria, Namibia and Hungary. The products seized or detained included t...

The following article is not intended to be a scholarly or even comprehensive review of past or current activities under the World Trade Organization’s Agreement on Rules of Origin, or a detailed analysis of the differences between preferential versus non-preferential rules of origin (which I am ...

The Costs Presenters at the recent WCO Global Origin Conference outlined many business challenges associated with the inherent uncertainty of non-preferential rules of origin and many of their financial and non-financial impacts (e.g. punitive taxes, sanctions, fines, penalties, shipment delays, a...

“Did you pack this bag yourself?” It’s a question many of us are used to being asked when checking in at an airport. For a shipping container, the situation is more complex. Most organizations never communicate directly with the party that stuffed the container. Underpinned by blo...

A global data pipeline TradeLens realizes the ‘data pipeline’ concept developed by respected career Customs officers, Frank Heijmann and David Hesketh, and others, which was explored in various European Union (EU) research projects, such as ITaide, Cassandra, and Integrity. Collaborati...

The Kingdom of Saudi Arabia was among the first countries to respond to the global COVID‑19 pandemic, adopting a series of measures designed to prevent the virus from spreading. Saudi Customs has followed the Government’s lead by imposing strict internal and external precautionary measures while...

Safety First Strategy At the end of February 2020, a “Safety First Strategy” was adopted. It consisted of three phases: Before, During and After. Throughout the “Before” phase, which lasted only a few days, preventive and precautionary measures were implemented in order to ensure the safet...

Market surveillance system In Italy, responsibilities for market surveillance are met by the Ministry of Economic Development (hereinafter MISE), as well as by other sector-specific agencies, such as the Ministry of Health, which is in charge of assessing the conformity of medical devices, and the...

Where the release for free circulation is suspended, Italian Customs must immediately notify the competent market surveillance agency, which is given three working days to perform a preliminary investigation and to decide if the products can be released or must be detained for further checks on thei...

Binding Origin Information (BOI) refers to a written decision issued by a Customs administration that certifies the origin of goods. Also known as an “advance ruling regarding the origin of goods”, such a decision is usually binding on the applicant and on the Customs authorities for a given amo...

BOI in Germany German Customs issued 1,239 Binding Origin Information decisions in 2020. This number has remained around the same level over the past few years. The vast majority of decisions were related to the application and interpretation of a product-specific rule of origin under one of the E...

The International Convention on the Simplification and Harmonization of Customs Procedures (Kyoto Convention) entered into force in 1974. To keep pace with the evolution of governments and international trade, the Kyoto Convention was revised in the 1990s and entered into force as the Revised Kyoto ...

In its current state, Specific Annex K offers a low level of detail and has been ratified by only a few Members; as a result, it amounts to little more than guidance regarding some aspects of rules of origin. In the absence of a multilateral instrument, non-preferential rules of origin remain a mat...

The Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS) signed a Memorandum of Understanding with its Hong Kong counterpart in November 2017 to jointly develop a cross-border distributed ledger technology (DLT) based infrastructure that will link up digital trade platforms and the growing number of trade-related ...

“If it ain’t broke, why fix it?” TradeNet is almost 30 years old. Launched in 1989, when the Internet was still the domain of academics and researchers, it was well ahead of its time and its successful implementation captured the imagination of many – most aptly in the 1990 Harvard Busines...

In the Netherlands, the Customs Administration supervises the flow of goods that enter or leave the European Union (EU) via the country’s external borders. “Supervision” is to be understood in a broad sense, and includes all acts aimed at establishing compliance with the wide range of legislat...

Cooperation between the NVWA and Dutch Customs is facilitated by covenants signed at ministerial level. Although enforcing regulations at the border is not the NVWA’s core business, we would like, in this article, to open the discussion on how to improve this cooperation, especially in the area of...

Improving joint risk assessment Although controls are organized to be as seamless as possible for trade, the joint risk assessment process does have scope for improvement. Even though they share a mutual ambition to address risks efficiently and effectively, Customs and the NVWA do not share the s...

In Nigeria, the authority responsible for ensuring that foods, drugs, cosmetics, medical devices, chemicals, detergents and packaged water leaving or reaching Nigeria’s shores meet prescribed quality standards is the National Agency for Food and Drug Administration and Control (NAFDAC). NAFDAC off...

The establishment of a good working relationship between the NCS and NAFDAC has set in motion effective and efficient control processes enabling both agencies to safeguard human health and protect the environment. This collaboration is especially welcomed in times of crisis, such as the COVID-19 pan...