Articles under section " Dossier: Managing E-Commerce "

E-commerce has been a major topic of discussions at the WCO over the past 10 years, reflecting the growing importance of e-commerce business models in most economies and the variety of challenges they pose to Customs administrations worldwide. Consumer behaviour has shifted profoundly. Habits formed...

To shed light on the various e-commerce business models and develop pragmatic and concerted solutions for managing the cross-border movement of goods they generate, in 2016, in partnership with the private sector, other international organizations, e-vendors/platforms, express service providers, pos...

In less than a decade, e-commerce has redrawn the global trade landscape. Once a marginal channel for cross-border sales, it is now the backbone of international consumer trade. Between 2014 and 2024, global retail e-commerce sales expanded from around USD 1.3 trillion to nearly USD 7 trillion. ...

The United States provides a striking example. In fiscal year 2024, 1.36 billion parcels entered under the Section 321 de minimis threshold – almost four million shipments per day. Retail associations estimate that the value of these imports exceeded USD 67 billion in 2023. Almost all entered ...

What was once an administrative convenience has become a point of contention at the intersection of trade facilitation, fiscal policy and industrial strategy. Platforms are now under additional scrutiny: as parcel thresholds are tightened, they are being asked to shoulder new compliance responsibili...

The e-commerce supply chain is both data-rich and data-driven. In this article, China Customs outlines how it is harnessing the digital nature of the e-commerce sector in order to strengthen its monitoring and enforcement capabilities. The WCO defines cross-border e-commerce as “All transactions...

Harnessing a data-rich environment China’s E-Commerce Law, in effect since 2019, stipulates that “cross-border e-commerce operators may complete relevant procedures with national import and export administrative departments using electronic documents”. This legislative framework has enabled ...

Smart image reading system Postal operators and couriers are required either to scan all processed parcels using an X-ray machine and transmit the resulting images and data to Customs or to set aside parcels specifically flagged by Customs for further inspection. These selected parcels are then X-ra...

When Dubai Customs unveiled its blockchain-based e-commerce facilitation platform in early 2020,[1] it was initially viewed as an ambitious experiment. It was the first of its kind among the Customs community, designed to provide full visibility and traceability over e-commerce supply chains by con...

To be registered on the platform, a company involved in e-commerce trade must have a legal presence in Dubai, be registered in the Dubai Customs Registration system and operate through a free zone, and hold a Tax Registration Number (TRN). Importation and exportation must be managed through free zon...

Norway is the first country in Europe to design a general system for the taxation of low-value cross-border e-commerce transactions in accordance with the OECD guidelines for the application of VAT to international trade. In 2024, the threshold under which items were not subject to VAT was removed ...

Norway was not the only country looking to solve this problem. In 2015, the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) published their report entitled “Addressing the Tax Challenges of the Digital Economy”, recommending to reassign the responsibility for VAT collection to non-...

The SAT is steadily advancing in the modernization of customs processes related to cross-border e-commerce, consolidating Guatemala’s position as a regional benchmark in trade facilitation and intelligent customs control. Data-driven modernization technology In 2019, with the support of the Worl...

Expedited Clearance of Courier Shipments International e-commerce has led to a substantial increase in express courier shipments. To meet this demand, the SAT implemented a specific procedure for personal-use consignments valued up to USD 1,000, equivalent to the low-value category defined by the ...

In its first phase, the CDS will be used by SAT-authorized users. In the second, it will integrate with institutional databases to automate the receipt and processing of information about senders, recipients, content, and countries of origin—streamlining clearance and strengthening control. For sh...

E-commerce has become a dominant form of cross-border trade in Korea. This article highlights the initiatives taken by the Customs administration to increase its enforcement capacities in this domain while facilitating clearance to meet public expectations. The Korea Customs Service (KCS) defines ...

The system applies machine learning and deep learning for large sets of declarations, leveraging seizure history databases. It complements traditional tools such as rule-based analysis and data mining. In 2025, focus was put on shipments transported via postal operators and express delivery companie...