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The African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA), approved in 2012 by the African Union’s (AU) 18th Ordinary Session of Assembly of Heads of State and Government, is one of the Flagship Projects … of the AU’s Agenda 2063. The Action Plan for Boosting intra-African trade has a strong focus on accelerating intra-African trade and boosting Africa’s trading position in the global market, in particular through implementation of trade facilitation standards and tools. We provide a brief overview of AfCFTA rules of origin.

Editors' note: We are starting a series of articles on the most important legal aspects of the proposed EU Customs Reform. This article deals with the concept of 'Trust and Check Trader', an … enhanced version of the 'Authorised Economic Operator' concept. The author describes the relevant part of the Impact Assessment prepared alongside the legislative proposals, the differences of treatment between future Trust and Check Traders and other economic operators, and provides an assessment of the proposed changes.

Skaitytojo klausimas: Skaitome aktualijas iš Jungtinės Karalystės apie jų kuriamą efektyviausią pasaulyje sieną. Būtų įdomu, jei nuolat apžvelgtumėte, kaip jiems sekasi, kokios naujausios žinios? … Atsakydami į klausimą apžvelgiame technologijų panaudojimo tikslus ir bendras kryptis JK, ES, JAV ir kitose šalyse, bei pristatome aktualiai paskelbtą JK pasienio pasitikėjimo ekosistemos pilotinio projekto rezultatų ataskaitą.

A fundamental requirement for information to flow seamlessly across different IT systems is that they all speak the same language. Cross-border regulatory agencies retaining the right to determine … the data they require should all use a similar language and have harmonized the way in which the required data is submitted. This is also critical for enabling economic operators to use the same system to comply with the requirements of different administrations and countries.

The National Board of Trade Sweden recently published a report entitled Trade and Climate Change – Promoting climate goals with a WTO agreement, which shows that trade policy-makers can do more … to contribute to the promotion of climate goals. Customs administrations, through the World Customs Organization (WCO), have a crucial role to play, writes Emilie Eriksson, legal adviser and co-author of the report.

The WCO is celebrating its 70th anniversary this year and is taking this opportunity to look back at what it has achieved as well as at ways of responding to current challenges. One pressing … issue is how to support the transition to a climate-neutral economy.

In order to stimulate 'thinking outside the box' in the EU debate on the future of the Customs Union, the European Commission has established a Wise Persons Group on Challenges Facing the Customs … Union (WPG) to reflect on four key topics: e-commerce, risk management, the effective management of non-financial tasks and the future of customs governance structure. The group consists of 12 representatives of business, science and state institutions. The result of their work is presented in the report published on 31 March 2022, reviewing both the current customs situation and the origins of the systemic problems, as well as providing 10 recommendations for a major breakthrough.

Agreement Establishing the African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA) was signed on 21 March 2018. The AfCFTA is the latest of many regional integration initiatives that go back to the years … prior to the colonization of Africa, of integration efforts by the colonial powers, and of initiatives by the independent African States.

The Southern African Customs Union (SACU) consists of five Member States – Botswana, Eswatini, Lesotho, Namibia and South Africa – with a combined population of over 63 million people and a combined … GDP in excess of 300 billion US dollars. It is the oldest functioning Customs Union in the world, dating back to 1910.

Various price discounts are often applied in trade in goods. Where the transaction is international and provisions of customs law apply, it is necessary to determine the customs value of the … goods and to assess the acceptability of the discounts.

A new edition of the European Commission's Compendium of customs valuation has been published. The main purpose of the Compendium is to provide support to the customs administrations of the Member … States to ensure the uniform and correct application of the principles and general provisions of customs valuation. On the other hand, business obligation is a correct declaration of the customs value of goods, so this document also benefits the business community. Let's take a brief look at how the need for such a document has evolved and what is presented in the new edition of it.

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 Korea Customs Service, the event was held online. Below are some of the key points made by the speakers.

The World Customs Journal is the leading international academic journal on customs. How was the idea to start the journal born? What are the challenges and rewards of being an editor of the journal? … Prof. Dr. Hans-Michael Wolffgang kindly agreed to answer these and some more interview questions for the CCRM journal.

This article introduces a contemporary framework for managing compliance in the customs context that fully integrates the principal elements of customs risk and compliance management. In doing … so, it explores the manifold resources that have been developed by the World Customs Organization (WCO) and other parties that may be used by administrations to support implementation of the framework. The integrated model draws together the author’s contribution to the literature over several years and provides practitioners with a logical and inclusive methodology for managing compliance at a strategic or operational level.

We, Milda Stravinskė and Monika Bielskienė, met to discuss the broader international context of our day-to-day customs activities. First and foremost, customs law is a 'companion' to international … trade, so the international context and cooperation, common rules, agreements, and approaches, are inevitable. No importer or customs authority operates in isolation. The need to reconcile many spheres and interests leads to an abundance of international agreements and requirements. While preparing the courses for customs brokers, we both saw the need to disclose this context to our future colleagues. The easiest way to do this is by sharing personal experiences. So we talked about it.

Get to know more about WCOTradeTools.org and watch a video with some practical applications on the platform. Benefit also from a promotional code on the purchase of your subscription!

The authors of this article argue that harmonization should be high on the agenda both of those who make, and of those who enforce, legislation. To illustrate, they explain some of the issues … faced by businesses due to the lack of harmonization of rules, or to the non-harmonized implementation of these rules. Three topics are addressed: the difficulty of identifying preferential rules of origin for a given HS code; the process to obtain a Customs registration number in the European Union; and the implementation of the AEO Programme in Ukraine.

Continuing the overview launched a year ago, we present a review of the AEO Compendium 2020 published by the World Customs Organization (WCO). There was in the previous review mentioned that, … following Brexit, the EU and the United Kingdom are likely to sign an agreement on the mutual recognition of AEO programmes (which has already been signed) and that the AEO certificate will become even more desirable. We are after Brexit and before the VAT changes on low-value consignments entry in force - the number of businesses facing customs formalities is growing, as is the number of companies planning to apply for AEO status, so the topic of AEO remains important. What do we learn by reading the AEO Compendium? The compendium presents how the AEO programme has been developed in various countries over the past year, what mutual agreements have been concluded between the countries and the benefits for businesses with AEO status.