Journal

After more than nine years of negotiations under the framework of the Doha Development Agenda, members of the World Trade Organization (WTO) finally adopted the Agreement on Trade Facilitation … (ATF) as part of the ‘Bali Package’ at the Ninth Session of the WTO Ministerial Conference which took place in Bali, Indonesia from 3 to 7 December 2013.

The “Bureau International des Containers et du Transport Intermodal” (BIC), the non-governmental organization (NGO) responsible for allocating an owner code to every container owner or operating … company, recently launched its real-time e-BIC service for Customs administrations.

A new global campaign was launched on 14 January 2014 by the United Nations (UN), under the auspices of the UN Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC), to raise aware - ness about the dangers associated … with coun - terfeit goods and their link to transnational organized crime.

This year’s International Customs Day heralded the launch of the WCO Year of Communication, a year in which we, as a Customs community, move to further enhance our communication and outreach … strategies.

The history of Customs policy has always been like a pendulum, swinging from total control to the idea of complete facilitation of trade. In this sense, Latin America has gone from having closed … and protectionist economies to free markets, and having to face the challenges posed by globalization; particularly the generation of prosperity for its people through trade.

In 2011 and 2012, China Customs’ Xiamen Customs District, which is responsible for Customs operations in Fujian Province, successfully detected two smuggling cases involving the illegal export … of ivory from Tanzania and Togo, which resulted in the total seizure of 11.88 metric tons of smuggled ivory.

In a bid to provide the State of Qatar with one of the world’s most efficient, reliable and trustworthy Customs clearance services, the Qatar Customs Clearance Single Window, an automated system … known as Al Nadeeb, was officially launched in the country during September 2013, in order to provide better communication and integration with the trade community.

The trade facilitation (TF) benefits of Single Window (SW) systems have been well documented in academic literature. Moreover, a number of jurisdictions that have implemented these systems have … registered an increase in revenue collection, a reduction in trade transaction costs and general improvement in cross-border efficiencies.

It may be an old concept, but a lot remains to be said – and understood – about the Single Window (SW) concept. Nearly a decade on from UN/CEFACT Recommendation No. 33 on establishing a Single … Window and with several more years of SW implementations in dozens of countries under the belt, now is a good time to re-evaluate and fine-tune our understanding. To date, SW implementations have demonstrated that the biggest challenge by far is fostering and harnessing multi-party cooperation.

From 12 to 14 November 2013, for the fourth year in a row, the WCO organized its Technology & Innovation (TI) Forum, a platform for leading experts and decision-makers from various border agencies, … technology companies and international organizations to exchange ideas on technology development, the border environment, technology-related project management and the latest innovations on the market.