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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.

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.

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!

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.

Adam Smith, author of “The Wealth of Nations”, wrote that Customs duties have been “in use for time immemorial”. To a large extent, this assertion is correct. The practice of taxing commerce … is as old as commerce itself. And where a tax must be collected, there will be disputes over rates and methods.

A significant amount of work has been done over the last 15 years on “convergence” of income tax transfer pricing (TP) and Customs valuation. Both income tax and Customs rules seek the same result, … ensuring that prices between related parties are “at arm’s length,” set as if the parties were unrelated. But the rules are different. Income tax TP rules in the majority of countries are based on guidelines established by the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development, OECD. Customs valuation principles are established in the WTO Valuation Agreement (Agreement). Moreover, the revenue collection focal points of tax and Customs administrations are different: a high transfer price generally results in a high duty, but low income tax; a low transfer price results in lower duties and higher income taxes.

The International Chamber of Commerce (ICC) and the WCO have a history of long and close co-operation in the area of Customs valuation. As the institutional representative of more than 45 million … businesses in over 100 countries, ICC has been participating as an Observer in the meetings of the Technical Committee on Customs Valuation since 1979. In that time, the ICC Observer delegation has had the opportunity to explain specific aspects of commercial practice in terms of their influence on Customs valuation, as well as to engage with Customs representatives on specific technical issues. In this article, ICC highlights some of the challenges and questions arising from implementation of valuation rules, highlighting the important work of the Technical Committee.

It is often said that where there is a will there’s a way, but the reverse can also be true: improving Customs administrations’ capacity to understand and implement regulations might influence … their willingness to make commitments.

When it was announced by the World Health Organization (WHO) that COVID-19 had become a pandemic, the WCO Secretariat’s management team quickly sprang into action, listing the urgent tasks to … be done to support Customs administrations in managing the crisis and developing a business continuity plan.

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 requires action by policymakers, and convincing them to do so has been rather difficult at times.