WCO’s development of draft “Practical Guidance on Free Zones”

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.