On 24 August the World Customs Organization (WCO) informed that building upon the work that had been done under the WCO Mercator Programme, a workshop on the implementation of a national advance ruling system had been held by the Namibia Customs and Excise (NCE) on 10 August. It was jointly organised with the WCO and the Southern African Customs Union (SACU) within the framework of the European Union (EU)-WCO Programme for the Harmonised System in Africa (HS Africa Programme).
The NCE embarked on the implementation of a comprehensive advance ruling system some time ago and has been making significant progress in that area. The workshop offered an opportunity to review the work accomplished so far and determine the next steps in the process. The instrument establishing an advance ruling system in Namibia has been submitted for final approval and is expected to enter into force in the near future.
During the workshop, the importance of raising the awareness of all of the intended beneficiaries of the advance ruling system was recognised in order to ensure that the system is not only formally and technically available, but is also actively used by traders and makes a real difference for them in terms of promoting certainty and predictability of international trade transactions.
The SACU representative at the workshop stressed that advance rulings were getting increasingly prominent on the agenda of the Union as an important trade facilitation measure and as a useful international standard. He welcomed the progress achieved by Namibia and undertook to continue the active promotion of advance rulings among the SACU Member States in close cooperation with the HS Africa Programme. The HS Africa Programme will be working with Partners at NCE to build required capacities reflecting on the Mercator Implementation Plan.
Story by: Riaan de Lange