The WCO at the conclusion of its Policy Commission meeting in Punta Cana, Dominican Republic on 08 December 2015, issued a Communication regarding the implementation of the World Trade Organisation (WTO) Trade Facilitation Agreement (TFA).
The WCO Communication is particularly timely in the run-up to the Tenth WTO Ministerial Conference, which meets this week (15-18 December 2015) in Nairobi, Kenya.
Since the adoption of the TFA in Bali in December 2013, the international Customs community has taken significant steps and invested substantial efforts in working towards a smooth and progressive implementation of the TFA, including but not limited to:
- establishing a WCO Working Group on the TFA (TFAWG) which brings together Customs, other border agencies, trade ministries, the private sector, the WTO and other international organisations, development partners and academia to collectively discuss all TFA implementation matters;
- introducing the WCO Mercator Programme which provides tailor-made technical assistance and capacity building related to TFA implementation and is supported both by funding from development partners, as well as by a pool of experts from WCO members; and
- developing and continuously updating the WCO TFA Implementation Guidance Web tool which provides guidance based on the numerous WCO instruments and tools, including the Revised Kyoto Convention (RKC).
WCO Secretary General said that he was very encouraged by the substantial contribution made by the WCO and its members in support of TFA implementation and pledged that this would continue.