From 06 to 08 July in Brussels, Belgium the WCO members met for the 129th/130th Sessions of the WCO Council, agreeing on the road ahead for its 2017 annual sessions. Discussions focused on a number of key issues: trade facilitation, including the WCO Mercator Programme that was designed to assist WCO Members in implementing the Customs related measures contained in the World Trade Organisation (WTO) Trade Facilitation Agreement (TFA) - a communiqué was issued highlighting the support of the Customs Community for the entry into force of the WTO TFA; security initiatives; combating illicit financial flows; and customs-tax-cooperation, in particular the challenges and opportunities from a Customs perspective.
Members of the Council also recognised the critical role played by capacity building, research and the sharing of intelligence and information, as well as the necessity for enhanced international collaboration with businesses and all relevant agencies, and the importance of using data analysis and other technology-related trade management tools that would ensure better coordinated border management.
“Directors General of Customs have agreed on the road ahead,” said the WCO Secretary General, adding that “their clear and helpful decisions will guide the Secretariat’s activities and work programmes, enabling it to deliver positive results and meet the expectations of the WCO’s worldwide membership, including Customs’ global partners.”
This year’s keynote speakers included Pierre Moscovici, the European Union (EU) Commissioner for Economic and Financial Affairs, Taxation and Customs, invited in the context of the 10th anniversary of EU’s accession to the WCO, and Inna Kuznetsova, President and Chief Operating Officer (COO) of INTTRA, the ocean shipping industry’s largest electronic transaction platform, software and information provider, both of whom acknowledged Customs’ leading role in the international trade arena.
The EU Commissioner spoke about the future of the EU Customs Union, touching on governance, the Union Customs Code (UCC), digital Customs and security, including ongoing and upcoming initiatives to fight terrorism, as well as the state of play with respect to the TFA, and better cooperation between Customs and tax authorities, including around the issue of e-commerce, while INTTRA’s President and COO, drawing on her experience in digitisation of Ocean Shipping Industry, focused on the benefits that Customs can derive by enhancing and expanding its use of data analysis, the WCO’s theme for 2017, to digitise, analyse and plan.
The WCO Secretary General also signed the following MoUs in the presence of delegates: one with Mexico Customs on the establishment of a WCO Regional Customs Laboratory in Mexico; another with Turkey Customs on the establishment of a WCO Regional Dog Training Centre (RDTC) in Ankara; and a final one with US Customs and Border Protection on the establishment of a WCO RDTC in the United States of America.
In addition, on the side-lines of the Council Sessions, the WCO Secretary General and China Customs signed a revised MoU regarding the WCO Regional Training Centre (RTC), expanding the RTC in Shanghai to also cover the Customs Training Centre in Xiamen, which is another example of the value attached to regional WCO bodies.
Delegates witnessed Burkina Faso deposit its instrument of accession to the revised International Convention on the Simplification and Harmonisation of Customs Procedures, known as the Revised Kyoto Convention; a global WCO standard for Customs modernisation, which is recognised internationally as a key trade facilitation tool. Burkina Faso is the 111th Contracting Party.
