XII Международная студенческая научная конференция Студенческий научный форум - 2020

The World Customs Organization (WCO), established in 1952 as the Customs Co-operation Council (CCC) is an independent intergovernmental body whose mission is to enhance the effectiveness and efficiency of Customs administrations. 

Today, the WCO represents 183 Customs administrations across the globe that collectively process approximately 98% of world trade. As the global centre of Customs expertise, the WCO is the only international organization with competence in Customs matters and can rightly call itself the voice of the international Customs community.

The WCO’s governing body – the Council – relies on the competence and skills of a Secretariat and a range of technical and advisory committees to accomplish its mission. The Secretariat comprises over 100 international officials, technical experts and support staff of some nationalities.

As a forum for dialogue and exchange of experiences between national Customs delegates, the WCO offers its Members a range of Conventions and other international instruments, as well as technical assistance and training services provided either directly by the Secretariat, or with its participation. The Secretariat also actively supports its Members in their endeavours to modernize and build capacity within their national Customs administrations.

Besides the vital role played by the WCO in stimulating the growth of legitimate international trade, its efforts to combat fraudulent activities are also recognized internationally. The partnership approach championed by the WCO is one of the keys to building bridges between Customs administrations and their partners. By promoting the emergence of an honest, transparent and predictable Customs environment, the WCO directly contributes to the economic and social well-being of its Members.

Finally, in an international environment characterized by instability and the ever-present threat of terrorist activity, the WCO’s mission to enhance the protection of society and the national territory, and to secure and facilitate international trade, takes on its full meaning.

 The WCO Technical Committee on Rules of Origin (TCRO) was established in 1995 by the WTO Agreement on Rules of Origin (RO Agreement) and had, since then, carried out the main work of harmonizing non-preferential rules of origin.  After establishing the overall framework of the harmonized rules of origin (HRO) and completing all necessary technical work, the TCRO in June 1999 transmitted almost 500 outstanding issues for discussion and decision in the WTO Committee on Rules of Origin (CRO).  On the basis of these invaluable inputs from TCRO, the CRO has been working hard to complete the remaining work.  To date almost 400 issues have been resolved (the number of outstanding issues:  117) and Members of the CRO are highly motivated not to miss again the deadline of this work, i.e. the end of 2007.

The WCO Technical Committee on Customs Valuation (TCCV) was established in 1980 by the Tokyo Round Agreement of Customs Valuation.  Since then the TCCV and the GATT/WTO Committee on Customs Valuation (CCV) have maintained an excellent relationship as described above.  The WCO Compendium of customs valuation contains advisory opinions, commentaries, explanatory notes and case studies adopted by the TCCV, which provide very useful guidelines for addressing various technical questions  on customs valuation.

Cooperation in the area of Trade Facilitation is particularly close and productive. Regular participation in key meetings, substantive contributions to the WTO negotiations and extensive collaboration in the technical assistance field evidence the constructive relationship between the two organizations and their complementary strengths. 

Already an observer in preliminary WTO work in preparation for the negotiations, the World Customs Organization (WCO) became a regular participant in the Negotiating Group on Trade Facilitation as soon as it commenced its operations. Contributions range from technical advice and the preparation of supporting tools to extensive engagement in technical assistance activities all over the world.

The vast technical expertise of the WCO, which is home to a number of key instruments in the customs domain, makes it an ideal partner for ongoing WTO initiatives in this field.

Common activities are likely to increase further with both organizations embarking on an extensive needs and cost assessment program, together with the World Bank and other international partners in the field.  The objective is to provide governments with information on their requirements to implement the possible outcome of the Trade Facilitation negotiations in terms of concrete measures to put into place. An underlying tool for the analysis is in its last stage of preparation and currently being tested on the ground. The final version will be used for a series of national and regional assessments in the months to come.

Cooperation also takes the form of joint activities under the Global Facilitation Partnership (GFP). Designed to increase coherence and enhance coordination, the GFP provides a forum for developing joint responses to the many challenges in the Trade Facilitation field. 

Список литературы

Аникин Б. А. Логистика / Б. А. Аникина – М.: ИНФРА-М, 2016. – 352 с.

Амсенова В. И. История таможенного дела / В.И. Арсенов – М.: МГУ, 2017. – 258 с.

Безматерных Н. С. внешнеэкономической деятельностью . Безматерных. – 140 с.

К. А. Таможенное право / К. А. Бекяшев. – М.: РТА, 2015. – 184 с.