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The WCO’s four-pillar strategic plan for 2015

30th January 2015

By: Riaan de Lange

  

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At the invitation of the Latvian Presidency of the European Union (EU), World Customs Organisation (WCO) secretary-general Kunio Mikuriya addressed the EU Customs Union Group (CUG) in Brussels, Belgium on January 14.

Latvia, which has responsibility for the presidency of the EU for six months, from January 1 to June 30, continued the practice of inviting the WCO secretary-general and the director-general of the European Commission’s taxation and customs union directorate (taxud) to outline their main objectives for the coming year at the first meeting of the CUG under its presidency.

The WCO secretary-general articulated the WCO’s programme, which is based on the four pillars of its strategic plan.

The first pillar is trade facilitation and security, which is supported by the Economic Competitiveness Package. Its priorities include the implementation of the World Trade Organisation (WTO) trade facilitation agreement (TFA) through the development of new tools to ensure its consistent implementation, the hosting of the TFA working group and the rolling out of the Mercator programme, for which the UK recently pledged significant financial support. This pillar is also aimed at addressing the question of digitalisation, including e-commerce and the use of information technology to obtain advance information. The third priority area under the first pillar is the SAFE Framework of Standards, the revised version of which will be submitted to the council in June for adoption and will henceforth incorporate a third pillar on cooperation between customs and other government agencies, as well as the preloading of air cargo information.

The second pillar of the WCO’s programme is fair and efficient revenue collection, supported by the revenue package. Among its priorities are the maintainance of the relevance of the Harmonized System (HS), including the explanatory notes, and ensuring the implementation of the most up-to-date edition of the HS. The second priority is addressing regional integration, in particular, through the collection of best practices in respect of rules of origin. Further, under the second pillar of its strategy, the WCO has prioritised the exchange of information, especially in relation to Group of 20 (G20)/Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) developments in the tax area.

The third pillar is the protection of society, which is supported by the compliance and enforcement package and whose priorities include security, given that recent terrorist attacks have highlighted the need for customs agencies to play a role in combating this increasingly global problem. Customs agencies can do this through the active use and sharing of advance passenger informa- tion and the Passenger Name Record for enhanced passenger control. The use of technology is also a priority – in this regard, the WCO recently launched Iris, a Web trawler of customs-related information and seizure records. This adds to the WCO’s existing technology platforms. The third priority is to follow up on and address the consequences of enforcement activities, including postseizure analysis and cooperation with other law enforcement agencies and countries of origin.

The fourth pillar is institutional and human resource development and is supported by the Organisational Development Package. Its priorities are continuing the human resource development programme of the WCO, including through the Customs Learning and Knowledge Community platform, the further development of a pool of experts to deliver capacity building and the strengthening of regional infrastructures, as well integrity, in light of the political impetus coming from the G20.

The WTO secretary-general further explained that, at the recent Policy Commission session, in Brazil, the secretariat had been tasked to develop a performance measurement tool to ensure that members achieved a excellence through the use of WCO tools and programmes. The WCO accordingly devised 20 high-level indicators to measure members’ progress in terms of modernisation. Each high-level indicator would be supported by a maturity model or a development guide indicating the elements that had to be in place as well as the steps to excellence.

The WCO secretary-general concluded by extending his best wishes to the Latvian presidency and to Larijs Martinsons, chairperson of the CUG.
TAXUD director-general Heinz Zourek expressed his appreciation to the WCO and indicated that the EU would continue to place much importance on the TFA, globally networked customs, SAFE, intellectual property rights and capacity building. He referred to the challenges of e-commerce and the fight against fraud, and drew special attention to the work being undertaken on the EU customs code, particularly its implementing regulations and governance, which would be a high priority for 2015.

First Interim Tax Report
On December 23, the National Treasury released the Davis Tax Committee’s ‘First Interim Report on Base Erosion and Profit Shifting (BEPS)’. In essence, the report is aligned with the September 2014 deliverables on the OECD BEPS Action Plan, which were discussed at G20 meetings in Australia in September 2014 and November 2014. It covers the following areas: Action 1: Digital economy; Action 2: Hybrid mismatches; Action 5: Harmful tax practices; Action 6: Treaty abuse; Action 8: Transfer pricing with regard to intangibles; Action 13: Transfer pricing documentation; Action 15: Develop a multilateral instrument; and a summary of the recommendations of the committee on the OECD September 2014 deliverables.
Comment on the report is due by March 31.

Customs Control Act Rules
The fourth batch of the draft Customs Control Rules for chapters 32 to 41 has been published and comment is due by January 30. The chapters are 32 (Purpose for which places of entry or exit may be used); 33 (Restrictions on use of places of entry or exit); 34 (Places of entry or exit in terms of international agreements with adjoining countries); 35 (Information sharing agreements); 36 (Places of entry for foreign-going vessels and aircraft); 37 (Calls or landings resulting from forced circumstances); 38 (Places of entry or exit for cross-border trains); 39 (Places of entry or exit of vehicles); 40 (Places of entry or exit for persons); and 41 (Places of entry or exit for goods).

Edited by Martin Zhuwakinyu
Creamer Media Senior Deputy Editor

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