|
Introduction back to top
In the
area of market access, the WTO cooperates regularly with the World
Customs Organization (WCO). This cooperation concerns the
classification of goods. WTO staff regularly follow the work in
the WCO on the Harmonized System classification nomenclature, both for
the work of the
Market Access Committee as well as for that of the
Committee of Participants on the Expansion of Trade in Information
Products. The Agreements on
Customs Valuation and
Rules
of Origin contain provisions which call for the establishment of
Technical Committees under the auspices of the WCO on these subjects.
WTO staff maintain cooperative relations with these Technical
Committees to examine questions with respect to these
Agreements, as well as to assist in technical assistance activities.
With respect to
trade facilitation, since 2005, WCO officials have been
participating in all WTO regional technical assistance activities. In
addition, the WCO is assisting in the development of the needs
assessment tool which is being designed and developed specifically for
the trade facilitation negotiations of the Doha Development Agenda.
WCO officials regularly attend, as observers, the meetings of the
Negotiating Group on Trade Facilitation.
Cooperation on
Technical Assistance back to top
The
vast majority of technical assistance activities had been in the area
of customs valuation and trade facilitation. The current focus of
activities (and budget) is on the trade facilitation negotiation
issues. Future technical assistance cooperation might be necessary in
the areas of rules or origin as more and more countries negotiate free
trade agreements. Coordination of these activities is managed through
contacts between staff of the respective Secretariats dealing with the
relevant subject matter.
Schedules
of Concessions on Goods back to top
The Harmonized System (HS) nomenclature was
developed by the WCO and entered into force on 1 January 1988 through
a Convention. Although Article II of the GATT (Schedules
of Concessions) does not establish a specific nomenclature to be
used by Members in this respect, and despite the fact that other
nomenclatures such as the BTN and CCCN were used in the past, the HS
has become the de facto standard for Members in this respect.
As of 31 March 2006, there were 78 WTO Members (counting the EC-25 as
one) which were contracting parties to the HS Convention. In
addition, practically all the remaining 47 WTO Members apply the HS in
spite of not being contracting parties to it. The HS has also been
used by WTO Members as a tool to define the products which are covered
by certain agreements, the most important of which is probably Annex 1
of the Agreement on Agriculture. This Annex defines, in terms of
Chapters, headings and subheadings of the 1992 version of the HS,
which are the agricultural products. Therefore, changes in the HS
have important legal implications for WTO Members, in particular with
respect to their schedules.
The Harmonized System Committee of the WCO
undertakes a periodic review of the HS to take account of changes in
technology and patterns in international trade, and recommends
amendments to the HS. The first set of such changes came into force
on 1 January 1992 (HS92). A second, more substantial, set of
amendments came into force on 1 January 1996 (HS96), and a third one
on 1 January 2002 (HS2002). A fourth amendment entered into force on
1 January 2007 (HS2007).
Following the entry into force of the HS on
1 January 1988 (HS88), the pre-Uruguay Round schedules of those GATT
Contracting Parties which were also contracting parties to the HS
Convention were required to be transposed into the HS nomenclature.
The “transposition” of these concessions is essential in order to
ensure the transparency and predictability of the concessions, as it
would otherwise be very difficult to determine whether the bindings
are being respected. It is for this reason that the GATT Committee on
Tariff Concessions adopted procedures for this purpose in 1983.
Special procedures were also used to
introduce the subsequent HS amendments, the latest of which is the
HS2007 decision contained in
WT/L/673. The transposition of schedules has been an increasingly
tricky issue to manage at the WTO, as it has proven very difficult to
follow the pace of the HS amendments. It is hoped that the two last
procedures which have been adopted (WT/L/605
and
WT/L/673), where the WTO secretariat plays a more active role,
would help to ease the problem and expedite the work.
Harmonization of Rules
of Origin back to top
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.
Customs Valuation back to top
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.
ITA and the WCO back to top
The Second sentence of paragraph 5 of the
Annex to the IT Agreement provides for:
“Participants agree on the common objective of achieving, where
appropriate, a common classification for these products within
existing HS nomenclature, giving consideration to interpretations
and rulings of the Customs Co-operation Council (also known as the
World Customs Organization or “WCO”). In any instance in which a
divergence in classification remains, participants will consider
whether a joint suggestion could be made to the WCO with regard to
updating existing HS nomenclature or resolving divergence in
interpretation of the HS nomenclature.”
The ITA
Committee maintains very good relations with the WCO, in particular
its Harmonized System Committee (HSC). In 2004, the ITA Committee
requested the HS Committee to provide its opinion on the
classification of “set top boxes”. Since then, the WCO Secretariat
has periodically kept the WTO informed of the deliberations on “set
top boxes” at the HS Committee.
The HS amendments have also affected the
product coverage of the ITA. A number of product codes listed in the
attachments to the ITA are affected by HS amendments in 2002 (HS2002)
and two thirds of codes are affected by
the amendments that entered into
force on 1 January 2007 (HS2007). The ITA committee has
already started to discuss how to update the products list into the
new nomenclatures, but it proved very difficult to reach an agreement
due to the complexity of HS amendments and the remaining
classification problems under the old nomenclature (HS1996).
Although these amendments are
helpful, they do not necessarily solve the existing problems in the
ITA, and implementing some of these changes may prove challenging to
maintain the original HS96 based commitments.
Trade Facilitation back to top
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. |
