Invitation to Tender

PROTOCOL OF AMENDMENT
TO THE INTERNATIONAL CONVENTION ON
THE SIMPLIFICATION AND HARMONIZATION OF
CUSTOMS PROCEDURES

(done at Brussels on 26 th June 1999)

The Contracting Parties to the International Convention on the simplification and harmonization of Customs procedures (done at Kyoto on 18 th May 1973 and entered into force on 25 th September 1974), hereinafter "the Convention", established under the auspices of the Customs Co-operation Council, hereinafter "the Council",

CONSIDERING that to achieve the aims of:

• eliminating divergence between the Customs procedures and practices of Contracting Parties that can hamper international trade and other international exchanges;
• meeting the needs of international trade and the Customs for facilitation, simplification and harmonization of Customs procedures and practices;
• ensuring appropriate standards of Customs control; and
• enabling the Customs to respond to major changes in business and administrative methods and techniques,

the Convention must be amended,

CONSIDERING also that the amended Convention:

• must provide that the core principles for such simplification and harmonization are made obligatory on Contracting Parties to the amended Convention;
• must provide the Customs with efficient procedures supported by appropriate and effective control methods; and
• will enable the achievement of a high degree of simplification and harmonization of Customs procedures and practices which is an essential aim of the Council, and thus make a major contribution to facilitation of international trade,

Have agreed as follows :

ARTICLE 1

The Preamble and the Articles of the Convention are amended as set out in the text contained in Appendix I hereto.

ARTICLE 2

The Annexes of the Convention are replaced by the General Annex contained in Appendix II and by the Specific Annexes contained in Appendix III hereto.

ARTICLE 3

1. Any Contracting Party to the Convention may express its consent to be bound by this Protocol, including Appendices I and II, by:
   (a) signing it without reservation of ratification;
   (b) depositing an instrument of ratification after signing it subject to ratification; or
   (c) acceding to it.
   
2. This Protocol shall be open until 30 th June 2000 for signature at the Headquarters of the Council in Brussels by the Contracting Parties to the Convention. Thereafter, it shall be open for accession.
   
3. This Protocol, including Appendices I and II, shall enter into force three months after forty Contracting Parties have signed this Protocol without reservation of ratification or have deposited their instrument of ratification or accession.
   
4. After forty Contracting Parties have expressed their consent to be bound by this Protocol in accordance with paragraph 1, a Contracting Party to the Convention shall accept the amendments to the Convention only by becoming a party to this Protocol. For such a Contracting Party, this Protocol shall come into force three months after it signs this Protocol without reservation of ratification or deposits an instrument of ratification or accession.

ARTICLE 4

Any Contracting Party to the Convention may, when it expresses its consent to be bound by this Protocol, accept any of the Specific Annexes or Chapters therein contained in Appendix III hereto and shall notify the Secretary General of the Council of such acceptance and of the Recommended Practices in respect of which it enters reservations.

ARTICLE 5

After the entry into force of this Protocol, the Secretary General of the Council shall not accept any instrument of ratification or accession to the Convention.

ARTICLE 6

In relations between the Parties hereto, this Protocol with its Appendices shall supersede the Convention.

ARTICLE 7

The Secretary General of the Council shall be the depositary of this Protocol and shall perform the functions as provided for in Article 19 contained in Appendix I to this Protocol.

ARTICLE 8

This Protocol shall be open for signature by the Contracting Parties to the Convention at the Headquarters of the Council in Brussels from 26 th June 1999.

ARTICLE 9

In accordance with Article 102 of the Charter of the United Nations, this Protocol and its Appendices shall be registered with the Secretariat of the United Nations at the request of the Secretary General of the Council.

In witness whereof the undersigned, being duly authorized thereto, have signed this Protocol.

Done at Brussels, this twenty-sixth day of June nineteen hundred and ninety-nine, in the English and French languages, both texts being equally authentic, in a single original which shall be deposited with the Secretary General of the Council who shall transmit certified copies to all the entities referred to in paragraph 1 of Article 8 contained in Appendix I to this Protocol.