The WCO organized a study tour for a small project team from the Customs Administration of Palestine to visit the Moroccan Customs Administration and learn from their experiences in the establishment and management of bonded warehouses. This mission was conducted from 20 to 25 November 2017 in Casablanca and Rabat in Morocco, with the aim to support the Customs Administration of Palestine to implement trade facilitation measures in line with the WTO Agreement on Trade Facilitation (TFA).
Establishing bonded warehouses, which is a new reform to be implemented in Palestine, will allow the Customs Administration to enhance their Risk Management procedures as well as strengthening their Coordinated Border Management capacities by bringing together all Governmental agencies involved in Customs clearance in one place, thereby fulfilling the requirements of WTO TFA article 7.5 and 8.
The mission, which forms part of the tailor made Mercator support provided to Palestine by the HMRC-WCO-UNCTAD Programme, provided an opportunity for the participants to gain an increased and comprehensive understanding on how to set up bonded warehouses including the benefits, different types, related processes and the role of Customs in regulating and supervising. The presentations made by the Moroccan Customs Administration were followed by a visit to the seaport and two main Customs bonded warehouses in Casablanca. The urpose of the study visit was to give the participants a better understanding and practical insight in the whole process.
This mission was delivered by the HMRC-WCO-UNCTAD Programme with financial support from the Government of the United Kingdom, through Her Majesty’s Revenue & Customs (HMRC).