The Lesotho Revenue Authority (LRA) reinforced its commitment to international standards and best practices during the workshop on the implementation of the Harmonized System (HS), which was held from 4 to 8 November 2019 in Maseru, Lesotho. It was organized as part of the EU-WCO Programme for the HS in Africa financed by the European Union.
The workshop brought together a number of stakeholders and users of the HS, both from public and private sectors. Representatives of the Ministry of Trade and Industry of Lesotho and the Lesotho Chamber of Commerce and Industry attended the workshop alongside LRA tariff managers and officers. Moreover, given the key role that the HS and tariffs play in the regional integration, observers from the Southern African Customs Union Secretariat and the South African Revenue Service also took part in the workshop to share their experience and perspective on the HS-related work.
Deliberations that took place during the workshop addressed a wide range of topics relating to strategies of optimization of the existing tariff classification work practices in the LRA and the underlying infrastructure. Particular attention was paid to the implementation of HS-related standards enshrined in the WCO Revenue Package instruments and Council Recommendations.
The detailed gap analysis that was carried out during the workshop revealed that most of the fundamental building blocks of the tariff classification infrastructure were already in place in Lesotho. It was agreed that further modernization efforts should focus on the improvement and fine-tuning of the existing structure and modus operandi. This will become part of the overall modernization plan currently being implemented by the LRA.
For more information, please contact capacity.building@wcoomd.org.