The national seminar held in Bangui from 6 to 11 May 2012 was devoted largely to the presentation of the HS 2012 amendments, but also to the presentation of two Recommendations related to the HS on classification work infrastructure and the programme of binding pre-entry classification information. The seminar was jointly organised by the World Customs Organization (WCO) and the Central African Republic Customs Administration, with the support of the Eurocustoms fund.

Comprising around forty participants from the Central African Republic Regional Offices and the Bangui offices, the workshop was held in the conference room of the host institution, the National School of Administration and Magistracy (ENAM), where, over five days, thirteen educational modules were presented. This workshop addressed the following topics:

- a presentation of the International Convention on the HS and its instruments,

- a detailed presentation of the amendments made to the Convention as part of the 4^thHS review cycle,

- an exchange of views on the management of the HS in the Central African Republic, particularly as regards the improvement of classification work and the associated infrastructure, and the programmes of binding pre-entry classification information.

The Central African Republic is a member of the Economic and Monetary Community of Central Africa (CEMAC), which has to approve a common Customs nomenclature for the 6 countries forming this regional organisation. In view of this, the Central African Republic will only be able to accept the Recommendation related to the HS2012 once this nomenclature has been validated by the competent CEMAC bodies. The next CEMAC inter-state meeting is to be held in June 2012, and the Community Nomenclature is set to be adopted during the course of this meeting. The Central African Republic will notify the Secretariat of the approval of the Recommendation as soon as possible.