Meeting of Heads of Customs of the WCO Europe Region
Ohrid, The Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia, 15-16 March 2010
Report
The 2010 Meeting of Heads of Customs of the WCO Europe Region, hosted by the Director General of Customs, Vanco Kargov, took place in Ohrid, The Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia from 15-16 March. Mr. Zoran Stavreski, the country’s Minister of Finance and Deputy Prime Minister, inaugurated the meeting which was chaired by Alain Bellot, Luxembourg’s Director General of Customs.
Kunio Mikuriya, the WCO Secretary General, gave a comprehensive report on WCO activities based on the outcomes of the December 2009 meeting of the Policy Commission (PC) updated by subsequent events since the meeting. His report dealt with trade security and facilitation, globally networked Customs (GNC), 100% scanning, the Private Sector Consultative Group, the budget for 2010/11, the Revenue Package (RP), risk management (RM), the post June Council forum on risk, capacity building, promotion of the revised Kyoto Convention, WTO issues, the Comparative Study on Regional Trade Agreements, Regional Training Centre (RTC) developments, and the launch of version 3 of the WCO Data Model.
In response, the EC referred to work on the cost implications of the 100% scanning proposal and drew attention to a recent study which had confirmed the implications, the Russian Federation noted the need for data exchange particularly for valuation purposes, Hungary urged the implementation and adoption of WCO instruments, Italy endorsed the RP, and the United Kingdom emphasised the excellent work that had been done on risk, the partnership with trade, coordinated border management and GNC.
Ireland gave a brief report on the recent Audit Committee meeting. The Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia presented it's new IT Single Window. Norway spoke on cooperation at the Norway/Sweden border. There was a trade presentation on the Customs-Business partnership in The Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia. Presentations on GNC, RM and the challenges facing RTC’s were made by Belgium, Israel and The Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia respectively.