On 24 July 2017, the Secretary General of the WCO, Mr. Kunio Mikuriya, in his capacity as the depository of the Convention, received from the Embassy of Tunisia to the Kingdom of Belgium in Brussels Tunisia’s instrument of accession to the International Convention on the Simplification and Harmonization of Customs Procedures (Revised Kyoto Convention).

Having entered into force on 3 February 2006, the Revised Kyoto Convention, a WCO legal instrument which is regarded by the entire international Customs Community as the blueprint for modern Customs in the 21st Century, was widely used in the negotiations for adoption of the World Trade Organization (WTO) Trade Facilitation Agreement (TFA). Accession to the RKC and, above all, its implementation, complements countries’ efforts towards ratification and the implementation of the WTO TFA. With the accession of Tunisia, the Convention now has 112 Contracting Parties.

The Convention’s key elements include the application of simplified Customs procedures in a predictable and transparent environment, the optimal use of information technology, the utilization of risk management for efficient Customs control, a strong partnership with the trade and other stakeholders, and a readily accessible system of appeals.

In an international environment marked by a will to implement the TFA fairly quickly, the WCO welcomes the fact that the number of Contracting Parties to the RKC continues to grow, especially as this instrument is at the core of the WCO’s Economic Competitiveness Package (ECP). WCO Secretary General Mikuriya strongly encourages WCO Members not yet having done so to accede to the RKC and especially to implement its provisions, as soon as possible, given this instrument’s significance for Customs.