The WCO Private Sector Consultative Group (PSCG) met for the 40th time at WCO headquarters on 27 and 28 February 2017. The meeting was attended by representatives from 18 of the 21 PSCG members – AAEI, CAT, DIAGEO, FIATA, FONASBA, FONTERRA, GEA, HAIER, HUAWEI, IATA, ICC, IFCBA, IRU, MICROSOFT, OPORO, PROCOMEX and SAAFF – and chaired by Mr. John Mein from PROCOMEX.

The two-day meeting covered a range of topics. Day one included a meeting with the WCO Secretary General Kunio Mikuriya on issues relating to the current state of international trade, including the WTO Trade Facilitation Agreement (TFA) and growing anti-globalization rhetoric.

The Group also provided comments and proposals from an industry perspective on the WCO Strategic Plan 2016-2017 and the draft WCO Environmental Scan.

Moreover, the Group was updated on the issue of e-commerce by the Co-Chair of the WCO E-Commerce Working Group, Marianne Rowden from AAEI, and by Ana Hinojosa, WCO Director of Compliance and Facilitation.

Day two was spent discussing items included in the agenda of the WCO SAFE Working Group (SWG) meeting with a view to providing the SWG with the PSCG’s perspectives. The PSCG also developed several proposals for the SAFE Framework of Standards 2018 and the SAFE Package.

In addition, the PSCG discussed issues relating to the WCO Authorized Economic Operator (AEO) Compendium, the challenges of the Trader Identification Number (TIN), performance measurement, data analysis and the WCO Integrated Supply Chain Management (ISCM) Guide.