Under the EU-WCO Programme for the Harmonized System in Africa funded by the European Union, the WCO organized a national workshop for the General Directorate of Algerian Customs on the implementation of an Advance Ruling System for Classification, Origin and Valuation. The workshop, facilitated by a Technical Officer and a WCO accredited trainer, was conducted in Algiers from 13 to 16 January 2020.
Following two days of intensive examination of the Circular formally laying down this new procedure, two information days were held, each attended by some 100 participants, one for the benefit of economic operators and Customs brokers and the other for Customs officials.
In his address, the Director General of Algerian Customs, Mr. Mohamed Ouaret, referred to the objectives of the action plan adopted by Algerian Customs: adapting foreign trade policy to Algeria’s new priorities, upgrading the country’s Customs Administration in order to meet international norms and standards, rolling out a new information system relying on digitization and automated Customs procedures, and providing support for economic operators working in foreign trade under the Customs-Business Partnership principle.
He also pointed out that the objective of the advance ruling procedure is to promote trade facilitation, secure equality of treatment between operators, safeguard their operations and streamline Customs clearance.
In the light of the legislative and regulatory instruments already drawn up by Algerian Customs, the effective launch of the procedure is scheduled for 1 March 2020, especially since the Algerian Customs Administration has now informed the WCO Secretariat of its acceptance of the WCO’s Recommendation of 18 June 1996 on the introduction of programmes for binding pre-entry classification information.
For more information, please contact: capacity.building@wcoomd.org