In June 2022, the Portuguese edition of the Revised Kyoto Convention (as amended) was presented to the 139th/140th Sessions of the WCO Council by the Portuguese Tax and Customs Authority, representing the Community of Portuguese Speaking Countries (CPLP) comprised of nine WCO Members (Angola, Brazil, Cape Verde, Guinea-Bissau, Equatorial Guinea, Mozambique, Portugal, São Tomé and Principe, and Timor-Leste). The formal launch of the Portuguese edition on the WCO website took place at the 30th Revised Kyoto Convention (RKC) Management Committee (MC) Meeting, held from 26 to 30 September 2022.
The successful release of the complete Portuguese edition of the RKC was the result of a tremendous amount of hard work, carried out over a number of years and with excellent collaboration among the nine CPLP countries under the coordination of Portugal. To carry out the work, the CPLP established a working group which met in virtual mode, as well as face-to-face, over numerous rounds of meetings.
This instrument in Portuguese is expected to be useful to the CPLP Customs administrations in terms of the standardization, harmonization and simplification of Customs procedures, through the implementation of the RKC in their legal provisions, the modernization of Customs codes and the fostering of best practices. It will also have a positive impact in terms of facilitating and encouraging countries’ accession to the RKC, as well as in various capacity building programmes.
At the 30th RKC/MC Meeting, the Portuguese Tax and Customs Authority, speaking on behalf of the CPLP, thanked the WCO for the support and encouragement that had resulted in the successful completion of the Portuguese language edition of the RKC. The WCO expressed its deepest gratitude to the CPLP and the Portuguese Tax and Customs Authority for the excellent work they had done, and congratulated them on this significant achievement.
For the published Portuguese edition of the RKC, please visit this WCO webpage.