A National Workshop on cross-border e-commerce was delivered by the World Customs Organization (WCO) in Banja Luka, Bosnia and Herzegovina from 13 to 16 February 2023. The objective of the Workshop was to raise awareness of the WCO tools and initiatives aimed at facilitating and securing cross-border e-commerce and to discuss challenges, possible solutions and good practices in this area. The event was organized with the financial support of the Customs Cooperation Fund of Korea (CCF Korea) and benefitted from the on-site and remote participation of 61 Customs officials from the Integrated Taxation Authority (ITA) of Bosnia and Herzegovina.
Throughout the event, the Workshop facilitators provided detailed information on the 16 standards of the WCO Framework of Standards on Cross-Border E-Commerce (E-Commerce FoS) and the tools available to support their implementation. Detailed explanations were provided also with regard to the WCO Immediate Release Guidelines and the tools developed jointly with the Universal Postal Union (UPU), such as the WCO-UPU Postal Customs Guide and the WCO-UPU Guidelines on the exchange of electronic advance data between designated operators and Customs administrations. A dedicated session placed a special focus on the protection of Intellectual Property Rights (IPR) in the e-commerce environment.
The Workshop participants appreciated the opportunity to deepen their knowledge of the various WCO tools relevant to cross-border e-commerce that would support ITA’s path towards implementation of the E-Commerce FoS.