WCO Revenue Package: Regional Workshop on Rules of Origin held in South Africa [es]

The WCO Secretariat, in collaboration with Japan Customs, organized a Workshop on Rules of Origin for the WCO East and Southern Africa (ESA) region. This event, which took place at the WCO Regional Training Centre in Pretoria (South Africa) from 4 to 8 February 2013, had as its main objective, the promotion of the new Guidelines on Preferential Origin Verification, which was developed under the WCO Revenue Package Action Plan, as well as the related tools and instruments listed in the Revenue Package Schedule.

In total, 25 participants from 20 countries in the region attended the five-day Workshop, which was delivered by two WCO facilitators and a Japanese origin expert, with financial assistance provided by the Customs Cooperation Fund (CCF) of Japan. The programme covered a wide range of topics related to Rules of Origin, including the role of Customs in the implementation of FTAs, Rules of Origin of FTAs/EPAs, verification of preferential origin, Advance Rulings on Origin, and stakeholder training.

At the end of the Workshop, each participant prepared a report for his/her home Customs administration presenting recommendations for improving operations related to Rules of Origin. The WCO Secretariat was delighted with the active participation of the participants and their commitment to better implementation of Rules of Origin. The Secretariat will follow progress made by Members in the region and endeavour to provide further technical assistance where necessary.