The World Customs Organization (WCO) in collaboration with the Caribbean Customs Law Enforcement Council (CCCLEC) and St. Lucia Customs, as well as with the generous financial support of the Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting (CHOGM) via Her Majesty's Revenue and Customs (HMRC), organized a five-day Workshop on the International Convention on the Simplification and Harmonization of Customs Procedures, as amended, the well-known Revised Kyoto Convention (RKC), in Castries, Saint Lucia from 26 to 30 November 2018. The Workshop brought together 14 Customs Administrations from the Caribbean region (including some non-WCO Members) from Anguilla, Antigua, Bahamas, Belize, British Virgin Islands, Dominica, Grenada, Guyana, Jamaica, Montserrat, St Kitts, St Lucia, St. Vincent and the Grenadines, and Trinidad and Tobago.
Given the WCO’s current focus on small island economies, the main objectives of the Workshop were to raise awareness regarding the importance and advantages of the RKC among Customs administrations in the Caribbean region, to identify accession and implementation gaps and challenges, and to conduct a preliminary gap analysis and assessment of compliance with the RKC Standards and Transitional Standards, as well as to explore potential solutions for accession to, and the implementation of, the RKC in an expeditious manner.
The WCO experts provided detailed information along with practical explanations and case studies with regard to the accession and implementation the RKC that also supports an effective and harmonized implementation of the WTO Agreement on Trade Facilitation (TFA) and associated benefits, as well as the rights and obligations of Contracting Parties. Facilitated by experts, participants carried out a gap analysis to analyze the compliance of their national and regional legislation and regulations with the RKC provisions.
The Workshop provided the participants with an opportunity to develop a sound grasp of the RKC and related tools in order to effectively prepare and ensure the alignment of their national/regional legislation with the RKC and eventually accede to the Convention. Participants also gained knowledge in analysing the compatibility of the RKC provisions with respective national legislation, regulations, and practices, as well as an ability to develop a roadmap and action plan to accede to and implement the RKC based on each Member or non-Member‘s unique national context.
In addition, participants learned the complementarities between the RKC and the WTO TFA and how both can be implemented together, where required. It is expected that following this Workshop participating WCO Members/Non-Members will move forward with the accession to the RKC.
To date, one hundred and sixteen (116) countries have acceded to the Convention since it came into force on February 3, 2006.