The WCO held the 63rd Meeting of the Data Model Projects Team (DMPT) from 9 to 13 May 2022. The Meeting was conducted in a hybrid mode with 110 participants consisting of delegates, representatives of other international organizations, and the private sector participating online. In addition, 15 delegates attended the Meeting in-person at the WCO Headquarters in Brussels, Belgium.

Mr. Brendan O’Hearn, Deputy Director in charge of the Facilitation Sub-Directorate, opened the Meeting, welcomed participants, and introduced them to the activities and roles of the DMPT. He underlined the introduction of the new format of the DMPT Work Programme, which was made in line with the Work Programmes of other WCO Working Bodies to enhance overall WCO governance. He also shared with participants that a Mini Group Meeting was conducted the preceding week to further preparations for Version 4 of the WCO DM.

During the Meeting, the DMPT utilized the WCO DM Application for the first time to facilitate the processing of Data Maintenance Requests (DMR) and approved all DMRs submitted by Members. The DMPT also discussed: support to the new datasets which the International Maritime Organization (IMO) plans to include in its Compendium; continued its work relating to Maritime Advance Passenger Information (API) Passenger Name Record (PNR); and, examined the potential impact of terminating support for GOVCBR message formats.

The DMPT was updated with the work progress on Version 4 of the WCO DM and agreed to invite interested Members to support reviewing existing guidance material to support WCO DM’s marketing activities. The DMPT appreciated the Secretariat for its work related to the WCO DM Application and suggested that it could be further developed to assist Members in implementing the WCO DM more effectively. Finally, the DMPT approved the new annual (2022/2023) Work Programme.