The World Customs Organization (WCO), under the sponsorship of the Customs Cooperation Fund – China, successfully delivered a national workshop for the Customs Laboratory of Kenya Revenue Authority. The workshop was held from 4 to 8 September 2023 at the Kenya Revenue Authority (KRA) headquarters in Nairobi, Kenya, where the Laboratory is located.
The objective of this initial workshop was to enhance the technical capabilities and knowledge on tariff classification on chemicals of the KRA´s Customs Laboratory.
The workshop was facilitated by a Technical Officer of TTA (chemist) and a recognized expert on Customs laboratory matters from Spain.
A general overview of the WCO and its missions, the Harmonized System and the General Interpretative Rules were discussed. Over the course, a wide range of topics related to issues related to Customs Laboratories were addressed. These included general and policy topics, such as the different models of Customs Laboratories, the needs that a Customs Laboratory addresses in Customs Administrations, and the use of the Customs Laboratory Guide. The value of cooperation and networking between Customs Laboratories was discussed, including looking at several examples, in particular, the WCO Regional Customs Laboratories, the CLEN (Customs Laboratories European Network) initiative, and the SAMANCTA Database.
Moving into more HS specific areas, sampling procedures were shown and the HS classification of products of Sections V, VI and VII, classification of chemicals of Chapters 28 and 29, and practical cases were discussed. A specific presentation on drugs and detection kits and their analysis was also shown.
The identification and classification of textile products (fibres, yarns, fabrics and other textile articles) were put into practice with several application examples and exercises on the microscopic identification of fibres undertaken by participants.
A visit to the KRA Customs Laboratory was arranged by the host.
The workshop was attended by the chemists from different departments involved in chemical analysis and classification of goods from the KRA Customs Laboratory.