ICC SUBMITS RECOMMENDATIONS ON CUSTOMS TO WCO

ICC SUBMITS RECOMMENDATIONS ON CUSTOMS TO WCO    As customs administrations consider measures to tighten security in international trade, the International Chamber of Commerce has given a list of recommendations to national customs administrations and the World Customs Organization.
   The guidelines, given at the recent WCO Task Force on Trade Facilitation meeting in Brussels, reflect what the International Chamber of Commerce describes as “business determination to help governments to tighten security.”
   Issued on behalf of international freight companies and shippers, the guidelines recommend greater reliance on sophisticated risk assessment and control techniques. They recommend that transaction-by-transaction customs controls should be replaced by “account-based post-entry procedures” for importers with proven compliance histories and consistent import patterns. In other words, “customs should judge importers on their proven record,” the Paris-based International Chamber of Commerce said. This would allow officials to focus their scrutiny where the risk is highest, it added.
   The guidelines also urge customs to rely more on non-intrusive examination techniques such as X-ray, and to use automated compliance measurement and risk assessment and profiling systems to target suspect consignments.
   The International Chamber of Commerce believes that its recommendations on customs practices can speed the movement of goods and increase security at the same time.
   The guidelines were made public a week after U.S. Customs enforced the 24-hour advance manifest rule on international maritime shipments to the U.S.
   “Many of these guidelines, for example the use of risk-assessment techniques with pre-entry and post-audit procedures, are as favourable to better security and other border controls as to improved trade facilitation,” the International Chamber of Commerce said.
   The business body also urged customs authorities to consult the trade community systematically on proposed new regulations and procedures, or amendments to existing requirements, and to provide timely notice of changes.