Due to the COVID-19 travel restrictions, the OCO conducted its meeting with Tariff Officers in the region remotely by videoconference. The meeting took place on 4th June, 2020 with 14 participants from nine of the OCO member countries. The meeting included a presentation from OCO on the overview of the HS 2022 amendments, current work done to update the Pacific Harmonised Commodity Description and Coding (PACHS) and the proposed regional work plan for the implementation of HS 2022. The OCO had provided extensive support to members through funding under the PACER Plus Readiness Package to implement HS 2017 and also ensured that national administrations had the capacity to be able to progress to implementing HS 2022 in a timely and efficient manner.
Although January 2022 is still a long way off, the meeting was convened to encourage members to start the preparatory work for the implementation of HS 2022. Given that the majority of OCO members are non-WCO members, the OCO will continue to provide capacity building to assist members with the implementation.