Oceania Customs Organisation members moves towards Revised Kyoto Convention compliance

On 26-30 June, 2017, six of the OCO members (Cook Islands, Federated State of Micronesia, Kiribati, Nauru, Solomon Islands and Tuvalu) joined Vanuatu Customs at their National Workshop on the Convention on the Simplification and Harmonization of Customs Procedures, known as the Revised Kyoto Convention (RKC) held in Port Vila, Vanuatu. The workshop was organised and facilitated by the World Customs Organisation (WCO) and was delivered by WCO experts. The OCO Secretariat provided the support to the OCO members.

Following from the 2017 OCO Annual Conference, a number of OCO non-WCO members had indicated their aspiration to accede and comply with the RKC Convention noting that any member of the United Nations or its specialized agencies may become a Contracting party to the Convention.

The main objective of the workshop was to assist Vanuatu and OCO’s Members States in acceding to the Revised Kyoto Convention, through the conduct of a thorough Gap Analysis, comparing their national legislation, including the customs laws to the RKC General Annex, Standards and Guidelines. The participants also discussed with the experts the process for the accession. For OCO members, participants had agreed to formulate draft national action plans for the work that needed to be done and to set tentative timeframes within which that work would be completed.

The work towards compliance to RKC is important for OCO members given the reforms members are undertaking and that it is an important tool for the implementation of the Trade Facilitation Agreement.

The OCO members registered their appreciation to the WCO experts for the technical assistance and expressed gratitude to Vanuatu Customs for extending the invitation to participate in their national workshop. The Workshop has enabled the non-WCO members to understand and access to WCO tools and instruments to assist in the implementation of the RKC.

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