Sub-Committee on Customs Procedures - Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation
Print This Page Print This Page
Send This Page Send This Page
 

Sub-Committee on Customs Procedures

  

Customs organizations implement government policies that help to increase and liberalize trade and, in an era of trade globalization, it is highly important that customs rules and procedures are internationalized.

The Sub-Committee on Customs Procedures (SCCP) was established in 1994 and its main objective is to simplify and harmonize regional customs procedures to ensure that goods and services move efficiently, effectively and safely through the region, and to reconcile and facilitate border control.

The SCCP holds to the following basic principles:
  • Facilitation: While ensuring proper enforcement of customs law and regulations, APEC Customs Administrations should strive to improve customs clearance procedures
  • Accountability: Customs Administrations should be accountable for their actions through a transparent and accessible process of administrative and/or judicial review
  • Consistency: Customs law, regulations, administrative guidelines and procedures should be applied in a uniform manner within each economy
  • Transparency: Customs law, regulations, administrative guidelines and procedures should be publicly available in a prompt and easily accessible manner
  • Simplification: Customs law, regulations, administrative guidelines and procedures should be simplified to the greatest extent possible so that customs clearance can proceed without undue burdens.

Achievements

Customs Business Dialogue
Following closely after the meeting in Cairns, the SCCP held its annual APEC Customs-Business Dialogue (ACBD) in Sydney, Australia on 29 June, 2007. The objective of the ACBD is to foster understanding and cooperation between customs authorities and the business sector in the APEC region in order to promote trade facilitation. This year's theme was "Identifying Future Trade Facilitation Opportunities," and a Plenary Statement was adopted.

Trade Facilitation
The SCCP has contributed to a key APEC objective for 2007, namely the goal of achieving a further five percent reduction in transaction costs by 2010. The SCCP identified a list of collective actions to facilitate the reduction and presented it to the Committee on Trade and Investment. The list was incorporated into the new Trade Facilitation Action Plan (TFAP2) which was endorsed by the Ministers Responsible for Trade on 6 July, 2007.

Ongoing agenda
The SCCP's achievements in relating to its ongoing agenda are outlined in a report released in August 2007, the "SCCP 2007 Blueprint: A Window to the Future." It contains comprehensive information about the activities of the SCCP and the implementation of its Collective Action Plan (CAP) items and work program. The CAP items on which progress has been made include:
  • Harmonization of Tariff Structure with the HS Convention
  • Simplification and Harmonization Based on the Revised Kyoto Convention
  • Harmonizsed APEC Data Elements
  • Integrity
  • Implementation of APEC Framework based on the WCO Framework of Standards to Secure and Facilitate Global Trade
  • Time-Release Surveys (TRS)

Top

Current Activities

At its meeting in Cairns, the SCCP set out its priorities and actions for the year in the 2007 Work Program: Status of Activities document. The priorities are: strengthening the multilateral trading system, trade facilitation, intellectual property rights (IPR) enforcement, secure trade, interaction with the business community, and APEC reform.

At the meeting the SCCP Single Window Strategic Plan and the SCCP Single Window Development Plan were endorsed and adopted. The Strategic Plan provides a framework for the development of Single Window systems by members to achieve paperless trading targets and enable seamless data sharing. It contains six recommendations to assist members in this endeavour and provides the mechanisms for APEC members to work collaboratively and agree on various issues where appropriate. The recommendations are that:
  • The SCCP establish a working group to further single window activities across APEC. The working group will engage the private and public sectors and other relevant APEC sub-fora and international bodies.
  • The United Nations Centre for Trade Facilitation and Electronic Business (UN/CEFACT) definition of "single window" be adopted by APEC economies. This definition is provided in UN/CEFACT Recommendation 33 which states: "A facility that allows parties involved in trade and transport to lodge standardized information and documents with a single entry point to fulfill all import, export and transit related regulatory requirements. If information is electronic, then individual data elements should only be submitted once."
  • APEC economies adopt the use of internationally recognised instruments and standards in single window design to increase international interoperability.
  • The SCCP establish a repository to capture information regarding relevant single-window related initiatives in international trade facilitation and supply chain security.
  • The SCCP identify and coordinate relevant capacity building single window activities.
  • The SCCP prepare a roadmap and implementation plan to achieve the single window vision.

Top


Sub-Committee on Customs Procedures (SCCP) - Key Contacts
Chair
Mr Armando Arteaga
National Associated Superintendent of Customs
Gamarra Avenue 680, Chucuito-Callao
Peru
Tel: (511) 465 9206
Fax: (511) 469 0420
Email: jarteaga@sunat.gob.pe

APEC Secretariat
Mr Takashi Hattori
Director (Program)
E-mail: th@apec.org

Top