World Customs Organization

World Customs Organization
AbbreviationWCO
Formation26 January 1953; 71 years ago (1953-01-26)[1]
TypeIntergovernmental organization
Location
Membership
186 customs administrations
Official language
English and French
Secretary General
Ian Saunders (January 2024 - present)
Websitewww.wcoomd.org
Headquarters building

The World Customs Organization (WCO) is an intergovernmental organization headquartered in Brussels, Belgium. The WCO works on customs-related matters including the development of international conventions, instruments, and tools on topics such as commodity classification, valuation, rules of origin, collection of customs revenue, supply chain security, international trade facilitation, customs enforcement activities, combating counterfeiting in support of intellectual property rights (IPR), illegal drug enforcement, combating counterfeiting of medicinal drugs,[2] illegal weapons trading, integrity promotion, and delivering sustainable capacity building to assist with customs reforms and modernization. The WCO maintains the international Harmonized System (HS) goods nomenclature, and administers the technical aspects of the World Trade Organization (WTO) Agreements on Customs Valuation and Rules of Origin.[3][4] Additionally, the WCO oversees the implementation of new technologies, artificial intelligence, to improve the efficiency of customs operations. Furthermore, the WCO is involved in addressing emerging issues, such as the digitalization of customs systems.[5]

  1. ^ Cite error: The named reference oma was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  2. ^ Gelbart, Hannah (16 September 2021). "On the trail of fake medicine smugglers". BBC News.
  3. ^ "La OMC y la Organización Mundial de Aduanas (OMA)" [The OMC and the World Customs Organization (WCO)]. WTO (in Spanish). Organización Mundial de Comercio. Retrieved 16 September 2021.
  4. ^ "Organización Mundial de Aduana (OMA) – Servicio Nacional de Aduana del Ecuador" (in Spanish). Retrieved 18 November 2020.
  5. ^ Allende, J. (2022). World Customs Organization. Springer International Publishing.