While
customs modernization encompasses an extensive set of topics,
each topic relates to the overall process of customs control
and clearance. Therefore, any individual training topic
must be successfully integrated into the broader picture
of customs entry control and clearance processes. Improved
control and clearance programs will drastically improve
trade and investment climates in the targeted countries
as well as better integrate these countries into the global
trading environment. Training workshops will revolve around
customs control and clearance, and will also provide track
dedicated to supply chain security. Each of these themes
includes a number of subsidiary issues with information
and communication technology (ICT) playing a critical role
in each.
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Advance
Cargo Information System (ACIS)
A set of computer applications that improves transport efficiency
by allowing cargo and transport equipment to be tracked
through ports and railway systems.
Advance
ruling
The expression “binding ruling” (or “advance
ruling”) generally designates the option for Customs
to issue a decision, at the request of an economic operator
planning a foreign trade operation, relating to the regulations
in force. The main benefit for the holder is the legal guarantee
that the decision will be applied.
Appeal
The act by which a person who is directly affected by a
decision or omission of the Customs and who considers himself
to be aggrieved thereby seeks redress before a competent
authority.
Audit-Based
Control
Measures by which the Customs satisfy themselves as to the
accuracy and authenticity of declarations through the examination
of the relevant books, records, business systems and commercial
data held by persons concerned.
Bill
of Lading
A document issued by a shipper to a carrier, listing and
acknowledging receipt of goods for transport and specifying
terms of delivery
Cargo
Declaration
Information submitted prior to or on arrival or departure
of a means of transport for commercial use that provides
the particulars required by the Customs relating to cargo
brought to or removed from the Customs territory. A Cargo
declaration is also known as a Manifest or Freight Declaration.
Certificate
of Origin
A specific form identifying the goods, in which the authority
or body empowered to issue it certifies expressly that the
goods to which the certificate relates originate in a specific
country. This certificate may also include a declaration
by the manufacturer, producer, supplier, exporter or other
competent person.
Containerization
Facilitates multimodal door-to-door transport services.
Container
Freight Station (CFS)
A carrier facility where less-than-containerload shipments
are consolidated for shipment or unloaded for final delivery.
Customs
Declaration
Any statement or action, in any form prescribed or accepted
by the Customs, giving information or particulars required
by the Customs.
Customs
Duties
Duties laid down in the Customs tariff to which goods are
liable on entering or leaving the Customs territory.
Customs
Law
The statutory and regulatory provisions relating to the
importation, exportation, movement or storage of goods,
the administration and enforcement of which are specifically
charged to the Customs, and any regulations made by the
Customs under their statutory powers.
Customs
Procedure
Treatment applied by the Customs to goods which are subject
to Customs control.
Customs
Transit
P rocedures under which goods are transported under Customs
control from one Customs office to another.
Customs
Warehouse Procedure
P rocedure under which imported goods are stored under Customs
control in a designated place (a Customs warehouse) without
payment of import duties and taxes.
Document
Any medium designed to carry and actually carrying a record
of data entries, it includes magnetic tapes and disks, microfilms,
etc.
Examination
of Goods
Physical inspection of goods by the Customs to satisfy themselves
that the nature, origin, condition, quantity and value of
the goods are in accordance with the particulars furnished
in the Goods declaration.
Export
Duties and Taxes
Customs duties and all other duties, taxes or charges which
are collected on or in connection with the exportation of
goods, but not including any charges which are limited in
amount to the approximate cost of services rendered or collected
by the Customs on behalf of another national authority.
Goods
Declaration
A statement made in the form prescribed by Customs, by which
the persons interested indicate the Customs procedure to
be applied to the goods and furnish the particulars which
the Customs require to be declared for the application of
that procedure.
Guarantee
Undertaking by which the surety assumes obligations towards
the Customs.
Integrated
Border Management
The establishment, recognition, and application of regulations
governing border control issues such as food safety, animal
health, and plant protection that are non-customs requirements
but are consistent with international standards, guidelines,
and recommendations and minimize the length and difficulty
of the documentation and validation process at the border.
Intellectual
Property Rights
The following rights:
1. Copyright and related rights
2. Trademarks: any sign, including words, names, letters,
numerals, figurative elements and combinations of colors,
or combinations of these used by a manufacturer or merchant
to identify its goods and distinguish them from those manufactured
or sold by others
3. Geographical indications, which identify a good as originating
in the territory of a State, or a region or locality in
that territory, where a given quality, reputation or other
characteristic of the good is essentially attributable to
its geographical origin
4. Industrial designs
5. Patents, which shall be available for any inventions,
whether products or processes, in all fields of technology,
provided that they are new, involve an inventive step and
are capable of industrial application
6. Layout or design (topographies) of integrated circuits
(either a protected layout-design or an integrated circuit
in which a protected layout-design is incorporated)
7. Protection of undisclosed information such as trade secrets
and other business confidential information
Kyoto
Convention
The expression commonly used to refer to the international
Convention on the simplification and harmonization of Customs
procedures adopted by the Customs Co-operation Council in
Kyoto in 1973.
Means
of Transport for Commercial Use
Any vessel (including lighters and barges, whether or not
shipborne, and hydrofoils), hovercraft, aircraft, road vehicle
(including trailers, semi-trailers and combinations of vehicles)
or railway rolling stock, which is used for the transport
of persons for remuneration or for the industrial or commercial
transport of goods, whether or not for remuneration.
Prohibitions
of Goods
Goods whose importation or exportation is prohibited by
law.
Public–Private
Partnerships (PPS)
Public-private Partnerships are designed by and exist between
public organizations and corporations, companies. Or non-governmental
organizations working in collaboration to achieve mutually
beneficial results.
Quantitative
Quota
Any pre-set quantity, authorized for importation or exportation
of given goods, during a specified period, beyond which
no additional quantity of these goods can be imported or
exported.
Release
of Goods
The action by the Customs to permit goods undergoing clearance
to be placed at the disposal of the persons concerned.
Revised
Kyoto Convention
The expression commonly used to refer to the international
Convention on the simplification and harmonization of Customs
procedures (amended), adopted by the Customs Co-operation
Council in Brussels in 1999.
Risk
Management
For a given risk sector, the risk management process involves
identifying the risks which could arise, analyzing the likelihood
that they will in fact occur, evaluating their impact and
assigning an order of priority for dealing with them.
Risk
Profile
The means by which Customs puts risk management into practice.
It replaces random examination of documents and goods with
a planned and targeted working method, making maximum use
of customs resources. A risk profile is a document which
can be set out in a number of ways but it should be comprehensive
and relevant to the traffic throughout a Customs office.
Risk Indicators
Specified selectivity criteria such as: specific commodity
code, country of origin, country whence consigned, licensing
indicator, value, trader, level of compliance, type of means
of transport, purpose of the stay in the Customs territory,
financial consequences, or financial situation of the trader
/ person.
Risk Assessment
Compare estimated levels of risk against the pre-established
criteria. Rank the risks to identify management priorities.
There are different types of ranking systems. The assessment
into HIGH, MEDIUM, and LOW is widespread. In complex environments
a more detailed system may be needed, such as a range from
1 to 100. The latter also requires the determination of
high and low risks but allows for more precision.
Rules of Origin
Specific provisions, developed from principles established
by national legislation or international agreements ("origin
criteria"), applied by a country to determine the origin
of goods. Any training would also address non-preferential
rules of origin and harmonized rules of origin.
Single
Window
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-related
regulatory requirements.
Structural
Change
Refers to a shift of employment from one sector to another.
Structural change is a continual process that follows technological
change as well as the advancement of international economic
integration and specialization.
Supply
Chain
Created by businesses for the efficient manufacturing, transfer,
and trade of goods. A critical parameter in their design
is the need to accommodate various government processes
created to ensure, inter alia, proper tax collection, fulfillment
of health, safety, or security requirements, conformance
with standards. And fair business practices.
Tariff
Quota
Any pre-set value or quantity, authorized for importation
or exportation of given goods, during a specified period,
with a reduction of the Customs duties, and beyond which
any additional quantity of these goods can be imported or
exported by paying normal Customs duties.
Transparency
T he availability of information, predictability, establishment
of local inquiry point, and due process.
TRIPS
Agreement
In the framework of the negotiations and of the Convention
establishing the World Trade Organization, the Agreement
on Trade-Related Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights
(TRIPS) was signed on 15 April 1994. Part III, Section 4
of the TRIPS Agreement describes the role and responsibilities
that Customs administrations are called upon to assume with
regard to the application of the IPR regulations. In this
new millennium, many Customs administrations of developing
countries which have joined the WTO are therefore required
to implement the TRIPS Agreement in full.
Valuation
The customs value of imported goods, determined mainly for
the purposes of applying ad valorem rates of customs duties.
It constitutes the taxable basis for customs duties. It
is also an essential element for compiling trade statistics,
monitoring quantitative restrictions, applying tariff preferences,
and collecting national taxes.
