Since the beginning of the 20-th century, there has been a continuous effort to standardize and harmonize Customs formalities with the aim of simplifying and facilitating international trade.
In 1923 the League of Nations signed in Geneva the International Conventionrelating to the Simplification of Customs Formalities. In 1947 was signed the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade. In 1950 the Convention establishing Customs Cooperation Council was signed. This Council is still the only intergovernmental organization competent on Customs matters. Numerous studies carried out by the Council on the principal Customs procedures such as importation, exportation, duty-free admission, inward and outward processing, transit, warehousing, temporary admission etc., resulted in a series and recommendations designed to solve specific Customs problems.
In order to achieve its objectives, the WCO has adopted a number of customs instruments, including but not limited to the following:
1) The International Convention on the Harmonized Commodity Description and Coding System (HS Convention) was adopted in 1983 and came into force in 1988. The HS multipurpose goods nomenclature is used as the basis for customs tariffs and for the compilation of international trade statistics. It comprises about 5000 commodity groups, each identified by a six digit code arranged in a legal and logical structure with well-defined rules to achieve uniform classification. The HS is also used for many other purposes involving trade policy, rules of origin, monitoring of controlled goods, internal taxes, freight tariffs, transport statistics, quota controls, price monitoring, compilation of national accounts, and economic research and analysis.
2) ATA Convention and the Convention on Temporary Admission (Istanbul Convention). Both the ATA Convention and the Istanbul Convention are WCO instruments governing temporary admission of goods. The ATA system, which is integral to both Conventions, allows the free movement of goods across frontiers and their temporary admission into a customs territory with relief from duties and taxes. The goods are covered by a single document known as the ATA carnet that is secured by an international guarantee system.
3) The Arusha Declaration on Customs Integrity was adopted in 1993 and revised in 2003. The Arusha Declaration is a non-binding instrument which provides a number of basic principles to promote integrity and combat corruption within customs administrations.
4) The SAFE Framework of Standards to Secure and Facilitate Global Trade was adopted in 2003. The SAFE Framework is a non-binding instrument that contains supply chain security and facilitation standards for goods being traded internationally, enables integrated supply chain management for all modes of transport, strengthens networking arrangements between customs administrations to improve their capability to detect high-risk consignments, promotes cooperation between customs and the business community through the Authorized Economic Operator (AEO) concept, and champions the seamless movement of goods through secure international trade supply chains.