9 -11 Nov 2021, online hosted by ROCB A/P

A Regional Workshop on the HS 2022 Implementation for Asia/Pacific members was held virtually on 9 – 11 Nov 2021 organized by WCO. The Workshop was funded by CCF/Japan and hosted by ROCB A/P. Mr. Norikazu Kuramoto, Head of ROCB A/P and Program Managers of the ROCB A/P, Ms. Sherman Yu and Ms. Yuko Mamiya attended to provide support.

Over 80 officials from 27 Customs Administrations in Asia Pacific region participated in the Workshop. In the opening speech, Mr. Satoru HAMAGUCHI, Director for International Technical Cooperation, Customs and Tariff Bureau, Ministry of Finance, Japan thanked the WCO for providing guidelines and instruments in HS implementation. The 2nd opening speech speaker is Mr. Konstantinos KAIOPOULOS, Director of Tariff and Trade Affairs Directorate, WCO. He noted that with the development of world trade, Customs Administrations are facing a number of challenges in the areas of classification and valuation. Therefore, HS has to be reviewed once every 5 years to keep up with the changes. Mr. Norikazu Kuramoto, Head of ROCB A/P, acknowledged the importance of HS which is a fundamental tool for Customs clearance, imposing tax as well as compiling trade statistics at members and emphasized this is golden opportunity to catch up the latest HS version.

In this 3-day Workshop, WCO experts from Tariff and Trade Affairs Directorate facilitated and delivered presentations. The agenda covered the key points of HS convention, main points of HS2022 version, updates of the HS rules and related tools. In the presentations, all the speakers were mainly highlighting and elaborating the classifications in nomenclature by the amendments in HS 2022 version. During the summation/information exchange session, two speakers from Thai Customs and China Customs were invited to share its experience on the HS amendment process respectively.  They shared the challenges faced and the roadmap to implement the HS 2022 in their home administrations.

Robust discussion aroused throughout the Q & A sessions. Participants were eager to learn about the classification regarding new products or new rulings in HS. They also showed great interest in the WCO Trade Tool as presented by the Publication Team of WCO.  

For more information, please contact us at rocb@rocbap.org