23 - 26 October, 2023, Colombo, Sri Lanka

The WCO Sub-regional Workshop on the Implementation of the Framework of Standards on Cross-Border E-Commerce was held in Colombo, Sri Lanka, from 23 to 26 October 2023 with the financial support of the Customs Cooperation Fund of China (CCF-China). A total of 16 Customs officials from Bangladesh, India, Iran, Maldives, Nepal and Sri Lanka attended the workshop in-person. As the representative of the ROCB A/P, Ms. Zhengqing Ye, the Program Manager and Operation Manager of the CCF-China joined this workshop.

Mr. P.B.S.C. Nonis, the DG of the Sri Lanka Customs joined the official opening ceremony and expressed his gratitude to the WCO, the ROCB A/P and the CCF China for choosing Sri Lanka as the host country. He also emphasized the great efforts that the WCO had made for this region to enhance Member’s capacity addressing challenges such as the incredibly growth in cross-border E-Commerce. Ms. Ye appreciated the Sri Lanka Customs for hosting this workshop and demonstrated ROCB A/P’s commitment to assisting AP Members in building their capacity in her opening remarks. During the workshop she also introduced the ROCB A/P’s capacity building activities such as 2023/24 ROCB Action Plan, Training Management Project and official publications. Furthermore, she introduced the Follow-up Actions Survey conducted by the ROCB A/P to encourage the participants to utilize lessons learnt from this workshop to improve their home administrations’ ability to adapt to the fast-evolving e-commerce environment.

Over the span of 4 days, important Customs topics relating to 16 standards of the WCO Framework of Standards on Cross-Border E-Commerce were examined and discussed. The beneficiary Members were invited to deliver presentations focusing on the current development and challenges of cross-border e-commerce, which were the basis for valuable exchanges of information on possible solutions.

This Sub-Regional workshop provided an ample opportunity for Member Administrations to leverage the knowledge obtained during the workshop to implement the E-Commerce FoS in view of addressing the challenges emanating from the growing volumes of e-commerce.

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