Context:

• The Central Board of Indirect Taxes and Customs (CBIC) will discuss new-age products such as 3D printing, blockchain and drones at the 80th Session of Policy Commission meeting of World Customs Organisation.

About the Session:

• During the sessions, trade-based illicit financial flows and money laundering will be discussed in great details. Issues such as double billing, over-invoicing, under-invoicing and round-tripping of money would be discussed.
• Illicit money across borders is a matter of concern for CBIC as it has grave implications for terror financing. The Customs Department of various countries can play an important role in curbing such finances.

Policy Commission, WCO

1. The Policy Commission is essentially an advisory body for the Council and normally arrives at its recommendations by consensus.
2. Each member of the Policy Commission shall have one vote, representatives of a simple majority of the Policy Commission’s members shall constitute a quorum, and a two-thirds majority of those present and entitled to vote is needed in order to carry a decision.
3. The WCO Secretariat is responsible for making the arrangements and preparations for Policy Commission sessions, providing professional, administrative and technical services during the sessions, and performing follow-up tasks after the sessions.

About World Custom Organisation

1. Globally, 180 countries are members of the World Customs Organisation (WCO) which is headquartered in Brussels.
2. 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. The WCO’s primary objective is to enhance the efficiency and effectiveness of member customs administrations, thereby assisting them to contribute successfully to national development goals, particularly revenue collection, national security, trade facilitation, community protection, and collection of trade statistics.
4. The WCO is noted for its work in areas covering 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), drugs enforcement, illegal weapons trading, integrity promotion etc.

Source: Hindubusiness Line