Customs

Today customs is an integral participant of the international supply chains. Although it continues to play a key role in the collection of duties and taxes, customs role nowadays has expanded to include supply chain security and facilitation of legitimate international trade.

GS1 has long working relationship with the World Customs Organization (WCO) - the intergovernmental organization uniquely focused on customs matters. WCO represents 174 Customs administrations across the globe that collectively process approximately 98% of world trade. The WCO sets strategic direction for Customs globally.

A Memorandum of Understanding between GS1 and WCO was signed in November 2007 in recognition of the wide range of business interests shared by our two organizations and to provide a framework for further cooperation

SSCC as UCR Pilot Project

This successful pilot was the first joint customs and trade initiative that had the objective of addressing issues combining supply chain security and trade facilitation. The project demonstrated that the commercially used identifier SSCC met requirements of both the WCO and national customs administrations for the unique identifier of the shipments in the international supply chain. However, it also showed that this level of identification is too detailed for today's customs operations. Therefore, phase II was launched to test the Global Shipment Identification Number (GSIN) to identify grouped goods travelling cross-border.

Customs in the 21st Century

Lat year the WCO issued customs in the 21st Century, the document that sets out strategic direction for customs worldwide.  It describes the new challenges and role of customs in the 21st century, explains customs mission and objectives underpinning it. It provides information on development of the new strategic direction for customs and explains the future role of the WCO. In particular, it highlights the coordinated border management and globally networked customs.

GS1 is working with WCO on defining future areas of collaboration in light of this newly adopted strategy.