WCO Publishes Report on Low-Value E-Commerce Shipments
The World Customs Organization published a report on e-commerce (here), based on a survey of its members, which analyzes global customs practices and initiatives related to low-value e-commerce processing, the WCO said. The recent increase in de minimis e-commerce processing has spurred several challenges in the global trading environment, the WCO said. The continuous increase in online trading necessitates a broad, international customs approach to deal with questions regarding regulation, consumer protection, revenue collection and national security, the organization said. The study outlines several countries’ e-commerce approaches to de minimis shipments, and notes that proper risk management of such e-commerce shipments requires large personnel allocations, which several customs administrations lack.
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Inaccurate information is a major issue associated with risk assessments, hampering trade facilitation, and increasing delays and costs, the report says. Member responses to WCO’s survey indicated that numeric fields, including the identification number, tax number and Harmonized System-associated numbers, aren’t always required fields in customs declarations, “which leads to problems in risk analysis,” according to the report. But the study also notes technological solutions being developed to address e-commerce challenges, including European customs administrations’ implementation of an automated system of customs registration of international postal and courier deliveries. The systems will be capable of fully automated registration, and will enable automated receipt of reports, risk assessment and application of analytic tools, the WCO said. The report notes, however, that in many other cases, no formal cooperation and data exchange mechanism with e-commerce operators exists.
Revenue collection on low-value e-commerce shipments is complicated by factors including under-valuation, incorrect tariff classification and goods descriptions, and splitting of consignments to qualify them for de minimis treatment, the report says. The WCO highlighted as a potential solution Canadian customs’ implementation of the “CDS system,” which allows international postal operators to exchange electronic data information with Canadian postal operators and then permits the pre-arrival assessment of duties and/or taxes. The report also highlighted EU initiatives to tackle risk management challenges, including these projects under examination: the advanced collection mechanism for value-added taxation (VAT) through the European “mini-one-stop-shop (MOSS),” advanced collection mechanism for customs duties and VAT through a “Customs MOSS,” and specific taxation for e-commerce imports.
The WCO also launched an “E-Commerce web-corner” (here), which is intended to act as a single reference point for e-commerce-related information, including the ongoing work of the WCO’s multistakeholder Working Group on E-Commerce, the WCO said in a statement (here).