Green Customs: Environmental Regulations and Sustainable Trade

Green Customs: Environmental Regulations and Sustainable Trade

According to the WCO, “Green Customs” is a holistic philosophy that redefines cross-border trade through three main lenses: Being (reducing the internal carbon footprint of customs operations), Doing (enforcing green laws and facilitating sustainable trade), and Innovating (using technology to test sustainability excellence).

Multilateral environmental agreements Multilateral environmental agreements (MEAs) are treaties between multiple States and, in some cases, regional economic integration organizations such as the European Union, to pursue specific objectives aimed at protecting the environment and conserving natural resources. The intention of the international community to develop a new MEA is often brought about by worldwide concerns about the actual or potential serious impacts of human activities on the Earth’s fragile environment and the need to address these through concerted efforts at the global level to ensure a safe future for coming generations. Measures that may be embodied in MEAs include, for instance: the monitoring and control of production and use of environmentally sensitive items; the restriction or elimination of their production and use; the identification and promotion of alternatives; and regulation of the way in which they are disposed of. Regulating the international trade of certain environmentally sensitive items is the cornerstone of the MEAs.

Once an MEA enters into force, those States and organizations that have expressed consent to be bound by it, i.e. the parties, are legally obliged to comply with its provisions. The main MEAs with international trade related provisions are the following:

• Basel Convention on the Control of Transboundary Movements of Hazardous Wastes and their Disposal
• Cartagena Protocol on Biosafety to the Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD)
• Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora (CITES)
• Minamata Convention on Mercury
• Montreal Protocol on Substances that Deplete the Ozone Layer
• Rotterdam Convention on the Prior Informed Consent Procedure for Certain Hazardous Chemicals and Pesticides in International Trade
• Stockholm Convention on Persistent Organic Pollutants Since seven out of the eight treaties covered by the Green Customs Initiative (GCI) are MEAs, MEAs in general, often including the Convention on the Prohibition of the Development, Production, Stockpiling and Use of Chemical Weapons and on their Destruction (CWC). Although the primary purpose of the CWC is not environmental protection, the international agreement shares many common concerns and procedures with the MEA s. The roles played by customs officers and other border control officers to implement and enforce each agreement are similar in many respects.

The Green Customs Initiative: Introducing the partners The GCI is a partnership of entities aimed at raising the awareness and building the capacity of customs and border control officers on environmentally sensitive commodities. The partners of the GCI comprise the secretariats of the trade-related MEAs and the Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW) administering the CWC, as well as the International Criminal Police Organization (INTERPOL), WCO, the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC) and UNEP (Law Division and Ozon Action, as an implementing agency of the Multilateral Fund for the Implementation of the Montreal Protocol on Substances that Deplete the Ozone Layer). UNEP also administers the participating MEAs, which are recognized as separate partners in the GCI. The following are brief introductions to each partner.

Basel Convention: The Basel Convention on the Control of Transboundary Movements of Hazardous Wastes and their Disposal is the global environmental treaty on hazardous and other wastes establishing the control regime for transboundary shipments of hazardous and other wastes. The aim is to protect human health and the environment against the adverse effects resulting from the generation, management, transboundary movements and disposal of hazardous and other wastes. Training and materials for customs and border control officers are provided by the Secretariat of the Basel Convention and the Basel Convention Regional Centres. The Secretariat of the Convention, which is administered by UNEP, is located in Geneva, Switzerland.

Montreal Protocol: The Montreal Protocol on Substances that deplete the Ozone Layer is an international agreement that controls the production and consumption of specific manufactured chemicals that destroy the ozone layer, the Earth’s protective shield, as well as certain powerful greenhouse gases that contribute to climate change. Customs controls and enforcement of national import/ export licensing systems are essential for Parties to meet their time-targeted compliance commitments under the Montreal Protocol.

Stockholm Convention: The Stockholm Convention on Persistent Organic Pollutants is directed towards protecting human health and the environment from one group of hazardous chemicals, persistent organic pollutants (POPs). The major obligations under the Convention are aimed at reducing or eliminating releases of POPs by the Parties. This includes obligating Parties to take measures to regulate the export and import of POPs. The Secretariat of the Convention, which is administered by UNEP, is located in Geneva, Switzerland.

World Customs Organization: WCO, established in 1952 as the Customs Co-operation Council, is an independent intergovernmental body the mission of which is to enhance the effectiveness and efficiency of customs administrations. Today, WCO represents 183 customs administrations across the globe that collectively process approximately 98 per cent of world trade. As the global centre of customs expertise, WCO is the only international organization with competence in customs matters and can rightly call itself the voice of the international customs community. WCO enhances the efficiency and effectiveness of member customs administrations, thereby assisting them to, inter alia:

• study all questions relating to cooperation in customs matters
• examine the technical aspects of customs systems with a view to attaining the highest possible degree of harmony and uniformity
• prepare conventions and amendments to conventions
• make recommendations to ensure the uniform interpretation and application of the conventions • furnish information or advice
• help its members to respond to contemporary challenges
• cooperate with other intergovernmental organizations WCO assists its members in the areas of trade facilitation, revenue collection, community protection and national security. To fulfil its mission, WCO:
• Develops, maintains and promotes a series of international conventions, other instruments and best-practice approaches in seeking to harmonize and simplify customs systems and procedures.
• Promotes the strategic interests of WCO and wider international customs community by cooperating, communicating and acting in partnership with governments, other international and regional organizations, donor agencies and the private sector.
• Provides a range of capacity-building, training and technical assistance, and integrity programmes to increase the capacity of member customs administrations to contribute effectively to national development goals.
• Analyses issues and trends of strategic importance to WCO and member administrations. Over the years, the responsibilities related to the international movement of goods have broadened from the traditional role of collecting duties and taxes on international trade, to executing controls and other activities that serve a wider set of government objectives, spanning areas as diverse as the interdiction of prohibited substances, the protection of cultural heritage and the enforcement of intellectual property laws.