The World Customs Organization

This book will take the reader through the past, the present, and into the future of the flagship institution of the international customs community: the World Customs Organization (WCO).

The purpose is to present to the reader, in a comprehensive, orderly, and synthetic manner, the enormous contributions that this prestigious and recognized institution has been making to the secure growth of global international trade.

In the development of the text, special consideration has been given to the relevant instruments in day-to-day customs work, which constitute the bases of the WCO (the Harmonized System Convention, the Revised Kyoto Convention, and the SAFE Framework of Standards, among many others), as well as those issues that are currently of specific interest to the global customs community (cross-border e-commerce, trade facilitation, and authorized economic operator, to mention but a few), trying to reconcile the various practical aspects of customs operationswith their theoretical underpinnings.

In the final part, the book turns to the future of customs, analyzing the most pressing challenges presented by technological advances, including the Internet of Things, artificial intelligence, 3D printing, and blockchain.