There is a training need of the private sector to encourage economic growth and ease international trade. Working closely together with the WCO, DEMOS brings together the foremost experts in customs and trade matters to meet the demand of a complex international and cross border trading system.

Pieter Haesaert and Joris Zaman of Customs4trade will be your trainers for 3 different areas:
* AEO / SAFE
* Customs Valuation / Transfer Pricing
* Risk Management

The courses will be organised in Brussels with a duration of 2 days each one, from 9H to 17H. The registration fee is €1.600 per course. At the end of the course participants receive a certificate issued by the WCO.
For detailed course descriptions and informations on dates, rates and registration, visit www.wcoomdtraining.org/en/home

The EU Council decided on 16th September to go ahead for a Free Trade Agreement with South Korea.  The agreement is aimed  to be signed in Brussels on 6th October with provisional application from 1st July 2011.  It will eliminate 98.7% of duties in trade value within five years (industry and agriculture). The remaining tariffs will be abolished almost fully over a longer period. Provisions on electronics, motor vehicles and vehicle parts, pharmaceuticals, medical devices and chemicals are specified in order to avoid non-tariff obstacles. 

The Free Trade Agreement contains protocols regarding rules of origin and administrative assistance on customs matters. Further information can be found here. 

The European Commission launched a public consultation on 12 July to aks businesses and the public for their views on possible VAT simplifications to facilitate customs centralised clearance.

“Centralised clearance” is a possibility for the importers that hold an authorization to both declare and pay customs duties to the customs administration of their Member State of authorisation, independent from the place of import and destination of goods within the EU. However, under the present VAT rules, the importers, even using centralised clearance, would still be subject to VAT obligations in each Member State of physical arrival and destination of goods. The aim of this consultation is to obtain views on a series of solutions relating to the possible adaptions of VAT collection rules.

The consultation will run until 31 October 2010. You can find more information here.

The EU electronic course which is designed to help companies learn the relevant facts about AEO legislation & process has been updated.

Following the legislative changes, the content has been adapted with the mandatory obligation to enter the EORI number in the AEO application and the deadlines for issuing the certifates.  

This course has been developed by the Customs and Taxation Directorate General of the European commission. It is their target is to foster a uniform implementation of the standards throughout the EU.

The AEO electronic course can be freely accesses and downloaded here.