FACILITATING INTRA-OIC TRADE:
Improving the Efficiency of the Customs Procedures in the OIC Member States
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In the area of multilateral cooperation, several agreements have been developed and
entered into force up to date. Some of these conventions are as follows:
 WCO-Revised Kyoto Convention: Revised Kyoto Convention is updated and
amended version of the International Convention on the Simplification and
Harmonization of Customs procedures (Kyoto Convention) which entered into
force in 1974. The Revised Kyoto Convention has entered into force in 2006
under the WCO. It sets the standards of the modern customs procedures. It is
comprised of body, general annex and special annexes. It is mandatory for
acceding countries to accept the General Annex. On the other hand, adoption of
the special annexes is optional. 91 countries have acceded to the Convention so
far.
 WCO-International Convention on the Harmonized Commodity Description and
Coding System (HS Convention): HS Convention aims at standardizing the
codes and description of goods in international trade thereby facilitating
international trade. The Preamble of the Convention states that facilitating trade
and collection, comparison and analysis of trade statistics are among the main
objectives of the Convention. In this context, tariffs would be announced and
trade statistics would be collected according to the Convention. At present there
are 138 Contracting Parties to this Convention, however, it is applied by more
than 200 administrations worldwide, mostly to set up their national customs
tariff and for the collection of economic statistical data (EU Commission 2013).
This Convention is
 WCO-Customs Convention on the ATA Carnet for the Temporary Admission of
Goods (ATA Convention): According to the convention, temporary importation
of goods will be free of import duties. The goods covered by the Convention are
commercial samples, professional equipment, goods for display or use at
exhibitions, fairs, meetings, etc. “ATA carnet” is used as a declaration.
However, some countries accept ATA Carnet for limited use, e.g. exhibitions
and fairs. ATA Convention has entered into force on July 30th, 1963 and has
been ratified by 63 countries.
 WCO-Convention on Temporary Admission (İstanbul Convention): It has
entered into force on November 27th, 1993 and has been ratified by 65 countries
as of October 21st, 2013 according to WCO. İstanbul Convention envisages
simplified procedures for temporary imports of goods and means of transport.
The goods subject to temporary admission are not applied import duties and
taxes. According to the Article 1/b of the Convention, “import duties and taxes”
means Customs duties and all other duties, taxes, fees or other charges which
are collected on or in connection with the importation of goods (including means