World Customs Organization

World Customs Organization (WCO) is an intergovernmental organisation established in 1952 as the Customs Cooperation Council; it adopted its current name in 1994.

Headquartered in Brussels, it develops agreed rules on custom procedures and provides advice and assistance to customs services. It has established an international standard classification of commodities, which is use to determine the application of tariffs--it does not however deal with the tariffs themselves, that being the job of the WTO.

External Links:

• Official WCO website (http://www.wcoomd.org/)
• Factsheet on the WCO (http://www.wcoomd.org/ie/En/AboutUs/fiche1%20Ang.pdf)