The World Customs Organization (WCO) reported that it coordinates with the WTO and WHO regarding the trade of 83 vaccine supplies for Covid-19.
To streamline the functioning of global supply chains and facilitate cross-border trade in Covid-19 medical supplies, the WCO has been actively working with those and other international organizations under the pandemic.
The joint effort has had valuable results in several areas, including but not limited to the development of guidance materials to facilitate the cross-border movement of critical medical supplies, including the highlighting of the existing HS classification for critical drugs, vaccines and associated medical supplies. necessary for its manufacture, distribution and use.
As an extension of this effort, the WCO has worked closely with the WTO to produce the Joint Indicative List of Critical Covid-19 Vaccine Supplies published on July 13, 2021.
The items on the list were determined through collaboration between the WTO, WCO, OECD, vaccine manufacturers and other organizations.
The WTO has assumed responsibility for the publication of this list, to provide consolidated information on the critical inputs for the manufacture, storage, distribution and administration of Covid-19 vaccines that have been produced by various organizations with a view to improving monitoring and the facilitation of the cross-border movement of relevant products.
Customs
The list contains the possible HS classifications according to the HS 2017 version for critical vaccine inputs, together with the description of each product and the name of the vaccines that use the product.
Furthermore, the list was first compiled by the WTO Secretariat as a working document to facilitate discussions at the WTO Symposium on the Covid-19 Vaccine Supply Chain and Regulatory Transparency that took place on June 29. of 2021.
For publication, the WCO has made a great effort to assess the likelihood classifications and submitting these classifications and product descriptions on the list.
The Covid-19 vaccine supply list has been widely requested by the commercial and pharmaceutical community, as well as governments, and will help identify and monitor the cross-border movement of critical vaccine supplies and eventually contribute to ending the pandemic and safeguard public health.
In total, the list covers 83 critical vaccine supplies, including mRNA nucleic acid-based vaccines as active ingredients, various inactive ingredients, and other associated consumables, equipment, packaging, and other products, with their likely 6-digit HS code.
The WCO recommends that economic operators consult with the relevant customs administrations regarding classification at the national level (7 or more digits) or in case of discrepancy between their practices and this list.
In conclusion, the WCO invites customs administrations and other interested parties to share information on additional items not mentioned in the list for future updates via the following email: hs@wcoomd.org.
