Custom, Trade And Transport Update - April 2009

The G20, The WCO and Customs

The world's press has been full of the words and sentiment expressed at the recent G20 Summit in London. One of the outcomes from the Summit was the issue of a communiqué from the G20 leaders on 4 April 2009 setting out a list of measures aimed at stopping the world's economy from falling further into recession. Part of those measures was a commitment to assist international trade and resist the obvious temptation to resort to protectionist measures.

The trade parts of the G20 communiqué

The communiqué contained a number of specific commitments from the G20 leaders some of which can be summarised as follows

• To refrain from raising new barriers (including no new import or export restrictions and no WTO inconsistent measures.