WCO

The World Customs Organization (WCO) is the Brussels-based intergovernmental body, founded in 1952 as the Customs Co-operation Council, that develops the standards underpinning international customs. It maintains the Harmonized System nomenclature, the Revised Kyoto Convention on procedure simplification, and the SAFE Framework of Standards that defines the Authorised Economic Operator concept. Over 180 member administrations apply its instruments, which set the common language for tariff classification and trade facilitation worldwide.