WCO: HSC Provisionally Adopts the Recommendation for HS 2028 Amendments at 75th Session
The 75th Session of the Harmonized System Committee (HSC), held from 10 to 21 March 2025, has concluded its two-week intensive discussion session with the provisional adoption of the Article 16 Recommendation that will form the new 2028 edition of the Harmonized System (HS).
This means that all negotiations have been concluded. The Recommendation will be presented to the WCO Council for recommendation to the Contracting Parties. After formal adoption at the end of December 2025, the Recommendation will be made public in January 2026 and go into effect on 1 January 2028.
The Committee met expectations, producing outstanding results.
Out of 85 agenda items, 80 were examined, leading to:
- 66 classification decisions,
- classification of 441 products on the latest lists of the World Health Organization for pharmaceutical substances and ingredients requesting an International Nonproprietary Name (INN),
- 6 amendments to the HS 2022 Explanatory Notes, and
- 14 new Classification Opinions.
Regarding the HS 2028 amendments, the Committee provisionally adopted:
- 105 amendment proposals,
- 5 amendments to the Explanatory Notes, and
- the WCO Recommendation for the HS 2028 amendments under Article 16 of the Harmonized System Convention, which is the complete package of all 299 sets of amendments for HS 2028 agreed upon during the 7th Review Cycle as prepared for Council submission
Canada initiates WTO dispute regarding US duties on automobiles and auto parts
Canada has requested WTO dispute consultations with the United States concerning US measures imposing a 25 per cent duty on automobiles and automobile parts from Canada. The request was circulated to WTO members on 7 April. Link
China initiates WTO dispute regarding US “reciprocal tariffs”
China has requested WTO dispute consultations with the United States concerning US measures which it says impose a 10% additional duty on imports from all trading partners effective 5 April, and a 34% additional duty on imports from China that will become effective on 9 April. The request was circulated to WTO members on 8 April. Link
The East Africa Community Study Visit to the European Union on Self-Certification of Origin
Under the framework of the EU-WCO RoO Africa Programme, funded by the European Union, the World Customs Organization (WCO) hosted a study visit for the East Africa Community (EAC) on Self-Certification of Origin from the 1 to 4 April 2025, with an aim of enabling participants to learn good practices of origin self-certification systems and gain insights that will guide development and implementation of self-certification in the EAC region.
Moldova formally accepts Agreement on Fisheries Subsidies
Moldova’s WTO Ambassador Vladimir Cuc deposited his country’s instrument of acceptance of the Agreement on Fisheries Subsidies with the WTO Director-General Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala on 8 April. Moldova is the 96th WTO member to do so.
Moldova's instrument of acceptance brings to 96 the total number of WTO members that have formally accepted the Agreement. For it to enter into force, formal acceptances from two-thirds of WTO members are required. By adopting the Agreement on Fisheries Subsidies by consensus at the WTO's 12th Ministerial Conference in Geneva in June 2022, ministers set new, binding, multilateral rules to curb harmful fisheries subsidies. The Agreement prohibits subsidies for illegal, unreported and unregulated fishing, for fishing overfished stocks, and for fishing on the unregulated high seas. In addition, the Agreement recognizes the needs of developing economies and least-developed countries by establishing a fund to provide technical assistance and capacity-building to help them implement the new obligations, if they have formally accepted the Agreement.
Zimbabwe Customs takes further steps in its Rules of Origin competence development
Under the framework of the EU-WCO Rules of Origin Africa Programme, funded by the European Union, the World Customs Organization, in partnership with Zimbabwe Revenue Authority (ZIMRA), held an advanced training workshop on Rules of Origin for Zimbabwe Customs.
WTO: Temporary tariff pause mitigates trade contraction, but strong downside risks persist
Under current conditions, the volume of world merchandise trade is likely to fall by 0.2% in 2025. The decline is expected to be particularly steep in North America, where exports are forecasted to drop by 12.6%. However, severe downside risks exist, including the application of “reciprocal” tariffs and broader spillover of policy uncertainty, which could lead to an even sharper decline of 1.5% in global goods trade and hurt export-oriented least-developed countries. The report contains for the first time a forecast for services trade to complement its projections for merchandise trade. The volume of services trade is forecasted to grow by 4.0% in 2025, around 1 percentage point less than expected.