Why the Future Revised Kyoto Convention Should Contain Comprehensive Rules of Customs Debt

The Revised Kyoto Convention (RKC) is currently being reviewed as part of an ongoing review process. The aim of the comprehensive review is to enhance the current provisions and advance them in order to meet today’s needs and challenges. It is the intention of the World Customs Organization (WCO) that the RKC remains the blueprint for modern and efficient customs procedures in the 21st century. This should also apply to customs debt issues since customs debt law constitutes a central aspect of all national customs legislation. The status quo of the RKC does not, however, correspond to the fundamental role of this decisive area in customs law. Against this background, this article deals with the motivations, extent and intermediate results of the present review process. Moreover, it examines the advantages and challenges of a comprehensive and harmonised implementation of the Convention. In particular, it addresses the proposal of establishing a global standard, a model law, regarding customs debt issues for national customs legislation that would foster transparency, facilitation and predictability, while at the same time reducing randomness and complexity. The article provides an insight into the status quo of the current RKC provisions relating to customs debt and looks at some national legislation regarding these issues. It illustrates why it is necessary that a future RKC includes harmonised standards and/or recommended practices regarding the incurrence, payment and extinguishment of a customs debt and it also elaborates on the principles and concepts, such as the economic theory of customs, that should be reflected and included in a possible system of customs debt provisions.