ABSTRACT
A World Trade Organization (WTO) Member is to “apply safeguard measures only to the extent necessary to prevent or remedy serious injury and to facilitate adjustment”. In addition to providing for harmonization through international standards, the Agreement pursues equivalence of the measures among Members of the WTO, both bilaterally and multilaterally. Some developing-country WTO Members use preshipment inspection, the activities of which concern “the verification of the quality, the quantity, the price, including currency exchange rate and financial terms, and/or the customs classification of goods to be exported to the territory of the user Member”. Members of the WTO should “share information on best practices in managing customs compliance”, and “cooperate in technical guidance or assistance and support for capacity building for the purposes of administering compliance measures and enhancing their effectiveness”.
