The increase of natural or other sudden onset disasters has highlighted the need to improve the efficiency of the international community's contributions to humanitarian operations. The Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA), until January 1998 - United Nations Department of Humanitarian Affairs (DHA), in close cooperation with UN agencies and the international community, has initiated several activities aimed at improving some key disaster response tools. One of these initiatives is to ensure application of simplified Customs procedures in order to speed up the delivery of international humanitarian assistance, including military, civil defence and civil protection assets.
A study conducted by OCHA in 1994 showed that four international instruments - one recommendation (CCC Recommendation (1970) concerning relief consignments) and three conventions (Kyoto Convention, A.T.A. Convention, and Istanbul Convention) elaborated by the World Customs Organization (WCO), until October 1994 - Customs Cooperation Council (CCC), - contained recommended facilitation measures to simplify and streamline Customs clearance of humanitarian consignments. If fully applied, these measures would contribute considerably to the prompt delivery of humanitarian assistance.
However, an international convention is legally binding only if a government formally accepts it. The study showed that a limited number of countries had acceded to the conventions and/or annexes relating to the delivery of humanitarian assistance, and that even fewer countries had translated these recommendations into provisions of their national legislation.
Reports from the field contain multiple examples of delays in delivering humanitarian assistance due to the non-application of the internationally recommended measures by local Customs offices, e.g.:
" . . .Still to be delivered to the affected areas, and currently awaiting Customs clearance, is humanitarian help from . . ."
" . . . We sent for Customs officers at 7:30 in the morning, and started to seriously worry when nobody still appeared by noon . . . "
" . . . When the Team arrived in the country, the materials where held up in Customs for one week (telecoms for two weeks). . . . "
" . . . the expeditious clearance of supplies . . . has been delayed by local Customs officials. . . . "
History of development
Given the exceptional character of the circumstances in which humanitarian assistance is required from and/or through the United Nations, a new approach had to be adopted.
Following the recommendations of the 1993 Workshop on Emergency Stockpiles, the First Meeting of the Standing Coordinating Group of the Military and Civil Defense Assets (MCDA) Project, and a number of other meetings and consultations with interested national and international organizations, OCHA initiated the development of a Model Agreement between the United Nations and a State/Government concerning measures to expedite the import, export and transit of relief consignments and possessions of relief personnel in the event of disasters and emergencies (Model Customs Facilitation Agreement).
In May 1994 WCO considered and approved the OCHA's proposal to cooperate with OCHA in the area of facilitation of delivery of international humanitarian assistance to disaster-affected areas. WCO included the development of a Model Customs Facilitation Agreement in its Work Programme.
During 1994-95 OCHA and WCO conducted extensive work on the text of a draft Model Customs Facilitation Agreement in regular consultations with the interested UN Agencies, international and national relief organizations and the national Customs authorities in the countries-members of WCO.
The resulting document, which took into account the comments made and the recommendations of the 1994 Meeting on Emergency Stockpiles and the 1994 Oslo International Conference on the use of MCDA in disaster relief operations, was presented to and approved by the Permanent Technical Committee of WCO at its 157-158th sessions in April 1996.