WCO Immediate Release Guidelines

Author/Source: World Customs Organization (WCO)

Year of adopting/publication: 1990 and reviewed in 2006.

Link to the document on the internet: The full text of the IRG are available on the WCO website.

Purpose: to provide a set of release procedures assisting Customs to expedite the release of small and low value consignments.

Summary: The Guidelines contain categories of goods (correspondence and documents; low value non-dutiable; low value dutiable and high value consigments) for which seperate data sets, de minimis values and declaration formalities were defined. The main principle of the IRG is the promotion of pre-arrival data submission and declaration processing so that Customs would be in a position to release the goods immediately upon arrival or even prior to the arrival. The 2006 version of the IRG is now being updated by the WCO secretariat in line with the procedures and practices currently in place in many countries and recent developments in this area.

Pages that list these guidelines:

Authorized Traders
Customs Risk Management
De minimis
Declaration
Pre-arrival processing
Release time