Joined the World Customs Organization in October 2013 as Technical Officer in the Valuation sub-Directorate of the Tariff and Trade Affairs Directorate. 

Worked for Customs Administration of Mauritius for more than thirty years.  Headed the Assessment (Valuation and Post Clearance Audit Units), Enforcement , Risk Management and Airport Sections in the last 11 years prior to working at the WCO.  Set up the Risk Management and Post Clearance Audit Sections.

Commenced with the World Customs Organization Capacity Building Directorate in 2009.

Portfolio includes:

Managing WCO Mercator Programme “Tailor-Made Track”;

Managing WCO Columbus Programme Phase 1 and 3 strategic planning and advisory support;

Maintaining and Updating the WCO Diagnostic Framework and the WCO Capacity Building Development Compendium;

Oversight of several multi-country, multiple donor, capacity building projects; and

Conducting Capacity Building workshops for Customs Administrations seeking to develop Strategic Plans, Operational Plans, Performance Measurement and Risk Management policies.

Prior to appointment with the WCO, employed by the Australian Government since 1981.

Continuous service with Australian Border Force (Customs) since 1987.

Peter Baumgartner joined WTS in 2011 and now he is a Managing Partner of the Competence Center “Supply Chain Strategy” with responsibilities for Transfer Pricing, Customs & Trade, Indirect Taxes, Energy Tax and Corporate Tax.

His previous experience includes ten years within the BMW Group where he had global responsibility for indirect taxes and customs.

During his seven years work for PWC and Ernst & Young, his responsibilities included corporate tax structuring and tax advisory work.

He also worked as an Executive Officer and a Tax auditor for the German Tax & Customs Authorities.

Peter has an economics background and is a Certified German Tax Advisor.

Mr. Beris has been a Technical Officer in the Tariff and Trade Affairs Directorate (Nomenclature) of the World Customs Organization (WCO) in Brussels, Belgium since 2011.  His area of responsibility includes Sections XVI, XVII, XVIII and XX of the Harmonized System.  Prior to joining the WCO, Mr. Beris worked as an attorney for U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP), both in the field at the ports of Los Angeles/Long Beach, California and Chicago, Illinois, and at CBP Headquarters in Washington, D.C.  His duties at CBP included issuing classification rulings on goods, and serving as the delegate of the United States at the Harmonized System Committee and Review Sub-Committee.

Melinda Brown is a transfer pricing advisor at the OECD’s Centre for Tax Policy and Administration. In this role, she has been involved in the development of transfer pricing guidance under the BEPS Action Plan on issues including profit splits and the analysis of risk and intangibles.  Melinda also works closely with non-OECD economies, and is a member of the UN Subcommittee on Transfer Pricing.  In 2016, Melinda took over leadership of the international tax Toolkits to help low-income countries.

Before joining the OECD, Melinda was a senior TP specialist and competent authority at the Australian Taxation Office, and in 2011-2012 was seconded to the Australian Treasury to work on transfer pricing law reform.

Ian joined the WCO in February 2009 and is a Senior Technical Officer in the Valuation sub-Directorate, Tariff and Trade Affairs Directorate.

Ian previously worked in HM Customs and Excise and HM Revenue and Customs in a number of areas, including excise and inland Customs, VAT enforcement and Origin.

He was UK delegate to the EC Customs Code Committee (Customs Valuation Section) and WCO Technical Committee on Customs Valuation.  From 2005 to 2008, Ian was Chairperson of the Technical Committee.

He has conducted valuation workshops in many developing countries, delivered presentations and participated in major international conferences and is co-author of the WCO’s current valuation training modules.

Ed joined the WCO in February 2007 and is a Senior Technical Officer in the Nomenclature Sub-Directorate, Tariff and Trade Affairs Directorate.

Ed previously worked in the Dutch Tax and Customs Administration and the Ministry of Finance in areas that have given him extensive experience in the field of the Customs Tariff.

He was the Dutch delegate to the EC Customs Code Committee (Tariff and Statistical Nomenclature Section) and the WCO Harmonized System Committee.  From 2000 to 2003 he was Chairperson of the HS Working Group and Vice-Chairperson of the HS Review Sub-Committee. From 2004 to 2005 he chaired the HS Committee.

He has conducted Nomenclature workshops in many developing countries, delivered presentations and participated in international conferences.

Early career in Belgium customs dealing notably with transit, temporary admission and tariff issues.

Currently responsible in EU Commission for Customs data integration and harmonisation, which comprises data collected via customs declarations, pre-arrival / pre-departure declarations, e-manifest, applications and decisions. This also includes the development of the EU Customs Data Model (EUCDM).

Chief Data Officer and Chair of the EU "DIH" Union Customs Code committee and expert group. European Commission Representative for data issues with WCO and other international bodies.

Gugu a well-grounded qualified professional with a solid experience and expertise in customs and trade related matters, accounting and finance, strategy and policy formulation, conducting Needs and Priority Assessments, diagnostic using World Customs Organization (WCO) and World Trade Organization (WTO) tools. She is an accredited WCO Diagnostician and WTO Needs and Priority Assessment Expert as well as an accredited WCO Customs Modernization Adviser and Mercator Programme Advisor. Gugu has a solid experience in stakeholder engagement and establishment of Customs to Business Forums and National Committees on Trade Facilitation. She has been for the past 15 years working with regional and international organizations such as the Southern African Development Community (SADC), Southern African Customs Union (SACU), WCO, WTO, United Nations Conference on Trade and Development(UNCTAD) and the European Union(EU). Gugu is also a First Chair of the WCO TFA Working Group.

He has more than 14 years of experience as negotiator for Mexico in Regional and Multilateral Agreements on trade facilitation, customs procedures, rules of origin and trade remedies. He has collaborated with international organisations including UNCTAD, ECLAC, OECD, WTO and WCO.  At the WTO he was appointed by the Chair of the Negotiating Group on Trade Facilitation as Facilitator for transit negotiations. In the WCO he was elected by the Members as Chair of the Working Group on Trade Facilitation.

1978: joined Dutch Customs

1978 – 1979: Basic customs training

1979 – 1985 Customs Inspector Rotterdam Customs

1986 – 1988 Customs specialist training

1989 – 1994 Customs legislation and procedures specialist Rotterdam Customs

1995 – 2002 Customs Policy Adviser Dutch Customs Headquarters

2003 – 2009 Senior Policy/Legal Adviser Dutch Ministry of Finance

2009 – 2012 Seconded National Expert European Commission

2012 – now Technical Officer World Customs Organization

My main responsibilities since 2003 have been in supply chain security and trade facilitation in general. I have been involved in the World Customs Organization's Task Force on Security and Trade Facilitation, the security amendments of European Union’s customs legislation and the development of the European Union's Authorised Economic Operator Programme.

I have been, and still am, involved in the World Customs Organization's SAFE Framework of Standards to secure and facilitate global trade. Whilst working for the European Commission I was part of the European Union‘s international cooperation efforts on security such as the EU-China Smart and Secure Trade Lanes pilot project, mutual recognition of AEO programmes, e.g. between the EU and Japan and air cargo security. At the WCO, I am working in the Compliance and Facilitation Directorate with the focus on trade facilitation, especially the implementation of the WTO Trade Facilitation Agreement and Coordinated Border management.

He has been serving as customs attahce in the Japanese Embassy for World Customs Organization from July 2015. He joined Ministry of Finance Japan in 2006, and in Customs and Tariff Bureau, worked for negotiations/implementations of trade treaties, including WTO Trade Facilitation Agreement, Japan-Australia EPA (Economic Partnership Agreement) and TPP (Trans Pacific Partnership). As customs officer, he has experiences of law enforcement and post clearance audit. Academic qualifications include Master of Science in Graduate School of Information Science and Technology, The University of Tokyo, and Master of Business Administration in Simon Graduate School of Business, University of Rochester.

Zhaokang Jiang works with multinational clients of various industries such as IT, retailing, energy, chemical, automobile, medical, electronics, textile and E-commerce and consumer product in resolving customs and international trade compliance and efficiency issues, increasing business opportunities throughout the Asia-Pacific region and formulating supply chain compliance and efficiency strategies.

Prior to joining the private service, Mr. Jiang served in the Chinese Customs Service.

He is selected in 2008, 2009 and 2010 by Asia Law and Practice as the Leading Regulatory and Government Practice Attorney in Asia-Pacific Region, and 2010 by Asia Law and Practice as the Leading Transfer Pricing and Customs Valuation Attorney in Asia-Pacific Region.

Mr. Jiang chairs the Customs and Trade Committee of the American Chamber of Commerce in China and was also the director of the China Chamber for International Commerce. He is currently also the advisor to the Project of Trade Facilitation and International Trade Center Build-up of the Shanghai Municipal Government.

I work at the Dutch Customs Administration for 35 years (including 7 years at the Tax Administration Office). I worked at several departments of this organisation: in the field, did audits at company’s for custom-purposes and for taxes. And now I’m working at the Pre-Arrival/ Pre-Departure department in the Port of Rotterdam as a supervisor/ policy- advisor.

Joined the World Customs Organization in January 2015 as Technical Officer in the Compliance and Faciltation Directorate.

Worked for Customs Administration of Indonesia for seven years in Customs Modernization area including Excise management and control, E-Declaration, Bonded-zone logistics management, Business process managements, as well as Passenger facilitation and control as systems analyst prior to joining the WCO.

He is now responsible in the area of Digital Customs, Single Window , the WCO Data Model as well as Advance Passenger Information. Additionally he is also responsible as the secretary of the Data Model Project Team (DMPT), the Information Management Sub Committee (IMSC) and the WCO/ICAO/IATA Advance Passenger Information (API) and Passenger Name Record (PNR) Contact Committee.

Joseph Rees was appointed Trade Ombudsman for the U.S. Customs Service in March 1999, where he served as liaison to the trade and was responsible for policy review, planning and counsel to the Commissioner, Treasury Department Officials and Congress on the quality of service provided to the trade community. In January 2001, he became a strategic trade advisor in the Office of Strategic Trade. He was assigned to the Office of International Affairs in September 2002, where he worked on the Container Security Initiative. In February 2004, he was named Director of the Importer Self-Assessment program, a trade facilitation partnership program and, in December 2006, he was also named Director of the National Account Management program. With the formation of the Office of Trade in October of 2006 he was named Director of Trade Agreements and Communications; in January of 2010 he was named Chief of Staff for the Office of Trade. In June 2013, he was selected to be the Attaché to the World Customs Organization in Brussels.

Prior to joining the U.S. Customs Service, Mr. Rees was in private practice in Washington, DC specializing in international trade issues. He has been a guest lecturer at Towson State University, George Mason University and the University of Southern California. He provided on air commentary and political analysis for a group of five television stations; and, was sent by the United States Information Agency to Russia on a speaking tour where he discussed the U.S. political system with college students, academics, media representatives and the general public.

An internationally recognized customs broker with 17 years Australian industry experience, McRae runs a successful customs brokerage that he founded in 2000. Platinum Freight® Management is a leading independent national customs brokering and freight forwarding company with offices across Australia, as well as in Hong Kong and Auckland, New Zealand.

McRae is a certified Customs Broker in Australia and New Zealand, as well as a Certified Customs Specialist in Canada and the USA. He is also a Certified Trade Compliance Specialist in Canada.

In November 2015 McRae was named one of the top Australian customs brokers at the annual Shipping and Maritime Industry Awards.

McRae holds a Masters of International Customs Law and Administration as well as a Masters of International Revenue Administration through the University of Canberra.

Malaysian by nationality. Academic qualifications include Degree in Law from the University of London and a Masters in International Strategy & Diplomacy from the National University of Malaysia, Kuala Lumpur.

Joined the Royal Malaysian Customs (RMC) Service in the year 1990 and have worked in various capacities in the Malaysian Customs Administration, mainly in the International area. Posted as the Malaysian Customs Attaché to the Malaysian Embassy in Brussels from 2002 until early 2009 with the responsibility for representing RMC at the WCO, EU and all other international forums. Joined the WCO in 2009.

Currently the Acting Deputy Director to the  Facilitation Directorate. In addition to managing the sub-directorate, she also manages issues relating to security and facilitation such as the SAFE Framework of Standards (SAFE); Aviation Security issues  mainly on Air Cargo Security; Authorised Economic Operator (AEO); Scanning matters (NII); Customs-Business Partnership; Container Seals (CSDs); Temporary Admission (ATA Carnet); the Container Convention; Postal with the Universal Postal Union (UPU); Smart and Secure Trade Lanes (SSTL) Pilot; managing relations with the WCO Private Sector Consultative Group (PSCG) including certain International Organizations and main organizer of the Global AEO Conference and the ICAO-WCO Joint Conferences.

Mr. Pandey serves at the World Customs Organization as Technical Officer in the Area of Facilitation & Compliance. He is a lead resource on several WCO instruments such as the SAFE Framework of Standards, Authorized Economic Operator (AEO) and Mutual Recognition Agreements (MRA), Air Cargo Security, API/PNR, Single Window, Co-ordinated Border Management, E-Commerce, Postal matters, Exchange of Information, Customs-Business Partneship, Customs brokers, and Customs-Tax Cooperation. He has been working for several national and international initiatives concerning trade facilitation including the WTO Agreement on Trade Facilitation and security issues.

Earlier in his career with the Indian Customs administration, he has extensively served in various areas including Customs modernization, trade facilitation, risk assessment and enforcement, for nearly 14 years. He also worked as Consul (Economic) and Customs Attaché in Consulate General of India at Hong Kong SAR, P R China during 2009- 2012, responsible for all trade, investment, finance, banking and taxation matters including Customs co-operation with various countries in the East Asia Region.

Mr. PARK Jong Pil is chief of Narcotics Investigation Section of Incheon Int’l Airport Customs. He has more than 25 years of experience in Customs work; at WCO Asia and the Pacific Regional Training Center in Seoul, he taught foreign customs officers on Customs Electronic System (2010-1013). He has worked in ICT and Int’l Cooperation Division, Headquarters of Korea Customs Service from 2002 – 2010.

He has even worked in the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) in Bangkok Thailand as staff focusing on Waste and Chemicals including Ozone Depleting Substances (ODS) from July 2013 – December 2015.

Christian Piaget joined IATA in May 2013 to work on the development and ongoing maintenance of the cargo customs and claims procedures and standards.

After a Master in Law in Switzerland and an MA in European Studies in Belgium, Christian started his career in 1997 at the International Road Transport Union in Geneva. For 10 years he has carried out several legal and lobbying activities relating to road transport, leading the Legal department and the External affairs until 2008.

Then Christian’s occupation shifted from road to maritime transport. Based in Brussels, Christian acted as the EU representative for the World Shipping Council, the lobby association for liner shipping companies. His main tasks focused on customs matters, actively participating in discussions relating to customs rules for the movement of goods at the EU Commission, the World Customs Organisation and other international institutions.

Christian is now in charge of promoting the interests of air cargo, in particular in the context of the recent developments in customs laws – such as the modernization of the European Union Customs Code and the expansion of requests for advance electronic information resulting from the standards set by the World Customs Organisation. He is also involved in the recent IATA capacity building initiatives focused on trade facilitation for air cargo.

Mariya Polner joined the WCO in 2009 as a Research Analyst at the Research Unit, before taking a position of a Policy Advisor at the Enforcement and Compliance Sub-Directorate. Her main areas of work include combating against illegal trade, security and governance. Prior to joining the WCO, she worked at the European Commission’s Directorate General on External Relations and at the European Union Border Assistance Mission to Moldova and Ukraine. Mariya holds two degrees: an MA in International Relations from Central European University (Budapest, Hungary), and an MA in EU Politics from the College of Europe (Bruges, Belgium). She published a number of articles on Customs matters and she speaks fluent English, French, Russian and Ukrainian.

Jun joined the WCO in 2014 as the first official in charge of Post-Clearance Audit.

He started his career as an intelligence officer in Japan Customs.  After experiencing some border posts, he was transferred to Ministry of Finance to develop and manage capacity building activities.  After he finished his term as a vice Consul at the Embassy of Japan in the Philippines, he was assigned as a PCA auditor.  He has experiences in auditing multinational companies in Japan as well as SMEs.  Before start working in the WCO, he served as an expert trainer at the Customs Training Institute of Japan for both domestic and international trainees. He is an accredited WCO Technical and Operational Advisor in Valuation Control via PCA (2012).

Ms. Varduhi Tovmasyan is an Assistant Coordinator in the WCO External Relations Department. Before joining the External Relations team, Ms. Tovmasyan served as a Programme Officer for WCO Programme Global Shield from 2012 to 2016, during which time she was responsible for planning and executing the Programme’s operational activities and establishing coordinated cooperation with international organizations, governmental agencies and non-governmental actors. From 2010 to 2012 she worked as a Research Analyst in the WCO Tariff and Trade Affairs Directorate. Prior to joining the WCO, Ms. Tovmasyan occupied posts as a Policy Analyst in the European Commission and as a Strategy Planner for the United Nations (UN) specialized agencies and several World Bank programmes. Ms. Tovmasyan holds a Master of Arts Degree in International Relations: Peace and Conflict Studies from the UN University for Peace; a Master of Arts Degree in Sociology and Social Anthropology from the Central European University; a Master of Science Degree in European Integration and Regionalism from the European Institute of Public Administration in Luxembourg and Barcelona; and a Specialist Diploma in Philosophy from Yerevan State University.

Richard is responsible for Customs related Regulatory Affairs at TNT, one of the major Express Carriers.  He is also the current Chairman of the Customs Committee at the Global Express Association.  He has been associated with the express industry for over 17 years working in both IT and Customs areas.  Prior to joining TNT he has run import and export functions for a number of multinational manufacturing companies.  Richard has also worked as a Customs Consultant for two of the major consultancies and successfully ran his own independent consultancy.

Ms Mette Werdelin Azzam is a Senior Technical Officer in the World Customs Organization (WCO) in Brussels, Belgium, where she has been working since 1 September 2010 as Head of Origin Sub-Directorate in the Tariff and Trade Affairs Directorate.

Ms Azzam holds a Higher Technical Certificate in international business (BTS de commerce international) from a business school in Paris, France. She graduated from the Danish Customs and Tax College in 2000 and has been working in the Danish Customs Administration until February 2008 where she was posted in Brussels as Danish Customs Attaché. From December 2005 to January 2008 Ms Azzam was responsible for origin matters at the Customs Headquarter in Copenhagen, Denmark.

Ms Azzam has an extensive theoretic and practical knowledge of rules of origin legislation, both in the preferential and the non-preferential areas.

She is responsible for the technical part of the World Trade Organization (WTO) negotiations in the Harmonization of Non-Preferential Rules of Origin within the Technical Committee on Rules of Origin (TCRO) under the auspices of the WCO. She is the WCO liaison officer in the meetings of the WTO Committee on Rules of Origin (CRO) in Geneva.

Ms Azzam has several years of training experience within the fields of customs legislation and customs procedures. As Head of Origin Sub-Directorate she is responsible for Capacity Building and Technical Assistance activities mainly for developing countries in the area of origin legislation.

Izaak joined the WCO Secretariat in 1997 from which he retired as Deputy Director, Tariff and Trade Affairs, in 2007. Before joining the Secretariat he worked from 1978 in the Dutch Ministry of Finance, dealing with the development and implementation of the Harmonized System.

From 2005 onwards he was facilitator in the WCO’s private sector training programme on Harmonized System, as well as the WCO’s annual Knowledge Academy for Customs and Trade.

From 1989 till present he is adaptor of the ‘Handboek voor in- en uitvoer’ (‘Handbook for imports and exports’), Section Combined Nomenclature – explanatory notes and rulings, a publication of Sdu, The Hague, The Netherlands. This handbook is used by Customs, private companies, institutes and other professionals in the field of international trade.

Toshihiko joined the WCO in 2014 as Technical Attaché in the Origin Sub-Directorate, Tariff and Trade Affairs Directorate.

He previously worked for Japan Customs and the Ministry of Finance (MOF) of Japan in a number of areas, including Rules of Origin, HS classification, Customs clearance, duty collection and international cooperation.

Before joining the WCO Secretariat, he worked in the Tariff Policy and Legal Division, Customs and Tariff Bureau, MOF, dealing with several FTA negotiations on Rules of Origin as well as coordination and supervision of origin work in Japan Customs.

In the Origin Sub-Directorate, Toshihiko is in charge of origin infrastructure, advance rulings, certification and verification of origin, and HS related matters.