1. Exchange Visits with Other Countries' Customs and Holding Workshops in Taiwan
Since the Department of International Fiscal Affairs, Ministry of Finance was established on January 1, 2013, Taiwan has exchanged visits with other countries' Customs and invited foreign Customs experts to workshops held in Taiwan as lecturers in order to promote Customs cooperation and exchanges.
Regarding exchanging visits, Taiwan and Poland signed the Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) between Customs Service of Taiwan and Customs Service of the Republic of Poland for Combat of Customs Fraud in 2009, which established a cooperation mechanism. Since then, Taiwan and Poland have taken turns organizing bilateral customs cooperation meetings. In 2015, Mr. Sheu Yu-jer, former Administrative Deputy Minister of the MOF, led Taiwan's delegation to attend the 4th Taiwan-Poland Deputy Ministerial-Level Customs Cooperation Meeting in Poland. In this meeting, discussions were held on important Customs issues, and the revised MOU between Customs Service of Taiwan and Customs Service of the Republic of Poland for Combat of Customs Fraud was signed by both sides, which has helped them to keep abreast of developmental trends of international Customs innovation, substantively enhancing the degree of internationalization of Taiwan's Customs operation. In October 2018, Mr. Piotr Walczak, Undersecretary of State, Deputy Head, National Revenue Administration, Ministry of Finance, Poland led Poland's delegation to visit Taiwan and attended the 5th Taiwan-Poland Deputy Ministerial-Level Customs Cooperation Meeting to exchange views and share experiences on the issues that both sides were concerned about, discussed future cooperation matters, further deepening bilateral Customs cooperation. In November 2019, Mr. Wu, Tzu-Hsin, Deputy Minister of the MOF, led Taiwan's delegation to attend the 6th Taiwan-Poland Deputy Ministerial-Level Customs Cooperation Meeting in Poland. Both sides shared experiences and views on substantive Customs issues, strengthening Customs cooperation for mutual benefit. In July 2023, Mr. Bartosz Zbaraszczuk, Secretary of State, led the Polish delegation to attend the 7th Taiwan-Poland Deputy Ministerial-Level Customs Cooperation Meeting in Taiwan. Both sides shared their business and exchanged experiences on substantive Customs issues, and agreed to continue to deepen cooperation under the framework of the above-mentioned MOU.
Regarding holding workshops, in May 2013, the MOF actively strived to hold the WTO National Workshop on ROO in Taiwan. The WTO dispatched Mr. Eki Kim, Counsellor at the Market Access Division of the WTO to lecture on the ROO in this workshop, which made participants from Taiwan Customs and other trade-related departments such as the Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MOFA), MOEA, Mainland Affairs Council, Council of Agriculture (COA), Executive Yuan, and the MOF understand the global trends and status of the ROO, further improving their capabilities to handle ROO issues and expand their opportunities for international exchange and learning. In August 2015, the WTO National Workshop on Trade Facilitation was held in Taiwan, and Mr. Alejandro Gamboa-Alder, Counsellor, was dispatched from the WTO Secretariat to give lectures on the issues of the Trade Facilitation Agreement (TFA). This workshop covered the history and overview of the WTO TFA; Taiwan's implementation of trade facilitation's policies; the private sector's perspective and role; experience sharing of the MOFA, MOEA, MOTC, COA, Executive Yuan, Ministry of Health and Welfare; and the MOF, providing Customs officers and other related government agencies' officers a better understanding of the TFA's important contents as well as the TFA's requirements of rights and obligations, and increasing Taiwan's participation in the activities of the multilateral trading system.
2. The Cross-Strait Symposium on Customs Affairs
In September 2014, the MOF held the 2014 Cross-Strait Symposium on Customs Affairs, inviting the General Administration of Customs of Mainland China, Shanghai Customs College, and representatives from industry, government, and academia of Taiwan to this workshop. The theme of this workshop was“Promoting the Development of Cross-Strait Customs Affairs, Optimizing the Customs Clearance Environment,”with discussions on three topics as follows:“The Presentation on and Prospects of the CPT SW and the China Electronic Harbor,”“The Status of the Development and Prospects of Cross-Strait Trading under the ECFA framework,”and“The Cross-Strait Customs Clearance Green Channel: Agricultural and Fishery Products, Cold-Chain Cargos, and Express Consignments,”which received enthusiastic responses from the participants.
In October 2015, to continue the outcomes of the aforementioned symposium and follow the developmental trends of the cross-strait Customs system, Mainland China held the 2015 Cross-Strait Symposium on Customs Affairs and invited the MOF to this symposium. The theme of this workshop was“Optimizing the Customs Clearance Environment, Promoting the Cross-Strait Trading,”including issues concerning “Discussion on Policies of Cross-Strait Trading Development”and“Discussion on Customs Clearance Affairs regarding Cross-Strait Situations and Features: Outcomes and Prospects of Promoting Maritime Express Through Cross-Strait Cooperation.”It was a fruitful symposium which helped to deepen cross-strait Customs cooperation and exchanges.