Belize

10 March 2023 — G/TFA/N/BLZ/4  

Belize received support from the Caribbean Development Bank Standby Facility under GA72/BZE, to strengthen national quality infrastructure in Belize by building institutional technical capacity for improved Quality Management Systems in accordance with ISO 9001 and ISO/IEC 17025.

Further assistance from development partners will be appreciated in the following areas:
- to develop more national standards, regulations and policies for food and agriculture and food safety; and
-to have relevant officials participate in meetings of the International Standard Setting Bodies and the WTO/SPS and TBT Committee Meetings.

The Belize Customs and Excise Department is currently:
- Implementing the HS2022 as per Harmonized Commodity Description and Coding System (HS Convention) which was approved on 4th January 2023 under Act No.1 of 2023. CARTAC provided an expert on tariff classification to guide CARICOM Customs Committee working group in 2021.
- Exploring donor/development assistance to ratify the RKC and Harmonized System. Although not a signatory to the RKC, Belize currently bases its Customs procedures that are related to automated clearance system (the ASYCUDA world) developed by UNCTAD on the RKC.
- Belize Customs is currently upgrading ASYCUDA World to its latest version and will include new automated customs procedures such as: pre-clearance and post clearance audit modules, valuation database module, offense management module, improved selectivity criteria module, foreign exchange control module, and duty exemption management module. The upgrading came from a support extended contract stemming from the initial implementation of ASYCUDA World in 2008 which was funded by CDB ; and
- Belize is currently using the WCO Risk Management Compendium for the development of a National Risk Management Policy, Strategy and Plan.
Belize would appreciate any opportunities from other development partners to assist with additional support and assistance in the following areas:
- Scoping mission to assess the legal and administrative readiness to ratify the RKC and the HS Convention;
- Capacity building within Customs and Excise Department and other relevant agencies on Risk Management and HS.