Subjunctive Mood – Object Clauses

Ex. 1Rewrite the following sentences using the verb “to wish” instead of “It is a pity … . Make necessary changes.

1. It is a pity you are not going to pay customs duties today.

2. It is a pity you are not a representative of the firm.

3. It is a pity you don’t know what cargo documents to submit.

4. It is a pity the permission for unloading wasn’t given yesterday.

5. It is a pity you haven’t made out a receipt for me.

6. It is a pity the cargo was damaged during repacking.

Ex. 2 Translate the sentences from Russian into English:

1. Жаль, что вы не попросили вписать товарный чек при покупке этой картины.

2. Жаль, что ваша фирма не может забрать свой груз со склада временного хранения сегодня.

3. Пассажир сожалел, что его багаж потеряли.

4. Жаль, что инспектор не дал вчера разрешение на разгрузку нашего транспортного средства.

5. Жаль, что ваш друг опаздывает на рейс.

6. Жаль, что вы согласились на предложение нелегально провезти эту антикварную вещь.

VOCABULARY

mission prestigious to claim subsequent legal foundation legitimate to encourage   to safeguard statute to hand down to arrange intricate to screen controlled delivery multi-functioning bulk vigorously fiscal

миссия, задача престижный зд. утверждать, заявлять последующий законодательная основа законный поощрять, поддерживать, способствовать охранять, обеспечивать устав, законодательный акт зд. создать, начать использовать устраивать, подготавливать сложный, запутанный зд. контролировать, досматривать контролируемая поставка многофункциональный большая часть чего-либо сильный, энергичный фискальный, финансовый

UNIT 16

WORLD CUSTOMS ORGANIZATION (WCO)

Text

The history of WCO began in 1948 when thirteen European governments set up two committees – a European Economic Committee (later – World Trade Organization) and a Customs Committee. In 1952 the Customs Committee became the Customs Cooperation Council (CCC). After years of membership growth, in 1994 the Council adopted the working name World Customs Organization (WCO).The WCO has 171 members. The WCO headquarters are in Geneva, Switzerland.

The WCO was set up to enhance the efficiency of customs administrations. To fulfill this mission, the WCO:

* establishes and promotes international instruments for uniform application of customs procedures governing the movement of commodities, people and conveyances across customs frontiers;

* reinforces Members’ efforts to interdict and disrupt the illicit trade and to combat customs and other transnational offences;

* assistsMembers in their efforts to improve the management and working methods of Customs administrations and to share the best practices.

Besides, the WCO has worked out and maintains the international Harmonized Commodity Description and Coding System and Goods Nomenclature which are used to classify goods for tariff purposes.

The WCO is currently the only intergovernmental organization exclusively focused on customs matters. The WCO is recognized for its work in areas covering:

- the development of global standards;

- the simplification and harmonization of customs procedures;

- the facilitation of international trade;

- the enhancement of customs enforcement and compliance activities;

- the anti-counterfeiting and piracy initiatives, etc.

Nowadays, the WCO is responsible for processingmore than 98% of the

world trade and is trying to adapt to changing circumstances and meet the challenges of modern business environment.

Working on the text

Ex. 1 Read and translate the text.

Ex. 2 How many international words can you find in the text?

a) 15 b) 20 c) 25 d) 30

Ex. 3 What do these abbreviations stand for?

WTO WCO UN TIR CBP K-9 EU VAT FSB

Ex. 4Match to make word combinations:

offences, nomenclature, growth, purposes, application, environment, matters

uniform__________

transnational __________

goods __________

tariff __________

customs ___________

business __________

membership ___________

Ex. 5 Insert prepositions:

for x 2 to as with in x 2 between on by at

The World Trade Organization (WTO) came into being on January 1, 1995, and is the successor ____ the General Agreement ___ Tariff and Trade (GATT), which was created ___ 1948, and continued to operate ___ almost five decades ___ an international organization. The WTO deals ___ the rules of trade ___nations ___ a global level. It is responsible ___ negotiating and implementing new trade agreements, signed ___ the world’s trading nations.

The WTO headquarters are ___ Geneva, Switzerland.

Ex. 6 Choose the best word for each gap:

Where international (1) __________ is concerned the WCO is strengthening its (2) __________ with Interpol, the European Commission, WTO, and the Council of Europe in order (3) __________ that the efforts in the fight against (4) __________ and piracy come together. The organizations cooperate and maintain (5) __________ exchange of information on matters of interest which include invitations to meetings, joint (6) __________activities, exchange of experts and support for (7) __________ that continue to harmonize standards in the customs sector.

1) a. valuation b. restriction c. cooperation

2) a. partnership b. merchandise c. shipment

3) a. to disrupt b. to combat c. to ensure

4) a. negotiations b. counterfeiting c. facilities

5) a. systematic b. challenging c. identical

6) a. smuggling b. training c. wholesale

7) a. concealments b. release c. initiatives

Ex.7 Complete the sentences:

1) The WCO was set up to . . .

2) The mission of the WCO is to . . .

3) The Goods Nomenclature is used to . . .

4) The WCO focuses on . . .

Ex. 8 Get ready to speak on the topic.

Ex. 9 Render the newspaper article

Why is Customs Modernization necessary?

It is true that Customs’ role is primarily about the control of goods crossing borders. There is, however, nuance in this because Customs administrations have different functions, resources and authority.

Some Customs administrations make emphasis on duty collection. For others, non-financial matters like narcotics trafficking and security take priority. On the other hand, nations with low import tariffs are determined to improve trade facilitation. Some administrations do not use risk management and post audit control and instead attempt to physically inspect every consignment. Thus, Customs must strive to achieve balance.

The WCO takes a strategic management approach to promote modernization in all areas of Customs roles and responsibilities, including revenue collection, trade facilitation, enforcement, and security, in order to strike balance.

It is evident that an administration that focuses on revenue collection can learn from an administration that focuses on trade facilitation or security, and consequently boost revenue collection. An administration that focuses on security can learn from an administration that focuses on trade facilitation or revenue collection, and strengthen security, and so on.

Thus, a facilitated Customs process leads to security. At the same time, a secured Customs process leads to facilitation.

Grammar