The Legal Status of Pre-shipment Inspection Before and After: The WTO Trade Facilitation Agreement

摘要

Agreement on Pre-shipment Inspection (PSI), an Uruguay Round agreement, has been the only legal instrument under the WTO umbrella governing PSls. Newly accepted Trade Facilitation Agreement (TFA) which entered into force on 22 February 2017, brings some important changes on PSIs, especially on tariff classification and customs valuation. The TFA completely banned these two types of PSI applications. Moreover, it 'encourages' WTO Members not to introduce or apply new requirements for the use of PSIs other than those related to tariff classification and customs valuation.