Gael GROOBY WCOActing Director

Ms Gael Grooby is the current Acting Director of Tariff and Trade Affairs (TTA) for the World Customs Organization (WCO). TTA is responsible for Nomenclature, Valuation and Origin matters at the WCO. Gael has spent over 30 years dedicated to Customs matters. Prior to the WCO, she spent 27 years working in Australia’s Customs administration across a range of areas of Customs, including compliance, facilitation, and training, before focusing on trade. Becoming a specialist in classification, tariff policy and the Nomenclature, she served as a delegate at both the Harmonized System Review Sub-Committee and the Harmonized System Committee at the WCO prior to taking the position of Deputy Director, and in her time as a delegate she worked successfully to have proposals from Australia implemented into the HS. Coming in part way through the HS 2022 Review Cycle, she oversaw the final push to the approval of the HS 2022 Edition and then the roll out the new edition and its tools, under the challenging circumstances imposed by the pandemic. The Nomenclature team of TTA is working to support the Committees in the HS 2027 negotiations to update the HS in ways that are relevant to not only today’s environment, but also to emerging needs. Gael has a passion for the Nomenclature, Valuation and Origin appreciating both their intellectual challenges and the positive impact they can have in the real world. For the HS, she has championed it in many forums HS since joining the WCO, stressing the need for understanding of the HS so that it can be effectively utilised to inform and support trade and policy.