Trade Facilitation
What is Trade Facilitation?
The WTO definition of trade facilitation
is “the simplification and harmonisation of international
trade procedures” with trade procedures being “activities,
practices and formalities involved in collecting, presenting,
communicating and processing data required for the movement
of goods in international trade”.
In simple terms trade facilitation
focuses on simplification and rationalisation of customs
and other administrative procedures, which get in the
way of trading across borders.
Supporting
facts
Trade facilitation reduces scope for illegal trafficking,
corruption and fraud. Presently inefficient procedures
act as a hidden tax (but with no public benefit) on
the honest trader. Trade facilitation is also a paradigm
of good governance: transparency, better regulation,
due process, and government-private sector working together.
Today freight security is of increasing (and justifiable)
concern. Trade facilitation measures i.e. clear and
robust rules, will give assurance of the adequacy (and
proportionality) of security controls; and will enable
a forum for guarding against arbitrary – and perhaps
conflicting – national measures being imposed by individual
countries.
Benefits to business include:-
·
faster clearance and release of goods
·
cutting costs and reducing delays
·
predictable application and explanation of rules
·
Increased transparency and integrity
· simple commercial framework for doing business both domestically
& internationally
·
enhanced competitiveness
Trade
Facilitation within the WTO
Trade Facilitation was added to
the WTO agenda in December 1996, when the Singapore
Ministerial Declaration directed the Council for Trade
in Goods “to undertake exploratory and analytical work,
drawing on the work of other relevant organisations,
on the simplification of trade procedures in order to
assess the scope for the WTO rules in this area”. Work
was expanded in July 2004 when members agreed to launch
negotiations on trade facilitation.
The WTO mandate for the negotiations
on trade facilitation (in Annex D of the July 2004 Framework
Agreement) is “to clarify and improve the relevant aspects
of Articles V (Transit), VIII (Fees & formalities
relating to importation and exportation) and X (transparency
of trade regulations) of GATT 1994 with a view to further
expediting the movement, release and clearance of goods,
including goods in transit.”
Technical assistance, capacity building and special
and differential treatment will play a large part in
the negotiations.
For further information please
refer to the WTO
website.
Why
are WTO rules necessary?
- The non-rules approach, pursued with increasing momentum by many countries
over the last 50 years, has failed to unlock the estimated
annual savings of €300 billion worldwide
which (the EC estimates) trade facilitation has to
offer
- The WTO is uniquely placed to set and implement fair and transparent
rules
- Action on procedural barriers complements WTO liberalisation of
tariff and non-tariff barriers whose potential
will not be reached if inefficient border procedures
are not dealt with
- Multilaterally agreed rules ensure a level playing field for
all countries
Contact:
Claire Williamson
Tel: 020 7215 5346
Fax 020 7215 2234
E-mail: claire.williamson@dti.gov.uk
