TRADE FACILITATION: MEMBERS MOVE TOWARDS HONG KONG DRAFT REPORT

The WTO Negotiating Group on Trade Facilitation convened on 24-25 October with the main purpose of preparing its report for the Hong Kong Ministerial Conference in December, as well as its contribution to the first draft version of the declaration that ministers may eventually adopt there. Members overwhelmingly agreed that the report should refer to the progress made in the talks and the active participation of a wide range of countries, but differed on whether it should explicitly refer to the launch of text-based negotiations.

India calls for customs information exchange mechanism

Discussions on the report were preceded by three new submissions made by India, Egypt, and the US.

Elaborating on an earlier Indo-US paper (TN/TF/W/57), India called for the establishment of a multilateral mechanism to facilitate information exchange among WTO Member customs authorities in cases where governments have reason to doubt the veracity of the information provided by exporters or importers (TN/TF/W/68). Customs authorities could exchange specific information on customs valuation, HS classification, description, quantity, or the origin of the goods in question. The mechanism would also facilitate the provision of relevant documents for investigative or judicial processes. The proposal provides for the cooperation mechanism for customs compliance to be facilitated by an appropriate body in the WTO.

Egypt (TN/TF/W/69) pointed to its successes at reforming customs procedures and fighting corruption. The Egyptian paper referred to the two-year drive to modernise and computerise customs infrastructure and processes, which had reduced the average clearing time of imported shipments from six months to a matter of hours. It described how Egypt had streamlined procedures for the clearance and release of goods, and introduced a system that expedited procedures for importers with 'clean' records.

The US submission focused on the growth in trade-related technical assistance (TRTA), highlighting that US provision of such aid had doubled from USD 504 million to USD 1.3 billion for more than 101 countries worldwide, and that grants for trade facilitation accounted for the largest and fastest growing segment of its TRTA.

Members differ on reference to text-based negotiations

Delegates were reportedly unanimous in their agreement that the group's report to the Hong Kong Ministerial Conference should include a reference to the progress that had been made in the trade facilitation talks. One trade diplomat said that they also broadly agreed that the Secretariat's existing compilation of Members' trade facilitation proposals (TN/TF/W/43/Rev.3) should remain open to additions, and not be a 'final' listing of proposed options. This document is to be referred to in the draft report.

The draft report is also likely to contain language that will serve as the basis for a text to be considered for negotiations. Members differed, however, on whether it should directly refer to launching text-based negotiations. India and the Philippines reportedly wanted an implicit rather than explicit reference.

While some Members want actual text-based negotiations on trade facilitation to start soon and are targeting the first three months of 2006 as a launch date, others were open to starting them in 2006 but did not want any concrete dates to be fixed at this stage. Some believe that it is still premature to ask for text-based negotiations.

Echoing the views of most developing country delegations, one trade negotiator underscored the importance of technical assistance in the draft report, as well as the balance between Members' commitments and their capacity to implement them. The delegate indicated that it was likely that the report would include language on technical assistance similar to that in the 2004 July Package (WT/L/579) mandate on trade facilitation, which was notable for its unprecedented link between Members' obligation to implement commitments and the successful delivery of technical assistance to help them do so. The key challenge would be to include language on how such technical assistance would be operationalised.

Trade facilitation Chair Ambassador Muhamad Noor Yacob of Malaysia is said to be preparing the first draft of the group's report for the Hong Kong Ministerial Conference. Members will likely discuss it during the 8-9 November meeting of the Negotiating Group.

ICTSD reporting.