MEMBERS SUBMIT REVISED PROPOSALS ON TRADE FACILITATION

The financial and environmental costs of measures taken to cut red tape and ease the movement of goods featured prominently during WTO talks on trade facilitation last week.

In the negotiating committee, Members continue to refine earlier proposals as they work towards constructing the building blocks of a potential future accord. One revised submission by India (TN/TF/W/123/Rev.1) would place a limit on the number of times Members would be obliged to exchange information and documents about particular cross-border transactions, in response to concerns that the costs of doing so could become onerous. It also introduced a specification that information thus exchanged would be confidential.

Japan, Mongolia and Switzerland submitted also softened the demands of the commitments proposed in two revised papers. In one, on publication and availability of trade-related information (TN/TF/W/114/Rev.1), possibilities for multiple enquiry points (without a single primary one) were expanded, along with more choice about the means of publication. The second (TN/TF/W/115/Rev.1, co-sponsored with Hong Kong and Korea) created loopholes for "urgent circumstances and other limited exceptions" in potential obligations for Members to publish trade-related laws and legislations prior to their entry into force.

During the 1-4 October session, sources report that Chair Ambassador Eduardo Ernesto Sperisen-Yurt (Guatemala) held informal consultations on key issues including special and differential treatment, technical assistance and capacity building, and transit issues. Among the issues discussed was a Turkish-Georgian proposal (TN/TF/W/146) calling for the removal of quotas on the number of trucks that could cross a border for transit purposes. The sponsors noted that these quotas, usually determined on the basis of bilateral arrangements, were burdensome to traders and pushed up freight costs. India, the EU and Brazil, among others, said that the issue was more appropriate for the transportation sector of the services negotiations. The EU said quotas could be legitimate due to environmental or other needs to restrict capacity.

The next formal session of the negotiating committee is scheduled for early November Sperisen-Yurt is reportedly expected to hold informal consultations with delegations on how to accelerate the process.

ICTSD reporting.