Trade Facilitation Draft Text Holds Promise for Developing Countries

(Bridges Weekly)

Import duties and non-tariff barriers to trade – import bans, labelling requirements, and the like – are much less of an obstacle to the flow of international trade than they were a generation ago. Today, a different problem has come into focus, especially among developing nations: the numerous regulatory and logistical challenges to bringing goods to market overseas.

Last month, in a short press release from the WTO secretariat, the organisation announced that its Negotiating Group on Trade Facilitation – the committee charged with hammering out regulations to facilitate the movement of goods across national borders – had agreed upon a ‘draft consolidated text’ to guide the group’s negotiations in 2010. The announcement drew little attention in the press, but it marks an important step for the talks, which, if concluded, could bring significant gains to the economies of the developing world.

Broadly speaking, the trade facilitation committee has been tasked with slicing through the red tape that causes the movement of goods to slow at international borders. In WTO terms, the group has been mandated to “review and as appropriate, clarify and improve” relevant sections of three articles of the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade (1994): Article V (facilitating transit and trade), Article VII (limiting border fees and formalities), and Article X (making trade regulations transparent). Read more here.