Scope+of+TF+at+WTO

Work on trade facilitation at the WTO started with the mandate given in the Singapore Ministerial Declaration in 1996. The mandate was to conduct analytical work on the simplification of procedures. Therefore, WTO members discussed various aspects of trade facilitation in the Council of Trade in Goods in the years between 1996 and 2001 with the objective of establishing the need for WTO rules that would apply to these aspects. =Trade Facilitation Work in the Council of Trade in Goods= The discussion covered issues related to import and export procedures, including Customs procedures, physical movement of consignments (transport and transit), payment, insurance and other financial requirements, electronic facilities and the need for assistance and cooperation. As a result, members agreed to focus their work on a smaller array of issues. These were the simplification of import and export procedures, document and data requirements, transparency, and cooperation among customs and other government agencies. Other issues, such as availability of transport and banking services, payment and financial flows, were considered to relate to the General Agreement on Trade in Services (GATS) and should be taken up in the negotiations on further service sector liberalisation of the GATS. Other aspects, such as developing a regulatory framework for transport modes, were proposed for incorporation at a later stage of negotiations, bearing in mind expected difficulties in reaching consensus in this field. WTO members reached the conclusion that a new framework of WTO rules would become necessary to effectively address the onerous and cumbersome procedural requirements for the import, export and transit of goods. The review of the existing WTO rules has shown that although generally related to this objective, most of the provisions did not directly address the need for minimising and simplifying procedures. Articles V, VIII and X of the GATT 1994 specifically deal with transparency, and import, export and transit procedures. Their provisions were however, considered too general to be of operational use. =The Mandate in the Doha Declaration= The work undertaken by the Council of Trade in Goods led to a proposal to start negotiations on a new legal framework for trade facilitation at the WTO, based on the review and clarification of these three GATT Articles. The Doha Ministerial Declaration from November 2001 clearly anchors this scope in its negotiating mandate for the Doha Round of Trade Negotiations (*1). But negotiations on the Doha Round, including the new topic of trade facilitation, were delayed for another 3 years. Following the official launch of the Doha ROund in 2001, members still have to agree on the detailed work programme and modalities for the negotiations. Members reached consensus over the work programme only at the end of July 2004. One aspect explaining this lack of agreement over the Doha Round was developing countries' opposition to start negotiations on the new Singapore issues. At the end of July 2004, the WTO members reached consensus on the work programme in the so-called July Package, the General Council decision of 2 August 2004 (*2). This decision frames the modalities for the negotiations, including the modalities for the negotiations on trade facilitation. =The July Framework or Modalities Text= The modalities text defines the objectives of the negotiations as the follows: Compared to the mandate in the Doha Declaration, members added the objective on effective cooperation between Customs and other agencies on trade facilitation and Customs compliance to the scope of the negotiations. The modalities text contains other elements that are important to the negotiations. Of particular importance are those aspects that address the implementation question and development aspects of the negotiations. Annex D remains a reference document for discussion of the development pillar of the negotiations on trade facilitation. Further to this, Annex D details procedural elements of the negotiations, including setting up of the NGTF, and the invitation for selected international organizations to participate in the negotiations as observers. These organizations are often referred to as Annex D organizations and include the World Bank, the IMF, the OECD, the WCO and UNCTAD.
 * to clarify and improve the relevant aspects of the GATT Article V, GATT Article VIII, and GATT Article X with a view to further expediting the movement, release and clearance of goods,
 * to draft provisions for effective cooperation between Customs and other agencies on trade facilitation and Customs compliance issues, and
 * to enhance technical assistance and capacity building in this area.

Since November 2004, the NGTF has met regularly to discuss and review the members' proposals regarding the framework of WTO rules on trade facilitation. Since 2005 there have been successive rounds of negotiations and the proposals have been reviewed and changed several times from initial general proposals to draft legal text.

Read the next topic: Introduction to proposed rules to learn more about the negotiating proposals.

(*1) §27 of World Trade Organisation Ministerial Declaration Doha, Doha (*2) World Trade Organisation, Doha Work Progamme. Decision adopted by the General Council on 1 August 2004, 2 August 2004 (WT/L/579)