Def.+Trade+Facilitation

It is not easy to give a clear definition of trade facilitation. Different international organisations have different definitions and some chose just to describe the issues. In general it can be said that trade facilitation aims at developing a consistent, transparent, and predictable environment for international trade transactions.
 * Definitions of Trade Facilitation**

The primary goal of trade facilitation is to reduce the transaction cost and complexity of international trade for businesses and improve the trading environment in a country, while at the same time optimizing efficient and effective levels of government control.

A commercial transaction is not completed until the traded goods are delivered to the buyer and payment has been made to the seller. For a given product to remain competitive on foreign markets, the cost of its commercial transaction must be as low as possible. The tools of Supply Chain Management, which attempt to manage the whole series of activities involved in trading goods, are essential in this regard. However, they need to be complemented by effective procedures at national frontiers so that no unforeseen or undue delays or unexpected additional costs are incurred.

//Definition according to UN/CEFACT// The United Nations Economic Commission for Europe (UNECE) has been major player in trade facilitation development for over 40 years. The United Nations Centre for Trade Facilitation and Electronic Business (UN/CEFACT), which is hosted by UNECE, has developed over 30 major trade facilitation Recommendations, UN/CEFACT has also developed UN/EDIFACT, the dominant international standard for electronic commerce. UN/CEFACT defines trade facilitation as “The simplification, standardization and harmonization of procedures and associated information flows required to move goods from seller to buyer and to make payment”. This definition implies that not only is it the physical movement of the goods that is important, but the whole supply chain, even from the first contact between buyer and seller (the latter today perhaps best represented by the development of standards for e-catalogues) and including all associated information flows. It also encompasses all the governmental agencies active in the regulation of trade and border-crossing, and the information they need to conduct their activities, as well as the information that flows between the buyer and the seller and all agents, freight-forwarders and so on that they use conducting their business and moving the goods. This broad definition has the advantage of taking into account the whole situation for trade and seeing that a process where the whole process is only as fast as its slowest component.