Consultation_Cooperation

Consultation and cooperation are participatory processes that involve various stakeholders from the private and public sectors in the decision-making and the delivery of a policy process. Consultation is a means to increase transparency and trust by establishing a dialogue over objectives, projects, needs and problems. Cooperation refers to a process of active sharing of information, resources, and responsibilities. =Relevance for trade facilitation= Trade facilitation has to take account of the possibilities of consultation and cooperation and exploit entrepreneurial spirit and a more responsive and transparent administration. Notwithstanding the obvious differences between TF stakeholders (link to stakeholder page), the problems they confront show a convergence. A change in the processes of all governmental border agencies is needed if the efficiency and effectiveness of clearance of goods is to be improved. The World Bank Second Customs Reform and Trade Facilitation Project diagnosed that more than 70% of necessary actions to improve border management are not under he sole and direct control of customs. Rather it requires cooperative actions from other government agencies and customs.(see Chapter 20 Integrity risk modeling in the border manamgent context, Amer z durrani, M. Prokop, M. Zarnowiecki.WB Border Managemnet) Trade facilitation is consequently shaped by common concerns about cost, and time - effectiveness of trade transactions and effectiveness and efficiency of administrative interventions. Furthermore, trade facilitation rely to a large extent on a good partnership between governmental agencies and private sector to make initiatives such as simplified procedures possible in an exchange for compliant behavior.

Consultation
Consultation is a process used to involve multiple actors in policymaking and project implementation. It plays an important role in increasing transparency and designing better implementation solutions. Public authorities use consultative processes to disseminate information on government activities, such as regulatory changes. In fact, public consultation has become a mandatory requirement of the legislative process in many countries. Consultation processes also provide a basis for dialogue between government agencies an their stakeholders from the trading community and transport sector to discuss problems and other concerns and objectives. Many customs authorities, for example, maintain a service responsible for the relationship with the private sector as part of their formal trade consultation efforts (link). Such services will organize regular consultations and meetings with representatives from the private sector.

Cooperation
Interorganizational - or agency cooperation draws from the fact that trade facilitation can only be addressed across organizational boundaries. It aims at horizontal information sharing and the alignment of processes and operations. Border Agency cooperation (link to Border Agency cooperation) is an important means to increase the efficiency of processing of goods at border stations. Collaboration with private sector stretches from partnership solutions for meeting control requirements, such as the authorized traders or authorized economic operator programs (link to AT and AEO pages), to the supply of services to border agencies by specialized private firm; such as the supply and maintenance of infrastructure, IT services, or inspections and laboratory services. Another aspect of private – public collaboration lies in designing common solutions, such as systems for data exchange in form of port community systems or single windows for trade (links to port community page and SW page). If the private partners are trusted and the same standards are used data can be exchanged. =Benefits= The effective management of consultation and cooperation can lead to the following benefits: =Forms of Consultation and Cooperation= Consultation and cooperation can take different forms, including informal one-off processes and formalized regular ones. The implementation guidelines to Chapter 9 of the Revised Kyoto Convention (link) refer to the following forms for customs -government consultation:
 * increased trust and transparency
 * establishment of dialogue and information sharing between different stakeholders
 * reduced conflicts over solutions and implementation
 * increased compliance
 * improved effectiveness of rule-setting
 * harmonization and simplification efforts
 * ad hoc information meetings with stakeholder,
 * training workshops
 * websites for posting information and questions, and
 * formalized and regular consultative structures.

The so-called trade facilitation bodies are maybe the most widely know platforms for multi-sectora private - public collaboration and consultation in the area of trade facilitation =Techniques and tools= Involving the right stakeholders is key to the success of a consultative process. It is important to understand who these stakeholders are, and under which premises they engage in the process. A stakeholder analysis is a useful tool for these purposes. For more than 30 years, international organizations, such as UNCTAD, IMO and the World bank, as well as many governments have experience with trade facilitation bodies or other forms of trade facilitation consultative processes. This gathered experience provide useful Implementation Guidance. These experiences have also influenced the UNECE Recommendation N.4 and related guidelines on Trade Facilitation bodies.The guidelines provide information on institutional aspects of trade facilitation bodies, such as funding, staffing, and their organizational structure.