World Trade Organisation (WTO) members, at a meeting of the Committee on Trade Facilitation held from 12 to 13 February, took stock of progress in the implementation of the Trade Facilitation Agreement (TFA), which turns two on 22 February. Members called for the timely fulfilment of commitments and discussed efforts to help each other carry out the FTA.
Members considered a report from the WTO Secretariat, which found that 141 or 86% of WTO members have now ratified the TFA roughly two years since it entered into force on 22 February 2017 when the WTO crossed the required threshold of 110 member ratifications. Zimbabwe, Cameroon and Ecuador were the latest to ratify the TFA since the last Committee meeting in October 2018. Egypt at the meeting said it would soon ratify the Agreement.
Full implementation of the FTA, which seeks to expedite the movement, release and clearance of goods across borders, is forecast to slash members' trade costs by an average of 14.3%, with developing and least-developed countries having the most to gain, according to a 2015 study carried out by WTO economists. The TFA is also likely to reduce the time needed to import goods by over a day and a half and to export goods by almost two days, representing a reduction of 47% and 91% respectively over the current average.
As of 12 February 2019, the current rate of implemented commitments under the TFA stood at 61.3%. Broken down by level of development, this equates to a 100% rate of implementation by developed members, 60.3% among developing members and 22.8% among least-developed countries (LDCs). Developed countries committed to implement the Agreement in full upon its entry into force, while developing and least-developed members set their own timetables for implementing the TFA, taking into account their respective capacities. These commitments have been communicated to the WTO in a series of notifications.
Several Members remarked positively on the progress made while some noted that much remained to be done to fully implement the Agreement across the entire WTO membership. They called for the timely fulfilment of obligations to implement the TFA, with some noting that 2019 would be an important year, with the deadline coming up for LDCs to report on what technical assistance they require and for developing members to notify definitive dates when they would implement provisions of the Agreement for which they had asked assistance.
The Committee reviewed a total of 16 new notifications from members on their respective timetables to implement TFA provisions and other information such as trading procedures and assistance for carrying out the Agreement. Members heard presentations on special procedures for processing and temporarily admitting goods for special circumstances, National Trade Facilitation Committees, and advance Customs rulings for traders who may want clarity on their transactions before the goods are shipped. Members also continued to debate a proposal on formalising the Committee's rules of procedure and heard updates on recent and upcoming activities aimed at enhancing TFA implementation.
The Committee’s next meeting is scheduled for June 2019.
Story by: Riaan de Lange