Acute business need for WTO rules on customs modernization
 |
| Customs controls; lets hope they've modernized |
Paris, 12 November 2001 - As ministers of the World Trade Organization's 142 members strive in Doha to put together an agenda for a new trade round, the International Chamber of Commerce has renewed its call for multilateral binding rules on trade facilitation, to be administered by the WTO.
ICC trade expert Stefano Bertasi, said: "To judge from the latest drafts we have seen, this seems very likely to be on the agenda for coming trade negotiations. For business, the need is acute. Removing practical constraints on international trade transactions will greatly enhance the benefits of trade liberalization."
Mr Bertasi said the
pressure on companies to move their goods across borders rapidly was increasing all the time. "Multimodal through-transport and electronic commerce encourage use of globally integrated, just-in-time production and distribution systems.
"But for these developments to have maximum benefit, they must be accompanied by the rigorous and efficient application of simple, predictable and uniform controls by customs and other official bodies that operate at borders."
ICC's pressure on the WTO is dictated by the conviction that it is via governments that the modernization of customs techniques and practices can best be secured. A recent ICC analysis said: "As the world moves towards further trade liberalization, customs modernization is more and more important to each country's interest in attracting foreign direct investment. In particular, customs modernization will greatly assist developing countries."
The world business organization went on to recommend the WTO to focus on the following key objectives for trade facilitation:
· Customs transparency, with easily accessible procedures and regulations, including an independent appeal process open to importers.;
· Authorization for legitimate traders to cross national borders with minimal interference;
· Use of pre-arrival declarations and post-release audits;
· Measurement of clearance time at frontiers and the introduction of targets'
· Use of modern customs techniques such as risk assessment and profiling;
· Use of integrated information systems in preference to independent customs IT systems;
· Implementation of international standards;
· Global automation to create a paperless environment with data transmitted by electronic data interchange (EDI) or the internet;
· Frontier controls by a single agency, preferably customs;
· "Seamless integrated transactions", where a core set of identification control data can be generated at any time during the transaction, to avoid the duplication of traditionally separate export and import procedures.
|