Lecture 4

1.1 Playing Your Part

Playing Your Part

1.2 Introduction

After completing this lecture, participants will be able to:

 Argue the fact that both businesses and government agencies benefit from trade facilitation improvements
to border procedures;
 Identify ways in which individual companies can help make border procedures more effective; and
 Determine actions that individual companies can take to facilitate trade through business interest groups
and National Trade Facilitation Committees.
1.3 Two Sides of the Same Coin: Why Businesses and Government Agencies Need to Work Together to Make Trade
Facilitation Work

Two Sides of the Same Coin: Why Businesses and Government Agencies Need to Work Together to Make Trade Facilitation
Work

1.4 Answer the question

Feedback:

This is false.

Businesses benefit from governments that can provide a favourable and stable business environment. As
such, companies also benefit indirectly from regulations that serve a legitimate purpose, such as revenue
collection, security, environmental preservation or consumer protection. The trick is to make sure that
compliance with the necessary regulations is made as easy and efficient as possible. This is where fostering
contacts between government and the private sector comes in.

1.5 Two sides of the same coin

1.6 Building trust between government agencies and the business community

In many countries, border agency officials tend to suspect that businesses will cheat if doing so can earn
them a bigger profit. Similarly, many businesses are fearful of officials and believe that they are simply there to
“try and catch them out”. Worse, in some parts of the world, they sometimes just see government officials as
obstacles that should be avoided or removed by paying bribes.
In such situations, prompting a culture change might be necessary to ensure that both sides recognize and
appreciate the respective benefits that arise from trade facilitation.
Where successful, the commitment to trade facilitation feeds into virtuous cycle of efficiency.

Diagram

1.7 Answer the question

This exercise is not available in the offline version of this lecture.

1.8 What You Can Do As A Business to Help Realize the Benefits of the WTO Trade Facilitation Agreement

How Can Your Business Help Realize the Benefits of the WTO Trade Facilitation Agreement?

1.9 Answer the question

This exercise is not available in the offline version of this lecture.

1.10 Preparing yourself for trade facilitation

There are several steps that businesses can take to make sure that their voices are heard in order to make
sure that the measures in the WTO Trade Facilitation Agreement are implemented in the best possible way.
These are:

Stay informed
 Set up a monitoring system for alerts of new regulations or modifications.
 Set up a communication channel with service providers and cross-border agencies.
 Familiarize yourself with the various government agencies and their efforts to create trade facilitation reforms.

Participate in the consultative process and service providers

 Work with business interest associations and hold government agencies accountable for their commitments
under the WTO Trade Facilitation Agreement.
 Participate actively in formal and informal consultation activities, and join relevant working groups.
 Provide informed feedback in a constructive and supportive manner, such as data about the impact of costs
or insights on how to make measures work better.

Develop trust with the relevant border agencies

 Be supportive of trade facilitation reform initiatives and share your insights and experiences.
 Highlight that you recognize the need for regulatory controls and want to make sure that they are efficiently
and fairly administered.
 Seek to resolve disagreements in a constructive manner.

Be compliant
 Make sure that you are familiar with the applicable border procedures. Read relevant publications. If the
requirements for compliance are not transparent to the public, work with business interest associations to
make sure that the relevant border agencies publish the correct information.
 Know how to contact national enquiry points. Ask questions if you need help.
 Work towards a good compliance record.

1.11 Checklist: Are you playing your part? – Part 1

This exercise is not available in the offline version of this lecture.

1.12 Checklist: Are you playing your part? – Part 2

This exercise is not available in the offline version of this lecture.

1.13 Activity 1

This exercise is not available in the offline version of this lecture.

1.14 What Can You Do At The Business Community Level

Working with Business Interest Associations and National Trade Facilitation Committees
1.15 Answer the question

Feedback:

Businesses in many parts of the world, both in developing and in developed countries, have experienced
inefficient border procedures. They can think of solutions to fix the inefficiencies, but they feel that it is not
worth speaking up because government administrations do not want to change, or worse, may become
vindictive in response to their complaints.

It would be naïve to suggest that such fears are unfounded. And yes, businesses need to be mindful of them.
However, the WTO Trade Facilitation Agreement does commit countries to making improvements, and the
voice of business really matters! Working with business interest associations also has many benefits, such as
providing a degree of anonymity when there is reason to fear vindictive behaviour from officials.

1.16 Business interest associations

The WTO Trade Facilitation Agreement requires that the views of business be heard. An effective way to
achieve this is to work business interest associations, which are good for:
 Voicing concerns that are shared by a group of like-minded companies;
 Undertaking research to support reform;
 Engaging with relevant border agencies; and
 Getting involved in various consultation and engagement activities, such as PPD.

1.17 Why voice your concerns through business interest associations?

Chances are that, if you have concerns about inefficient border procedures, you are not alone. By reaching
out to other companies and forming group or working with an already established business interest
association (e.g. the Chambers of Commerce) you can:

Make your views heard with greater authority and legitimacy.

In this, it is important that your views reflect some amount of consensus. Your views will not gain much
legitimacy if you are the only one who has them; make sure that other companies have the same views and
experiences as well.
In addition, your views will have greater authority if they are supported by evidence and robust research. Data
on the cost and benefit of specific reform initiatives - including those specified in the WTO Trade Facilitation
Agreement - can be particularly helpful in ensuring that the necessary financial resources to make the reforms
successful are found.

Share the costs of services that benefit all members of the association.
Business interest associations can provide a wide variety of potentially beneficial services for their members.
For example, they could employ dedicated staff and experts to monitor regulatory developments and
coordinate appropriate responses to public consultations, provide technical advice and guidance, or lend
practical support to their member companies.

Develop strong relationships with the border agencies.

Many business interest associations will have communication channels with border officials. Engaging with
them will allow you to raise issues with the relevant border agencies, follow-up on recurring issues, and hold
border agencies accountable for the commitments they make. They also allow you to provide constructive
feedback on border agency performance, and help make sure that both new regulations and changes to
existing regulations will work and are fit for their purpose.

Provide a safe platform to approach border agencies without fear of repercussions.

In some instances, companies may be fearful about speaking out, especially if individual officers are thought
to be vindictive. Business interest associations can provide anonymous feedback channels which can help
protect the companies that speak out against inefficient border procedures.

1.18 National Trade Facilitation Committees

In order to facilitate the domestic coordination and implementation of the WTO Trade Facilitation Agreement,
every member country of the WTO is required to create a National Trade Facilitation Committee (NTFC) or,
alternatively, to designate an existing mechanism to fulfil the role of an NTFC.
NTFCs require countries’ various border agencies to meet regularly, especially where the Agreement’s
measures cut across organizational boundaries (e.g. the single window, trade information portal, or
coordinated border management). It also requires the involvement of the private sector to ensure that the
Agreement’s measures are implemented in the best way possible.
How is a National Trade Facilitation Committee structured?
A National Trade Facilitation Committee must bring together all of a country’s border agencies with
representatives from the private sector in order to coordinate and enable trade facilitation reforms.
Companies have the right - and duty - to be consulted and to contribute to their NTFC’s work in order to
ensure that the TFA measures result in efficient and fair border procedures.
Going beyond the requirements of the TFA
NTFCs plays a central role in ensuring that the various measures within the WTO Trade Facilitation Agreement
are implemented successfully. However, there is nothing stopping the business community from setting more
extensive trade facilitation goals! The TFA sets the minimum standards, but both businesses and
governments are encouraged to go beyond them. Indeed, the majority of WTO member countries have
National Trade Facilitation Committees with a mandate that extends beyond the requirements of the WTO
Agreement.

1.19 How can a National Trade Facilitation Committee contribute to trade facilitation?

NTFCs can work with the business community and other stakeholders to:
Identify bottlenecks to cross-border trade
This may be supported by detailed studies. One helpful approach is to conduct a Business Process Analysis.
UN ESCAP has produced a free e-learning series on how to do this. You can access it here:
http://www.unescap.org/our-work/trade-investment-innovation/trade-facilitation/bpa-course
Formulate recommendations for regulatory and procedural reforms
Although the WTO Trade Facilitation Agreement specifies the type of measures that must be in place,
businesses still have an important role in recommending how to implement them in order to maximize their
benefits.
The business community may also request additional trade-facilitating measures that go beyond the scope of
the WTO Agreement.
Monitor the effectiveness of the implemented trade facilitation measures
The business community is well placed to help measure border agency performance and estimate costs from
inefficiencies. Governments need to be able to hold border agencies accountable for the quality of the
implementation of their measures - be it at home or among trade partners.
1.20 Institutional frameworks for the National Trade Facilitation Committees

NTFCs need an institutional framework in order to ensure their long-term sustainability. This framework needs
to include:
 the appointment of dedicated staff to the NTFC;
 an agreement on the NTFC’s formal organizational structure;
 an agreement on membership criteria to the NTFC; and
 an agreement on the NTFC’s rules.
NTFCs also need to be effective; they cannot simply become discussion forums. Some steps that NTFCs will
need to take to ensure their effectiveness include:
 Organizing regular meetings with concrete points for action.
 Providing regular briefs and reports by the NTFC’s secretariat and members on progress made and activities
conducted.
 Demonstrating a track record of making improvements to border procedures through trade facilitation.
 Demonstrating the ability to hold government agencies accountable for delivering trade facilitation, for
example through robust feedback and research.
 Publishing minutes of meetings, thus ensuring that what has been discussed, recommended and decided
by the NTFC is made transparent.
1.21 Last but not least: vested interests

“One person’s efficiency is another person’s redundancy.”

Vested interests are inevitable. Business Association X may prefer one solution, and Business Association Y
may prefer a different solution. The trick is to be guided by the trade facilitation principle: to help reduce the cost
of complying with border procedures without undermining the quality of control.
Decision makers need to be aware that different stakeholders may have certain vested interests driving the
information that they provide to the government. Sometimes, there is no easy resolution and decision-making
thus becomes a political activity. It is important that politicians such as Minsters of Trade have the appropriate
facts at hand and can understand where business interests are coming from.

1.22 Activity 2

This exercise is not available in the offline version of this lecture.

1.23 Ask the expert

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=T7ua92JDGhw&t=0s&index=4&list=PL52a9jvYEGUvtoxeAihvWUNA8aw
0R6kUX
1.Can you describe the institutional arrangements of a successful national trade facilitation body?
consider the examples and cases listed in UN CEFACT publications - or any country in which ITC has
direct experience
2.Why is it important to collect evidence and conduct research when seeking to make trade facilitation
reforms?
Policy and decision makers need evidence. Without it is difficult to make the case for or against a specific
view. Evidence should be robust, based on fact and good research practice. Such data is also essential
when applying for donor money or working out which specific trade facilitation measures to prioritise
3.Should businesses be more ambitious about trade facilitation, or are the measures within the WTO TFA
enough?
This depends on the country concerned. The truth is that many WTO member countries, especially the
developed ones, already meet most -if not all- the WTO TFA recruitments. TF makes sense if implemented
unilaterally. Ambitious countries have a lot to gain. Businesses Interest Associations play a key part in
driving policy ambitions.
1.24 Key Points

Remember:
 Both the business community and government agencies have very good reasons to encourage trade
facilitation. In some countries, a culture change may be necessary to build the necessary trust between
government agencies and the business community.
 The successful implementation of trade facilitation measures depends upon a commitment to consult and
collaborate. Individual companies have the right to be consulted, and their voice matters if reform is to be
meaningful. There are several actions which companies can take to contribute, and working through
business interest associations (i.e. Chambers of Commerce) can help in articulating and amplifying their
voice.
 The WTO Trade Facilitation Agreement requires the establishment of a National Trade Facilitation Committee
in each country in order to facilitate domestic coordination and implementation. All border agencies and
representatives from the private sector must be represented at these committees.

1.25 Thank you for completing the lecture