The TFA, that includes provisions aimed to increase the transparency of the trading process, expedite goods clearance, facilitate transit, and increase cooperation among customs authorities, contains some flexibility arrangements for Developing Countries and Least Developed Countries, known as “Special and Differential Treatment” (SDT), which enable them, among others things, to request capacity building and technical assistance before a provision is implemented. In order to benefit from the SDT, such countries have to categorise and notify to the WTO Secretariat each measure of the Agreement they commit to implement, by dividing them into 3 categories:
The article concludes that significant progress has been made by Asia-Pacific developing economies in implementing the TFA. In particular, 37 Asia-Pacific economies included in the analysis have, on average, notified 65% of the substantive provisions in the WTO TFA in category A, which means that 65% of the TFA trade facilitation measures has already been implemented in the region, a 6-percentage point increase from 2017.
Measures most notified in category B, i.e. indicating more time is needed for their implementation, are mainly related to Sub-article 1.4 “Notifications”, Sub-article 2.2 “Consultations” and Sub-article 6.1 “General Disciplines on Fees and Charges”, while most of measures notified under category C, i.e. requiring technical assistance and capacity building, are: Article 10.4 “Single Window”, Article 7.7 “Trade Facilitation measures for Authorized Operators”, Article 7.4 “Risk Management”, Article 10.3 “Use of International Standards” and Article 8 “Border Agency Cooperation”.
The article also points out that some developing countries are at risk of losing access to implementation flexibilities and technical assistance, as most of them have yet to notify definitive dates of implementation of some provisions within the deadline set for 22 August 2019.
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