WORLD TRADE
ORGANIZATIONG/C/W/451
11 March 2003
(03-1369)
Council for Trade in Goods Original:  English
TRADE FACILITATION: AN INTEGRATED AND COMPREHENSIVE APPROACH
TO SPECIAL AND DIFFERENTIAL TREATMENT
Submission of the United States
The following communication, dated 10 March 2003, has been received from the Permanent
Mission of the United States.
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Introduction
The Council for Trade in Goods is proceeding in accordance with its Doha mandate on Trade
Facilitation, making notable progress on the element of the Doha mandate to "review, and as
appropriate, clarify and improve relevant aspects of Articles V, VII and X of the GATT 1994."  The
work by the Council thus far has clearly established the importance of this work to the broader
interests of all WTO members in realizing market access opportunities.  In order to complete its workunder the Doha mandate on Trade Facilitation, the Council needs to consider carefully the question of
special and differential treatment and how best to ensure adequate technical assistance and support for
capacity building in the area of Trade Facilitation, and how this could be achieved and ultimately
reflected in the results of negotiations.
Members should share the common goal of effective implementation of any new WTO
provisions upon entry into force of an agreement.  This is particularly true in the area of TradeFacilitation, given the direct “on-the ground” positive effect that immediate implementation would
bring to all Members as exporters and importers.  However, it also needs to be recognized that this
may not be possible in all cases.  The United States is of the view that a more focused, responsive and
tailored approach would yield the most benefits and with this submission seeks to raise a number of
issues for further consideration.
Achieving an agreement on Trade Facilitation could be one of the most important
development-related achievements emerging from the Doha Development Agenda.  For Members at
lower levels of development, the gains of an ag reement on Trade Facilitation could potentially be
significant and immediate–  provided that the pr ovisions are not eroded by outmoded approaches to
special and differential treatment.  Such gains, embodied in new and strengthened commitments
pertaining to how goods cross borders, would contribute to the stability and certainty necessary for
ensuring growth in trade flows, attracting inve stment, and enhancing manufacturing.  Establishing
such a rules-based approach would achieve a frequently cited condition for bringing about a
significant increase in the growth of regional trade, particularly among developing countries.Accordingly, Members need to craft an approach to  that will serve to maximize the opportunities for
trade, including south-south trade.
The task of ensuring that the challenges faced by Members at low levels of development are
squarely addressed is every bit as compelling as the task of forging provisions that represent
improvements and clarifications of GATT Articles V, VIII, and X.  In addition to obvious difficulties
presented by basic resource and experience limitations, our historical assessment of technicalG/C/W/451
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assistance efforts in this area-- based in large part on consultations with developing country members–
leads to a conclusion that another great challenge is presented in this area because each developing
country Member represents a unique situation with equally unique needs.  For this reason, the United
States advocates concurrent, integrated work related to technical assistance and capacity building that
is integrated into the development and establishment of an agreement on Trade Facilitation.
A Three Point Approach to Special and Differential Treatment
A successful agreement on trade facilitation will need to (1) deal with varied needs and the
ability of members to implement results and the need for appropriate and workable transition periods;
(2) create a workable partnership among Members and other institutions to support technical
assistance needs and appropriate surveillance; and (3 ) ensure effective enforcement so that the gains
realized in other areas of negotiation (e.g., market access opportunities in agriculture and industrial
goods) are not undermined.  The United States believes that progress can be best secured if we look to
these three elements as we attempt to craft an approach to S&D in the negotiations.
(1) Comprehensive Approach to Transitional Periods
Discussions to date demonstrate the differ ences among developing country Members with
regard to the situations involving their domestic bo rder regimes.  Thus, it is logical to consider a
differentiated approach to implementation in terms of specific obligations or measures, rather than
simply by a designated class of country.  Rather than treating the matter of transitional periods asinvolving a blanket "one size fits all," a more comprehensive and detailed transitional periods should
be utilized, and integrated into the matter of technical assistance efforts.
In other words, transition periods could be established for various discrete commitments
within an agreement on trade facilitation, with a clear potential for varying lengths of transition
established in terms that are linked to the individual Member’s situation.  These divergent situations
could be reflected in the development of individual detailed packages that not only include
transitional periods developed as part of the negotiations, but are also integrated into a technical
assistance process that includes diagnostics and the development of benchmarked programs leading to
implementation of the results of the negotiations.
Questions for discussion
What sorts of provisions should be considered in shaping individual transition mechanisms,
and how should this modality be reflected in the course of the negotiations?
What sorts of provisions should be considered to ensure that transitional periods operate in an
integrated manner with technical assistance that  is targeted to specific implementation needs.
(2) Technical Assistance Review and Coordination Mechanism
Discussions have identified that a significant factor in ensuring adequate technical assistance
and support for capacity building in this area relates to increasing coordination between resource
providers and improving the manner in which technical assistance is specifically aimed at achieving
concrete outcomes in terms of enhancing Members’ ability to meet implementation challenges.  Our
work has shown that there is a wide array of potential resource providers in the area of tradefacilitation, ranging from individual Member efforts to those of International Organizations.
Accordingly, it would be useful to give consideration to the establishment a mechanism emerging
from the negotiations that will result in an approa ch to technical assistance and support for capacityG/C/W/451
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building that provides both a coordinated and sustained focus on meeting the specific individual
implementation needs of developing country Members.
Questions for discussion
What type of surveillance would be most appropriate to monitor of technical assistance being
provided that is ensuring progressive implementation of commitments?
Can consideration be given to establishing a ‘steering committee’- type approach by Members
to ensure needs related to implementing the results of the negotiations are being met?
What would be the main features of a mechanism for conducting regular review of technical
assistance and its effectiveness with regard to assisting progressive implementation of
commitments?
How best could a mechanism be developed for providing a ‘pooling’ of technical expertise,
ensuring the establishment of an appropriate role for other international organizations, such asthe World Customs Organization, UN-ECE, and regional efforts such as under the auspices of
APEC?
How best can Members tap into a growing voluntary pool of available private sector
knowledge and expertise toward achieving a match of logistic needs to regulatorymethodologies?
(3) Enforcement of Commitments
GATT Articles V, VIII and X already impose binding obligations on Members.  It follows,
therefore, that any further agreement on Trade Facilitation would enhance existing rights and
obligations.  Nevertheless, a number of Members have raised concerns regarding the application of
dispute settlement provisions to any new agreement.
The United States places great importance upon bringing the results of the negotiations on
Trade Facilitation into the sphere of WTO rights and obligations.  However, the WTO’s undertakinginto this area also presents its own exceptional challenges that may require some creative thinking as
we proceed into the negotiations, including giving  consideration to approaches that would address
concerns without otherwise diminishing the fundamental role of dispute settlement proceedings.
Questions for discussion
Where non-compliance is established as a matter of individual capacity, could provisions be
developed that would establish an agreement-specific process of consultation or mediation?
Could there be established mechanisms for re questing or otherwise conducting reviews of
implementation?
Conclusion
As was aptly set forth in a piece recently published in the International Herald Tribune by
Minister Leif Pagrotsky of Sweden and Minister  Shi Guangsheng of China, Members “must make
sure that as we negotiate the freer trade of tomorrow, it is not hampered by yesterday’s rules.  A WTO
agreement on trade facilitation would contribute greatly to a freer flow of world trade.”  The United
States shares this view, and is confident that an agreement on Trade Facilitation could be achieved inG/C/W/451
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a timely fashion.  We note again that negotiations should not be foreseen as a complex undertaking,
and we observe that some basic outlines of potential new and strengthened WTO commitments are
already emerging through the Council’s work.
Members must ensure that the negotiations on Trade Facilitation include a roadmap for
addressing how we will achieve full implementation by all Members of the results of negotiations.  As
we head toward Cancun, our continued progress toward establishing the shape and substance of an
agreement on Trade Facilitation will also assist this effort by providing greater specificity for
measuring individual situations and assessing individua l needs.  From a practical standpoint, technical
assistance is at its most effective when specifically linked to benchmarked work programs targeted at
ensuring implementation of specific operational changes.  For similar reasons, the effectiveness of
transition periods as a tool for achieving the goal of full integration into the multilateral tradingsystem has been shown to be contingent on a solid linkage to individual situations and needs.  The
United States looks forward to working with all Members to embrace the opportunities presented by
our undertaking in this area.
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