G/TFA/W/31/Rev.2  
 
29 January  2021 
(21-0864) Page: 1/2 
Committee on Trade Facilitation  Original: English  
 
  
SHARING EXPERIENCES RELATED TO THE COVID -19 CRISIS  
COMMUNICATION FROM THE EUROPEAN UNION  
Revision  
The following communication, dated 26 January  2021, is being circulated at the request of the 
delegation the European Union.  
 
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1. We would like to share with the Membership the following proposal for consideration at the 
next formal Trade Facilitation Committee meeting.  
2. We have noted with interest the contributions made by Members and international 
organizations for  the informal TFC meeting of 30 September 2020. These contributions have 
highlighted the nature of the challenges that WTO Members had and continue to face in fighting 
COVID -19. They also stress the impact on the real economy, supply chains, and specifical ly, the 
adjustments to customs procedures that were deemed necessary.  
3. There seemed to be a growing acknowledgement at both the informal TFC meeting of 30 
September and the formal TFC meeting of 20 -21 October, that the crisis makes the Trade Facilitation 
Agreement even more relevant. The pandemic has accelerated Members' reforms and renewed 
efforts to implement the Trade Facilitation Agreement in numerous areas, including transparency, 
simplification, automation, and cooperation at the borders, to mention on ly a few.  
4. We would like to seize this opportunity and propose the following:  
5. We believe that it is timely to identify within these contributions what key difficulties and 
challenges Members and businesses have encountered when importing, exporting, or tran siting 
territories during the crisis. It would also be useful to share what particular reforms and changes 
Members and businesses have made in response under the new normal, which are very unique and 
unprecedented.  
6. In order to  facilitate the preparation of such a discussion we propose the following:  
7. First, to invite the WTO Secretariat to prepare a compendium document of the contributions 
of COVID -19 responses that the TFC Members and Observers have provided the TF Committee s o 
far. It should include the presentations made by Members and international organizations. The 
compendium report should be structured similarly to the TFA. For each provision, the report should 
present the issues/difficulties as well as the actions/reform s taken by Members when applicable. The 
source of the information should be clearly indicated. If some issues or actions do not fit under an 
existing TFA provision, they should be grouped under " other TF-related COVID -19 measures" (for 
example the protecti on of customs staff operating on the ground). The listing of measures under 
this proposed structure is without prejudice to the rights and obligations of the Members. The WTO 
Secretariat role is to list the notified or shared measures as they are voluntari ly reported by the 
respective Members, observers and international organisations without making any judgment on 
their rationale or legal standings  vis-à-vis the WTO Agreements & provisions.  G/TFA/W/31/Rev.2  
 
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  8. Whenever pertinent, identification of specific problems and soluti ons adopted could be done 
by different categories of Members (for example specific difficulties for landlocked WTO 
Members/LDCs) or for different categories of operators (for example SME operators).  
9. Such a consolidation of existing measures reported by Int ernational Organizations, Members 
and eventually business (within existing contributions already shared in the TFC) would avoid 
duplication of efforts among entities working on TF measures to cope with COVID -19 challenges.  
10. This compilation would serve the purpose of better structuring the discussions of the future 
TFC meetings under the agenda setting "sharing of experiences at times of COVID -19". 
11. As a second step, the TFC could consider discussing this document at its future meetings.  
12. We would also like to  propose that a meeting of the TFC be organized at the soonest possible 
in 2021 to allow for the WTO Secretariat to provide a preliminary compilation. This would help the 
TFC organize its discussions in a structured manner.  
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