G/TFA/W/51  
 
15 July 2021  
(21-5602) Page: 1/2 
Committee on Trade Facilitation  Original: English  
 
 
TRADE FACILITATION AGREEMENT FOUR YEAR REVIEW  
ARTICLE 23.1.6 OF THE TFA  
PROPOSAL ON ARTICLE 12 CUSTOMS COOPERATION  
COMMUNICATION FROM BRAZIL  
INTRODUCTION  
1. The exchange of customs information plays a vital role as a trade facilitation mechanism, 
since, insofar as it promotes risk management and helps to assess the effective compliance with 
customs legislation, it provides greater security for international trade operations and speeds up the 
release of regularly traded cargo . 
2. The exponential increase in e -commerce has greatly impacted customs administrations, which 
are now dealing with several individual packages with different goods instead of one container with 
one type of cargo. In these types of operations there is limite d information about the importers and 
the supply chain. Thus, it is urgent to implement instruments aimed at better protecting society, 
collecting customs revenues and, at the same time, enabling greater efficiency in the clearance of 
legitimately imported  or exported goods.  
3. Taking into consideration its countless benefits, the exchange of information between customs 
has been discussed for a long time in different international fora and has been the subject to several 
agreements between many countries. Howe ver, its implementation faces certain challenges, 
including a legal one. In this regard, the SAFE Framework of Standards (Pillar 1, Item 2.1.4) and 
the Revised Kyoto Convention (Standard 7.4 of the General Annex), for example, highlight the need 
for nation al legislations to contain provisions that allow customs to exchange information.  
BACKGROUND  
4. Article 12 of the WTO Trade Facilitation Agreement aims at addressing these concerns and, in 
fact, has enabled the exchange of information between customs in situa tions where there are doubts 
concerning the truth and accuracy of the declaration presented by the importer or exporter.  
5. However, the provisions of Article 12 do not provide the legal grounds for the advance 
electronic and automatic exchanges of informatio n for risk management purposes. These exchanges 
are recommended in instruments such as the Customs Guidelines on Integrated Supply Chain 
Management and the aforementioned SAFE Framework of Standards. Both were elaborated and 
approved within the scope of th e WCO, but do not have the legal status of an international agreement 
and, consequently, do not provide the necessary legal grounds for the implementation of such 
exchanges.  
6. Furthermore, each request for information presented under Article 12 is conditiona l upon 
compliance with certain requirements, for example, that the requesting has carried out prior 
verification procedures in its own country and has inspected the available relevant documentation. 
If, on the one hand, these conditions prevent broad reque sts for excessive and unreasonable 
information, which would  make it difficult for the requested member to respond, on the other hand, 
it restricts the scope of this provision, making its use as a risk management tool unfeasible, as it is 
limited to cases o f doubts  on the truth or accuracy of the information provided by the importer or 
exporter.  G/TFA/W/51  
 
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  PROPOSAL  
7. In view of the above, and with the intention of improving the implementation of the provisions 
related to customs cooperation, provided for in Article 12 o f the Agreement on Trade Facilitation of 
the WTO, Brazil understands that a new approach is essential, one which encourages customs to 
implement the exchange, by electronic means, of information and data that are normally provided 
to them by traders involv ed in foreign trade operations.  
8. Therefore, we encourage those members that already have international agreements with this 
type of provision to consider the implementation of bilateral mechanisms for the advance electronic 
transmission of data from their export declarations and the automatic and regular exchange of data 
on their imports and exports, for risk management purposes. Likewise, while there are no 
multilateral agreements in that regard, we encourage the other members to pursue this kind of 
bilateral agreements.  
9. Given the diversity of members, whether in relation to specific interests or to their levels of 
technological capacity, Brazil understands that the set of data to be exchanged, the timing, form 
and frequency should be agreed  upon by t he respective customs.  
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