RESTRICTED  
  
G/TFA/M/7  
 
25 June 2019  
(19-4280) Page: 1/28 
Committee on Trade Facilitation    
 
 
MINUTES OF THE MEETI NG OF THE COMMITTEE ON TRADE FACILITATIO N 
12-13 FEBRUARY 2019  
CHAIR: HE MS DALIA KADIŠIENE  (LITHUANIA)  
Contents  
 
I. MATTERS RELATING TO THE IMPLEMENTATION A ND ADMINISTRATION OF TH E 
TRADE FACILITATION  AGREEMENT  ................................ ................................ .................  2 
1   NOTIFICATIONS BY  MEMBERS  ................................ ................................ ...................  2 
A. Notifications under Articles 15 and 16 of the Trade Facilitation Agreement  .......................  2 
B. Notifications under Articles 1:4, 10:4:3, 10:6:2 and 12:2:2 of the Trade Facilitation 
Agreement  ................................ ................................ ................................ ........................  5 
C. Notifications under Article 22 of the Trade Facilitation  Agreement  ................................ .... 8 
2   STATUS OF RATIFI CATION AND NOTIFICAT ION PROCESS  ................................ .........  8 
II. EXPERIENCE SHARING/T HEMATIC  DISCUSSIONS  ................................ ................  14 
A. Special procedures of processing (inward and outward processing) and temporary 
admission  ................................ ................................ ................................ .......................  14 
Presentation by the European Union  ................................ ................................ ...................  14 
B. National Trade Facilitation Committees  ................................ ................................ ...... 14 
Presentation by Cost a Rica  ................................ ................................ ................................  14 
Presentation by Pakistan  ................................ ................................ ................................ ... 14 
Presentation by Thailand  ................................ ................................ ................................ ... 14 
Presenta tion by Togo  ................................ ................................ ................................ ........  15 
Presentation by Paraguay ................................ ................................ ................................ .. 15 
C. Advanced Rulings  ................................ ................................ ................................ .... 15 
Presentation by Australia  ................................ ................................ ................................ .. 15 
Presenta tion by Japan  ................................ ................................ ................................ ...... 15 
III. RULES OF PROCEDURE F OR THE TRADE FACILIT ATION COMMITTEE  ....................  15 
IV. RECENT AND UPCOMING ACTIVITIES  ................................ ................................ ... 16 
Update on activities of the Global Alliance on Trade Facilitation  ................................ ..............  16 
Update on OECD work on Trade Facilitation Indicators  ................................ ..........................  17 
Update by the WTO Secretariat on activities of the TFAF  ................................ .......................  20 
Other   ................................ ................................ ................................ .............................  24 
V. OTHER BUSINESS  ................................ ................................ ................................ . 27 
 
 G/TFA/M/7  
 
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  I. MATTERS RELATING TO THE IMPLEMENTATION A ND ADMINISTRATION OF  THE TRADE 
FACILITATION  AGREEMENT  
1.1.  The Chair welcomed delegations  to the meeting of the Trade Facilitation Committee (TF 
Committ ee, Committee, or TFC). She recalled  that the proposed agenda had been circulated in 
WTO/AIR/TFA/7/Rev.1 and that it contained four main items to be discussed: First,  matters  relating  
to the implementation  and administration  of the Trade  Facilitation  Agree ment (TF Agreement, 
Agreement, or TFA), starting with notifications presented since the last meeting, followed by an 
update by the WTO Secretariat on the state of the ratification and notification processes. The second 
item referred to experience sharing and thematic discussions, where delegations were invited to 
share their experiences with a thematic focus on (i) special procedures of processing (inward and 
outward processing) and temporary admission ; (ii) National Trade Facilitation Committees ( NTFC), 
and (iii) advanced rulings . The third item concerned the rules of procedure for the TF Committee. 
Following that, Members would be updated on recent and upcoming  activities . The final item on the 
agenda was  "Other Business", where the Chair planned to raise the issue of the date of the 
subsequent Committee meeting.  
1.2.  The representative of Ukraine  indicated a wish to make a statement concerning measures by 
the Russian Federation under "Other Business" . 
1.3.  The agenda was  adopted  with the addition requested by Ukraine . 
1  NOTIFICATIONS BY MEM BERS  
A. Notifications under Articles 15 and 16 of the Trade Facilitation Agreement  
1.4.  The Chair recalled that, since the last meeting, five new notifications had been submitted under 
Articles 15 and 16 of the TFA. All submissions had been issued as documents in the G/ TFA/N series 
and listed in the a irgram.  They originated from the following Members: the Kingdom of Tonga 
(G/TFA/N/TON/1/ADD.1); El Salvador (G/TFA/N/SLV/1); Grenada (G/TFA/N/GRD/1); Viet Nam 
(G/TFA/N/VNM/1) and Saudi Arabia (G/TFA/N/SAU/1).  
1.5.  The Chair turned the Committee's attention to the notification  from the Kingdom of Tonga 
(G/TFA/N/TON/1/ADD.1).  
1.6.  The representative of the United States  thanked the government of the Kingdom of Tonga for 
the notification of their definitive implementation dates for its category B  commitments . As Tonga 
had yet to ratify the TFA, the United States wondered whether the government could provide a 
timeframe for completing that process.  
1.7.  The representative of the European Union  expressed appreciation of the notification of Tonga's 
definitive implementation dates of their category B  commitments . Tonga had shifted two provisions 
on risk management and border agency cooperation from category B to C and had detailed thei r 
assistance and capacity building requirements. Like the US, the EU would be interested in receiving 
further information from the Kingdom of Tonga on the prospects and timelines for the ir TFA 
ratification process. Having learned that the Kingdom of Tonga had created a National Committee 
on Trade Facilitation, the EU would be interested in hearing more about their related experiences at 
a subsequent meeting.  
1.8.  With respect to Tonga's technical assistance and capacity building needs, detailed in the 
relevant s egment of the notified category C commitments, t he EU inform ed the Committee that 
under the 11th EDF (European Development Fund) , an assistance programme for the Pacific, called 
"Pacific Regional Integration Programme " and amounti ng to approximately €37  million would  be 
launc hed next year. As part of this P rogramme, there w ould be a specific TF component of 
€10 million dedicated to meeting the capacity building needs of six Pacific ACP countries with respect 
to their category C commitments, as well as to the r egional integration and harmonization of their 
customs procedures.   
1.9.  Lastly, she noted that the Kingdom of  Tonga had  designated a provision  on customs brokers 
(Article 10.6 of the TFA) as a category A commitment and  encourage d the government of the 
Kingdom of  Tonga to follow up wi th a related transparency notification.  G/TFA/M/7  
 
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  1.10.   The representative of New Zealand  echoed the comments made by the US and the EU and 
thanked the Kingdom of Tonga for the notification of their definitive implementation dates for 
category B commitments.  
1.11.   The Chair turned the Committee's attention to a notification received from El Salvador  
(G/TFA/N/SLV/1).  
1.12.   The representative of El Salvador  explained that, as part of a strategy to integrate into world 
markets, El Salvador had put considerable effort into participating effectively in the multilateral 
trading system, consolidating joint initia tives within the Central American region and strengthening 
relationships with its main trading partners. Those efforts were backed up with tangible attempts to 
streamline and facilitate trade through cutting trade transaction costs and achieving greater 
competitiveness for domestic products and services on international markets.  
1.13.   El Salvador had adopted a number of legal tools reflecting the shared determination with the 
private sector to move forward towards simplifying, harmonizing and making all processes  related 
to external trade more automatic. The Trade Facilitation Agreement ratified by El Salvador in 
February 2016 was one of those tools. El Salvador immediately undertook 125 commitments of the 
150 included in the Agreement.  
1.14.   For the remainder of those commitments, in October 2018, El  Salvador had notified the Trade 
Facilitation Committee the outstanding provisions yet to be designated under one of the three 
categories. El Salvador believed that the notification in question had sent a positive signal rei terating 
El Salvador's effort to implement the TFA. El  Salvador required support for capacity building and was 
grateful for the technical and financial support provided by various agencies and donor countries.  It 
was hoped that they could continue to supp ort El  Salvador in that regard.  
1.15.   With regard to the capacity building needs identified in relation to commitments designated 
as falling under category C, El Salvador was requesting technical assistance to understand good 
practices that had been implemented and followed by other Members within the WTO. It was worth 
pointing out and understanding what similar Members had done in that area. In other cases, apart 
from understanding international good practices, it was also proposed to carry out diagnostics of th e 
mechanisms and processes El Salvador was currently undertaking in order to receive 
recommendations for improving implementation.   
1.16.   With respect to financial assistance, El Salvador was planning to invest in technological 
development that would help stand ardize processes and make them more interconnected and 
automatic, with a view to providing for enhanced trade facilitation. El Salvador was also extremely 
interested in receiving technical assistance for human resources capacity building and for improving 
border cooperation management, such as regarding skills of officials working in the area of border 
controls.  
1.17.   As far as notifications are concerned, domestic authorities were currently in the process of 
drafting a transparency notification on publication an d making information available, which would 
be submitted as soon as possible.  
1.18.   The representative of the United States  expressed her appreciation of the work undertaken 
by El Salvador. It was great to hear about the ongoing projects, successes, lessons learned, gaps 
identified and areas where they would like to continue to work.  
1.19.   The US wished to elaborate on  some of the wo rk the United States had been doing  with El 
Salvador.  The US Department of Commerce, through its Customs, Border Management, and Supply 
Chain Program, had held a first workshop in San  Salvador i n October  2018. The workshop  focused 
on bolstering El  Salvador 's implementation of TFA-related obligations, especially in the area of 
commitments contained in Article 2  of the Agreement . The two -day workshop had been attended by  
65 representatives from Salvadoran interagency border ministries, as well as by represent atives 
from the private sector and from academia. In addition to that , several  Honduran M inistries observed 
the workshop since Honduras was also developing a framework for notice and comment procedures. 
The US  planned to continue work ing on this programme and on engag ing in a new phase of work in 
spring 2019.  G/TFA/M/7  
 
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  1.20.   The US Customs and Border Protection had also held a 3 -day workshop in El  Salvador i n July  
2018. The  workshop was centred around  increasing private sector competitiveness in the global 
supply chain and  on strengthening the industry's understanding of US-El Salvador bilateral FTA 
provisions.  
1.21.   The US Department of Agriculture had also supported projects by the Central American 
Customs Union (CACU), which included El Salvador, and worked on building the technical capacity 
of government representatives to deal with SPS measures and trade facilitation policies. The main 
objective of these efforts was to reduce barriers to trade and  to facilitate the movement of 
agricultural goods.  
1.22.   The representative of the European Union  express ed the EU's  appreciation of  the notification 
received from El  Salvador and thank ed El Salvador for providing the informative context. The EU 
had noted that a  very large share of the TF Agreement 's provisions ha d been designated by El 
Salvador as falling under category A. In addition, and very exceptionally , no provisions had been 
placed in category B . 
1.23.   As regards  El Salvador's category A commitments, the European Union encourage d El 
Salvador to  follow up with their transparency notifica tion according to  Article s 1.4 and 10.6 of the 
TFA that had both been  listed as category A commitments. The EU acknowledged that work wa s 
ongoing in that regard.  
1.24.   The Chair turned the Committee's attention to a notification submitted by Grenada 
(G/TFA/N/GRD /1). 
1.25.   The representative of the European Union  commended Grenada's notification of its definitive 
implementation dates for its category B  commitments . The EU noted that Grenada had  included 
Articles 10.6 and Article 12  of the TFA as falling under category A  and encourage d Grenada to follow 
up with related transparency notifications.  
1.26.   As regards t echnical assistance, the EU wa s aware of a seminar held in January 2019 and was  
interested in hearing more about the possible impact and follow up that would be given to Grenada 's 
TFA implementation strategy. Regarding potential assistance f rom the EU , the EU had  funds available 
to assist Grenada and was keen to enter into dialogue , taking into account donor coordination and 
activities by other  donors.  
1.27.   The Chair turned the Committee's attention to a notification originating from Viet Nam (G  
G/TFA/N/VNM/1).  
1.28.   The representative of the United States  appreciated the work undertaken by Viet  Nam in 
preparation for issuing the notification at issue. She mentioned a program held jointly by the United 
States and Singapore , in Singapore in September 2018 , that had aimed at strengthening the 
implementation of TFA Articles 3, 4, and 6. This program  had hosted 26 officials from ASEAN Member 
States, including officials from Viet Nam and the Philippines. In May 2018, US Customs and Border 
Protection had held a workshop on authorized economic operators to benefit customs officials from 
Viet Nam, Thailan d and Cambodia.  
1.29.   The US Department of Agriculture (USDA) had further held a successful event with Viet Nam's 
Department of Fisheries to improve compliance with SPS laws and standards. Some of that work 
had been ongoing for the past five years in order to tr ain different producers, inspectors, and 
farmers. Reducing the number of non -compliant shipments would reduce costs for traders, including 
time and shipping costs, provide them with greater certainty and ensure cooperation between 
governments and traders.  
1.30.   In June 2018, the US Agency for International Development (USAID) had awarded a Trade 
Facilitation Program (TFP) contract to its implementing partner Nathan Associates, Inc., which would 
focus on many of Viet Nam's trade facilitation challenges. Over the n ext five years, USAID would 
work with the General Viet Nam Directorate of Customs under the Ministry of Finance to help Viet 
Nam adopt and implement a risk management approach to modernize and expedite its customs 
procedures.  G/TFA/M/7  
 
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  1.31.   The representative of the European Union  thanked Viet Nam and recall ed that the EU and Viet 
Nam ha d concluded a Free Trade Agreement that included, among others,  a chapter on cooperation 
in the area of trade facilitation.  
1.32.   There was also an  EU programme on trade facilitation that cover ed ASEAN Members and could 
be tapped into for the purpose of  support ing some of the assistance needs notified by Viet Nam.  The 
European Union had noted that Viet Nam had  notified Article s 1.4 and Article 10.6 of the TFA as 
falling under category A and expre ssed interest  in Viet Nam following up with a corresponding 
transparency notification.  
1.33.   The Chair turned the Committee's attention to a notification received from Saudi Arabia 
(G/TFA/N/SAU/1).  
1.34.   The representative of China  commended the notifications submitted by  Tonga, El  Salvador, 
Grenada, Viet Nam and Saudi Arabia.  
1.35.   As far as the notification from Saudi Arabia was concerned, China had noticed that all of the 
trade facilitation measures notified by Saudi Arabia had been de signated as belong ing to category 
A. China had also noted that there we re still 11 Members who ha d not presented any notifications 
and encourage d those Members to implement their notification obligation s as soon as possible. 
Perhaps the  Secretariat could  keep close contact with those Members to identify the reasons why 
they had failed to fulfil their notification obligations in time as well as the difficulties they m ight have 
encountered, and report to the C ommittee for further discussion in order to find a n appropriate 
solution jointly.  
1.36.   The representative of the European Union  said that the EU had also taken note that the 
notificat ion by Saudi Arabia had placed all TFA  provisions in category A. The European Union 
encourage d Saudi Arabia to follow up with the transparency notifications related to these 
commitments,  including , in particular , the notification regarding Article 12 .2.2 of the TFA  on Customs 
Cooperation.  
B. Notifications under Articles 1:4, 10:4:3, 10:6:2 and 12: 2:2 of the Trade Facilitation 
Agreement  
1.37.   The Chair  turned the Committee 's attention to the next group  of notifications. They were often 
referred to as "transparency notifications" and consisted of notifications mandated by Articles 1:4, 
10:4:3, 10:6:2 and 1 2:2:2 of the TFA. She recalled that all notifications had transparency objectives, 
either in a broader context – such as by calling for information on publication sources – or in relation 
to particular areas, such as the operation of a Member's single wind ow, the use of customs brokers 
and customs cooperation. A total of seven new notifications had been issued since the last meeting 
with respect to the second category, the specific transparency requirements. All of them had been 
issued as documents under th e G/TFA/N series. This meant that, for the first time, those notifications 
made for the largest of the three groups of notifications mandated by the Trade Facilitation 
Agreement.  
1.38.   They originated from the following Members: Philippines  (G/TFA/N/PHL/2);  North Macedonia  
(G/TFA/N/MKD/1/REV.2);  Pakistan  (G/TFA/N/PAK/2 and G/TFA/N/PAK/2/REV.1);  Japan  
(G/TFA/N/JPN/2/CORR.1);  Peru (G/TFA/N/PER/3); Chile (G/TFA/N/CHL/2); and Lao PDR 
(G/TFA/N/LAO/2).  
1.39.   Members were invited to take the floor on tho se notifications sequentially, starting with the 
first notification submitted by the Philippines  (G/TFA/N/PHL/2 ). 
1.40.   The representative of the European Union  commended the Philippines for their ambitious 
notification, in which all of the TFA provisions had be en placed in category A, and for the 
transparency measures that had been notified. The Philippines had also taken positive steps in their 
new Customs Modernization and Tariff Act Code and were integrating many of the TFA provisions 
into the revised nationa l legislative framework. She informed the Committee that the EU's previous 
Trade Related Technical Assistance (TRTA) Programme had contributed to supporting some of those 
reforms.  G/TFA/M/7  
 
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  1.41.   The representative of the United States  joined the EU in thanking the Philip pines for their 
notification. It was  a very robust document that provided  traders with a clear understanding of how 
to find the rules, procedures and documents necessary to trade with the Philippines. The links were 
very helpful for navigat ing the differen t forms and procedures . The United States  continue d to 
support the Philippines ' efforts in  TFA implementation and informed the C ommittee that the US had  
held a targeting and risk management training based on sea cargo in December 2018 to benefit the 
Philip pines'  Customs Service.  
1.42.   The Chair turned the Committee's attention to a notification received from North Macedonia  
(G/TFA/N/MKD/1/REV.2) . 
1.43.   The representative of the European Union  welcome d the revised notification f rom North 
Macedonia . It showed that North Macedonia had made good progress on TFA implementation in 
2018, including efforts to set up a National Committee on Trade Facilitation . The concept of 
authorized economic operators, t o which the EU  attach ed great importance , had also been 
introduced in the form of providing for it in the Customs C ode. 
1.44.   The Chair turned the Committee's attention to notifications from Pakistan  (G/TFA/N/PAK/2 
and G/TFA/N/PAK/2/REV.1) . 
1.45.   The representative of the European Union  welcomed Pakistan 's notification of  their 
transparency measures and endorsed the work that had been put into its preparation. The EU was 
aware that Pakistan was engaged in TFA implementation on a number of fronts, including with 
respect to the establishment of a single window, and was activ ely working on refining and detailing 
its assistance needs in coordination with donors. The EU looked forward to Pakistan's experience 
sharing presentation later in the meeting.  
1.46.   The representative of the United States  joined the EU in thanking Pakistan for  their 
notification. The notification was very helpful and provided a clear understanding for traders on how 
to find rules, requirements and documents necessary to trade with Pakistan. The relevant websites 
helped traders directly navigate to specific form s and procedures. It was a very good notification 
and the US appreciated the effort.  
1.47.   The United States wa s very encouraged by the ongoing programs with Pakistan to improve 
TFA implementation , particularly in the areas of SPS and agriculture. Over the past 5 years, the 
USDA ha d trained farmers and regulators to strengthen the capacity of Pakistan's systems on pest 
management and other phytosanitary risk management issues. The USDA Programme had  trained 
over 5,500 beneficiaries, 4000 farmers, 1000 technical e xperts on SPS compliance and trade and 
agriculture. Furthermore, the USDA Cochran Fellowship Program (CFP) had also provided training in 
the United States for over 11 Fellows from Pakistan in order to help develop market -driven food 
systems and to increase  trade links wi th the US agricultural business.  
1.48.   The Chair turned the Committee's attention to a notification from Japan  
(G/TFA/N/JPN/2/CORR.1) . 
1.49.   The representative of the European Union  thanked Japan for updating their transparency 
notification and for the integration of Japan's law regarding customs brokers. The European Union 
further wished to inform the Committee that the EU -Japan Free Trade Agreement, which included a 
chapter on trade facilitation enabling parties to further cooperate in this area, had e ntered into force 
on 1 February 2019.  
1.50.   The Chair turned the Committee's attention to a notification received from Peru  
(G/TFA/N/PER/3) . 
1.51.   The representative of the United States  appreciate d the robust transparency notification  
prepared by Peru  that helped tra ders find the rules, requirements and documents necessary to trade 
with Peru. The United States wished to take a moment to highlight some of the bilateral cooperation  
between the US and Peru, which had  been focusing on strengthening the countries ' border a gency 
cooperation. In August 2018 , the US Customs and Border Protection implemented a program with 
Peru on targeting and risk management.  G/TFA/M/7  
 
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  1.52.   The US Department of Agriculture's Food Safety and Agricultural Sustainability Project (FAST) 
had worked to build capa city and provide technical assistance for Peru 's and El Salvador's 
institution s, in order to help their traders comply with the US  SPS laws and to increase trade.  
Through this programme, the United States had  trained  representatives of  government ministries, 
trade associations and universities in an effort to further increase trade.  As an outcome o f those 
programmes, companies in Peru had increased their readiness to comply and to export to the US by 
an average of 17 per  cent, which resulted in a substantial cost reduct ion for exporters and 
encouraged  new trade.  
1.53.   The representative of the European Union  welcomed Peru's notification on their  transparency 
measures and the details provided therein. The EU also  noted the active implementation  method  
used by Peru with respect to  the TFA. Peru's National Committee on Trade  Facilitation had been 
setup in 2017 and it had  since identified various priority measures for implementation . The EU was 
very appreciative of that.  
1.54.   The Chair  turned the Commit tee's attention to a notification that had been received from Chile  
(G/TFA/N/CHL/2) . 
1.55.   The representative of the European Union  express ed the EU's  appreciation of Chile's very 
comprehensive notification on its transparency measures.  
1.56.   The representative of the United States  joined the EU in thanking Chile for their notification 
that provided for a very clear understanding of how traders could find the rules, requirements and 
documents necessary to trade with Chile.  
1.57.   Since 2017 , Chile had participated with the US, Australia, China, Kenya, Korea, the 
Netherlands and New Zealand in piloting the e -Phyto Solution Hub, which could be of interest to the 
Committee, in particular in relation to TFA Article 8. This project was led jointly  by the Food and 
Agriculture Organization (FAO) and International Plant Protection Convention (IPPC). The Hub would 
allow all plant health certificate information to be exchanged electronically between countries in the 
form of an e -Phyto. By providing a si ngle point of exchange, the system sought to increase safe 
trade, enhance connections, improve security, and provide the opportunity for participating countries 
to exchange those certificates among each other. The US was already exchanging e -Phytos via the  
Hub with Argentina, Chile, and New Zealand. It was a particularly relevant experience in the area of 
border cooperation and with respect to reducing formalities.  
1.58.   The Chair  turned the Committee's attention to the last transparency notification on the 
meeti ng's agenda, submitted by Lao PDR (G/TFA/N/LAO/2) . 
1.59.   The representative of the European Union  commend ed Lao  PDR, an LDC, for having notified 
a number of transparency measures , including one relating to the establishment of a single window  
(article 10.4.3 of the TFA) . Lao PDR had  done an in -depth examination of its needs for capacity 
building and the corresponding assistance had started to be deployed. The EU had contributed to 
the Trade Development F acility (TDF) P rogramme that was managed by the World Bank , as well as  
other donors , and had ended in September 2018.  
1.60.   The representative of China  joined other speakers in express ing thanks to the Philippines, 
North Macedonia, Pakistan, Japa n, Peru, Chile and Lao PDR for the  information  provided in their 
respective notification . China encourage d more Members to implement the provisions of the TFA  and 
to provide updated notifications to the WTO as soon as possible.  
1.61.   Due to a recent change and restructuring in  the Chinese Government, China had  provided to 
the WTO Secretariat the latest information on its contact points and on the official websites . The 
information in question had been  notified previously  and would  be circulated soon  with appropriate 
adjustments.  
1.62.   The representative of the United States  share d the US' appreciation for the  notification  
submitted by Lao PDR and considered it to be  a real inspiration to the region , including Lao PDR 's 
ASEAN neighbours.  G/TFA/M/7  
 
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  C. Notifications under Article 22 of the Trade Fac ilitation  Agreement  
1.63.   The Chair turned the Committee's attention to notifications under Article 22 of the TFA, 
which related to technical assistance and support for capacity building.  She informed that the 
notifications received under this heading all concer ned paragraph 3 of Article 22 , dealing with 
Members' contact points for coordinating and prioritizing trade facilitation -related assistance and 
support for capacity building.  
1.64.   The specific n otifications on the agenda of the present meeting originated from t he following 
Members: the Kingdom of Tonga (G/TFA/N/TON/2); Ukraine  (G/TFA/N/UKR/2);  Peru 
(G/TFA/N/PER/2) and  Guyana  (G/TFA/N/GUY/3).  
1.65.   The representative of the European Union  thank ed the four notifying Members for having 
communicated  their contact points for aid coordination to the Committee.  
1.66.   Coordination wa s crucial and assistance needs had to be efficiently detailed by Members that 
notified category C commitments, so that the assistance programmes c ould be well designed, 
targeted an d successfully implemented. In this r egard, the EU strongly believed  in the vital role of 
the National Trade Facilitation Committees . Later during the meeting, under  the experience sharing 
agenda item, Costa Rica, Thailand, Togo and Pakistan were meant to be sharing their practices and 
lessons.  
1.67.   The EU wished to recall that 22 February 2019 was the deadline for LDCs to notify their 
assistance requirements for implementing category C commitments. The EU was concerned that 
there was  still a number of LDCs that  had not done the  categorization of their commitments and ha d 
not notified their detailed assistance needs . The EU considered that issue a priority and call ed on all 
concerned Members, the Secretariat and international organizations to keep an eye on this,  
particularly as Members were preparing  for the next dedicated session  on technical assistance and 
capacity building later in 2019.  
1.68.   The representative of Canada  recognized the efforts of those Members that had submitted 
notifications and noted the details of the ongoing activities undertaken on the ground in those 
Members. He thanked El  Salvador for the information provided about their work on implementing 
the Trade Facilitation Agreement. In his view, that was the kind of information that supported the 
conversations in the Committee. As Canada 's Trade Minister had recently stated, the deliberative 
function of the WTO was the lifeblood of the organization.  
1.69.   The representative of China  encourage d more developing and least -developed Members who 
needed assistance and support in the area of trade facilitation to inform of the relevant contact 
points as soon as possible to support capacity building activities.  
1.70.   The Chair thanked Members for their interventions and observed that they seemed to have 
conclude d the discussions on the list of new notifications under the current  agenda item. She noted 
that the next opportunity to look at notifications would be given at the subsequent session  of the 
TFC in June.  
1.71.   With there not being any more requests for the floor , the Chair suggested to move on to the 
next item - the state of the ratification and notification process.  
1.72.   The Committee took note  of the notifications addressed under items A, B and C and of the 
information contained therein.  
2  STATUS OF RATIFICATIO N AND N OTIFICATION  PROCESS  
2.1.  The Chair recalled that the WTO Secretariat had received a request to update Members on 
the latest state -of-play regarding the ratification and notification process.  
2.2.  The representative of the WTO Secretariat  updated Members on latest developments with 
respect to notifications and ratifications that had occurred since the Committee had last met in 
October 2018.  G/TFA/M/7  
 
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  2.3.  As regards  as ratification s were concerned, the Secretariat had received a few  more acceptance 
instruments since the time of its last report . They brought the current overall number to 1 41 
instruments , which correspond ed to 86% of the expected total. The figure was likely to go up further 
over the weeks and months to come. As far as the origin of the ratification instruments was 
concerned, all regions were well represented. 22 instruments were yet to be deposited , of which a 
few were in fairly final stages of preparation.  
2.4.  Given that the outstanding instruments were expected to come from developing countries and 
LDCs,  it might be useful to take a closer look at relevant developments with respect to those two 
groups. Taken together, the ratification rat e for both groups currently stood at slightly more than 
80%. Looking at each group individually, one could see that developing countries ha d a higher 
ratification rate than LDCs.  
2.5.  As far as notifications were concerned, the update would first look at input on the 
implementation side, i.e. the so -called ABC notifications. Members would recall that the TFA set out 
several deadlines for their submission. The first related to the time when the TF Agreement had 
entered into force - 22 February 2017. At that point , developing countries had already been obliged 
to notify their category ABC designations and to provide indicative dates for their categor y B and C  
commitments . In addition, they were asked to  notify their requirements as far as technical assistance 
and s upport for capacity building were concerned. A year later, that information had to be 
complemented by the submission of definitive implementation dates for category B commitments. 
Least -developed countries were requested to provide information on their cat egory A, B and C 
designations no later than a year after entry into force of the TFA, i.e. by 22 February 2018. They 
were further invited to provide indicative implementation dates for their category B commitments.  
2.6.  Another deadline was coming up at the end  of February 2019. By that time, least developed 
countries had to hand in the ir requirements regarding technical assistance and capacity building that 
those Members had identified in relation to their category C commitments. In August  2019, 
developing coun tries w ould be asked to notify their definitive implementation dates as far as 
category C was concerned. The next milestone would be 22 February 2020, three years after the 
TFA had entered into force, when LDCs w ould have to provide definitive dates for their category B  
commitments  if they ha d not already done so by then . The Agreement granted more time to those 
Members for presenting their category C -related implementation  dates, which were  no due before 
22 February 2021. The last deadline set out in the TF Agreement w ould come up on 22  August 2022  
when LDCs would have  to hand in their definitive implementation dates for commitments  identified 
as falling under category C . 
2.7.  According to the latest information collected by the WTO Secretariat, there were 114 Members 
who ha d provided the Secretariat  with category A -related information – a figure close to the total 
amount of information expected  under this segment. The numbers wi th respect to categor y B and C 
commitments we re still lagging behind, even though some catching up was  observe d. At the time of 
reporting, 7 3 Members had provided  information regarding category B, and 63  Members  had handed 
in data regarding  their category C commitments . Broken down by group of development, one could 
find an implementation rate of slightly over 60%  for developing countries  and 23% for  LDCs. 
Developed Members, as delegates would be aware of, were not able to avail themselves of any of 
the Sec tion II flexibilities and therefore obliged to fully implement the TFA from the moment it had 
entered into force.  
2.8.  A break down between the three different categories  showed that category A ma de up for 
roughly half of the commitments , with the  numbers for categories B and C being  lower . There was 
slightly more than 23% of the information yet to be handed in.  
2.9.  An analysis per region showed that Europe scored the highest with 100% of all relevant 
notifications, although it had to be recalled that there were very few European Members who were 
eligible to make use of the A, B and C scheme . Asian and Pacific  Members  ranked second on th e list. 
Developing countries ha d a higher notification rate and higher share of category A commitments  
than their least -developed counterparts with their category C share  being  lower  than that of LDCs , 
as many might have expected.  G/TFA/M/7  
 
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  2.10.   As far as category designations  were concerned , roughly three quarters of all developing 
countries ha d provided all designations , some had provided a subset of designations and a small 
share had not yet provided any.  
2.11.   In the case of LDCs, the number of those who ha d submitted  all designa tions was lower . The 
number of those that had provided only some  designations was higher than the corresponding 
number provided by developing countries. The number of Members that had yet to hand in their 
designations was higher for LDCs than it was for de veloping countries. When f actoring in the 
ratification process  and reflecting the Members that  had already completed th e domestic work one 
arrived at higher numbers: f or developing countries th e number of Members who had submitted all  
designations  would  reach 77%, and for LDCs , nearly 75% , which was almost the same as the input 
recorded for developing countries . 
2.12.   As regards measures with the highest commitment rates, Article 9 of the TFA was still topping 
the list with over 80% of Members having committed to  immediate implementation; followed by 
Article s 10.5 and 10.6 of the TFA where numbers were almost as high . The next provisions on the 
list were  Article s 5.2 and 10.9  of the TFA.  
2.13.   In terms of how much implementation time ha d been requested and when Members could  
expect different parts of the Agreement to be implemented on the ground , the data demonstrated 
a progressive  increase in terms of implementation commitments.  
2.14.   When it came to  the average implementation timeframes that Members had self-selected , 
there were quite a few dates that ha d already been reached. When looking at category A, B and C 
commitments together, both for developing countries individually  and grouped together wit h LDCs , 
one could deduce from the data that  the average selected timeframes ha d already passed. For LDCs 
that point was  coming up later in 2019, which was not that far into the future. If the focus was 
placed merely on categories B and C , the average date  moved to the summer of 2021 with almost 
no difference for developing countries and LDCs. Focusing  on category C timeframes alone, one 
could find that LDCs , on average , tended to select much shorter time periods than developing 
countries, i.e. almost a year  shorter . The average timeframes for category C commitments alone 
were somewhere between the end of 2021 and the summer of 2022.  
2.15.   More information on the analysed aspects could be found in a document that had been 
prepared in response to a request  by the Eu ropean Union to prepare a table with more extensive 
information regarding notifications. One of the elements of information the table contained related 
to indicative implementation dates, broken down by categories. The document was designed to have 
hyperli nks, which had a direct connection with the database , allowing Members to browse detailed 
information at their convenience.  
2.16.   Regarding  the assistance area , 98% of developing countries  had submitted their technical 
assistance and capacity building requiremen ts. The corresponding number for LDCs was only 10%,  
which meant that 90% of LDCs we re yet to provide th at information. The TF Agreement called for 
those Members to notify this information no later than 22 February 2019. Members seeking 
assistance in that context were invited to contact the WTO Secretariat.  
2.17.   The data collected so far  could also be filtered  in several ways, including in terms of what type 
of support ha d been most frequently requested. An analysis of the submitted information showed 
that support related to human resources and training  was most often solicited , followed by support 
for legislative and regulatory  work, such as for help with the drafting of legislation . Assistance for 
other areas such s upport for infrastructure and equipment , as well as for awareness raising , ranked 
on the lower side of the spectrum  as far as frequency was concerned . 
2.18.   As Members would recall, the TF Agreement oblige d the WTO Secretariat to issue reminders 
in respect of certain deadlines for notifications of impl ementation commitments. The Secretariat had 
issued the first reminder in November 2017 , which had focused on the notification of definitive dates 
for the submission of category B notifications for developing countries , as mandated by the TFA. 
LDCs had not yet been covered as the Agreement granted them more time to notify the relevant 
information. Since the reminder had been made, the number of developing Members who were yet 
to submit their definitive category B dates had been shrinking. At the time of repo rting, the following 
developing Members had provided indicative implementation dates for their category B commitments G/TFA/M/7  
 
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  without following up with a notification of their definitive category B dates:  Bolivia, Brunei 
Darussalam, the Dominican Republic, Malays ia, the Republic of Moldova, Montenegro, Morocco, 
Nigeria and Uruguay (whose notification was currently in process). Within this group, one Member 
– Morocco – was yet to complete its ratification process.  
2.19.    A larger group of developing Members – 22, at the time of the current report – had not 
notified neither indicative nor definitive implementation dates for category B: Antigua and Barbuda, 
Barbados, Cameroon, Congo, Cote d'Ivoire, Dominica, Ecuador, Egypt, Gabon, Ghana, Kenya, 
Kuwait, Namibia, Oman, Panama , Papua New Guinea, Qatar, Suriname, Tajikistan, Tunisia, United 
Arab Emirates and Zimbabwe. Three of those Members – Suriname, Tajikistan and Tunisia – were 
yet to conclude their respective ratification process.  
2.20.   The deadline for developing countries to no tify their definitive category C implementation 
dates was coming up in August 2019.  At the time of reporting, the following 28 developing Members 
had provided indicative category C dates , but had not yet followed up with their definitive 
implementation dat es: Albania (which had provided a partial notification), Armenia, Belize, Bolivia, 
Costa Rica, Cuba, Dominican Republic, Eswatini, Fiji, Grenada, Guyana, Jamaica, Kazakhstan, the 
Kyrgyz Republic, Mauritius, the Republic of Moldova, Montenegro, Morocco, Nig eria, Pakistan, 
Paraguay, Saint Lucia, Saint Vincent and the Grenadines, Samoa, Seychelles, Sri Lanka, Tonga and 
Ukraine. Two of those Members, Morocco and Tonga, had not yet completed their respective 
ratification process.  
2.21.   As far as the transparency notif ications  were concerned, i.e. notifications relating to articles 
1.4, 10.4.3, 10.6.3 and 12.2.2 of the TFA, the largest group was comprised of notifications according 
to Article 1.4, with 62 related notifications. Notifications relating to the other three TFA articles were 
in the 50s and 60s range.  
2.22.   When looking at the notifications relating to technical assistance and capacity building 
support, it should be recalled that the TFA provided for three different types : the first two relat ed to 
donor Members who were meant to inform other Members of their programmes and procedures for 
taping into available aid. The WTO Secretariat had  so far received 15 notifications , some of which  
cover ed multiple Members  (which implied that the overall numb er of covered Members was actually 
larger. ) Eight notifications had been received with respect to Article 22.2  of the TFA . The number of 
notifications submitted under the last type of  the technical assistance notifications , which mandated  
developing countr ies and LDCs to provide information on the contact points for the receipt of aid , 
was slowly growing  with several notifications  in the pipeline.  
2.23.   As far as the TFA database was concerned, the Secretariat had introduced several new 
feature s. One of them cons isted of the creation of a tab called "TF Committee" . The information on 
that new page centre d around three main areas. First, users would have access to information 
regarding every TF Committee meeting ever held where they would find a brief report on the  
meeting , a link to the airgram of the meeting and to all of the experience sharing presentations 
Members had made in that meeting  as well as to statements that delegations had been willing to 
provide . 
2.24.   A second new section  consisted of a dedicated space fo r experience sharing. Here , the WTO 
Secretariat  had grouped all presentations that delegations had made by measure or thematic 
subject. All  presentations, videos and additional documents c ould be accessed in this section. At a 
quick glance, users could see  the main subjects Members had covered in their presentations.  If 
Members wanted to see the same information in table form or run searches according to different 
criteria, the y could do so. In addition, a ll information cou ld be exported into a word document.  
2.25.   The third section was work in progress and was meant to contain a link to the notification 
matrix that had been  circulated to Members by email  before the current meeting . The relevant 
information would be available in Word or as an Excel document . Numbers contained in the matrix 
could be clicked on, using the hyperlinks. Members would have direct access to the TFA database, 
which was especially useful when considering that it updated on an ongoing basis.  
2.26.   The homepage of the new TF Committee tab also contained quick links  with easy access to  
notification requirements as well as templates  for each type of notification. It also displayed 
frequently solicited graphs, such as one f eatur ing the top five measures with the highes t and the  G/TFA/M/7  
 
- 12 - 
 
  lowest implementation rate s. The database could be accessed at tfadatabase.org . The Secretariat 
always welcomed Members ' feedback  on the database and remained at Members' disposal for 
assistance with t heir respective notifications.  
2.27.   The representative of Hong Kong, China  commend ed the Secretariat for the excellent work in 
presenting very complex information in a user -friendly and meaningful way.  The matrix provide d a 
comprehensive picture on notifications and enable d the Committee to focus its effort s on making 
improvements.  Despite many Members having presented their ABC notifications, a lot remained to 
be done.  At the same time, the notification numbers were an ac hievement. Comparatively high 
figures were not always seen when analysing the implementation of other WTO A greements.  Hong 
Kong, China, encouraged Members to keep  applicable timelines in mind and to submit notifications 
as soon as possible . 
2.28.   As far as transparency notifications  were concerned, the overall percentage of Members who 
had notified their transparency measures  was below 38% , hence there was room for improvement. 
Transparency of information was crucial to traders. Hong Kong, China encourage d Member s to give 
priority to the completion of their transparency notifications. In some case s, the required notification 
could be very simple , such as with respect to notifying a contact point, or when describing progress 
made in a particular area.  
2.29.   The timely su bmission of a range of notifications under various WTO Agreements could be 
quite challenging. Hong Kong, China had found the reminder s issued by the Secretariat to be a useful 
tool to plan and coordinate with different domestic government agencies and depa rtments.  As for 
the contents of notifications, Hong Kong, China  had benefit ted from the templates exist ing in other 
Committees as well as from reference s to other Members ' notifications.  The Chair of the TFC or the 
Secretariat could also issue reminder s to individual Members who ha d outstanding notifications , as 
well as  provide  a mock -up notification with anonymous examples derived from previous notifications 
received  as reference . Such a sample notification could be passed to capitals to facili tate the 
preparation of notifications.  Hong Kong, China was encouraged by developments relating to the 
transparency notifications. It would be helpful if Members that had already notified could share their 
experiences with preparing the related input.  
2.30.   The representative of Japan  appreciate d the Secretariat 's update on the status  of the  
ratification and notification process es, as well as the  compil ation of Members ' implementation status . 
The matrix was comprehensive and very beneficial for Members to underst and the details of the 
implementation status, together with the website of the TFA database.  
2.31.   As a new step, it would be important for the Committee to consider how to utili ze the 
document better and how to assist  Member s in identifying notification challen ges faced by most 
delegations. That would enhance transparency aspects. Japan encourage d Members who ha d 
outstanding notifications to prepare and submit  those notifications as soon as possible.  
2.32.   The representative of  Switzerland  thank ed the WTO Secretariat for the presentation , which 
was very comprehensive  and user -friendly. W ith the most recent ratification by Ecuador, 86% of 
Members had completed their respective ratification process. A  stead ily growing number of 
ratifications was a positive  sign. Switzerland encouraged Members who had not yet ratified to 
complete the process as soon as possible.  
2.33.   Notifications were an important instrument for the full implementation of the TF Agreement. 
Switzerland reminded Members that there w ere still quite a number of outstanding notifications, for 
which the deadline had elapsed or was coming up soon. Switzerland called on Members to conclude 
the notification process as soon as possible  and welcomed any insight from Members able to share 
information on their n otification processes and on the related challenges they had faced. The 
suggestions made by Hong Kong, China on how to speed up the procedure were welcome.  
2.34.   Switzerland thank ed the WTO Secretariat for the useful matrix and noted the correlation 
between Memb ers that ha d ratified the TF Agreement and ha d notified under the Agreement . 
Switzerland wondered about th e share of notifications made by Member s that ha d ratified the 
Agreement , the number of Member s who ha d not yet ratified the Agreement was and the ext ent to 
which notification had been made. Switzerland was interested in  understanding  whether the 
ratification process had an impact on the notifications.  G/TFA/M/7  
 
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  2.35.   The representative of Singapore  thank ed the Secretariat for the comprehensive update and  
for the  matrix , which was an important tool to help Members identify and submit notifications. 
Singapore s upport ed the suggestion to provide reminders and sample mock -up notifications that 
Members c ould use when preparing their notifications.  
2.36.   The representative of  the Republic of  Moldova  expressed appreciation of the matrix by the 
Secretariat as well as of the presentation made. Both were helpful and informative.  
2.37.   Moldova had submitted definitive dates for its category B commitments and was about to 
hand in an updated version , which could then also be reflected in the matrix and the underlying 
notification database.  
2.38.   The representative of the European Union  thanked the WTO Secretariat for the excellent work 
they ha d done in providing Members with a complete picture of the state of implementation of the 
Trade Facilitation Agreement. Th e negotiations of the Agreement had taken a lot of time, and the 
implementation mechanism was very important . 
2.39.   As far as the ratification  process was concerned, the EU agreed with the assessment of there 
being "slow but steady progress" but was more worried about the "slow" than encouraged by the 
"steady ". Some larger Members that had been very active in the negotiations of the Agreement 
should be fully aware of the implication s of the Agreement and move forward to accelerate the 
notification process . The EU encouraged those Members to do so and to also update Member on the 
state-of-play on their ratification process.  
2.40.   Members nee ded to make a further effort to comply with the notification deadlines and 
requirements so that the Agreement was not overshadowed by gaps in implementation. The TF  
Committee should be the place where Members discuss the ir difficulties,  including challenge s related 
to meeting th e deadlines. The EU s upport ed the idea of  having a mock notification and other ideas 
that would serve the purpose of receiving  a complete set of notifications in due time. As one of the 
Members who had  requested th e matrix,  the EU strongly support ed the idea of having it in the 
database . The EU encouraged Members  to make use of th at document to facilitate progress both on 
the ratification and the notification front.  
2.41.   The representative of Canada  thanked  the WTO Secretariat  for having created a very helpful 
tool for Members to be able to  get a quick look on where  things st ood with respect to the 
implementation of the TF Agreement. Canada had been one of the delegations that requested such 
a document and was very appreciative of w hat the Secretariat had prepared.  
2.42.   The representative of the United States  express ed their appreciation for the matrix p repared 
by the Secretariat. At the October 2018 meeting of the Trade Facilitation Committee , the United 
States had expressed some views on possible ways for monitoring implementation, previous 
notifications and ways to follow up. The matrix presented this kind of information in a readily 
available  and easily underst andable way. Moreover, it made it easy to transmit this matrix  to capital s 
and to convey a lot of  information at one's fingertips . The matrix took care of the US ' concerns  
expressed  earlier.  The US commended the WTO Secretariat for the presentation made and 
encouraged them to keep up with this type of documentation while also making it available online.  
2.43.   The United States further echoed what had been said by the representatives of Switzerland 
and the EU . The US welcome d Members sharing updates on their notification and ratification  
processes  in the TF Committee . Washington appreciat ed Moldova providing  an update on the ir 
notification status and encourage d all Members to do the same in order to give each other the  
opportunity to understand if there were any difficulties and where different Members stood in the ir 
domestic  process es. There were quite a few outstanding notifications and 2019 was  a critical year 
for developing countries to provide the required input for the use  of flexibilities relating to categories 
A, B and C , as well as Section II  overall . 
2.44.   The representati ve of the Secretariat  responded to queries raised by Members. As far as the 
transparency and implementation notifications were concerned, the Secretariat had already 
prepared templates. They were available to delegations from the Secretariat and could also  be 
accessed through the TFA database. The Secretariat further sought to support the notification 
process by complementing the templates with concrete examples of already submitted notifications G/TFA/M/7  
 
- 14 - 
 
  as well as with additional information upon request. The temp lates were separate from the model 
notifications as the Secretariat usually tried to provide individual tailor -made assistance, targeted to 
the particular situation of each Member and reflecting aspects such as official language, region, 
geographical neigh bours, main trading partners etc. The Secretariat aimed to be specific and to 
respond to the particular needs of the individual Member in question.  
2.45.   With regard to Switzerland's question regarding a potential correlation between notifications 
and ratificati on, such a correlation existed indeed. Members that had completed their ratification 
process tended to have higher notification rates as well. Notifications were frequently prepared 
during the final stages of the ratification process, possibly as a result of increased awareness and 
heightened sensitivity towards other outstanding areas of work. In some cases, delegations had 
waited with the submission of an acceptance instrument until they had their ABC notifications ready 
as well.  
2.46.   In terms of specific numb ers, when it came to developing Members, 72% had currently 
provided all designations, irrespective of whether they had completed their ratification process. If 
one factored ratification into the equation, the number would go up to 77%. Similarly, the numbe rs 
would jump from 58% to 75% for LDCs, which suggested a positive correlation between the two 
processes. A look at the matrix would allow every interested party to see not only what each Member 
had already done in this respect, but also what was still ami ss. The database was updated on a daily 
basis.  
2.47.   With there not being any further requests for the floor, the Committee took note  of the 
statements made . 
II. EXPERIENCE  SHARING/THEMATIC  DISCUSSIONS  
2.48.   This segment of the  meeting  was conducted in informal  mode , with the understanding  that 
information  Members were willing to share would be made available on a dedicated website 
(https://www.wto.org/english/tratop_e/tradfa_e/comm_tradfa_e.htm ) with related links also being 
included in the minutes of the  meeting.  
2.49.   Members addressed the following  issues:  
A. Special procedures of processing (inward and outward processing) and temporary 
admission  
Presentation by the European Union  
2.50.   Information on the presentation can be found under the following  links: 
https://drive.google.com/file/d/1KIgCQQB -dIY-2uRS9i1_DPv8NiU3TEfB/view  and 
https://drive.google.com/file/d/1iAafkmKSH8VyGXf -Pr_j-YOgif9h06 zI/view . 
B. National Trade Facilitation Committees  
Presentation by Costa Rica  
2.51.   Information on the presentation can be found under the following  link: 
https://drive.google.com/file/d/1hORgHs04MlfLIzjnFq1BjmaElJz38aUW/view . 
Presentation by Pakistan  
2.52.   Information on the presentation can be found under the following  link: 
https://drive.google.com/file/d/1fBSPxOPGio7uVDpjq3AfHwCFpfyjj0lT/view . 
Presentation by Thailand  
2.53.   Information on the presentation can be found under the following  link: 
https://drive.google.com/file/d/11db9CRLKPFhdEZRrbfSAk5Iy12CTIiPL/view  G/TFA/M/7  
 
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  Presentation by Togo  
2.54.   Information on the presentation can be found under the following  link: 
https://drive.google.com/file/d/176J -RvpT6Pqsn42DgAHm42ljsBZdhbPr/view  
Presentation  by Paraguay  
2.55.   Information on the presentation can be found under the following  link: 
https://drive.google.com/file/d/1w4dOtWxehqrCGACIzTKrfGU6fy0qZp6v/view  
C. Advanced Rulings  
Presentation by Australia  
2.56.   Information on the presentation can be found under the followi ng link: 
https://drive.google.com/file/d/1byNZxfW4EfrKMHE4Qix0sFS -9kSlVyNz/view  
Presentation  by Japan  
2.57.   Information on the presentation can be found under the following  link: 
https://drive.google.com/file/d/1YsA1_umJWHjV5a4IlGwSNoDWMGJORsfR/view  
2.58.   The Committee took note  of the statements made under agenda item 2. 
III. RULES  OF PROCEDURE FOR TH E TRADE FACILITATION  COMMITTEE  
2.59.   The Chair recalled that work on the Committee 's rules of procedure  had already started in 
2017, right after the establishment of the TFC. At that time, Mem bers had received the first 
version of a proposal initially tabled by Argentina and Norway . Japan had become a co-sponsor 
shortly thereafter and was now joined by Paragua y. 
2.60.   As far as substance was concerned, there ha d not been too many changes since the 
Committee's first debate . A few details had recently  been modified in a revised version of the 
proposal , which continue d to be the only written proposal on the matter. The proposal  had been 
circulated in document G/TFA/W/2/Add.2 . As delegations would recall from previous exchanges, 
it was proposed to follow the practice of other WTO Committees of applying the General Council 
rules of procedure mutatis mutandis , with a few adjustments to the particular needs of the TF 
Committee, which were specified  in the doc ument . Most of th e proposed modifications seemed 
acceptable to Members during the last discussion, even though  there was some unfinished 
business the proponents had followed up on and had reported back to the Committee at various 
occasions in 2018 . They now stood ready to update Members on the latest state -of-play. 
2.61.   The representative of Norway  introduced the proposal on behalf of the co-sponsors: 
Argentina, Japan, Norway and Paraguay. Membe rs were already familiar with the proposal, which 
had been under preparation for some time . The most recent version of the document had been 
circulated on 5 November 2018 with an opportunity for Members to provide comments until 5 
December  2018. The propon ents had  received no substantial comments and therefore decided to 
table the proposal.  
2.62.   The text contained no surprises: i n line with WTO practice , it was built on the rules of 
procedure of the General Council with some minor adjustments. The only substanti ve difference  
with the rules of procedure of the General Council was that the proponents  had added already 
existing rules set out in the Trade Facilitation Agreement , in particular with respect to Article 
23.1.5 regarding the invitation of representatives from international organizations to TFC 
meetings . It wa s an addition  as opposed to a replacement of the well -known provision on 
observers in Rule 11 of the General Council rules of procedure.  While the Trade Facilitation 
Committee function ed well even in t he absence of established rules of procedure, codifying the 
practice would be an additional small step in securing constructive and predictable cooperation in 
the future . G/TFA/M/7  
 
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  2.63.   The representative of India thank ed the proponents of the draft rules of procedure for the 
Trade Facilitation Committee. As in the case of many WTO bodies, amendments to the agenda for 
meetings of the TFC should be based only on submissions from Members and not  from the 
Chairperson , as suggested in the draft rules . In addition, rule 16 of the General Council rules of 
procedure , which provide d for a simple majority of Members to constitute quorum should also 
apply to the Trade Facilitation Committee.  
2.64.   The representative of Uganda  thanked Norwa y and other proponents and apologi zed for 
not having met th e deadline for providing  written comments  to the proposal . Uganda would  like 
more time to consider some of the proposed rules, as well as  to consult with the Africa n Group  on 
the matter.  
2.65.   The repres entative of Norway  signalled the proponents ' availability to  consult with 
concerned Members to answer the ir questions . He assured Members that they could take their 
time, as the work had been ongoing for a while and there was no particular rush. He did not  
foresee any substanti ve objections  but recognised that some Members might need more time  to 
consult internally.  
2.66.   The representative of Japan  thanked India and Uganda  for their comments and  respond ed 
to the question by India regarding Rule six.  The proponents saw value in rules of procedure of 
other Committees. They had simply tried to follow good practices that ha d been carried out in 
other  Committees and incorporate them into their draft proposal. By way of example, he noted 
that the rules of procedure for the Committee on Agriculture as well as for the SPS Committee  
allowed for a chairperson to suggest  amendments and additions  to the agenda.  
2.67.   The representative of Argentina  joined other proponents in  thank ing Members for their 
comments . The proponents were particularly  grateful to those who had met with them bilaterally 
in a very constructive and engaged spirit. They would continue their work in order to provide the 
requested modification s and remain ed open to any suggestion s from Members.  
2.68.   The Chair  informed that the issue of the Committee's rules of procedure would be revisited 
at the next TFC meeting.  
2.69.   With there not being any additional requests for the floor, t he Committee took note  of the 
statements made under agenda item 3. 
IV. RECENT AND UPCOMING  ACTIVITIES  
Update on activities of the Global Alliance on Trade Facilitation  
2.70.   The representative of  Canada  provide d Members with  an update on activities of the Global 
Alliance on Trade Facilitation on behalf of the members of the Alliance.  
2.71.   The Alliance had started the year 2019 positively by launching its ninth project in Zambia  
in January, which w ould support the design and implementation of  a modern customs broker 
licensing framework.  
2.72.   The Alliance's two projects in Colombia ha d been progressing. The first  project , which 
focused on implementing a risk -management system for the National Food and Drug Surveillance 
Institute , was moving to its s econd phase by addressing medical devices after showing good first 
phase results on food products. The second project, which aim ed at establishing a Centre for 
Trade Facilitation and Good Practices to process advance rulings affecting the automotive indust ry 
had been endorsed by the new Director of Customs.  
2.73.   In Viet  Nam, implementation of a Customs Bond Pilot ha d begun after receiving approval 
from the Prime Minister's office. Moving forward, a detailed work plan for the next semester was 
being prepared , including key decisions for the pilot to become operational.  
2.74.   In Ghana, the Alliance ha d been working with the National Trade Facilitation Committee's 
Technical Working Group for Pre -Arrival Processing with discussions focusing on a proposal for G/TFA/M/7  
 
- 17 - 
 
  joint inspecti ons. Support to the World Customs Organization for the implementation of a Time 
Release Study was also being provided.  
2.75.   In Kenya, where pre -arrival processing was being implemented, a meeting of the project 
Steering Committee and a public -private dialogue i n partnership with KEPSA, the Ministry of Trade 
and ICC Kenya was being planned for early 2019. Also, Alliance 's cooperation with public and 
private partners ha d been formalized with the signature of three Memoranda of Understanding.  
2.76.   In Sri Lanka, a projec t aimed to establish a Multi -Country Consolidation hub or an 
intermediate point where multiple shippers from multiple regional origins consolidate d their 
shipments to build Full Container Loads before sending them to their final destination , was under 
way. Private sector involvement ha d been crucial  – in particular, public -private dialogues in 
collaboration with South Asian Global Terminals and the Ceylon Chamber of Commerce that had 
taken  place in December 2018.  
2.77.   In Brazil, the Alliance's Local Deputy Coordinator ha d been selected to lead the 
implementation of a project that aim ed at moderni zing licensing procedures of the National 
Standards Agency (INMETRO). As a next step, a study visit of INMETRO technical officials to the 
Port of Baltimore was being  organized for the first quarter of 2019, with support from the US 
Customs and Border Patrol.  
2.78.   A project in Morocco had officially  been launched at the end of 2018, with a solid 
implementation work plan focusing on the analysis of the weighing process at th e Port of 
Casablanca, and a mapping of the phytosanitary certification process – both activities w ould cover 
imports and exports. The first session of the National Trade Facilitation Committee was planned 
to be held in early 2019, with the Alliance project  as one of the core initiatives for TFA 
implementation.  
2.79.   Further project scoping was progressing in Argentina, the Dominican Republic, India and 
Nigeria.  
2.80.   The Alliance was also exploring projects possibilities in Bangladesh, Costa Rica, Guatemala, 
Honduras, India, Jordan, Malawi, Tunisia and Vanuatu.  
2.81.   As part of the continuous efforts to promote private sector engagement, TF awareness and 
public -private dialogues, the Alliance ha d been working with ICC in -country committees to 
organize a series of events in As ia, Africa, Latin America and Europe that w ould take place 
throughout 2019. Also, a seminar with start -up companies working on technology -based solutions 
for trade facilitation had been  held at the margins of the Steering Group meeting in San Francisco 
in November 2018. Further engagement with th ose companies was planned for 2019.  
2.82.   Last but not least, an Alliance -led workshop had taken place during the World Economic 
Forum Annual Meeting in Davos, where high -level participants from private and public sectors , 
academia and civil society had discussed the use of technology to facilitate trade and possible 
implications for the work of the Alliance.  
2.83.   In the fourth year of its existence , the Alliance  was making great strides in support ing 
developing countries ' implement ation of  the Trade Facilitation Agreement . The Alliance  was looking 
forward to new successes in implementing an ambitious workplan for 2019.  
Update on OECD work on Trade Facilitation Indicators  
2.84.   The representative of the OECD  updated Members on work in  relation to a tool the OECD 
had put in place to support trade facilitation work and reforms , called Trade Facilitation Indicators 
(TFIs).  
2.85.   The TFIs were an instrument that the OECD  had developed upon request f rom member 
countries back in 2012, in the middle of the TFA negotiations. The first demand had been to have 
an evaluation tool that would measure the impact of T rade Facilitation on trade flows, trade costs, 
productive factors and welfare to inform Members ' decision s on what they wanted to do in the 
Trade Facilitation negotiations. The OECD had  realized that th ose tools  could also be used for G/TFA/M/7  
 
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  monitoring and benchmarking as they provided  an overview of country performance, strengths and 
weaknesses a s well as a basis for prioritizing trade facilitation actions and for mobilizing technical 
assistance in a targeted way.  
2.86.   The OECD  had put in place 11 indicators , which correspond ed very closely to Section I of 
the Trade Facilitation Agreement, so as to ensure relevanc e for the work of the WTO . The OECD  
had conceptuali zed and tested th ose indictors by  2013, fine -tuned them between 2015  and 2016 
and was now  collect ing data on th ose indicators  every two years , producing  2013, 2015 and 2017 
instalments of data.  
2.87.   Those 11 in dicators were group ed together around  130 variables , that refer red to the 
different aspects contained in the TF Agreement . They follow ed the Agreement very closely and 
cover ed issues  such as  information availability, dialogue with different stakeholders, advanced 
rulings, appeal procedures, procedures addressed in Articles 7 and 10  of the TFA , automation of 
the processes, simplification and streamlining of documents, and cooperation of variou s border 
authorities , both  within a country and across the border . One of  11 indicators , dubbed "Governance 
and Impartiality ", did not match anything in particular in the Agreement but was looked at  for the 
OECD 's own analysis . The indicator covered issues  like ethics code s, integrity polic ies and similar 
aspects. The OECD had been collecting data every two years based on publicly available sources 
of factual information from the private sector and from governments. When all data had been put 
together and d iscrepancies had been solved, it was sent to missions in Geneva.  
2.88.   She thanked the WTO Secretariat for the help they had been providing throughout the years 
and reminded Members that there would be a data sheet corresponding to every country. She 
asked Membe rs to check the accuracy of those sheets with the assistance of experts in capitals.  
2.89.   Since the last exercise, the OECD  had also harnessed help from the World Customs 
Organization so as to make sure , via the Members present in the WCO , that customs authorit ies in 
each country would also see th e information and ensured sure that it was available.  
2.90.   The factual information  in question  concerned  not only  the regulation s in Member countries 
but also their implementation on the ground . In this respect, the private sector  was not being 
asked  whether a procedure was user -friendly  but whether, for instance , there we re advance 
rulings, what aspects they cover ed, whether they were made publicly available, how long the ir 
application  was, what the conditions for removing them  were, whether there was a possibility for 
appeals, etc. 
2.91.   All that information, packed into roughly 130 questions for 166 countries around the world , 
including  most WTO Members , all OECD Members  and a couple of WTO observers , allowed the 
OECD to explore the state of play for each trade facilitation measure and to see the evolution of 
performance over time.  Having  a common understanding of all th ose aspects for different 
countries , the OECD was also  making comparisons by income groups, geographic al groups , etc.  
2.92.   Turning to the state of play  of work on trade facilitation indicators  in 2017, which was the 
latest available  vintage, by income groupings , the OECD explained information contained in cobweb 
charts. The closer the country in question was p ositioned  to the centre, i.e. zero, the lower the 
country 's performance was, and vice versa.  There were two colours in the chart : white at the centre 
with a grey area around it, correspond ing to TFA provisions that were expressed on a best 
endeavour basis.  It was evident from the  graph that WTO Members of all income groups ha d 
already made very interesting progress in implementing the various provisions of the Trade 
Facilitation Agreement.  
2.93.   Most income groups, apart from the OECD  countries , had commitments that were not 
expressed on a best endeavour basis. The progress that was still expected to be made would bring 
those countries  into th e best endeavour area of the Agreement. In areas  such as  procedures  or 
information availability and transparency, the gaps between income groups were very small. All 
countries, whether they were richer or poorer , had made very significant progress in those areas. 
There were  other areas , such as  advance d rulings , where the gaps between income groups were 
bigger , which was also reflected in the fact that this provision was one of the least notified Articles 
of the TFA.  G/TFA/M/7  
 
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  2.94.   On another graph, one could view the same information by regional groupings. As an 
average, Asia Pacific was one of the areas that had made the most significant progress, followed 
by Europe and Central Asia. Another possibility was to view comparisons between the data from 
2015 and 2017. There was a noticeable  impact that the ratification of the Trade Facilitation 
Agreement had brought in terms of momentum for putting in place trade facilitation reforms in 
different countries.  
2.95.   It was e vident from the charts that for all income groups, in all areas covered by the 
Agreement , there had been significant progress. In certain areas, such as advanced rulings, more 
progress had been observed than in others. One could also see significant progre ss in the areas of 
automation, procedures and internal and external border agency cooperation. One could view the 
percentage of different income groupings that had already implemented parts of various TFA 
Articles on the ground and the percentage of countr ies that had not yet implemented them or were 
in the process of implementation.  
2.96.   One of the online tools the OECD had developed was called "Compare your Country " where 
one could get a snapshot of the situation on trade facilitation implementation around the  world by 
TFA Article. The darker colour signified more advanced performance, whereas the lighter colour 
meant less advanced performance . The grey areas were those countries for which the OECD did 
not have data. One could also view data by country in the f ormat of cobweb charts showing what 
their strengths and weaknesses were and what countries could do to address those weaknesses.  
2.97.    factual information  on what the situation was in various countries where they operated. 
Whenever there was a discrepancy between the reports from governments and  the data provided 
by the private sector, the OECD always tried to understand what the real situation was.  
2.98.   Turning  to other types of work the OECD  had been able to do with th e indicators , she noted 
that, at the beginning , they had  used them to a ssess the impact on trade flows or trade costs . The 
WTO Secretariat ha d used them for the same purposes , including in one of its World Trade Report s. 
One of the recent types of work the OECD was doing with the indicators related to understand ing 
the impact of trade facilitation measures on SMEs and on their capacity to engage in  export trade.  
2.99.   The OECD updated the indicators ever y two years , which made 2017 the  last available  
vintage. The OECD was about to start the collection for the 2019 vintage. By the next TFC meeting 
in June 2019, the OECD would have collected the information for each country and would have 
sent each country and each delegation in Geneva their data sheet for fact checking. By the fall 
meeting of the TFC , the OECD should be able to present the state of play.  
2.100.    The representative of the European Union  thank ed the OECD for a very interesting 
presentation on its TF  indicator s work and noted that the EU would  be following it with interest. 
This work was  complimentary to the work carr ied out in the TF Committee.  
2.101.   As far as OECD data collection methods were concerned, the EU wondered how the OECD 
was sourcing data  from the private sector , whether the private sector received the data sheets, 
who exactly the OECD reached out to, how they ensured that the input that came back was 
comparable and whether the private sector had to provide data in the same format as the 
governm ents. The EU also wondered about the OECD's definition of private sector.  
2.102.   The representative of the OECD  explained that in terms of inputs from the private sector, 
the OECD had  worked with worldwide logistics operators  who were aware of issues such as whet her 
there were advance rulings or whether there was pre-arrival clearance, what  guarantees were used 
to separate release from clearance etc. 
2.103.   In order to have comparable data, information had to be sourced from companies that 
were present worldwide . The companies received  a questionnaire  that excluded questions that only 
government s would have been capable of answering  and were offered to respond to questions on 
issues they would  know first -hand because they were the ones who had to clear merchandi se 
through customs every day . The OECD had also been in contact  with the International Federation 
of Customs Brokers Associations , the data from which had not yet made it into the 2017 vintage  
but was likely going to be included in the 2019 instalment. The OECD u sed the information from 
the private sector as an additional layer to be check ed against information coming from other G/TFA/M/7  
 
- 20 - 
 
  sources. The  final checking of the data was however always conducted by the different agencies in 
the government , in particular by custom s. Country data sheets were not shared with the private 
sector . Moreover, the  datasheet of each country was only seen by the country concerned . 
2.104.   The representative of Hong Kong, China  thank ed the OECD for their presentation. In her 
view,  the work on TF Indicators compl emented the work of the TFC. She hoped to hear more from 
the OECD in future exchanges about using the T FIs to better understand the impact on SMEs and 
their capacity to engage in export trade.  
2.105.    The representative of the OECD  elaborated on the OECD 's SME -related work. W hile small 
and medium -sized enterpri ses play ed a very important role in generating employment in all 
countries, they were much less represented in international trade. An OECD  study had shown that 
this was partly due to fixed an d variable costs at the border  and that the absence of trade 
facilitation was hitting small and medium enterpri ses the hardest . The fixed costs  at the border 
were the  costs that ha d no relation to the quantity of goods that were traded – those were costs 
of better understanding the exporting market, registering and certifying oneself  as a trader , etc. 
Reducing those fixed costs , along with variable costs,  would benefit SMEs  more than  bigger 
enterpri ses. In other words, the  TFIs had shown that , on the ground , trade facilitation benefit ted 
SMEs more than  larger firms and even more so in developing economies.  Because of such a 
disproportionate impact on the fixed costs, the trade facilitation reforms not only led to efficiency 
gains for small firms, but also levelled the playing field between large firms and small firms.  
2.106.   The measures that seemed to play the m ost important role were streamlining and 
automation of border process es and simplification of fees , as well as the constant dialogue with 
the private sector, as per TFA Articles 7 and 10. Consultation s with traders appeared to play a very 
important role in  closing the gap between small and large firms. The SME study would appear on 
the OECD website shortly.  
Update by the WTO Secretariat on activities of the TFAF  
2.107.   The representative of the Secretariat  provide d an update on the activities of the TFA Facility 
since the last Committee meeting.  For the last TFC meeting in October  2018, TFAF  had funded the 
participation of 65 capital -based officials to take part  in the meeting a s well as in additional 
workshops.  
2.108.   In October  2018,  Facility officials had also participated in the WCO Trade Facilitation 
Agreement Working Group meeting. Th e 2-day meeting had featured a keynote address by the 
TFC Chair. The WTO Secretariat had provided an update on the state of play and noti fication 
requirements. This was followed by experience sharing sessions from WCO members. All the 
presentations that had been  made at the WCO were publicly available on the WCO website under 
"Procedures and facilitation ", tab "Resources ". 
2.109.   The next WCO TFA Working Group meeting was planned for 4-5 March  2019. Geneva 
delegates were welcome to attend. The topics that would be covered there  would include  
experience sharing sessions on the time release study, performance measurement, border agency 
cooperation, i nternet publication, enquiry points and a discussion on draft guidelines for regional 
and plurilateral mutual recognition arrangements for AEO s. 
2.110.   Facility officials and the WCO had participated in the Inter -Subregional Forum on Enhanced 
Implementation of th e TFA that had been  organized by the Asian Development Bank in Bangkok, 
Thailand. The role of the WTO was to provide an update on the state -of-play and to introduce seven 
TFA provisions , for which various participating countries presented their experience.  This event 
was attended by around 65 officials from 26 countries in Asia, Pacific, and Central Asia, of which 7 
were LDCs. Participants were primarily from customs, but also from Ministries of Trade and other 
agencies, as well as from the private sector. The event boasted resource persons from 14 agencies 
and donors, together with a large team of ADB officials.  
2.111.   In November  2018,  TFAF had  attended the World Bank's Trade Facilitation Support 
Program (TFSP) Steering Committee meeting to provide an update for their donor partners and to 
help ensure that World Bank programs were working in a coordinated manner with the Facility and 
with other partner organizations.  G/TFA/M/7  
 
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  2.112.   In November  2018,  the Facility and partners had conducted a regional workshop for English 
speaking  Southern African countries that was hosted by South Africa. It was attended by 
approximately 85 participants from 13 countries, of which 6 were LDCs.  The objective of th at 
workshop was to improve border agency cooperation in implementing the Trade Facilit ation 
Agreement at both the national and regional levels by raising awareness on the roles, procedures, 
mandates, risks and fears of the various border agencies. It explored ways to coordinate border 
clearance processes to facilitate trade, while still ens uring safe trade. Attention was also given to 
issues  of landlocked least-developed countries and transit countries with a focus on the TFA and 
the Vienna Program of Action. TFA notification requirements were likewise covered at the 
workshop. This event was  organized and delivered in cooperation with the STDF and other WTO 
officials, WBG, WCO, IPPC, CODEX, OIE & UNHORLLS. It was funded by the Facility, the World 
Bank TFSP, and the OIE , who had  funded the veterinarians.  
2.113.   At the activities organized by the Faci lity, participants were asked to provide their main 
takeaways from the event.  At the event in South Africa  on border agency cooperation, the top 
three  most common takeaways reported by participants were:  first, that the National Trade 
Facilitation Committees need ed to have a 'whole of government' approach ; second, th at there was 
a need to provide training or a training manual on the TFA for traders so they c ould be fully involved 
in the process ; and third, risk management coordination amongst agencies - and training on risk - 
were essential because of the different approaches, mandates and risks of different agencies.  
2.114.   A symposium on National Trade Facilitation Committees had been held in Geneva in early 
2017. Ann ex D partners had organized a follow -up for all African countries that was hosted by 
Ethiopia in November  2018. UNCTAD had taken the lead in organizing the event with the 
cooperation and funding from the Facility, the WBG, the WCO, ITC and the Global Allia nce, as well 
as the participation of the UNECA, UNECE and several donor partners.  The goal of the event was 
to provide an opportunity for members of African National Trade Facilitation Committees to share 
their best practices in the operation of their comm ittees and to discuss outstanding issues and 
opportunities.  It was a very large event, as was the one in Geneva, which  had been attended by 
250 participants from 44 African countries. The participants included officials from trade, customs, 
the national do nor coordinator s or person s responsible for donor  coordination , as well as from the  
private sector – and at least one of those must have been the chair of the National Trade Facilitation 
Committee.  The Facility had funded 27 participants from 7 countries , of which 4 were LDCs.  At the 
event , UNCTAD reported good progress on the establishment of the National Trade Facilitation 
Committees . Globally 110 National Trade Facilitation Committees ha d already been established and 
another 20  were in progress. It was a lso noted that only 21% of these 110 committees ha d a 
budget.  
2.115.   The top takeaways from participants of th e event in Ethiopia were:  the lack of a legal basis 
and political backing in some countries for their National Committees and the lack of sustainable 
funding for the Committees in many of the countries.  Many participants noted the fact that the 
private sector uniquely combine d technical expertise and partnership in reform and had an 
important role in monitoring implementation , as well as with respect to lobbying . Ultimately , the 
private sector was the end user  and beneficiary of the TFA. This conclusion came from evaluations 
and reports directly from the participants at the event.  
2.116.   In January 2019, a 2-day national workshop was held in St. Kitts to help government 
officials and private sector better understand the Trade Facilitation Agreement  including TFA 
notifications and when they were due , with particular focus on category C pro visions . In addition 
to the WTO, resource persons included officials from the St. Kitts National Committee, the OECS 
Commission and the DHL Caribbean -based representative.  
2.117.   The event had been held immediately before a regional workshop hosted by St. Lucia f or 
14 CARICOM countries. It was funded by the Facility and organized in cooperation with the 
CARICOM and OECS Secretariats.  The OECS Secretariat was plannin g to make a report on this 
event shortly . The event lasted for  one week and focused on providing a b etter understanding of 
the transparency notifications, the top category C provisions in the region and border agency 
cooperation. It was attended by officials from customs, trade  and agriculture – both plant and 
veterinary, private sector, and a few offici als from standards agencies. Many other organizations 
were also in attendance . The event focused on regional implementation issues and featured the 
inaugural meeting of a regional Trade Facilitation Committee.  G/TFA/M/7  
 
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  2.118.   The main takeaways that the participants had reported were: the urgency of the 
transparency and ABC -related notification deadlines and the need to fulfil those deadlines , the vital 
nature of the National Committees having roadmaps , the ongoing need for systematic/formalized 
border agency cooperation , the importance and value of full implementation of the Trade 
Facilitation Agreement and the relevance of a regional approach.  
2.119.   In light of the importance of the issue of transparency, at the St. Kitts and CARICOM 
workshops, the presenters had  circulated the transparency notifications of Belize and Guyana to 
show examples from Members in the region with the Chairs of the Committee s from Belize and 
Guyana explain ing to the participants  how they had gone  about collecting the information for th ose 
notifications.  In addition, the organizers had circulated notifications of several Members from 
outside the region that included the single window notification, so that the participants could see 
examples of good notifications. The takeaway from th ose events was the pleasant surprise that 
the notifications, while requiring some work to gather the information, were quite straightforward. 
On this basis , a significant number of countries ha d pledged to  begin work on the  notifications right 
away.  
2.120.   With assistance of the OECS communications officer, the TFAF had taken  advantage of the 
opportunity to record video interviews with various participants and speakers on both the CARICOM 
event and more generally on TFA implementation issues . Those videos would shortly be posted  on 
the Facility 's website  TFAFacility.org . 
2.121.   As regards the TFAF  grant program , Members of the Selection Committee were finally  in 
place. TFAF was  waiting for a couple of the Selection Committee members to get final approval of 
their governments for the  participation in the Committee. The Members would be announced in 
the near future and definitely at the next TFC meeting.  To date , TFAF had received an expression 
of interest f rom two countries . Unfortunately, one request was from a WTO Observer who was not 
eligible for a Facility grant. The request  in question was however circulated  to the database of 75 
donor representatives to determine  if anyone c ould provide the assistance requested.  The second 
request was from a WTO Member , however, some essential information was missing , so TFAF was  
waiting for a complete application form to be submitted.  
2.122.   An explanatory session on the grants was held in late September 2018 with the African , 
the LDC and the ACP Groups. TFAF was planning to  contact the various group coordinators to see 
if another session would be useful . TFAF was also organizing a national needs assessment in 
Mauritania in March 2019.  
2.123.   Membe rs were invited to attend a workshop on ensuring that the Trade Facilitation 
Agreement supported the implementation of the Customs Valuation Agreement , that would be held 
back-to-back with the current Committee meeting. At the last TF Committee meeting, th e 
Chairperson of the Customs Valuation Committee, Mr. Yuichiro Okumura, had spoke n about the 
interlinkages between the Trade Facilitation Agreement and the Customs Valuation Agreement and 
how implementation of both agreements was mutually beneficial. The w orkshop in question, 
organized through the Valuation Committee, w ould explore the interlinkages and benefits though 
a sharing of national experiences.  For this workshop, the Facility was funding nine capital -based 
officials, primarily from LDC and low -income countries . 
2.124.   The representative of Nepal  made a statement on behalf of the LDC Group . The LDC Group 
thanked all presenters, the WTO Secretariat, the OECD and the Global Alliance for Trade Facilitation 
for the updates on their work. All those initiatives p layed a significant role in the effective 
implementation of the TFA.  
2.125.   It was noteworthy that 86 % of Members had already submitted their acceptance 
instruments and that many Members had notified their respective implementation categories.  
2.126.   Nepal was grateful to developed Members and development partners for the support 
provided so far in the process of Nepal 's implementation of the TFA. Broader perspectives should 
be applied while providing the required support. Th e support should not be confined to software 
and border level issues , such as documentary requirements, harmonization, standardization, 
simplification of customs procedures  and advanced rulings.  It should also focus on behind -the-G/TFA/M/7  
 
- 23 - 
 
  border issue s, including on building an integrated and efficient transport network and should 
address physical and digital divides.  
2.127.   Section II of the Trade Facilitation Agreement explicitly mention ed that LDCs were not 
required to implement TF measures unless they had acquire d capacity to do so. Given that most 
LDCs were still fighting poverty , a significant portion of their national budget s was being spent on 
programmes targeting the eliminati on of  poverty and ensuring basic health and educational 
services. It could be difficult for LDCs to implement the TF Agreement if additional resources were 
not made available by the international community in a  balanced way.  The implementation of the 
TFA should contribute to transform ing the economies and diversify ing the export performance of 
LDCs. TF issues were multi-dimensional and involved many stakeholders, including the ministries  
of trade, customs, agriculture, health, transport  and the like.  
2.128.   The representative of t he Republic of Moldova  thanked  the representatives of the Global 
Alliance, OECD and the WTO Secretariat for the ir informative update s. 
2.129.   Several recent trade facilitation activities had been conducted by t he Republic of Moldova 
together with foreign donors. Moldova was grateful to the US government for its assistance project 
implemented through USAID, with whom Moldova was  currently exploring the opportunities of 
modernizing and expan ding the customs web portal called TARIM in order to transform it into an 
integrated trade portal, comprising relevant information from all national authorities.  
2.130.   A broad range of activities, including th e one described above , were performed together 
with e xternal partners under a structural reform programme, designed to improve Moldova's 
business and trade enabling environment, help governmental institutions and the private sector 
accelerate the implementation of the trade liberalization mechanism and impro ve strategic 
communications between private and public sectors.  Through a flexible demand -driven approach, 
developed in consultation with a wide range of stakeholders including USAID, Moldova's structural 
reform w ould help improve policies, regulations, in stitutions and processes that c ould lead to 
sustained and inclusive economic growth in Moldova.  
2.131.   Moldova also wished to thank the European Union for the implementation of the TWINNING 
project, supporting the organization of the customs service of Moldova in  accordance with the 
requirement of the Association Agreement with the European Union , launched at the end of 2017.  
The construction of the Palanca  border crossing point operated jointly by Moldova and Ukraine  in 
the territory of Moldova had been  funded an d implemented by the Moldovan Government with the 
support f rom the European Union and the UNDP.  
2.132.   Moldova further wished to thank  the government of China for providing the scanners that 
were received and installed last year in the Chisinau International Airport.  Moldova deeply 
appreciate d the support  it had received from donors  for the implementation of the integrated 
border management  system  along the Moldovan -Ukrainian border launched in 201 8. 
2.133.   Moldova currently  had about 20% of the TF A provisions to implement as category C 
provisions. The government was exploring opportunities to partner with interested external donors 
in this respect, particularly in the area of food security and customs ter minal infrastructure.  
2.134.    The representative of Sri Lanka  informed the Committee that as per Article 7.6 of the TFA, 
which Sri Lanka had  categorized under category C , a time release study had been successfully 
conducted in 2018 with the participation of various  stakeholders . The results would soon be 
published. Sri Lanka thanked the Secretariat for coordinating the donor assistance  and the ITC and 
the EU  for providing  donor support.  
2.135.   The representative of the United States  thank ed the TFAF for the very detailed update. 
During the  October  2018 TFC meeting , the United States had posed some questions to the 
Secretariat and to broader membership , trying to understand the ad ministrative division and the 
organizational structure of the TFAF and its relationship to the Secretariat. While TFAF staff had  
made themselves  available to work with the US  bilaterally and had responded to a number of 
questions , the situation remained somewhat unclear.  G/TFA/M/7  
 
- 24 - 
 
  2.136.   At the same time, there were examples of successful funds in the WTO, such as the STDF. 
As a path forward, the US therefore requested an informal meeting where the SDTF would be 
invited to share with Members  and TFAF how it was created , who was a member , what its 
documents and terms of reference  looked like and how it manage d the relationship with the 
membership, the Committee and the Secretariat . If there were any differences  with TFAF,  Members  
could identify them and ensure that  TFAF followed by an example that had proven to be successful.  
2.137.   The representative of the Secretariat  said that the Facility would arrange for such a meeting 
with the STDF . 
2.138.    The representative of the European Union  thank ed TFAF for the update on its recent 
activities since the last meeting. The update had p rovided practical information on developments 
regarding ratifications and notifications . The EU further appreciated the work on creating a user -
friendly website. The European Union attach ed great importanc e to the fact that the activities of 
TFAF were strongly aligned with and based on the needs and priorities expressed in the TF 
Committee . 
2.139.   The EU would like to take the opportunity to flag the forthcoming deadline of 22 February  
2019 for LDCs to provide their technical assistance and capacity building requirements for their 
category C  commitments and  encourage d TFAF to pay particular attention to th at deadline  when 
planning their activities . 
Other 
2.140.   The representative of the OECS  deliver ed a statement on behalf of the member States of 
the Organization of Eastern Caribbean States : Antigua and Barbuda; Dominica; Grenada; St. Kitts 
and Nevis; St. Lucia; and St. Vincent and the Grenadines.  The OECS ha d noted the encouraging 
comments received from the EU delegation with respect to the notification from Grenada, a fellow 
OECS Member State , and was encouraged by EU 's desire to support the OECS with the 
implementation of their remaining commitments.  
2.141.   A WTO Regional Workshop aimed at supporting the strategic and effective implementation 
of the TFA in CARICOM had been c onvened from 28 January to 1 February 2019 in Saint Lucia. The 
Workshop was organized by the CARICOM Secretariat , the OECS Commission and the W TO Trade 
Facilitation Agreement Facility in cooperation with the  Caribbean Agricultural Health and Food 
Safety Agency (CAHFSA), the Global Express Association (GEA), the Latin America n Association of 
Express Delivery Companies (CLADEC), the Inter-American Institute for Cooperation on Agriculture 
(IICA), the International Trade Centre (ITC), the World Organization for Animal Health (OIE), the 
United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD), the World Bank Group (WBG)  
and the  World Customs Organization (WCO) . 
2.142.   The major objectives of the workshop were  to increase compliance of CARICOM WTO 
Members with Trade Facilitation Agreement -related notification obligations; assist policymakers in 
designing, implementing and monitoring reg ional trade facilitation reform; enhance awareness of 
the roles and responsibilities of the National and Regional Committees on Trade Facilitation; assist 
Members in improving  border agency co -operation; enhance participation of the private sector in 
the implementation of the TFA;  support full and effective implementation and secure ownership of 
the TFA and TFA -related reforms by CARICOM Member States.  
2.143.   An overview of the TFA had commenced the workshop , followed by a working group session 
where each country delegation reviewed a number of scenarios to determine their applicability and 
compatibility with the TFA provisions. Th e session had prove n to be a good refresher for those 
participants who were familiar with the TFA and provided a deep dive for those par ticipants who 
were relatively new to the Agreement.  
2.144.   During the following session , the WTO facilitators had provided participants with a brief 
overview of the TFA and the state of play of the WTO Members' ratification of the Agreement. Th e 
presentation also  outlined the notification status of developing and least -developed Members' 
transparency obligations, and technical assistance and capacity building needs. The session 
provided participants with a global and regional perspective of the implementation proc ess, 
highlighting th e measures that were most commonly being implemented in certain regions , as well G/TFA/M/7  
 
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  as those measures that most commonly required technical and resource assistance. The session 
also provided participants with a clear understanding of the n otification process for transparency 
requirements and further provided useful examples of how to complete the process.  
2.145.   This session was followed by one facilitated by the CARICOM Secretariat and the OECS 
Commission – the two principal regional integration organizations in the CARICOM region. The 
CARICOM Secretariat and the OECS Commission presented the regional strategy for the 
implementation of 18 measures which CARICOM WTO Members deemed to be of high priority and 
best suited for regional approaches to fa cilitate implementation.  In the Caribbean region , there 
was support at a high political level to seek common modalities for the implementation of the TFA , 
which was validated by a ministerial decision.  
2.146.   This presentation had outlined the steps taken to deve lop the ministerial -mandated 
strategy , which was also supported by assistance from the World Bank Group . The presentation 
highlighted the rationale, core principles, and expected outcomes of the strategy and the proposed 
activities geared toward s developin g regional approaches to implement seven of the priority 
measures and regional activities to support national implementation of the priority measures , as 
well as the resources that would be required. The presentation also outlined the role of the Regional 
Committee on Trade Facilitation (RCTF) and underscored its role and functions toward driving the 
regional implementation strategy.  
2.147.   Another key session focused on providing an introduction to key WTO Agreements , which 
were also relevant to the TFA . The Session was facilitated by a senior representative from the 
Inter-American Institute on Agriculture with support from CAHFSA, the OIE and the OECS 
Commission. During th e session, customs and trade officials were divided into groups to review 
and discuss a number of trade -related scenarios and determine whether they were compatible with 
the WTO SPS Agreement and conducive to facilitating trade.  This key session focused on how the 
TFA could benefit the  private sector and enhance the operations of business and the business 
community. Private sector representatives had also participated in the discussions by sharing 
experiences and provided practical examples of how the elements of the Agreement had alrea dy 
aided the business community.  
2.148.   During subsequent sessions, participants were trained on elements of the priority measures 
Member States had identified . Each session also included a presentation from pre -selected 
participants who outlined their respective  country's perspective on the importance of the priority 
measure to their country.  Presentations elaborated on  the state of compliance and challenges , 
ongoing and planned activities to address identified challenges , as well as the resources required 
for fu ll implementation.  
2.149.   Some of the main themes encountered during th ose presentations includ ed the need for 
inter-agency cooperation to maximize the usage of scarce resources , the need for more detailed 
and better project proposals ahead of engagement with dev elopment partners , the importance of 
greater dialogue between the public  and the private sectors , the need for greater political buy -in 
and support of national implementation of TF reforms , public awareness and sensitization aimed 
at both public and privat e sector , the need to engage change management strategies to assist 
border and regulatory agencies involved in trade facilitation reforms and the imperative for 
functioning National Trade Facilitation Committees.  
2.150.   Private sector representatives from five CA RICOM countries also shared their experiences 
and perspectives on the current trading environment and outlined measures already taken, both 
individually as well as collectively, to overcome challenges and to influence policy reforms to 
improve trade facili tation.  Some of the challenges identified include d: lack of inclusion of the private 
sector in policy development and procedural reform , limited and defunct private sector associations 
to advocate for and champion trade facilitation reforms , the fact that SMEs were not sufficiently 
represented on umbrella bodies engaged in a dialogue on trade facilitation , such as the C hambers 
of Commerce , conflicting priorities of public and private sector agencies with no platform for 
resolving and conflict or compromise.  
2.151.   Some of the solutions already undertaken provided and proposed the establishment of 
regional private sector bodies to drive trade facilitation reforms and influence policy development 
at the regional level , active participation in NTFCs and national capac ity building programmes G/TFA/M/7  
 
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  geared toward facilitati ng trade and business reforms . The OECS made significant progress towards 
taking regional approaches for rectifying and addressing th ose identified challenges.  
2.152.   The session on the  monitoring of TFA implementation was coordinated by the WCO and 
focused on  the importance of a concrete monitoring and evaluation framework to assess the 
implementation process of the TFA. The WCO outlined a number of possible tools that c ould aid in 
this process, including  the SAFE package and WCO time release study. Special emphasis had been 
placed on the MERCATOR Programme which was tailor -made to suit individual Member States ' 
needs.  
2.153.   The next session had focused on the mandate of the national and regional TF Committees 
and strategies for defining a roadmap for those Committees.  The session had explored  how the 
TFA could be leveraged to implement and strengthen national and regional Trade Facilitation 
Committees. Emphasis had been placed on approaches through which the Reg ional TF Strategy 
and international best practice s could guide the development of national and regional TF 
committees that were properly constituted and composed of an appropriate mix of Members guided 
by concise terms of reference and rules of procedures.  
2.154.   During th e session , guidance had also been provided by UNCTAD regarding strategic 
approaches to developing and executing achievable national roadmaps , which would feed into a 
regional roadmap to support the work of the Regional Committee on Trade Facilita tion and facilitate 
the implementation of the regional TF Strategy. The core elements outlined for the development 
of those roadmaps were: a  precise vision statement , clear goals and key performance indicators , 
defined activities , resource mobilization str ategy and an effective monitoring and evaluation 
system. Th e session had been very useful and the participants thoroughly benefitted from the 
suggestions made.  
2.155.   A dedicated session had been held to give d onors and development partners  an opportunity  
to present the technical and resource assistance available to support the implementation of the 
WTO TFA at both national and regional levels. Presenters highlighted the types of TF projects they 
were currently supporting, the terms and cond itions for accessing resources, timeframes for doing 
so and expected outcomes from th ose support programmes. Discussions were also held with key 
donor agencies , such as the EU and the Caribbean Development Bank regarding the development 
of strategic partne rships for implementing the regional initiatives in the Regional TF Strategy.  The 
Workshop was a resounding success, both from the standpoint of participants , as well as from the 
standpoint of the participating and supporting agencies.  
2.156.   The content of the t raining had been impactful and extremely useful to participants. The 
workshop had also benefited from the insights and perspectives of the private sector , which 
highlight ed their commitment to TFA implementation and a more seamless trade logistics supply 
chain. The buy -in and support of the private sector was critical  for ensuring the effective 
implementation of the TFA . The  emphasis placed on the regional dimension of the TFA 
implementation was critical in engendering a regional solutions -focused approach.  The d ialogue 
with donors was an important outcome for both government representatives , as well as donors 
themselves.  The workshop provided the opportunity for the inauguration and inception meeting of 
the Regional Committee on Trade Facilitation. During t his launch meeting, Committee members 
garnered a better appreciation and understanding of the terms of reference  of the Committee  and 
made useful recommendations for developing the rules of procedure for conducting the business 
of the Regional Committee.  The OECS were thankful to the Secretariat for its steadfast commitment 
and the hard work in ensuring a smooth and efficient running of the programme . The OECS were 
also thankful to the donors who ha d been extremely generous in supporting the work, especiall y 
Austria, Australia, the People's Republic of China, the EU, Finland, France, New Zealand, Norway 
and the UK. It was important to know that those resources ha d been impactful and were working 
towards providing the support , which was required for the imple mentation of the TFA  – an 
agreement critical to development . 
2.157.   The representative of Japan  announced an upcoming  experience sharing workshop which 
would address the i mplementation of the Customs Valuation Agreement  (CVA)  and e nsuring that 
the Trade Facilitation Agreement support ed the  implementation of the CVA , including through 
technical assistance and capacity building. The purpose of t he workshop was to have a sharing of 
experiences on the challenges experienced by LDCs in a number of areas and of experience s of 
other Members that ha d successfully addressed similar challenges. The linkages between the TFA G/TFA/M/7  
 
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  and the Customs Valuation Agreement underline d how the implementation of both the TFA and the 
CVA would be mutual ly beneficial . 
2.158.   The topics that w ould be covered during the workshop included implementation challenges, 
especially for LDCs, customs cooperation, domestic legislation and transparency, consultations with 
the private sector, and support for overcoming implementation challenges. The choice  of topics 
was driven by Members ' interest, their experiences and challenges. The workshop would feature a  
number  of speakers from developed, developing and LDC Members, as well as from regional and 
international organizations, which would ensure a very t echnical and professional discussion. He 
hoped that the workshop would be of benefit to all Members.  
2.159.   The representative of Nigeria  flagged that his delegation considered a Member's capacity 
to implement the Trade Facilitation Agreement as being linked to t he capacity to implement the 
Customs Valuation Agreement. It was also very important to look at Members ' capacity to 
implement regional agreements. Members of the WTO, especially developing ones, might not be 
able to implement agreements they were willing to become signatories to. Examples for such a 
situation could be found in the case of several West African countries and ECOWAS. If it was not 
possible to implement an agreement within ECOWAS, it certainly would not be possible to 
implement a WTO Agreement . 
2.160.    Members needed to closer examine what was happening at the regional level.  If a Member 
was putting in place a National T rade Facilitation Committee , it was important to examine  how it 
translate d into cross -border transaction facilitation . It was not enough to simply have a National 
Trade Facilitation Committee , one had to think about how that Committee organize d other 
government agencies to facilitate cross -border transaction s with other Members . If Members  could 
not establish trade facilitation  at the border, the national TF C ommittee was not functional and not 
effective . Trade Facilitation was not limited to national issues but extended to cross -border matters. 
As Members discussed countries' implementation capacities, it was important to look at cross -
border transactions and to examine what capacity was available within regional arrangements.  
2.161.   The Committee  took note of the statements made.  
V. OTHER  BUSINESS  
2.162.   The representative of Ukraine  drew Members ' attention to a new transit restriction imposed 
by the Russian Federation on 29 December 2018 by government resolution no. 1716-83. Goods 
originating from Ukraine ha d been subjected by the Russian Federation to various import bans and 
transit restrictions for the last few years. The latest measures prohibit ed, inter alia,  the importation 
into the Russian Federation of certain agricultural and industrial goods  if such g oods ha d been in 
transit through the territory of Ukraine. This mean t that the measures also appl ied to products 
originat ing from other WTO Members. While t he list of banned products include d a wide range 
goods , including items such as tractors, chocolates , turbines, wheat  or wallpaper , it should be 
noted that, in 2018, products of only five tariff headings accounted for about 75% of the total 
transit via Ukraine to the Russian Federation as their final destination. Th ose products were 
vegetable preparation s, fruit juices, wines, organic surface -active agents and sanitary towels and 
napkins. I n 2018, the volume of the mentioned products  (except for wines ) exported by other 
countries to the Russian Federation via Ukraine was eleven times greater than that of Ukrainian 
exports of th ose products to the Russian Federation. Therefore, this specific restriction seem ed to 
primarily target products originating in other WTO Members. The measure appear ed to be 
inconsistent with Article 11.4 of the Agreement on Trade Fa cilitation , as well as with Article V:6 of 
the GATT , which prohibit ed discrimination against products because they ha d been or w ould be in 
transit through the territory of another WTO Member. The Russian Federation ha d also published 
merely an extract from  the decision imposing th ose new measures. The published decision lack ed 
at least one paragraph , which was an issue in the light of Article 1 of the Trade Facilitation 
Agreement , as well as Article X of the GATT. Ukraine urge d the Russian Federation to adh ere to its 
commitments under the Trade Facilitation Agreement.  
2.163.   The representative of the Russian Federation  remind ed the representative of  Ukrain e that 
the issue was subject  to an  ongoing  dispute  between Ukraine and the Russia n Federation. As a 
result, she was  not in a position to comment on th e matter under dispute.  G/TFA/M/7  
 
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  2.164.   The representative of Ukraine  noted that their statement described a new measure 
introduced by the Russian at the end of December 2018 concerning of transit through  the territory 
of Ukraine , not from the territory of Ukraine. Ukraine did not see any links to the ongoing dispute 
settlement process, which involved another matter.  
2.165.   The representative of the Russian Federation  informed that the message would be 
conveyed to capital but main tained the position of the Russian Federation that the matter raised 
by Ukraine related to the issue under dispute.  
2.166.   The representative of Egypt  informed Members that the parliament of Egypt had recently 
approved the presidential decree regarding the ratifi cation of the Trade Facilitation Agreement . 
Egypt would therefore deposit its acceptance instrument in the not too distant future.  
2.167.   The Chair turned the Committee's attention to  the subject  of the next Committee meeting. 
She recall ed that Members had  alread y agreed in October to hold the subsequent session of the 
TFC in  June, followed by a meeting in October. With this in mind, she propose d to schedule the 
meeting during the second half of June, followed by a meeting in the first half of October, the latter 
taking place back -to-back with the dedicated session on assistance and support for capacity 
building that the Agreement call ed on Members  to schedule every year. She also asked Members 
if it was agreeable  to them to invite representatives of the  Annex D organizations  to participate in 
the next Committee session . 
2.168.   The representative of the United States  asked that the invitation be extended to a 
representative from the Global Alliance for Trade Facilitation in order to allow the Alliance to 
participate in the next TFC meeting . They had contributed to many meaningful projects and c ould 
report on some of the successes  achieved, as well as on what they were planning to do next. 
2.169.   It was so agreed . 
2.170.   The Committee took note  of the statements made.  
2.171.   The meeting was  adjourned . 
 
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