WORLD TRADE  
ORGANIZATION  TN/TF/W/7 
27 January 2005 
 
 (05-0341) 
Negotiating Group on Trade Facilitation Original:   English 
  
 
COMMUNICATION FROM KOREA 
  
 The following communication, dated 26 January 2005, from the Delegation of Korea, is being 
circulated in advance of the Negotia ting Group meeting of 7 and 9 February. 
 
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CLARIFICATION OF ARTICLE X OF THE GATT:  PUBLICATION AND AVAILABILITY 
OF INFORMATION AND PRIOR COMMENTING PERIOD ON CORE MEASURES 
 
 
I. INTRODUCTION 
1. The purpose of this document is to provide sever al suggestions to improve and clarify some 
pertinent elements of Article X of the GATT.  Im provement in transparency and predictability of 
trade measures allows traders to expedite tradi ng process and minimize their transaction costs by 
easily obtaining relevant information such as, am ong others, measures relate d to customs and border-
crossing procedures.  Meanwhile, transparent measures help Member governments to reduce 
unnecessary frictions with traders.  Consequently, im provement in transparency will not only increase 
the flow of international trade but also the Member governments will benefit by saving its administrative cost and increasing the possibility of  effective enforcement of the trade-related 
measures.  
2. Although most suggestions in this document come  from previous suggestions that Korea and 
other Members have made, Korea wishes to further develop these suggestions to clarify Article X and 
to reemphasize the significant role they can play in facilitating trade.  Also, Members are already 
familiar with the basic idea of the following su ggestions since the following suggestions are 
comparable with the transparency requirement in other WTO Agreements, especially the TBT and 
SPS Agreements, which pertains to publication a nd notification of its relevant regulations, 
respectively.  
3. The structure of this document is divided in to two sections: suggesti ons and implementation 
concerns.  In the suggestions, Korea proposes recommendations in the following four areas:  
• publication of information;  
• notification and prior commenting period on core measures; 
• interval between publication and implementation; and 
• single national focal point.  
 
4. The second section focuses on implementation concer ns of the aforesaid suggestions in light 
of developing countries with a particular emphasis on S&D.  TN/TF/W/7 
Page 2  
 
 II. SUGGESTIONS  
A. P
UBLICATION OF INFORMATION  
5. It is necessary to make information on me asures related to customs and border-crossing 
procedures widely available and easily accessible to impr ove transparency in trade regulations.  In this 
regard, Korea proposes the following: 
• Members publish the laws, regulations, judicial decisions, administrative rulings as defined in 
Article X.1 of the GATT, and advance rulings of  general application and a binding nature, as 
well as any agreements with other Member or Me mbers relating to the relevant regulations or 
laws; 
• this information should be widely available and in a non-discriminatory fashion, at no cost or 
cost,1 through widely accessible means;2 and 
• Members are required to make any exceptions, de rogations, or changes to the items listed 
above readily available, non-discriminately at no cost or cost.  Notice of changes must be 
given in advance to allow other Members and interested parties to take notice. 
 
6. To enhance the efficiency of obtaining th e necessary information,  Korea proposes that 
Members notify the WTO Secretariat of the media through which the aforementioned measures and their amendment are published, and the Secretariat disseminate this notice to other Members as well 
as interested parties.
3  The media used by Members for publi cation should be widely accessible, i.e., 
an internet website can be used as a media.  This  notification of media should allow traders to have 
the means to access the most updated informati on on the measures, while imposing a minimum 
burden on the Member. 
B. NOTIFICATION AND PRIOR COMMENTING PERIOD ON CORE MEASURES  
7. When Members introduce or amend "core measures" that may have a significant effect on 
trade of other Members, we can greatly improve transparency of these measures by notifying interested parties of the proposed introduction or amendment of core measures at the earliest possible 
stage and by providing them with an opportunity to  submit comments before finalizing the proposed 
measures.  Providing commenting period on core m easures helps interested parties to avoid possible 
problems
4 and related costs, and it should also reduce th e possibility of any future disputes concerning 
the measures in question.  
8. To promote notification and prior commenting pe riod on core measures, Korea proposes that 
Members notify the Secretariat of proposed core  measures and their amendment at an early 
appropriate stage.  The Secretariat should disseminate th is information to interested parties.  Interested 
parties should be provided with the opportunity to make comments in writing on the aforesaid 
                                                      
1 If any fees are charged for providing information (including revised information or any relevant 
exception to the information), such cost should be minimal and commensurate with the cost of service rendered. 
2 Widely accessible refers to, for example, official gazette or an internet website. 
3 A requirement to inform the Secretariat and othe r Members of the media where changes in laws and 
regulations are announced is utilized in the plurilateral WTO Agreement on Government Procurement, 
Article XIX and Appendix IV.  Note that the suggestion in the text is a somewhat weaker provision than the 
provision in Articles 5 and 10 of the TBT Agreement, wh ich requires all Members to notify the Secretariat when 
introducing a technical recommendation or a conformity assessment procedur e which is not in accordance with 
international standards, and the Secretariat to disse minate all such notifications to other Members. 
4 Possible problems could be, for example, a dela y in customs clearance because of a change in 
customs measures.     TN/TF/W/7 
 Page 3 
 
 
 proposed measures, followed by the Members giving due consideration to these comments.  Similar 
provisions can also be found in the TBT and SPS Agreements.5  
C. INTERVAL BETWEEN PUBLICATION AND IMPLEMENTATION  
9. Providing a reasonable amount of time peri od between publication of new or amended 
measures and their implementation is necessary to render fair opportunity to all traders to smoothly 
adjust to new trading measures and overall, to enha nce predictability for trad ers.  For this reason, 
Korea proposes the following measures: 
• unless advanced notice is precluded or not practical, Members allow a reasonable amount of 
time between publication of new or amended measures and their entry into force;   
• if desirable, Members may go even further to specify the time period; and 
• in case of extraordinary circumst ances, for instance, imminent threats to national security and 
health, such time interval may be reduced or omitted.6 
 
D. SINGLE NATIONAL FOCAL POINT ("SNFP") 
10. Several Members have proposed the establishment of single window inquiry points or contact 
desks that would respond to inquiries by Member s and interested parties regarding customs and 
border-crossing procedures.  In particular, Korea pr oposes an establishment of an SNFP as a centre to 
communicate with the other domestic competent au thorities to more efficiently respond to the 
inquiries on a non-discriminatory basis.  The SNFP should, within a reasonable period of time, supply 
not only the information requested but also any ot her pertinent information, which, SNFP consider, 
the interested parties should be aware.  In add ition, the contact information relating to the SNFP 
should be notified to the WTO Secretariat.  The Secr etariat should make such information available to 
the other Members and interested parties.7  
11. The SNFP contributes to trade facilitation by reducing the time and costs of obtaining 
necessary information and improving the accessibility of  information by private traders, especially, 
among others, small- and medium-sized businesses.  Fu rthermore, implementation of this measure is 
not likely to be difficult because each government me rely requires designating an office to receive and 
answer inquiries by finding the relevant government agency or other authorities that are responsible 
for the inquiry, obtaining the information and deliv ering the information directly to the inquirer. 
III. IMPLEMENTATION CONCERNS 
12. The above proposals, if adopted, would bene fit both the developed and the developing 
countries, and since they are relatively easy to implement, their implementation costs would be rather small.  Nevertheless, considering that some developing countries, especially LDCs, may lack 
resources to implement the above proposals, more fa vourable treatment should be given to developing 
countries.  In particular, upon request, more flex ibility in implementing the suggestions in this 
document could be provided to developing countries, for instance: 
                                                     
 
5 Refer to Articles 2.9 and 2.10 of the TBT Ag reement and Annex B Articles 5 and 6 of the SPS 
Agreement. 
6 Note that similar provision has been introduced to other WTO agreements such as Articles 2.12 of 
the TBT Agreement and Annex B Article 2 of the SPS Ag reement.  However, these articles merely state a 
requirement for a reasonable time interval, without specifying how long that interval should be.   
7 Refer to Articles 10.1, 10.2, and 10.3 of the TBT Agreement and Annex B Articles 3 and 4 of the SPS 
Agreement. TN/TF/W/7 
Page 4  
 
 • longer time period is furnished for:  
 
 - fulfilling the requirement of notificati on and prior commenting period on core  
  measures and their amendment;  
 - notification of core measures and their amendment, if any, to the Secretariat;  
  - establishing the SNFP; and   -  delivery of the information requested via the SNFP. 
 
 
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