. /.  WORLD TRADE  
ORGANIZATION  TN/TF/W/146/Rev.1 
10 March 2008 
 
 (08-1041) 
Negotiating Group on Trade Facilitation  Original:   English 
  
 
COMMUNICATION FROM TURKEY AND GEORGIA 
 
Revision
 
  The following communication, dated 10 March 2008, is being circulated at the request of the 
Delegations of Turkey and Georgia. 
 
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 PROPOSAL ON A FREE AND TRANSPARENT TRANSIT REGIME IN  
ROAD TRANSPORTATION 
  
 
I. EXPLANATION OF THE PROPOSAL  
1. Turkey and Georgia submits this revision taki ng into account the discussions on Freedom of 
Transit as well as on the proposal TN/TF/W/146 in partic ular in the Negotiation Group.  In this sense, 
the revision aims at ensuring freedom and transpar ency in transit through the clarification that 
restrictions to transit are not possible unless they  are clearly justified under the general exceptions 
counted in GATT Article XX. 
2. According to paragraph 3 of Article V, unless th ere is a failure to comply with relevant 
customs laws, traffic in transit shall not be subject to unnecessary delays or restrictions.  The Article also states that transit traffic charges should be  commensurate with administrative expenses entailed 
with transit or cost of services rendered and such traffic shall be exempt from customs duties and all transit duties or charges imposed.  
3. Road transport, which is the principal mode of fre ight transport as far as  transit is concerned, 
is widely subject to quotas and permits as well as excessive fees and charges which often generate 
limitations in transit traffic.  
4.
 Problems about transit traffic are often addressed  through bilateral agreements.  However, 
bilateral arrangements alone do not bring an eff ective solution to the problem.  Most transit 
movements involve several countries thus a series of ag reements are required.  Therefore, in line with 
the spirit of the Article V, a multilateral approach is needed to discipline the international transit 
regime. 
5. The current GATT provisions already mandate free dom of transit and restrictions are allowed 
only in exceptional cases and under specific circumstan ces.  However, since the current text is not 
detailed enough and terms for trans it are often determined by bila teral agreements, this essential 
principle has been significantly undermined. TN/TF/W/146/Rev.1 
Page 2  
 
  6. Within this perspective, the proposals in the te xt are prepared in order to achieve two main 
goals:  To prevent arbitrary restrictions in transit and to ensure transparency in transit regimes.  
7. For the first issue, we stipulate that a pros pective text ensures that the only legitimate 
exceptions to the freedom of transit are th e ones laid down by Articles XX and XXI. 
8. For the second one, we envisage a multilateral no tification mechanism fo r the transit regimes 
details of which can be discussed. 
Textual Proposal
 
II. ROAD TRANSIT REGIME 
1. In order to ensure freedom of transit, a member  shall not seek, take or maintain any restrictive 
measure in transit.   
2. Members may only take necessary measures to fulfil a legitimate objective stemming from 
the general exceptions laid down in GATT Articles XX and XXI.  Members shall ensure that any such measure shall not be more restrictive than necessar y and shall be applied in a transparent manner. 
3. The restrictive measure shall not be maintained if the circumstances or objectives giving rise 
to its adoption no longer exist or if  the changed circumstances or objectives can be addressed in a less 
restrictive manner.  
4. Members taken such measure shall notify other members [ through the relevant WTO body-
Trade Facilitation Committee]  on the objective and the necess ity of the restrictive measure.  
5. Members taking the restrictive measure, upon re quest of the parties that are affected, [ through 
the relevant WTO body-Trade Facilitation Committee] , shall provide all pertinent information which 
shall include the evidence that th e measure is the least restrictive way of achieving the objective. 
6. Charges for transit shall be commensurate with  the cost of the services rendered and be 
equally applied irrespective of the country of origin, destination or the nationality of the vehicle.  All 
charges and fees applied in trans it regime shall be notified to [ the relevant WTO body-Trade 
Facilitation Committee].  
 
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