WORLD TRADE  
ORGANIZATION  TN/TF/W/45 
8 June 2005 
 (05-2344) 
Negotiating Group on Trade Facilitation Original:   English 
  
 
COMMUNICATION FROM TURKEY 
  
 The following communication, dated 6 June 200 5, from the Delegation of Turkey, is being 
circulated in advance of the Negotiating Group meeting of 13-14 June. 
 
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REFLECTIONS ON CURRENT PROPOSALS AND SOME NEW PROPOSALS 
TO IMPROVE GATT ARTICLES VIII AND X 
 
 
I. INTRODUCTION 
1. Current trade liberalization initiatives within th e WTO are contributing a great deal towards 
creating more open and accessible markets for all traders in the world.  However, efforts to liberalize 
trade by eliminating or reducing tariff and non-ta riff barriers will be incomplete unless they are 
accompanied with trade facilitation efforts to simplify and harmonize customs procedures.  Customs procedures must be simple, easy to understand, a nd must be applied in a consistent, fair and 
transparent manner so that the potential value of trade liberalization efforts will be maximized.   
2. We are of the opinion that we need more aw areness on the benefits and efficiencies that 
simplification of the customs procedures can bring to the developing countries.  This is especially true 
for economic development and growth of small- an d medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) – the driving 
force of economy in the developing countries.  Wh ile trade facilitation efforts will no doubt benefit all 
traders regardless of the scope of their business, this will be most beneficial for SMEs.  These 
enterprises do face many challenges and difficulties in  reaching information they need and in customs 
procedures in the current trend of global economic integration.  The gains of trade facilitation are 
especially great for SMEs in developing countries,  for which the costs of compliance with trade 
procedures are proportionately higher and discouraging to trading internationally.  A transparent and 
predictable trade system is also a key component in attracting foreign direct investment.   
3. Turkey supports the efforts with in the WTO for setting binding ru les for trade facilitation.  To 
this end, this paper presents some key elements  to be included in a possible agreement on trade 
facilitation.   
II. THE KEY ELEMENTS TO BE INCLUDED IN A POSSIBLE AGREEMENT ON 
TRADE FACILITATION 
4. Traders all over the world are confronted with somewhat common challenges on customs 
procedures and transparency of the trading system.  In  this respect, the key elements to be included in 
a possible agreement on trade facilitation are:  (a) Improvement in consistenc y and predictability;  
(b) Transparency;  and (c) Acceleration of customs clearance procedures.   TN/TF/W/45 
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 A. I
MPROVEMENT IN CONSISTENCY AND PREDICTABILITY  
5. A core set of data elements is currently required by customs to finalize the customs 
procedure.  However, although WTO Members are ob liged to minimize the in cidence and complexity 
of import and export formalities, sometimes there are insurmountable procedures required by customs 
authorities that lead to inefficient use of resour ces by both traders and governments.  Thus, the 
agreement on trade facilitation should include de velopment and adoption of common international 
trade requirements and procedures.  In this manner the use of common forms and electronic 
documents would significantly contribute to  the efforts to facilitate trade.   
6. In order to reach a set of common forms and electronic documents, the harmonization of 
import documents and the data required for releas e of goods using existing international standards 
under the WTO Customs Valuation Agreement, the HS Convention, the UN Layout Key Guidelines, 
the WCO Kyoto Convention, and the WTO TRIPs and Rules of Origin etc., is essential.  The United 
Nations Layout Key, the world standard for international trade documents in paper format and UneDocs that are aimed at becoming the worldwid e electronic trade document standard would be 
most convenient since substantial progress has been achieved on them.   
7. While standardizing customs procedures, defini ng the work process in customs is essential for 
eliminating the unnecessary and repetitive procedures.   When we receive the "flow chart" of 
procedures, starting from the importer's level, we can then transfer this to design software that will require a step-by-step approach to finalize the customs procedures.   
8. Thus, in a possible agreement on trade facilitation,  it will be helpful if Members define their 
customs work processes with a flow  chart in the official website of their customs authorities which 
would significantly eliminate the bottlenecks and in crease the predictability of the procedures for 
traders.  Also, this will further contribute to the studies on harmonizing Members' customs procedures.   
B. I
MPROVEMENT IN TRANSPARENCY  
9. GATT Article X on publication and administrati on of trade regulations deals with the 
transparency principle.  Any improvement in the im plementation of Article X will help traders easily 
reach relevant information that will expand the trade environment.   
10. It is difficult to evaluate the achievement of th e implementation of Article X, which is neither 
a failure nor a success story.  From our acquired experience, thanks to other agreements covering 
transparency requirements, such as TBT and SPS, th e best way to improve transparency under Article 
X will be to have recourse to them.   
11. A transparent and effective system may only be  established by starting with setting up some 
achievable objectives.   
12. The publication of trade legislations is a crucia l factor to improve transparency;  therefore, 
this publication must be made by easily accessible means.  However, the starting point must be the determination of the coverage/scope of the trade re gulations to publish.  Paragraph 1 of Article X 
covers a comprehensive list of regul ations.  At this point, not only Article X itself but also proposals 
in documents TN/TF/W/8 and TN/TF/W/6 may be useful.   
13. These regulations should be published in an easily accessible medium from which it should 
be practical to reach the contact person who woul d be capable of providing  additional and detailed 
information.  Thus, the best address would be official websites of national trade enquiry points.    TN/TF/W/45 
 Page 3 
 
 
 14. This proposal brings us to the fact that establishment of national trade enquiry points would 
improve transparency.  Our experience from TBT and SPS showed that enquiry points not only 
improve accessibility of information but also improve relations among countries and facilitate 
problem solving.   
15. The system that will provide transparency must  be a simple one.  If different addresses for 
different trade regulations have been indicated, then  this would not contribute to the aim of facilitating 
trade.   
16. If we establish national trade enquiry points and national websites on trade regulations, the 
next question to answer would be what kind of information to publish.  Developed countries may 
publish all regulations/legislation in one of the WTO official languages.  However, as mentioned 
before, we should be realistic a nd have achievable objectives.  Requesting the same from developing 
and least-developed countries would be dema nding too much and would be unfair.   
17. Requesting the summaries of all relevant regul ations in one of the WTO official languages 
may be one approach.  These kinds of summaries are useful if you know what you are looking for, or if it is the summary of a sector specific regulation.  For TBT it is helpful, because a short indication of 
which product the technical regulation is about will help understand the cove rage.  However, while 
talking about all trade-related regul ations, covering different provisi ons on different areas, a simple 
summary might not be helpful, and the preparation of a meaningful summary may be more difficult 
than translating the regulation completely.   
18. Even in such a case, tr aders will have to check one by one all summaries to see if they cover 
the information they are looking for.   
19. A useful approach may be the preparation of a format, which will include:  the country name, 
the name of legislation, responsible authority, a short summary if so wished, and keywords.   
20. The crucial point of the system is the use of keywords.  In the case of the establishment of a 
list of keywords to be adopted by all WTO Me mbers, this would facilitate the publication of 
legislation and also improve accessibility.   
21. A comprehensive keywords-list may include some  general words such as "customs", "duty", 
"restriction", "inspection" "processing", "export", "impor t", or sector specific words such as "textiles", 
"machinery" etc., and any trader looking for info rmation on a country's inspection policy may reach 
the relevant documents by accessing this country's national enquiry point's website and searching for 
regulations by these keywords.   
22. Once the traders reach the relevant regulati on they can seek the assistance of different 
references, namely national or in ternational business organizations, their own national authorities or 
official trade representatives, for the translation.  In addition, when developed countries translate 
regulations for their own need, they may provide these unofficial translations for general use.  A 
similar voluntary system works for TBT, when a developed country translates the regulation of a 
developing country;  it opens this transla tion to the use of all other countries.   
23. While national trade enquiry points may do this wo rk, a parallel work may be effected at the 
WTO through a trade portal.  The system suggested in  this paper is similar to the system provided at 
the "International Portal on Food Safety, Animal  & Plant Health" (www.ipfsaph.org) in which the 
WTO Secretariat also takes part.   TN/TF/W/45 
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 C. A
CCELERATION IN CUSTOMS CLEARANCE PROCEDURES  
24. Delays in customs clearance procedures due to excessive customs formalities do significantly 
affect traders' ability to conduct business in th e international commercial/trade environment.   
25. Thus, the development of improved management  practices and procedures that would ensure 
the timely movement and clearance of goods is re quired.  Also, to avoid unnecessary obstacles to 
trade, customs procedures must be reduced to an ab solute minimum consistent with the need to apply 
legitimate controls.  There is need for simple/ele ctronic clearance processes, more electronic rather 
than manual systems, and systems for pre-arriva l acceptance of relevant data and documents to 
accelerate the trade flow.   
1. Automation of customs procedures 
26. Automated and Electronic Data Interchange (EDI) based electronic systems should be 
introduced to replace paper-based procedures acro ss customs and ultimately all other agencies 
involved in import and export administration.  He re the collaboration between the government and 
private sector is crucial.   
27. Turkey has already initiated a customs automati on project in 1996 to ensure better service to 
the trade community, more effective tax collection,  selective but more efficient customs control, 
uniform implementation of customs legislation,  improved human resources management, and better 
and faster production of foreign trade statistics.   
28. As a result of the project the administrative and operational capacity  of customs increased 
substantially.  The automation of 18 regional dir ectorates and 68 customs offices was completed in 
the framework of the Customs Modernization Pr oject (GIMOP).  Around 99.5 per cent of customs 
entries are now processed electronically via the computerized import, export and national transit entry-processing system (BILGE).  Because of the sy stem, economic operators are able to make their 
declarations electronically in kiosks at customs offi ces, as well as from their own offices, by means of 
EDI.  In 2004, the use of EDI in customs decl aration reached 65 per cent on average of all 
declarations.   
29. On the other hand, information on importers received by automation of customs would 
support risk management.  
30. Risk management would allow authorities to focus compliance effort s in selected areas in 
contrast to a full-scale transactional complianc e approach, which envisages a comprehensive 
examination of each shipment at the border to ensu re full compliance with all requirements.  The shift 
from all documentary and physical inspection to sel ected inspection based on risk management allows 
for a more efficient use of resources and provides incentives to traders to comply voluntarily.  
However, risk management techniques should stri ke a balance between trade facilitation and border 
control requirements.   
31. Also, we support the use of risk management techniques in customs clearance.  This system 
may be used to simplify procedures and accelerate the system.  In addition, it may be functional in operating pre-arrival systems.    TN/TF/W/45 
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 2. Establishment of a time limit for customs release 
32. Establishment of a time limit for customs release would be useful to increase the 
predictability of the customs procedures.  In this respect, the WCO Time Release Study can be 
utilized.  However, the variable durations of conf ormity assessment tests and special conditions at the 
borders, which pose outstanding security risks, should be taken into consideration in declaring release 
time standards.   
3. Single Window 
33. Lack of coordination among different agencies results in unnecessary delays at borders.  In 
this regard, efforts toward the one-stop service clearance/release facilities through inter-agency 
coordination, plus remote filing and local clearance facilities, are crucial.   
34. Although customs agencies are normally seen as the primary border agency, many other 
agencies, such as agriculture and health departme nts, are often present at borders, physically or 
otherwise, and apply an additional level of inspec tions, documents and data requirements.  We should 
consider whether rules could be developed to en sure that the activities and requirements of all 
agencies present at borders are coordinated in a manne r designed to facilitate trade.  Goods could then 
be released from the border and customs control as quickly as possible on the basis of presentation 
and acceptance of appropriate documen ts and data.  Also, making maximum use of a data set, across 
various border agencies of a country, would be useful.  This approach also lends itself readily to electronic technology by setting up a computer syst em interface with other agencies.  An agreement 
on trade facilitation may cover provisions on a Si ngle Window approach whereby Members gradually 
undertake necessary measures.   
35. Turkey was in fact already initiated an "e-Doc ument Project in Foreign Trade" which sets up 
the infrastructure of a Single Window approach.  Th is project is being pursued in order to produce, 
share and circulate the documents used in foreign tr ade, in the electronic environment.  A free trade 
zone has been determined as a pilot zone  for the implementation of the project.  
36. Effectiveness, transparency and predictability of  foreign trade operations will be enhanced 
further with the enforcement of the Project.  The decrease in the number of documents and the 
decrease of bureaucracy, the implementations as a ttainments to the relevant institutions on the 
electronic environment, and the opportunity to conduc t operations via the internet, will provide larger 
facilities to the exporters–importers, to the interm ediary sectors such as transportation, finances and 
insurance.  Furthermore, it is aimed to increas e the cooperation between the public and private sector. 
4. Advance Rulings 
37. Rulings could cover the main elements of import requirements, such as tariff classification 
and applicable duties and taxes.  Turkey consider s that advance rulings to be provided upon request 
by traders on certain specific areas such as tariff cl assification or tariff preferences would be helpful 
in improving predictability.  However, these shoul d be case-specific and binding only to the extent 
that the declared data are correct and that the re levant national legislation on which the ruling has 
been provided remains unchanged.  The Uruguay Round Agreement on Rules of Origin contains 
provisions for such advance rulings and might serve  as a model to be applied more generally.   
5. Express Consignment Clearance 
38. In order to introduce expedited clearance pro cedures an agreement on trade facilitation should 
promote the widespread implementation of the principles of the WCO on Express Consignments, which are the international standard pr ocedures for clearance of express goods.   TN/TF/W/45 
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 6. Acceptance of copies for customs procedures 
39. We also consider that the acceptance of c opies of certain documents used in import and 
export formalities is necessary to accelerate customs cl earance procedures.  In Turkey's case, we do 
accept, for example, copies of invoices that must  be appended to customs declarations on the 
condition that originals are submitted within 15 days and that failing to do so results in annulment of 
the operation from the outset.   
 
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