RESTRICTED  WORLD TRADE  
ORGANIZATION  TN/TF/M/6 
10 August 2005 
 (05-3569) 
Negotiating Group on Trade Facilitation  
  
SUMMARY MINUTES OF THE MEETING 
 
Held in the Centre William Rappard
 
on 13-14 June 2005  
 
Chairman:  Mr. Muhamad Noor Yacob (Malaysia) 
 
1. The Chairman  said that the main purpose of the meeting was two-fold: (i) to provide 
delegations with an opportunity to  make contributions on the agenda  of the Negotiating Group (NG) – 
both in terms of offering new input a nd of reacting to the contributions previously received, and (ii) to 
address the issue of technical assistance (TA) a nd capacity building (CB) as an element everybody 
considered to merit special attention. Furthermor e, Members would be invited to admit relevant 
international organizations, including the IMF, OECD, UNCTAD, WCO and the World Bank, to attend the next meeting of the Group on an ad hoc basis.   
2. The agenda was adopted
.   
A. CONTRIBUTIONS ON THE AGREED AGENDA OF THE NEGOTIATING GROUP  
3. The representative of the Philippines,  speaking on behalf of the Core Group , expressed the 
Group's satisfaction with the structuring of the agenda, which enabled Members to contribute to 
various aspects of GATT Articles V, VIII and X, with  the opportunity to revert to prior proposals on 
those Articles.  The Core Group also appreciated th e interactive nature of the plenary sessions and 
wished to thank the WTO Secretariat for its compilation TN/TF/W/43.  For July, a similar 
compilation would suffice for the purpose of the July result in a summary of the current state-of-play 
without prejudice to further possible proposals after that time.   
4. The representative of Argentina  introduced Argentina's submission TN/TF/W/40, explaining 
that Argentina wished to make a contribution to im prove and clarify GATT Article X.  It was not the 
first time that that Article had been looked at.  There had been various communications submitted by 
other Members which dealt with the importance of tr ansparency with regard to access to information 
about rules and standards that needed to be acce ssible to the private sector and to the business 
community.   A look had also been taken at similar frameworks that had been used, for example in the 
area of SPS, regarding focal points and setting up a mechanism which would allow for interaction 
between the private sector and authorities in Members states to obtain trade information and to have 
the information readily accessible.   
5. The Argentinean proposal focussed on the im plementation side, suggesting ways of how 
those improvements to Article X could be made.  The proposal was very simple, the idea being to set 
up a link on the WTO website and have it linked to national websites.  Consultations the Argentinean 
government had had with the private sector on that issue had shown that it was very important for 
enterprises, especially small- and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs), to have access to that 
information in a direct and rapid way.  Therefore,  the paper proposed to use the internet to provide 
traders with that information.  It was proposed to  set up national websites with links to a general WTO 
web page, that would allow for the information to  be accessible both for the private sector and for 
Members.  TN/TF/M/6 
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 6. The representative of Turkey
 said that current trade liberalization initiatives within the WTO 
contributed much towards creating more open and accessible markets for all traders worldwide.  However, efforts to liberalize trade by eliminati ng or reducing tariff and non-tariff barriers would be 
incomplete unless accompanied by TF efforts to  simplify and harmonize customs procedures and 
improve transparency and predictability.  Customs procedures and trade-related regulations must be 
simple, easy to understand and must be applied in a consistent, fair and transparent manner so that the 
potential value of trade liberalization efforts would be maximized. 
7. Turkey was of the opinion that Members needed more awareness of the benefits and 
efficiencies that simplification of customs procedur es could bring developing countries.  The gains of 
trade facilitation (TF) were especially great for SMEs  and traders in developing countries, for whom 
the costs of compliance with trade procedures were proportionately higher and a disincentive to 
trading internationally. 
8. Turkey supported the efforts within the WTO fo r setting binding rules on TF.  In that respect, 
Turkey wished to present some ke y elements to be included in a possible Agreement on TF.  Those 
were: consistency and predictabilit y, transparency and acceleration of customs clearance procedures.  
The details of those elements were se t out in Turkey's paper TN/TF/W/45. 
9. The first elements Turkey wished  to propose to be included in the outcome of the negotiations 
were consistency and predictability .  To improve consistency and predictability, the use of standard 
forms and electronic documents woul d be beneficial, including the core set of data elements actually 
required by customs to finalize the procedures.  To achieve that, the harmonization of import documents and the data required for the release of  goods, using existing international standards under 
the Customs Valuation Agreement, the HS Nomenc lature, the UN Layout Key Guidelines, the Kyoto 
Convention and the like, was essential.  Also, generally accepted international standards or 
recommendations on documentation de veloped by organizations, such  as relevant UN bodies and the 
WCO should be utilized.  In Turkey's view, the UN La yout Key, the world standard for international 
trade documents in paper format, and UneDocs, aiming at becoming the world's electronic trade 
document standard, would be most convenient in that regard since substantial progress had been 
achieved on them. 
10. In that context, Turkey wished to offer a proposal which could be utilized as a step to 
harmonize customs procedures.  While standardiz ing customs procedures, defining the work 
processes in customs was essential for eliminating unnecessary and repetitive procedures.  When one 
received the "flow chart" of procedures, starting from the importer's level, one could then transfer that 
to design software that would require a step-by-st ep approach to finalize the customs procedures.  
Thus, in a possible Agreement on TF, it would be helpful if Members defined their customs work 
processes with a flow chart on the official websit e of customs authorities, which would significantly 
eliminate the bottlenecks and increase the procedures predictability for traders. 
11. A second element for the Agreement on TF was th e improvement in transparency.  Article X 
dealt with the transparency principle.  Thus, an y improvement in the implementation of Article X 
would help traders to easily reach relevant info rmation that would expand the trade environment. 
12. It was difficult to evaluate the achievement of  implementing Article X, which was neither a 
failure nor a success story.  From Turkey's experi ence with other agreements covering transparency 
requirements, such as the ones on TBT and SPS, th e best way to improve transparency under 
Article X was to have recourse to them. 
13. Turkey believed that a transparent and effec tive system could only be established by setting 
achievable objectives.  There was no doubt that the publication of trade legislations was a crucial factor to improve transparency.  Therefore, that publication had to take place via easily accessible  TN/TF/M/6 
 Page 3 
 
 
 means.  However, the starting point had to be the determination of the coverage/scope of the trade 
regulations to be published.  Para graph 1 of Article X covered a co mprehensive list of regulations.  
Not only Article X, but also the proposals in docum ents TN/TF/W/8 and TN/TF/W/6 might be useful 
assets.  In addition, those regulations should be published in an easily accessible medium from which it should be practical to reach the contact pe rson capable of providing additional and detailed 
information.  Therefore, the best address was the official websites of national trade enquiry points. 
14. The establishment of national trade enquiry points would improve transparency.  Turkey's 
experience in the area of TBT and SPS showed that enquiry points not only improved accessibility of information, but also improved relations among countries and facilitated problem solving.  The 
system to provide transparency must be a simple one.  Different addresses for different trade 
regulations would not contribute to the aim of facilitating trade. 
15. If Members established national trade enqui ry points and national websites on trade 
regulations, the next question to answer would be what kind of information to publish.  Developed 
countries might publish all regulations/legislation in one of the WTO's official languages.  However, 
one should be realistic and have achievable objec tives.  Requesting the same from developing and 
least-developed countries would be demanding too much. 
16. Requesting summaries of all relevant regulati ons in one of the WTO's official languages 
might be one approach.  Those summaries were useful if one knew what one was looking for, or if it was the summary of a sector specific regulation.   It was helpful for TBT matters because a short 
indication of the product the technical regulati on was about would help understand a regulation's 
coverage.  However, with respect to different pr ovisions on different areas, a simple summary might 
not be helpful, and the preparation of a meaningful  summary might be more difficult than translating 
the regulation completely.  Even in such cases, tr aders would have to check all summaries one by one, 
to see if they covered the information they were looking for.  A useful approach might be the 
preparation of a format which included the follow ing information: country name, the name of the 
legislation, responsible authority, a short summary, if so wished, and keywords.  The crucial point of 
the system was the use of keywords.  Establishi ng a list of keywords to be adopted by all WTO 
Members would facilitate the publication of le gislation and also improve accessibility.  A 
comprehensive keywords-list might include some gene ral words related to legislation.  Any trader 
looking for information about a country's inspecti on policy might reach the relevant documents by 
accessing that country's national enquiry point's we bsite and searching regulations by those keywords. 
17. Once the traders reached the relevant regulation,  they could 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 translated 
regulations for their own use, they might provide those unofficial translations for general use.  A 
similar voluntary system worked in the context of  the TBT when a developed country translated the 
regulation of a developing country, opening it to the use of all others.  While national trade enquiry 
points might do that work, a parallel work might be carried out at the WTO through a trade portal.  
The system suggested in the paper was similar to the system provided at the "International Portal on Food Safety, Animal and Plant Health" in which the WTO Secretariat also took part. 
18. The third element to be included was the accel eration in customs clearance procedures.  
Delays in customs clearance procedures due to ex cessive customs formalities significantly affected 
traders' ability to conduct business in the internati onal trade environment.  Thus, the development of 
improved management practices and procedures that ensured the timely movement and clearance of 
goods was required.  Also, to avoid unnecessary obstacles to trade, customs procedures must be reduced to an absolute minimum consistent with the need to apply legitimate controls.  There was 
need for simple/electronic clearance  processes, for more electronic rather than manual systems.  In 
addition, pre-arrival acceptance of documents sy stems might also help accelerate the trade flow. TN/TF/M/6 
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 19. In that respect, automated and Electronic Da ta Interchange (EDI)-based electronic systems 
should be introduced to replace paper-based pro cedures across customs and ultimately all other 
agencies involved in import and export administration.  In that area, the collaboration between the government and private sector was crucial. 
20. Turkey had already initiated a customs automation project in 1996 to ensure more effective 
tax collection, better service to the trade community , to have selective, but more effective customs 
control, uniform implementation of customs legislation, more effective human resources management, and more effective and rapid produc tion of foreign trade statistics.  As a result of the project, the 
administrative and operational capacity of custom s increased substantially.  The automation of 18 
regional directorates and 68 customs offices had been completed in the framework of the Customs 
Modernization Project (GIMOP).  Around 99.5 pe r cent of customs entries were now processed 
electronically via the computerized import/export and the national transit entry-processing system (BILGE). 
21. By automating customs, information on importers, their record, customs examination record 
and other relevant information woul d be stored.  This data would al so support risk management.  Risk 
management would allow authorities to focus complian ce efforts in selected areas in contrast to a full-
scale transactional compliance approach, which en visaged a comprehensive examination of each 
shipment at the border to ensure full compliance wi th all requirements.  However, risk management 
techniques should strike a balance between  TF and border control requirements. 
22. Turkey supported the use of risk management t echniques in customs clearance.  That system 
might be used to simplify procedures and accelerate the system.  In addition, it might be functional in 
operating pre-arrival and post-clearance audit syst ems.  On the other hand, Turkey had already 
initiated the "e-Document project in Foreign Trade" which set up the infrastructure of a Single Window approach.  The project was being pursued in order to produce, share and circulate the documents used in foreign trade, in an electr onic environment.  A free-trade zone had been 
determined as a pilot zone for the project.  As a preparatory stage for the implementation of the e-
document project, Turkey would soon enforce its pr oject on automating an inward processing regime.  
Effectiveness, transparency and predictability of fo reign trade operations woul d be enhanced further 
with the enforcement of the Project.  The decreas e of the number of documents and of bureaucracy, 
the implementation as attainments to the relevant institutions  on the electronic environment and the 
opportunity to conduct operations via the inte rnet would provide greater facilities to 
exporters/importers, as well as to the intermediary sectors such as transportation, finances and 
insurance.  Furthermore, it was aimed to incr ease cooperation between the public and private sector. 
23. Turkey believed that those elements of cons istency and predictability, transparency, and 
acceleration of customs clearance procedures were all crucial and should all be included in the Agreement on TF.  Turkey was ready to contribute mo re to the negotiations in order to reach a first 
approximation by the end of July. 
24. The Chairman
 said that the meaning of "first approximation" would vary from Negotiating 
Group to Negotiating Group, as all de legations would appreciate.    
25. The representative of the United States  welcomed the proposals by Argentina.  The US had 
submitted a similar proposal on improvements related to  transparency through the use of cost saving 
information technology.  The United States was intr igued by some of the additional elements that 
Argentina put forward in its proposal which containe d some interesting ideas.   The US hoped to work 
with Argentina on those ideas as the United States shar ed what had been submitted by Argentina.  It 
underscored the fact that, what was talked about was a very simple idea.  It was very concrete and 
would bring improvements to the trading system ove rall, with particular benefits to SMEs.    TN/TF/M/6 
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 26. The US also welcomed the submission by Turk ey, which was consistent with some of the 
other ideas the US had already put forward, and which contributed to further work.  
27. The representative of Zambia,  speaking on behalf of the LDC Group , said that the LDCs 
attached importance to the negotiations on TF and lo oked forward to the effective implementation of 
all the elements contained in Annex D of the Ju ly Package.  The Group welcomed the different 
proposals that had so far been tabled for the NG's deliberations and negotiations.  The LDCs 
continued to endeavour to examine them and the even tual implications despite their limited capacities.  
The LDCs wished to commend the good work done by  the Secretariat in compiling the proposals in 
document TN/TF/W/43, which was clear, concise a nd useful.  The LDCs wished to request the 
Secretariat to update the compilation as new propos als came in.  A cursory look at the document 
revealed that Members now had a great number of issu es on the table.  The LDCs wished to stress that 
the correlation would have to be maintained betw een the scope of negotiati ons and the extent and 
nature of TA  to implement the possible outcome.   
28. The LDCs' position on Trade Facilitation was known to all Members.  The LDC Group 
wished to see TF as a means of integrating their ec onomies into the multilateral trading system.  There 
were, no doubt, potential gains through an overall upgr ading of the TF chain.  However, there were 
also constraints due to possible costs of TF measures, in view of the LDCs limited financial, administrative and institutional capacities.  The su ccess of the negotiations depended in the end upon 
their strong development content and meaningful market access for LDC products.   
29. It was in that context that the LDCs welcom ed the objective of the negotiations on TF aiming 
at not only clarifying and improving GATT Articles V,  VIII and X, but also at enhancing TA  and 
support for capacity building in that area.  The LD Cs, therefore, wished to see the negotiations place 
adequate emphasis on achieving that objective in or der to enable the LDCs to benefit from more 
efficient and smoother trade flows.   The Group fu rther wished to stress the approach of linking 
implementation obligations to the capacities of LDCs as mentioned in paragraph 3 of the modalities.   
30. The LDCs wished to reiterate that the LDCs  placed high importance on the linkage of S&D 
obligations with the substantive i ssues of the modalities regarding the three Articles.  The clarification 
and implementation of relevant aspects of GA TT Articles V, VIII and X should therefore be 
considered in a holistic manner, taking into account all developmental aspects in parallel.  The LDCs 
therefore re-emphasized that all clarification and improvement exercises should not leave behind development implications in terms of needs and pr iorities of LDCs, such as TA&CB, built-in special 
and differential treatment (SDT), and should also take  into account the cost implications of proposed 
measures.   
31. Therefore, the LDCs could not over-emphasize the need for financial and TA  as well as 
support for infrastructure development in impl ementing the outcome of the Trade Facilitation 
negotiations.  The LDCs, therefore, wished to ca ll upon Members to ensure such assistance, with a 
clear flow of funding, to meet the implementation costs.   
32. The representative of Switzerland
 said that Switzerland fully shared the principle articulated 
in the Argentinean submission that, to be able to benefit from commercial advantages resulting from 
the commitments entered into by WTO Members and to  avoid obstacles due to a lack of information 
or excessive bureaucracy, economic agents needed to know the rules and trade practices of other 
Members. Information must be simple and easily accessible.  
33. Switzerland was aware that the point on the la nguages in which such information was made 
available was a delicate one both from a resources stand point as well as from a political standpoint. 
But it was a point that agents in Switzerland, especial ly ones from small enterprises, stressed greatly.   TN/TF/M/6 
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 34. The representative of the European Communities
 welcomed the submissions from Argentina 
and Turkey.  The EC gave full support to the interesting proposals by Argentina for greater transparency and very much agreed with the argu ments in the Argentinean paper, in particular 
regarding the point that more transparency was particularly crucial for smaller businesses.  The 
European Communities found it also extremely interes ting, in the sense that a link was made between 
transparency and simplification.  The more that information was transparent and easily accessible, the 
less bureaucracy there was.  The EC also liked th e proposal Argentina made in paragraph 4 of its 
paper to establish some kind of WTO website that  would provide links to national websites of 
Members' administrations.  That seemed to be  a very good compromise between having full WTO 
notification of everyone's existing procedures, which was difficult to envisage, and only domestic 
transparency in each country.  The Argentinean pape r also contained some useful links between the 
question of simplification, transparency measures and costs and TA.   
35. The EC further shared Turkey's  assessment of the need for a range of simplification measures, 
notably to help SMEs, and supported most of the specific proposals made. The European 
Communities was very pleased to see that proposal. 
36. In respect to the intervention from Zambia, which the European Communities found very 
comprehensive and useful, the EC invited Zambia to  circulate its statement made of behalf of the 
LDCs.  It seemed to contain useful information a nd many observations which would be helpful for the 
NGs work over the next few months. 
37. The representative of Chinese Taipei
 said that Turkey had raised several valuable points in its 
proposal on a range of topics, such as the adoption of a core set of data elements and common 
international trade requirements and procedures, the use of common forms and electronic documents, 
the automation of customs procedures, the use of ri sk management techniques, customs release time, 
the Single Window, advance rulings and express c onsignment clearance. Their suggestions on 
providing summaries of all the relevant regulations  on a nationally accessible website seemed to be 
very realistic and would surely impr ove transparency under GATT Article X. 
38. On Argentina's proposal, Chinese Taipei also shar ed most of the suggestions made.  However, 
his delegation would appreciate if Argentina could elaborate on the f easibility of the following points: 
(1) the creation, on the official WTO website, of  a TF link to relevant national websites, (2) each 
Member providing the Secretariat with a list of  websites containing detailed information under 
Article X;  (3) requesting the necessary TA fro m developed countries or the WTO and other bodies 
offering services for the translation of regulations into one of the official languages of the WTO.   
39. The representative of Korea  said that the proposals by Argentina and Turkey had contributed 
to clarifying and improving Article X of the GATT. 
40. With respect to the Argentinean proposal, Kor ea generally supported all the ideas, especially 
the suggestion to create an official WTO web page or TF link as a publication media which, to some extent, was along the same lines as some of the Me mber's previous suggestions, including one made 
by Korea. 
41. Although some flexibility had been left as to th e type of media a Member could choose for 
publication purposes, depending on each one's capacity, Korea believed that Argentina's proposal was 
a useful approach, especially with  respect to the suggested use of IT, even though it would incur  
some start-up costs. Korea believed that once such an IT system was in place, it would significantly 
enhance the facilitation of trade of all Members with no additional costs. 
42. Clarification was sought from Argentina on one poi nt.  Argentina had stated that there was a 
necessity for TA, especially for the translation of those regulations into one of the official WTO  TN/TF/M/6 
 Page 7 
 
 
 languages.  While Korea was admitting the importance of such translation, Korea wished to have 
some clarification on the envisaged scope of the regu lations included.  Would it require the translation 
of all legislation or would a summary suffice?   If the proposal was to translate the full text of all 
legislation, this might lead to excessive or oner ous burdens on Members to do that.  Korea preferred 
the summary option.  If it was on the web page, the in terested parties could refer to the summaries and 
could then get full information through appropriate channels. 
43. Korea shared most of the ideas contained in Tu rkey's paper, especially the interesting ones 
regarding a "flow chart" and official websites of Me mbers' customs authorities.  Korea also welcomed 
the proposal regarding national trade enquiry po ints, which was similar to Korea's proposal to 
establish a Single National Focal Point.  Korea shar ed the view of the necessity of such enquiry 
points.  The suggested usage of key words was also  useful, as well as time limits for customs release 
and the establishment of a Single Window .  Korea shared that proposal which would contribute to 
improving and clarifying the three GATT Articles. 
44. In that context, Korea had a question similar to the one posed to Argentina.  More information 
was sought on the question of whether the idea was to provide all relevant regu lations in full text or 
whether a summary would suffice. A simple summary might not always be helpful, but one useful 
way to make full use of that information was through some kind of summary.   
45. A second question related to advance rulings. In paragraph 37 of its paper, Turkey was saying 
that those advance rulings should be case specific. Korea wondered whether that was meant to relate 
to specific cases for advance rulings or advance rulings  of general application. Korea would prefer the 
latter.   
46. The representative of Hong Kong, China  welcomed the paper by Argentina which contained 
some useful suggestions regarding Article X.   Hong Kong, China ge nerally welcomed the proposal to 
set up a page on the WTO website with the hyperlinks  to Member's national websites, and to establish 
national websites and enquiry points to facilitate access to trade-related information and to make 
enquiries.  Regarding the WTO website, Hong K ong, China noted that the existing WTO website 
already contained a web page for each Member, with  hyperlinks to a domestic site nominated by the 
Member.  Hong Kong, China was open to suggesti ons for enhancing the existing WTO website to 
provide information relating to trade regulations. 
47. With respect to the suggested publication of Me mbers' trade regulations in the official WTO 
languages, which Hong Kong, China supported, his delegation was open to suggestions on how the 
problem of certain Members whose language was not one of the official WTO languages could be 
addressed without putting too heavy a burden on those Members.  Hong Kong, China welcomed 
further discussions to explore practical ways for th e concerned Members to make available the trade 
regulations in the WTO official languages and on how TA  could be targeted to their needs.   
48. Hong Kong, China welcomed Turkey's proposal  which suggested ways to simplify and 
harmonize customs procedures and to improve tran sparency of trade regulations.  The proposed 
elements for inclusion in the possible trade facilita tion agreement were inter esting and could facilitate 
Members' further discussions.    
49. The representative of Colombia  said that Argentina's proposal on setting up a link to the WTO 
web page and e-mail account was in teresting and very useful.  Nevertheless, Colombia was of the 
view that Members had to commit themselves to upda ting information, requirements etc., for foreign 
trade.  If one implemented that proposal, the info rmation would need to be updated. The Argentinean 
proposal was to be seen in the context of positive results of the negotiations .  Therefore, it was very 
important to have a lot of detail about the envisag ed timeframe for implementing the idea, as well as TN/TF/M/6 
Page 8  
 
 information about how Argentina thought one coul d set out the measures. Would there be new 
measures or would they be measures that Memb ers were already using in various countries? 
50. Likewise, Colombia supported the need to have  a computerized database in order to have 
information available as laid out in paragraph 5.  Colombia also supported the need to deal with the 
issue of languages.  It would be practical for the information from all countries to be available in one 
of the three official WTO languages.  Colombia  understood and shared the concerns expressed by 
other delegations such as Korea, and Hong Kong, China in that context.  
51. Colombia felt that Argentina's proposal should be looked at together with others, particularly 
the one by Korea (TN/TF/W/7) about notifying to  the WTO Secretariat legislation, rules and 
administrative requirements, including amendm ents.  All of that had to be notified. 
52. Turkey's proposal dealt with th ree areas that addressed key elements, all of which should be 
able to lead to an agreement on trade facilitation.   The proposal was broad and comprehensive and the 
details were still being studied.  Colombia wished to  highlight and stress the fact that Members had to 
bear in mind the experience and the models th ey were familiar with from the SPS and TBT 
agreements.  Members also had, first and foremost, to  define the scope of trade regulations that were 
to be published in that context. Co lombia also shared the concerns expressed by Turkey with regard to 
summaries to be published on the web page, particul arly by developing coun tries.  The progressive 
approach was useful and appropriate, taking into account a country's capacity to implement the measure.     
53. The representative of Egypt
 said that the proposal by Argen tina was interesting.  However, 
Egypt would appreciate if Argentina could provide more information on how the existing differences 
between Members could be sufficiently taken into  consideration.  Not all Members maintained 
detailed customs websites and/or databases.  The TA&CB support embodied in Argentina's proposal 
should first be clarified and specified in order to en sure that all Members were on an equal footing. 
54. With respect to the proposal made in paragra ph 6, Egypt also considered languages to be an 
important issue.  Not all WTO Members could pr ovide information in the three official WTO 
languages.  However, that issue might raise three im portant implications: (i) the question of costs of 
translation; (ii) the legal status of the translated  material; and (iii) the question of time tables that 
should be established to that end.   
55. Clarification was also sought from Argentina as to whether the timetable was meant to be 
mandatory for all WTO Members or whether flexibility could be provided. 
56. The representative of Panama  wished to touch upon certain elements of the contributions 
from Argentina and from Turkey on how to improve  and strengthen Article X which Panama shared 
and which should be discussed further to enable  Members to reach positive conclusions on those 
proposals.   
57. With regard to the Turkish proposal, Panama  welcomed the suggestion for simplifying 
publications, which was also touched upon in a more  general manner in the proposal from Argentina.  
Turkey's proposal also referred to harmonizi ng customs procedures something on which Members 
should be able to achieve good results, given the commitments they were ready to make. 
58. With regard to the Argentinean proposal, Pana ma welcomed the suggestion to set up a web 
page.  Such a web page could make a signifi cant contribution towards facilitating the rapid 
consultation of Members' rules and legislation on their customs procedures. With respect to 
paragraph 4 of Argentina's propo sal, it would be necessary to di scuss further deadlines, which the 
proposal did not mention.  The issue of deadlines should be dealt with by Members and clarified.   TN/TF/M/6 
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 59. Argentina's and Turkey's proposals should be di scussed in greater detail to clear up concerns 
expressed by delegations, which should be taken into account.    
60. The representative of Paraguay  appreciated Argentina's and Turkey's inputs.  Maintaining 
transparency in the rules governing trade flows w as of the utmost importance, particularly for 
landlocked countries.  Paraguay was delighted that Ar gentina, a country of transit for Paraguay, had 
offered a useful and viable alternative for maintain ing that principle.  The proposals put forward in 
TN/TF/W/40 were of great value.  To better unde rstand their scope, Paraguay would be grateful if 
Argentina would inform: (i) whether the provision of information and the preparation of web pages to 
feed the proposed link would be undertaken on a compulsory or a voluntary basis;  and (ii) what the legal value would be of replies to queries made  through the suggested service, and what the 
consequences would be of failing to provide a response. 
61. The representative of Uganda
 associated his delegation with the statement made by Zambia 
on behalf of the LDC Group. 
62. The current meeting was extremely important as the NG approached the July approximation 
and the run-up to the Hong Kong Ministerial Confer ence.  Members should view that period as an 
opportunity to obtain the technical and financial assistance required and to address the challenges that 
the outcome of the negotiations on TF presented for developing countries and, particularly, LDCs.  
Uganda looked forward to an early outcome on the i ssue of technical and financial assistance so that 
the required  institutional infrastructure and other domes tic reforms necessary for implementation 
could be tackled in good time.  It was Uganda's hope that that could be clearly reflected in the July 
approximation.   
63. Uganda welcomed the proposals by Argentina a nd Turkey and would continue to study them 
to assess their implications.   
64. The representative of Jamaica  wished to offer some initial comments on the submission by 
Turkey.  On page 2, paragraph 5 of the submi ssion which dealt with common international trade 
requirements and procedures, it was Jamaica's view th at that might constrain a country's policy space.  
For some Members that may imply that declarati on forms had to be redesigned, and administrative 
procedures and documentary requireme nts amended.  That would requi re additional expenditure.  The 
suggestion in paragraph 6 to use electronic documen ts was useful.  However, note had to be taken 
that, in Jamaica, that was currently not fully rea lized due to practical considerations relating to 
electronic signatures and the integrity of electronic systems. 
65. The proposal for the establishment of national single trade enquiry points contained in 
paragraph 14 would certainly improve transparency.  In Jamaica's case, Jamaica had faced constraints 
in getting such a system up and running because one of the key concerns had been that the process 
might require the deployment of valuable resources away from other more critical areas. 
66. In terms of transparency, Jamaica considered it important to define the scope of the 
information to be published.  For example, trade regu lations and relevant legisl ation might be all that 
was necessary. 
67. Regarding the proposal for a simple electronic clearance processes contained in paragraph 25, 
it should be noted that Jamaica customs already employed, or was about to employ in some other areas, electronic systems to facilitate the clearance of goods.   
68. With respect to the proposal made in paragr aph 30, Jamaica agreed that there were real 
advantages to risk management.  In that regard, Members should bear in mind that, sometimes, risk TN/TF/M/6 
Page 10  
 
 management operations faced constraints.  There mi ght therefore be a need to share experiences in 
that area. 
69. The proposal to establish a time limit for customs release was useful.  However, making that 
binding would place an obligation on some customs admi nistrations which, due to various constraints, 
might not be able to accomplish that. 
70. Customs operating procedures to coordinate w ith other border agencies were fairly well 
established in Jamaica.  However, the computer in terface proposed in that same paragraph would be 
quite expensive in that it required the deve lopment of tests and training of personnel.     
71. Jamaica also had a few concerns on the ques tion of advance rulings, although it recognized a 
need to deepen its capacity in that area in terms of personnel and resources. 
72. With respect to the proposal contained in para graph 39, Jamaica reiterated that it considered it  
very important to prove the legitimacy of documents .  All import declarations must be  accompanied 
by original supporting documents, and Jamaica th erefore still had a concern with respect to the 
acceptance of photocopies. 
73. The representative of Kenya
 commented on Argentina's proposal for Members to provide the 
Secretariat with a list of websites containing detaile d information as reflected in paragraph 5, noting 
that it would not be feasible, at least for Kenya,  to envisage any kind of comprehensive notification 
procedure on average customs procedures, rulings or guidelines of general application.  The resource 
burdens would be too great for some Members.  Al so, the experience with a WTO notification system 
had shown that it had its own limits.  Kenya's e xperience had shown that a simple notification was 
always useful.  If there was any additional informat ion needed, an enquiry point would be useful in 
supplementing such information.   
74. Clarification was sought on the proposal cont ained in paragraph 6 regarding the language 
issue. If, for instance, regulations  were translated into one of the official WTO languages, Kenya 
wished to know what would happen to those Members which were not versed in all the WTO official 
languages.  There was a practical problem related to that.  Kenya would also like to hear a reply from 
Argentina on Egypt's question about the cost implications relating to translation.   
75. The representative of Canada  said that the compilation was an extremely useful tool for 
Members to move the negotiations forward.   
76. Clarification was sought regarding the pr oposals on advance rulings contained in 
paragraphs 7 and 37 of Turkey's submission.  The submission pointed out that advance rulings should 
be case specific.  Canada wished to know what was meant by "case specific".    
77. As indicated in Canada's submission TN/TF/W/ 9, advance rulings would be issued at the 
written request of an importer in connection with tari ff classification, applicable rate of duty, or any 
tax applicable upon importation of a specific good.  In that sense, the advance ruling would be case 
specific.  However, Canada would consider that an advance ruling could set jurisprudence for other 
transactions involving the same goods and the same circumstances.  In the latter sense, advance 
rulings would have elements of a ge neral application.  Therefore, Cana da would be grateful if Turkey 
could provide Members with their views on that issue.    
78. The representative of Argentina  wished to respond to the questions raised with respect to 
document TN/TF/W/40.  As many of the comments were identical, or at least similar, answers would be given in terms of categories or subjects ra ther than by replying to specific delegations.  TN/TF/M/6 
 Page 11 
 
 
 79. The first point on which Argentina wished to shed some light was to how the system of 
creating a WTO web link with national enquiry points  or websites would function, Hong Kong, China 
had said that there was already a WTO website and th at the task would be merely one of improving 
the existing website.  But on the WTO website, Members would only be able to produce a link to national points or websites.  The basic idea was the creation of national websites where one could 
access any type of trade or business information.   
80. With respect to the question raised by Kor ea, Colombia and Egypt on what sort of 
information would be published, the proposal ba sed itself on the existing scope of Article X.  
Argentina was aware that ther e had been discussions and proposals about the possibility of 
broadening the scope of Article X to include other instruments and practices, but as far as Argentina 
was concerned, the starting point was s till the existing scope of Article X.   
81. Other delegations, such as Kenya, had also ra ised the concern about what would happen if 
some countries did not have a website or a comput erized database, as well as about the costs involved 
in the exercise. But the Argentinean  proposal was trying to tackle the subject from an implementation 
stand point and not from the stand point of a legal obligation involved in the provisions of the WTO 
Agreements.  There was a reason for that. Argentin a wanted to see exactly where Members should be 
focussing TA.  Therefore, Members who were not in a position to have a national website should 
benefit from assistance to be able to do this.  One ha d to look at the result of the negotiations which 
should be to make it possible for all Members to ha ve a national website with trade information and 
for everybody to be in a position to publish its trad e regulations and norms.  That should be an upshot 
of the negotiations. From Argentina's perspective,  the result of the negotiations was not merely a 
question of being obliged to have a nationa l website without any kind of TA.    
82. With respect to the questions by Korea and Eg ypt on what sort of information should be 
published and how it should be publis hed, there were various possibilities.  Obviously, publishing all 
legislation and all regulations in one of the th ree official WTO languages would be an enormous 
burden for many Members, especially for those whose national language was not one of the official 
languages of the WTO.  On the other hand, if the obligation was to publish the title of the measure, 
there would not be much point to that.  Perhaps a viable solution would be to publish a summary of a 
given measure which was sufficiently comprehensive and clear so as to give a true picture of the practice and of the information required by the business community, as suggested by Korea.  That 
could be supplemented by a system of consulta tion.  Consultation and the possibility that those 
consultations be held by the implementing auth ority within a reasonable time frame would be 
essential.  There was no point in having consultations  if the replies came years afterwards.  There 
must be some kind of minimal obligation that tho se consultations should lead to a timely reply within 
a reasonable period of time which Members could di scuss.  A broad time frame would be required for 
certain countries.   
83. With respect to Paraguay's comment on the le gal status of the responses, there were two 
extremes.  One would be for the replies to be merely  informational, with the other extreme being that 
the replies would be of a binding nature.  Member s had to be clear about that and would need to 
discuss it.  Proposals on advance resolutions or deci sions might depend on the nature of the subject 
area.  For some delegations it would be easier  to accept an advance resolution in the case of 
information about tariff classification, or other t ypes of customs measures, which would be much 
more complicated in the case of other areas or other countries.  There had to be a middle point.  
Extremes had to be avoided.   There would be no point in a merely informative response.  But 
Members would have to decide in which areas such  a reply would be binding, subject to certain 
conditions, as a number of delegations  had proposed.  If the circumstan ces changed, the nature of a 
status of the reply would change accordingly.   TN/TF/M/6 
Page 12  
 
 84. Egypt had raised one or two questions about la nguage and about legal status, which was an 
interesting issue.  Argentina did not approach th at in terms of creating a national website or of 
publishing given regul ations in national sites as a substitute fo r official gazettes or national official 
bulletins.  One had to be extremely careful in that regard.  The official legal text would obviously be 
the text as published in the official gazette or bulle tin.  But if Members bore in mind the publication in 
the national website, it would not be the entire text , but a summary of the text, which was sufficiently 
clear and comprehensive.    
85. Colombia had raised a question about the time  frame of the implementation.  That would 
obviously depend upon the needs and capacities of each Member.  Ar gentina saw that not everybody 
had established a website.  Some Members would need to create such sites, others would need to 
incorporate additional information.  The undertakin g would have to take into account the range of 
different starting points and different situations in  Member countries to achieve the same results, but 
within different time frames.  But all Members would be moving towards the same objective.   
86. The representative of Japan
 introduced document TN/TF/W/42, explaining that it was an 
explanatory note on risk management which Japan , Mongolia, Peru and Chinese Taipei had proposed 
in document TN/TF/W/17 as a clarification and improve ment of Article VIII.  The note elaborated the 
concept of risk management and introduced the e xperience of Japan in applying that concept in, for 
example, customs procedures.  The paper had been tabled since Japan was of the view that risk 
management was one of the key instruments to prom ote TF.  It had also generated good questions and 
answers in previous NG meetings.   
87. Occasionally, TF and appropriate border control were viewed as conflicting concepts where 
the strengthening of one would lead to the weaken ing of the other.  However, both objectives were 
simultaneously achievable by conducting in-depth inspection on high risk goods and by allowing 
immediate import permits for low risk goods.  Japan was of the view that such concept of risk 
management was an indispensable element to realize both TF and appropriate control at the same time.   
88. The benefit of introducing risk management  into trade procedures was already well 
recognized in various relevant organizations, for ex ample, the WCO.  Accordingly, the WCO already 
incorporated the concept of risk management in its existing tool for TF, as was the case for the 
Revised Kyoto Convention.   
89. In the case of Japan, to effectively cope with  the increasing volume of trade with the limited 
human and financial resources it had available, the concept of risk management had been introduced 
on a step-by-step basis in the field of custom s procedures.  For example, smuggling of import 
prohibited goods, such as drugs and firearms, was c onsidered as a risk to customs administration for 
the danger it posed for social stability and public hea lth.  To effectively cope with that risk, customs 
accumulate past import records and relevant inform ation for each importer in an integrated and 
organized manner.  Next, for individual import declarations, on the basis of the matching of 
accumulated records with risk indicators that were likely to help in detecting smuggling, such as 
importer name, type of good declared, volume a nd value of the good, and the source of the good, 
customs decided whether or not to conduct in-depth inspection of the declared goods.  In a case where 
the risk was considered to be low, an immediate import permit was given for the declaration.  There 
was feedback of results for each case that allowed for the assessment of risk based on the latest 
information in subsequent import declarations.   
90. Such routine had allowed customs to si multaneously pursue the policy objective of 
facilitation and control.  Furthermore, in the case of Japan, with a view to realizing both objectives in 
a more efficient manner, Customs Intelligence Data base System, CIS, had been introduced in 1991 for 
accumulating information pertaining to import declarati ons.  Japan wished to reiterate that the concept  TN/TF/M/6 
 Page 13 
 
 
 of risk management was also applicable in expor t procedures and other trade procedures, such as 
quarantine.   
91. Introduction of a risk management concept ha d enabled Japan to implement various trade 
facilitation measures for the legitimate flow of goods .  To name a few of those measures, in 2001, a 
simplified declaration procedure was introduced, whic h allowed release of goods before declaration 
for customs duty payment.  In 1991, a pre-arriva l examination system was introduced, which allowed 
for the completion of customs procedures before the arrival of goods.   
92. The result of introducing such measures had led to a substantial reducti on of the time required 
for the release of goods as was shown in Annex 1 of TN/TF/W/42.  The survey measured the time required from the port of entry of the goods to its import permission.  As shown in the graph in 
Annex 1, in 1991 it took 7 days to process the good up  to import permission.  It went without saying 
that appropriate customs duty collection and effici ent control against import prohibited goods had also 
been maintained.  According to a survey conducted by a private sector in Japan, it was reported that 
not only the use of IT but also the introductio n of improved import/export procedures had greatly 
contributed to such reduction of time required for release of goods.   
93. Lastly, in recognition of the benefits of risk  management and of conducting a time release 
survey to measure how much trad e had been facilitated, Japan had been providing TA in those areas 
to developing countries on its own initiative or in coope ration with the WCO.  In that context, Japan 
informed that it was planning to hold an informat ive event that Thursday with Korea, Peru and 
Chinese Taipei to further familiarize Members with the concept of risk management and to answer 
any questions on that concept.  As for the tim e release survey, Japan was happy to respond to 
Members' requests for more details of th at survey if they so wished.    
94. The representative of Chinese Taipei
 introduced paper TN/TF/W/44.  In Chinese Taipei's first 
communication (TN/TF/W/10), five possible measures had been proposed to improve Articles VIII and X, with a view to further speeding up the m ovement, release and clearance of goods.  One of 
those five proposals was to establish a mechanism fo r the speedy clearance of express consignments.  
Chinese Taipei noted that other Members had raised similar suggestions, for example in the 
communications from the United Sates (TN/TF/W15) and Peru (TN/TF/W/30), as well as in the paper from Turkey (TN/TF/W/45).   
95. For the benefit of WTO Members, Chinese Taip ei's paper focused mainly on sharing first-
hand experiences in establishing that system in a wa y that satisfied the needs of the various trading 
communities, especially SMEs which often had to su rvive on very tight profit margins.  The longer 
customs clearance took, the higher the costs traders had to bear. 
96. To better understand the needs and prioriti es of trade communities, Chinese Taipei had 
recently conducted a survey among several hundred stakeholders, including manufacturers, traders, 
brokers and forwarders.  The survey had found that  more than half of those interviewed placed 
"Immediate Clearance of Express Consignments" among their top three priorities, with as many as 
one quarter of the total sample considering that as the most needed measure of all. 
97. The most useful international guidelines produced so far on the subject of implementing 
expedited customs procedures were originally called the " WCO Customs Guidelines for Express 
Consignments Clearance",  and which, in 2000, had b een amended and re-named " Guidelines for the 
Immediate Release of Consignments by Customs" .  Chinese Taipei would recommend that Members 
applied the main principles of those Guidelines.  Chinese Taipei then illustrated six major principles 
in its communication. TN/TF/M/6 
Page 14  
 
 98. With the pace of modern business accelerating day by day, demand for faster delivery of 
consignments increased exponentially.  The needs of traders for expeditious clearance could no longer 
be met by regular customs procedures.  In respon se to those demand trends, Chinese Taipei had first 
enacted the relevant regulation in 1995 and had accordingly set up an "Express Handling Unit" and 
had started operating.  APEC also recognized th at trend, as reflected in the WCO Guidelines on 
Express Consignment Clearance, the international standard procedure for clearance of goods.  
Working in partnership with the express industry asso ciation, the matter was listed as one of the items 
of APEC’s "Collective Action Plan" (CAP), so as to  further the Cooperation’s TF goal.  Accordingly, 
Chinese Taipei made a commitment to fully impl ement the WCO Guidelines by the end of 2000.  
With technical assistance from APEC/SCCP as well  as with Chinese Taipei's customs hard work, 
Chinese Taipei was able to meet all the above -mentioned principles, as approved by APEC.  
99. The benefits of having implemented the express clearance system had been widely recognized 
and appreciated by traders.  The average clearanc e time had been dramatically reduced, from 48 hours 
in 1996 to a mere 2 hours today.  That meant huge  savings in time and related costs for traders 
engaged in international trade.   
100. In addition, the volume of express entries increased sharply in the period 2001-2003.  While 
regular import/export entries grew by 11.4 per cen t, express entries increased by an impressive 
58.7 per cent.  The ratio of express entries to tota l entries also rose steadily, from 71 per cent in 2001, 
to more than three quarters in 2003.  Three out of every four import/export entries required express 
services, which was clear evidence of the st rong demand for express clearance services.   
101. The cost of setting up an express clearance syst em mainly hinged upon the degree of business 
demand and the existing customs facilities.  In th e case of Chinese Taipei, overall there was no need 
for major new personnel recruitment.  Customs mi ght consider cooperating with existing express 
service providers to share some of the initial infrast ructure costs.  Some operational costs might also 
be borne by express shipment providers.   
102. From an exchange of views among Customs o fficials and express operators, it emerged that, 
while agreeing that strong political will had been th e most important element in ensuring the success 
of the express clearance system, they would list the following factors as all being important contributory elements:  political commitment; good prep aration;  teamwork;  close partnership with 
industry;  and application of automated systems.   Chinese Taipei wished  to stress that while 
automation could definitely improve efficiency and effectiveness, one might still do without it, at least 
at the preliminary stage of implementation.   
103. A successful outcome to the negotiations hinged upon whether the amount of TA&CB 
sufficient for the needs of Member countries could act ually be provided.  In that context, the TA  
Programme of the APEC Sub-Comm ittee on Customs Procedures could provide a useful reference for 
WTO Members wishing to implement an express clearance system in compliance with the WCO 
Guidelines .  Based on its own experience, Chinese Taipei  believed that a phased approach, supported 
by sufficient and effective TA, would be the most  feasible way to proceed.  Technical assistance 
could be arranged via relevant in ternational organizations or the WTO.  Experienced Members could 
also offer their national experiences on a bilateral basi s.  Alternatively, they might choose to team up 
with relevant international organiza tions and/or interested private operators to develop a programme.   
104. Chinese Taipei believed that the needs of traders were well served by the express clearance 
system and, with appropriate TA, all WTO Member s could develop the capacity to institute such a 
system.    
105.
 The representative of the European Communities  introduced the EC's latest submission, 
explaining that most of its proposals and ideas could have been seen before when the EC made its  TN/TF/M/6 
 Page 15 
 
 
 proposals on Article VIII in the period between D oha and Cancún.  Only a limited number of the 
proposals were brand new, and many of them  had also been made by other Members.  
106. Article VIII was a fairly fundamental Article of  the GATT and of the current negotiations.  It 
could certainly bring important bene fits to businesses if one could make some of the provisions of that 
Article more operational.  Article VIII recogni zed the desirability of reducing import and export 
procedures but did not require them to be simplif ied or reduced, nor did it give any guidance about 
how they might be reduced.  It was time now to  try to improve the Article by making it more 
operational.   
107. First, the EC proposed that Members consid er some general commitments, very closely 
modelled on what was already familiar in ex isting WTO Agreements, notably the SPS and TBT 
Agreements, especially in designing Members' import and export procedures.  The aim was to make 
them as least restrictive as feasible, bearing in mi nd the need to respect ot her policy objectives, and 
that they were based as far as possible on international standards.   
108. The second section of the EC paper focused on ways to simplify data and documentation 
requirements which were, as others Members had poi nted out, particularly problematic for SMEs.  
The EC thought it would be useful if Members co uld undertake to simplify their respective customs 
data and documentation to the minimum possible.  Second, it was proposed that Members based their 
documentation and data on existing international stan dards which would be prepared for that purpose.  
In particular, the UN [EDIFACT] standard, the UN Layout Key and the WCO Data Set had been 
identified as three international standards for simpli fied data and documentation used by customs.  
Many Members used those standards already. Fo r example, the European Communities and all of 
their ACP partners based their trade on that common set of standards both for format and content of 
their customs declarations. The EC also wished to propose the progressive implementation of the so-
called Single Window, the principle of a single, one  time submission of data and documents to one 
agency which would normally be the customs.  Ho wever, the EC thought it to be a necessary caveat 
that those commitments had not to be excessively ri gid.  In practice, it would be very difficult for 
countries of every level of development to impl ement a Single Window.  Members had to reduce the 
requirements and move towards a Single Window. Ne vertheless, some flexibility would be needed 
and the commitment had to be more towards a process of progressive improvement rather than a final outcome.   
109. The same was true of the ECs proposal for Members to introduce and publish their domestic 
standard processing times for customs release.   The EC did not think it would be feasible, or 
desirable, for Members to adopt a single harmonized standard for time release.   That was simply not 
possible. Therefore, Members should at least adopt  their own domestic standard time release periods 
and commit progressively to trying to reduce that . That in itself would be a useful outcome. 
110. The third area the EC focussed on in their  paper was to reduce and simplify import and export 
formalities per se .  In particular, the EC would welcome a commitment to implement the key 
provisions of the Revised Kyoto Convention, although the EC did not think that it should be an 
absolute obligation for Members to accede to Kyoto.  The EC joined many delegations in proposing a 
number of simplified procedures that delegations mi ght consider, notably for pre-arrival processing of 
consignments and the possibility of simplified procedures for compliant traders.   
111. The EC saw merit also in removing the obligatory use of customs brokers.  In a small number 
of countries, the use of customs brokers was absolutely binding under law.  The EC did not see the 
need for that and proposed that  a company should have the choice between lodging their customs 
declarations directly or going through customs brokers, who tended to monopolize the market and 
represented an additional cost, notably for SMEs.    TN/TF/M/6 
Page 16  
 
 112. The EC echoed the proposals made by China, Japan, Korea, and others, on the value of risk 
analysis.  The aim was that, through risk assessme nt, one allowed customs to concentrate limited 
resources on the most suspect shipme nts while allowing legitimate trade to flow.  In practice, all 
Members were carrying out some kind of risk assessment at the border because it was simply not 
possible to inspect a hundred per cent of shipments.  The notion of authorized traders went along with 
the notion of risk analysis.   
113. Other proposals had been made in the paper, but because of time constraints at the present 
meeting, the only other point the EC wished to fl ag was the suggestion that one of the Group's aims 
could be to see the abolition over time of official pre-shipment inspection (PSI) systems.  If the Group 
was successful in finding measures to improve the capacity of customs administrations around the 
world, then official PSI should natu rally no longer be necessary. PSI could be an obstacle to trade.  It 
was meant to be temporary, but was in fact becomi ng permanent in certain parts of the world, and it 
represented costs both to the exporter and to the im porting countries who were forced to rely on PSI 
systems pending the improvement of their domestic customs administration. Therefore, the EC proposed that consideration be given to phasing out of PSI over time.  
114. The second half of the EC paper related to SDT and other matters.  An attempt had been made 
to draw the linkages between the commitments pro posed, TA, and other kinds of flexibilities that 
were part and parcel of the proposals.    
115. The representative of Norway
 said that Norway was strongly committed to avoiding 
unnecessary procedural barriers to trade.  Thus, the fu rther development of Arti cle VIII was one of its 
main priorities in the negotiations.   
116. In Norway's communication on border agency cooperation (TN/TF/W/48), it had provided 
information on its experience with the customs border cooperation between Norway, Sweden and 
Finland.  The current paper was not a proposal, but  merely an "experience paper" and aimed at 
providing food-for-thought on how cooperation am ong Members could be developed, and what 
benefits could arise from it.  Norway also believe d that elements of its experience could benefit 
greater cooperation between different border agenci es at a regional, as well as domestic, level.   
117. Cooperation between the three Nordic Member s was based on the simple idea that the 
national border authorities of each country allowed to provide services and exercise legal powers not 
only on behalf of their home state, but also on behalf  of their neighbouring states.  For example, in 
Norway, Norway did work both for export of goods out of Norway and imports of goods into Sweden or Finland.  That division of labour saved tim e, money and human resources both for the border 
authorities and for the economic operators.  Th e described border cooperation had developed 
gradually over the years to become the integrated service existing to date.   
118. The paper described in detail how that joint border cooperation was carried out, listed facts on 
the agreements that governed the cooperation, and the results were of that cooperation.  The paper 
also provided an estimation of the resources that had been saved both by the government as well as by 
the traders at the Norwegian side of the border.   
119. The administrative cooperation between the custom s administrations of the Nordic countries 
made it possible to plan the future and harmonize to the extent possible procedures, as well as TA.  As the Nordic countries were small with limited resour ces, Norway had found it necessary and useful to 
join forces when contributing to TA&CB.  That  had been done by allocating human resources and 
economic funding to various projects coordinated by the WCO.  The Nordic customs administrations 
appreciated the work done by the WCO in this respect.    TN/TF/M/6 
 Page 17 
 
 
 120. The representative of China  introduced the China-Korea proposal on risk management 
(TN/TF/W/49), saying that the concept of risk management had long been recognized by the 
international customs community.  China's experience had shown that there were  substantial benefits 
to its administration both in terms of effective fu lfilment of customs duties and in terms of cost 
efficiency in administrative expenses.  Moreover, many customs administrations had already realized 
that that technique had become an integrated pa rt of their modernization approach.  The goal of 
providing stakeholders other than customs with the benefits of shorter clearance time and lower trade 
costs could not be ignored.  China and Korea, based upon those observations, therefore wished to 
propose their ideas on risk management as a clarification and improvement to GATT Article VIII, especially its aspect on import and export formalities.  
121. China proposed to apply risk management t echniques to the customs operation processes at 
different stages where considered appropriate.  With the enterprise classification system, enterprises 
with a good compliance record with customs might  enjoy more convenient treatment, such as pre-
arrival declaration, fast clearance, release upon gu arantee, etc.  During the process of clearance, 
customs was able to release a majority of goods with low risk and focus on high-risk goods through 
risk assessment and analysis.  After clearance, cu stoms could use audit measures to ensure effective 
control.  Any problems and risk information found during the audit w ould be fed back to relevant 
branches of Customs.  That way, a close risk management chain was formed to facilitate the 
movement of goods while keeping effective customs control. 
122. Generally, risk management should not resu lt in huge costs to Members with existing 
technological and management conditions.  However, its application required certain investments in 
the areas of infrastructure, staff training, a nd coordination and coopera tion among relevant border 
agencies.  Therefore, TA&CB support were nece ssary to help developing Members conduct self-
assessment in risk management as well as implement fu ture rules.  Longer transition periods and other 
necessary flexibilities should  also be granted to those Members in the implementation stage. 
123. The proposal was not exhaustive.  China hoped th at Members could work together to find 
effective and feasible measures to establish and cons olidate their risk management regimes in their 
administration of trade.  China would be happy to  share its experience with other Members in that 
regard. 
124. The representative of Korea
 said that, in order to avoid repetition in explaining the content of 
the joint China-Korea paper, Korea simply wished to highlight the intention of the paper while also 
providing some explanation of Korea's national experience on risk management.   
125. He recalled that Korea's proposal on Article VIII (TN/TF/W/18) had already stated the 
importance of risk management and related measures such as pre-arrival processing, post-clearance auditing and authorized traders, and reduction of the requirements for less risky goods.  The joint 
paper stressed the use of risk management which wa s an efficient and fair measure for the purpose of 
simplifying and modernizing import and export custom s formalities.  Many ideas were noted in that 
paper, including the establishment of a risk manage ment platform by adopting advanced information 
technology, different treatment for commodities with  different risk levels, enterprises classification 
coincided with Korea's position on risk manageme nt.  On many occasions, Korea had committed to 
adhering to the Revised Kyoto Convention.  In relation to risk management, in 1989 Korea had 
introduced a selected inspection system. Korea had in corporated risk management in areas such as 
import cargo, export cargo, audit revenue and dr awback selective system and other areas of 
passengers, as well as with respect to surveillance.   
126. The representative of Switzerland
 commented on the papers by China and Korea, and by 
Japan, and said that the introduction of controls ad apted to risk was one of the most powerful means 
of speeding up customs clearance.  It was thanks to that concept that the rate of control had been TN/TF/M/6 
Page 18  
 
 drastically reduced without sacrificing efficiency.  In  Switzerland, the overall rate of control for goods 
was under five per cent.  Sensitive products such as tobacco and alcohol, or products that were 
sensitive from a medical or phytosanitary point of  view, were controlled more frequently, while 
normal goods were controlled at a very low rate of  about one per cent.  That was why Switzerland 
welcomed the two submissions on that subject.  They  had the merit of being very clear and practical, 
and of referring to the good practices included in international conventions and recommendations.  
Switzerland had introduced the first four elemen ts proposed in the communication form China and 
Korea, and Switzerland's experience had been very  positive.  Switzerland therefore recommended that 
those elements be taken into account in the ne gotiations. The fifth element proposed – enterprise 
clarification – was not a system that Switzerland applie d.  In fact, the system that was applied, which 
partly incorporated the spirit of that element of th e proposal, was that of the authorized consignor and 
consignee, a concept mentioned in the submission by the European Communities. 
127. That latest EC submission contained a multitude of key elements, some of which had already 
been covered by the submissions of other Members.   Switzerland wised to take up the concept of 
authorized consignor and consignee. 
128. In Switzerland's view, that procedure was significant in enhancing the fluidity of trade.  It was 
a procedure that fitted in very well with Switzerland' s system of transhipment of goods in that it had 
created a situation in which both traders and the St ate stood to gain.  In Switzerland, the authorized 
consignor and consignee open customs warehouse pr ocedures had one thing in common:  namely, 
they allowed for on-site customs clearance.  That meant that the export, transit and import formalities 
could be conducted without placing the goods under customs control at the office of departure or 
destination.  Any customs control would, in prin ciple, also take place on-site.  The decision as to 
whether controls should be conduc ted or not was left to the customs office responsible for the 
procedure in question within a given time-limit. 
129. In the case of exportation, the exporter was thus  able – without any waiting time at the border 
– to determine the exact time of exportation and to ef ficiently organize the means of transport, since it 
was possible to calculate the time required to load for the goods. 
130. In the case of importation, the authorized consi gnee notified the arrival to the customs control 
office, which immediately decided whether the goods must be unloaded in the presence of the 
customs services.  The short control times enabled th e trader to make optimum use of the modes of 
transport, facilitating reallocation. 
131. The main advantages of those procedures were: (i ) increased time flexibility.  There were no 
timetable constraints.  Subject to certain conditi ons, the goods could be brought or removed outside 
the opening hours of the competent customs office; (ii) geographical autonomy with respect to the 
customs office.  The shipments did not have to be brought to a customs office.  Optimum use could be 
made of existing infrastructure for the transhipme nt of goods; (iii) faster customs clearance and 
reduced downtime for vehicles thanks to the fact that the processing time was known.  That meant 
that vehicles would be more readily available. 
132. For the customs partners and the customs ad ministration, those procedures constituted a 
flexible instrument which satisfied the cu rrent requirements for the traffic of goods. 
133. How did one become an authorized consignee or consignor? The customs administration 
granted authorizations subject to a number of criteria.   The trader must: (a) regularly ship or receive 
goods; (b) designate a specific site or location wher e the goods to be shipped or received could be 
placed under customs control; (c) post a general bo nd to guarantee the payment of fees; (d) allow 
verification of the progress of the shipment and the customs status of the goods at all times and without fail, from their arrival until their remova l;  and (e) be domiciled sufficiently close to the  TN/TF/M/6 
 Page 19 
 
 
 competent customs office for the controls to be  made without any disproportionate administrative 
work. 
134. The Norwegian submission on customs coopera tion mentioned an agreement concluded 
between Switzerland and the EU.  While Switzerla nd had not experienced the kind of cooperation 
described in the submission which involved the de legation of competence to neighbouring agencies, 
Switzerland had increased its cooperation with its  neighbouring countries.  That cooperation had 
several facets: for example, the contracting parti es to the agreement recognized the controls carried 
out and the documents issued by the competent authorities of the ot her contracting party certifying 
that the goods met the conditions laid down in the importing country's legislation or the equivalent 
conditions in the exporting country , without precluding the possibility of conducting spot checks. 
135. That cooperation also involved, inter alia : (a) the development of border posts in order to 
meet traffic requirements; (b) the transformation of  border offices into adjacent control units, where 
possible; (c) the harmonization of competences of border posts and offices on either side of the 
border; and (d) the search for appropriate solu tions to resolve any difficulties that were 
communicated. This was not an exhaustive summary of the agreement, but merely a sample list. 
136. The representative of Chinese Taipei  said that Japan's proposals on risk management were 
very useful. Japan had mentioned that the appli cation of such a concept had enabled them to 
implement various trade measures to facilitate the legitimate flow of goods, while at the same time 
taking appropriate action against illegal tr ansactions or the movement of goods.  
137. The joint proposal by China and Korea made clear that, through the application of risk 
management methods, the most compliant traders or low-risk commodities could be granted the 
simplest and fastest clearance treatment by customs authorities.  Moreover, the concept of risk 
management might be applied throughout the cu stoms clearance process, from supervision and 
control, to post-clearance audit, classifications, and valuation.  
138. Chinese Taipei placed a great deal of importance on both proposals.  The whole subject of 
expediting clearance operations w ithout jeopardizing national securit y had become a major challenge 
for customs.  There was no doubt that the applica tion of risk management could help meet the 
challenges.  In Chinese Taipei's experience, ta rgeting high-risk consignments for physical 
examination using risk management techniques coul d not only ensure the normal flow of legitimate 
goods and passengers, but could also help to eff ectively crack down on illegal trading practices.  
139. The first part of the EC's communication contained 15 proposals aimed at improving 
Article VIII and at making that Article more operati onal.  In general, Chinese Taipei welcomed those 
suggestions. The use of relevant international standards and instruments had to emphasized.  
According to a recent survey among several hundred of their stakeholders, including manufacturers, traders, brokers and forwarders on the issue of TF  and what those stakeholders would like to see 
coming out of the negotiations, not surprisingly, of all the possible outcomes, the one they desired most was "to establish a harmonized international ru le on customs procedures".  It would be most 
beneficial if Members could identify and agr ee on exactly which international standards and 
instruments were to be used as a reference.   
140. In addition, Chinese Taipei agreed with the EC's proposal to eliminate the pre-shipment 
inspection arrangements.  The PSI system was par ticularly troublesome when there was no PSI agent 
present in the exporting country.  The exporter then  had to go to the designated PSI agent in a 
neighbouring country – and that cost exporters more time and money. 
141. Norway's sharing of their experience with  their border agency cooperation was very 
interesting, and Chinese Taipei hoped that that kind of system could one day be adopted by Members. TN/TF/M/6 
Page 20  
 
 142. The representative of Malaysia
 wished to provide some preliminary comments on new 
submissions for Article VIII, particularly on the pa per sponsored by Japan, China and Korea, and also 
on the input by Chinese Taipei on express clearance, particularly on risk management.  Malaysia 
commended Members on their efforts in sharing experiences on risk management and express 
clearance systems.  Malaysian customs authorities had implemented the system and believed that it 
had greatly benefited in enhancing clearance of goods at  entry points.  Malaysia wished also to share 
and explain its work experience in implementing the system.   
143. In that connection, Malaysia wished to impres s that when Malaysia was in the process of 
developing the system, it had had to go through a strenuous and lengthy educative process, since risk management and express clearance systems could be ve ry technical.  In that regard, it was important 
to have extensive and appropriate  TA&CB support and programmes to ensure that not only the proper 
and suitable technology and process were available for the operation, but also the much needed 
training for human resources and skills which were e qually critical, if not more so, since the level of 
expertise of handling technology and processes woul d determine the success of the application of the 
risk management system.  Malaysia commended th e sponsors of that proposal on their decision to 
provide TA through seminars that would be  conducted in the near future.     
144. The representative of Canada
 commented on Japan's submission on risk management and said 
that Canada supported the important point that risk management techniques were relevant for ensuring 
compliance and maintaining effective controls as they  enabled authorities to identify areas of concerns 
and optimize the use of resources, devoting those res ources to where they were most needed.  Canada 
also drew attention to the role that increased use of  risk management techniques played in the current 
efforts of the WCO's high level strategy group to  develop a framework of standards to secure and 
facilitate global trade.   
145. Canada looked forward to exchanging view s with Members on whether incremental or 
progressive approaches might be feasible regarding implementing risk management measures.  One approach could be to have measures initially applie d on the basis of a single programme review such 
as, for example, on valuation, origin or cust oms classifications, depending on the priorities of 
individual countries.   
146. With respect to the submission from Chinese Taipei, Canada wished to emphasize the 
valuable contribution the submission made in addressing the important topic that Canada had 
previously characterized in G/C/W/397 as express clearance or immediate release of consignments.  Canada saw the relevance of many of the princi ples suggested by Chinese Taipei, not only in the 
context of express clearance, but also in the contex t of other proposals submitted in the NG to date.   
147. Canada would welcome further discussion of the proposed phased approach to TA&CB  that 
Chinese Taipei had raised.  One element Canada found particularly interesting was the dispatching of 
assessment missions to identify areas for improvement. Canada would appreciate hearing views on what parties might best be suited to conduct those mi ssions.  In addition, Canada would be interested 
in hearing Members' views on the applicability of a phased approach more generally to measures 
other than express consignments.   
148. The representative of Hong Kong, China
 wished to offer preliminary comments on the papers 
from the EC as well as from China and Korea.   
149. Hong Kong, China welcomed the EC's paper on Article VIII and the provision of SDT and 
TA.  With respect to the suggested general co mmitments, Hong Kong, China supported the principle 
that formalities and requirements s hould be no more administratively burdensome and trade restrictive 
than absolutely necessary to achieve  their legitimate objective.  To facilitate deliberations, Hong  TN/TF/M/6 
 Page 21 
 
 
 Kong, China would appreciate if the EC could furthe r elaborate on the notion of "design and effect of 
export and import procedures".   
150. Hong Kong, China also supported the principle that  a measure should not be maintained if the 
circumstances or objectives giving right to its adop tion no longer existed.  The measure should not be 
continued if the circumstances or objectives could be  addressed in a less trade restrictive manner.  
Hong Kong, China welcomed further discussion on the proposal with a view to arriving at reasonable, 
meaningful and enforceable WTO commitments.   
151. On the suggested provisions on data and documentary requirements, Hong Kong, China 
generally welcomed the standardization of data and documentary requirements as a TF measure.  
International standards for data elements and data requirement s hould be adopted by individual 
Members as far as possible.  However, Hong Kong, Ch ina was aware that that might be a long process 
and that it might require major reviews by individual Members.   Hong Kong, China welcomed further 
discussion on the acceptance of copies and commercia lly available information with a view to 
exploring whether reasonable, meaningful and enfo rceable WTO commitments could be established.   
152. With respect to the suggested provisions on customs and related import and export 
procedures, Hong Kong, China again welcomed further discussion on the issue with a view to 
exploring whether an enforceable WTO commitment could be established.  On the commitment to non-discrimination in terms of requirements and pro cedures applicable to like products irrespective of 
their mode of transportation, Hong Kong, China sou ght clarification on exactly what improvement of 
Article VIII with respect to non-discrimination was e nvisaged.  It would be helpful if the envisaged 
commitment could be set out and relevant exampl es given, especially on how the concept of like 
products should be relevant in  the ongoing negotiations.    
153. Hong Kong, China welcomed the China-Korean  paper on risk management.  Hong Kong, 
China generally agreed that the proper applica tion of risk management could speed up customs 
clearance, improve administrative costs and efficiency  and enhance traders' compliance rates.  Hong 
Kong, China also agreed that Members, especia lly developing and least-developed ones, should 
identify their needs and priorities in relation to the possible implementation of risk management.  
Such an assessment would be a very good basis fo r Members' consideration of possible TA&CB.  
While it might not be easy to come up with concrete, meaningful and enforceable commitments for risk management, Hong Kong, China appreciated th e discussions that were presently taking place on 
that matter.  It would be very helpful if the actua l commitments could be more clearly defined to see if 
they were practical.   
154. The representative of Turkey
 raised a question concerning Japan's submission on risk 
management in relation to time release.  Did Japanes e customs declare a standard release time?  If so, 
in case of high risk consignments, how did Japanese customs explain to the trader the reason for longer clearance times beyond the standard time?  An d, what kind of information was provided to the 
trader in explaining the reason of longer time clearance? 
155. The representative of the European Communities
 said that the proposal from China and Korea 
was one of the most important proposals made so far in the negotiations.  The EC welcomed and 
supported it. China and Korea identified well one of the most important ways in which one could not 
only speed up trade but also reduce the cost to gove rnments of managing the borders through a more 
efficient allocation of customs resources.  The propos al was a good answer to the concerns that some 
Members had expressed about the costs of certain TF measures.   
156. Risk assessment was a cost reduction measure.  Members should all welcome that.  China and 
Korea made a related proposal regarding an enterp rise classification system, something delegations 
had called systems for recognizing authorized trad ers.  The EC called them authorized economic TN/TF/M/6 
Page 22  
 
 operators.  The EC considered it to be a good idea that Members started to introduce systems of 
rewarding compliance and honest and efficient traders w ith simplified, faster procedures.  It would be 
useful in the WTO that, where t hose systems existed, the criteria Members applied for authorized 
traders were transparent and objective in the sense of  it being possible for companies of any side to 
qualify as authorized traders.  Currently, it was the EC's impression that in countries where the 
systems existed, which was an increasing number, it was multinational companies who utilized those 
simplified fast track facilities.  One had to be sure that the criteria applied for granting the status of 
authorized traders should not be such as to exclude sm aller companies if they were equally compliant.   
157. On the Norwegian paper, the EC was of the view  that it was very useful that Norway shared 
their practical experience with Members.  The very long-standing re gional arrangement was 
underpinned now by an agreement between the European Communities and Norway.  The EC wanted 
to encourage and facilitate those kinds of a rrangements.  The European Communities had the 
impression that the border cooperation set out in the paper was the exception rather than the norm around the world.  There was massive potential for that kind of sharing of border resources to be applied in every corner of the world.  The co st-reduction potential of po oling border resources was 
enormous. The European Communities wished to l ook at how this kind of concept could be made 
operational within the negotiating work Members were  involved in.  In particular, one should discuss 
what kind of commitment, if any, could be made  on the question of sharing of border resources. 
Would it be simply a general encouragement to Memb ers to take a look at the idea and talk to their 
neighbours to see whether it could be done, or should  there be some kind of clearer requirement with 
exceptions?  The EC recognized that, for many countries, that kind of border cooperation would be 
quite ineffective and perhaps particularly difficu lt.  But, if Members only had a very general 
inducement to look into it, then it would perhaps not lead to changes on the grounds of the cost 
savings that those changes would bring.  The EC wished to hear Norway's views on the extent to 
which, in their experience, the kind of border coope ration depended on the existence of more or less 
common standards and rules on each side of the border between the administrations applying the 
system.  Obviously, through the negotiation proc ess, Members were able to encourage more 
standardized international procedures and more st andard ways of operati ng at the border based on 
international standards.  That in itself would be  a very good element to make it easier for more 
Members to implement the kind of border c ooperation existing at the Nordic borders.   
158. The representative of Singapore
 said that the various proposals on Article VIII served as 
useful resources for Members' work.     
159. Risk management could make a direct contributio n to facilitating trade.  In that connection, 
Singapore broadly concurred with th e various elements in the papers  by both Japan and China, and 
Korea.  Singapore noted that some of the proposals contained in those papers also stemmed  from the 
APEC TF principles, such as the principle of mode rnization and the use of new technology.  Risk 
management was also expressly provided for in th e manual of actions and measures under the APEC 
TF Action Plan.   
160. The EC paper contained various interesting el ements.  Most of them would improve the 
operationalization of Article VIII.  However, Singa pore had two specific questions on the EC paper.  
The first question arose from section B, pa ragraph 6.  The EC had proposed the " introduction by each 
WTO Member or customs union (…) of a uniform custom s code or similar customs legislation, as well 
as a single import and export declaration, administrative message or data set ".  It was not very clear 
to Singapore what was meant by "uniform customs code" in the context of individual WTO Members.  
Was it just to have a coherent body of legislation and regulations?    
161. The second question related to section C,  paragraph 9.  The EC proposed " a commitment to 
non-discrimination in terms of requirements and procedures applicable to like products irrespective 
of their mode of transportation ".  Singapore agreed with the EC that there should be neutrality  in  TN/TF/M/6 
 Page 23 
 
 
 respect to the application of non-discrimination oblig ations for the various modes of transportation.  
However, as the EC had also recognized in its pr oposal, the different modes of transportation had 
their own particularities.  Therefore, the requi rements and procedures for different modes were 
unlikely to be identical.  It would be appreciated  if the EC could elaborate on how to determine 
whether there had been discriminatory treatment and how the notion of non-discrimination could 
effectively be operationalized with respect to  the various modes of transportation.   
162. The representative of New Zealand  welcomed the new papers, especially those that involved 
the sharing of national experience, which increased  the knowledge-base of the NG and also helped 
educate those least familiar with the practical implications of the underlined proposals.   
163. As for the EC paper TN/TF/W/46, New Zealand agreed with the starting premise that 
Article VIII could, and should, be  made more operational.  New Zeal and agreed with the EC that none 
of the ideas – with one possible exception – were ne w.  Rather, they represented a clarification of 
earlier proposals.  That suggested that Member s were making progress and were moving beyond pure 
issue identification towards clarifying and developing the proposals on the table.   
164. New Zealand very much supported the applica tion of core GATT principles to TF measures, 
such as the principle of non-discrimination, and that  TF measures should be not more trade restrictive 
than necessary to achieve legitimate objectives.  New Zealand would be interested in hearing more 
from the EC about what particular legitimate objectives they had in mind in that context.    
165. Secondly, New Zealand was interested in th e proposals relating to the harmonization and 
standardization of import/export formalities, in pa rticular, as regards standardization of data 
requirements using international standards.  That  was something New Zealand had proposed first in 
its submission TN/TF/W/24 and also in a submi ssion co-sponsored with Norway and Switzerland 
(TN/TF/W/36).  New Zealand also welcomed the refe rence to introducing a requirement for objective 
criteria for tariff classification, which had also been covered in a previous New Zealand proposal (TN/TF/W/24).   
166. The representative of Kenya
 welcomed the proposals on Article VIII, in particular the 
submissions relating to risk management (TN/ TF/W/42 and W/49).  Kenya shared the views 
expressed on the benefits associated with the a doption of risk management programmes within 
customs.  However, Kenya's experience had show n that adequate information and communication 
technology (ICT) infrastructure was essential for introducing modern practices such as risk 
management.  Often, in countries such as Kenya, inadequate ICT infrastructure and human resources 
presented a major challenge for customs authorities in introducing the best controls.  There were also 
other challenges that had to be taken into account, such as lack of a compre hensive central database 
which was key to a successful risk  assessment profiling programme.  TA&CB was therefore critical in 
that area.   
167. Another important aspect was the need for an enabling environment re quired for audit-based 
controls.  In diverting cont rol attention from the border to  commercial records of individual 
companies, customs had to be satisfied that comp anies had proper records and were registered and 
supervised for that purpose.  Customs would also need to have access to information on the overall 
compliance record, the companies' financial situa tion and their best performance in dealing with 
customs.  In countries such as Kenya where the major ity of the importers were in the informal sector 
and where physical location and proper records of th e participants in the sector were lacking, the 
introduction of audit-based controls in one step presented a major challenge.  Even in those cases 
where a record existed, there was usually a lack  of legal power for the customs to access the 
information.   TN/TF/M/6 
Page 24  
 
 168. Another important point Kenya wished to seek clarification on from Japan, China and Korea 
was whether they envisaged a uniform system of risk  management in view of the fact that national 
and customs priorities might vary widely among the Members.  In terms of SDT, Kenya's experience had shown that the SDT suggested in TN/TF/W/49 in terms of longer transition periods for the 
implementation of the suggested measures was not a ppropriate.  In the absence of adequate TA&CB, 
the next alternative would be an exemption from implementing such measures.   
169. On the submission by Norway, TN/TF/W/48, Kenya also believed that for border cooperation 
to take place, the Members involved must have ach ieved a certain level of harmonization in their 
customs procedures and practices.  Therefore, it would be interesting to hear from Norway the extent to which harmonization in custom procedures ha d been achieved among the Members before the 
particular custom protocol ope rations had been adopted.   
170. The representative of Jamaica
 said that Trade Facilitation was an  integral aspect of Jamaica's 
economic development and must be done without  compromising the nation's security or economic 
well-being.  Some of the measures pursued by Japan  such as risk management techniques were also 
being pursued in Jamaica despite the constraints Ja maica was facing in that context.  Jamaica's pre-
arrival processing, for example, provided adjusting time effects for cargo belonging to those importers 
who needed them right away.  But Jamaica's risk management operations faced major constraints.  
Those areas could be quite challenging. Therefor e, Jamaica welcomed the further sharing of 
experiences in that regard.  The area s hould be one of the targets of TA&CB.     
171. With respect to document TN/TF/W/44 by  Chinese Taipei, Jamaica welcomed the 
information provided on the experience regarding express consignments.  Jamaican Customs 
authorities realized the importance of speedy clear ance of goods and had a number of procedures in 
place for that purpose, such as procedures for the speedy clearance of perishable goods and a fast-
track mechanism for brokers whose error rating was 5 per cent or less.  The turn-around time for fast- 
track entries was two hours.     
172. Regarding the suggested simplified declarati on of low-value consignments, it might be 
necessary to clarify the term "necessary" appearing be fore the word information.  Jamaica would also 
like to be clear on whether it was envisaged to ha ve two declaration forms for goods, one for low- 
value and one for high-value consignments.  It was fa r simpler to have one standard declaration form.   
173. The suggested adoption of the principle of ri sk management was agreeable.  Jamaica had a 
risk management system in place, although there w as a need to strengthen it in terms of practical 
resources and in terms of additional personnel.   
174. Periodic declaration might be difficult given the climate of non-compliance in some countries.  
Financial guarantees might prove very difficult as well, especially in Ministries of Finance, as non-payment of duty was a sensitive issue for many Me mbers given the importance of customs duties for 
revenue collection.  It also might increase incide nces of non-compliance.  Jamaica agreed, however, 
on flexible customs hours of operation.  In Jamaica,  all customs departments operated 24 hours, seven 
days a week, including on public holidays.  The working hours at the ports were also very conducive 
to speedy business operations.   
175. Overall, it was recognized that the adoption of some of those guidelines might prove onerous 
for some customs authorities.  The high degree of non-compliance might affect the operation of some 
of those principles.  In addition, it was important to  maintain a certain level of control and to adopt 
certain binding commitments on some of the foregoing so as not to take control away from the 
customs authorities.  The issues of revenue and secu rity were also important in that context.  
However, Jamaica wished to under score that greater ea se in clearing express consignments was a 
good overarching principle to be adopted by Members.    TN/TF/M/6 
 Page 25 
 
 
 176. The representative of Norway  said that the EC paper on Article VIII referred to several key 
elements.  GATT Article VIII was not fully oper ational despite recognition of the need for 
minimizing the incidence and complexity of im port and export formalities and for decreasing and 
simplifying import and export documentation requireme nts.  However, it did not require any such 
reductions nor did it indicate how to achieve it.  Secondly, it stated that many Members were keen to 
see the establishment of a set of WTO provisions th at would set all WTO Members on an agreed path 
of modern and simplified procedures, taking full acc ount of international standards and work done by 
other international organi zations.  Lastly, it stated that an y measures restricted trade as little as 
possible without affecting Members' right to ach ieve other legitimate policy objectives.  Norway 
agreed with that. 
177. The EC paper reflected some of the ideas No rway had been working on in the submission 
with New Zealand and Switzerland on simplifying, reducing and standardizing trade documents. The 
aim of the proposals tabled at the last meeting was two-fold:  to identify the need for a standardized 
format for documents accompanyi ng shipments and for a reduction in the number of documents 
required.  The intention was to clarify and impr ove Article VIII to make it more operational.  
Norway's starting point had been that the applicati on of international standards in trade documentation 
would greatly benefit developing countries and SMEs.  The question Norway had asked itself in 
drafting the document was what could help prolifer ate  those standards.  Norway had therefore 
suggested to agree on the use of standardized doc ument formats for export, import and transit of 
goods.  It should be available in several different languages to ease the work of traders and customs 
authorities.  In order to maximize the benefits of  standardized documents, Members should further 
discuss the use of standard data elements in the doc uments.  Norway had also put forward the idea of 
a bank of standard documents that could be accessed  by anyone and in the language needed.  Norway 
did not propose that the WTO develop standard documen ts.  That should be left to organizations best 
suited to carry out such a job such as the Intern ational Maritime Organization and others.    
178. Thus, Norway agreed with th e commitment to non-discrimination in terms of requirements 
and procedures applicable to like products irrespectiv e of their mode of transportation as mentioned in 
the EC paper.  Norway did not suggest that the WTO should develop standard  data elements, which 
should also be left to organizations best suited to carry out such a job. Norway was working on developing core aspects of its submission.    
179. The representative of Korea
 said that Japan's paper highlighted the importance of risk 
management.  Korea appreciated Japan's definition of risk management as an indispensable element 
of TF while maintaining the appropriate contour.  Korea fully shared Japan's  experiences in that 
regard and had also similar experiences in the area of time release.  The Japanese paper was another 
vehicle to move forward on the adoption of the concept of risk management.   
180. The paper by Chinese Taipei was welcome. Express consignments had become an important 
factor of the current just-in-time trading environment and was of critical importance for traders, 
especially SMEs.  Chinese Taipei's illustration of its  experience with APEC's TA programme was also 
a helpful way of showing how that mechanism could be implemented.  
181. In APEC, a Sub-Committee on Customs Pr ocedures had been established under the 
Committee on Trade and Investment  in 1994.  The Sub-Committee's main objective was to facilitate 
trade by simplifying and harmonizing customs procedures in the APEC region.  In 1995, APEC leaders adopted an agenda which set out the prin ciples, process and sub-fora for a Collective Action 
Plan (CAP) towards achieving the global goal of  free and open trade and investment.  Customs 
procedures were one of the elements of the collectiv e action plan.  The customs administrations of the 
APEC region had achieved significant progress in st reamlining, upgrading and harmonizing activities 
through these CAPs.  They were implemented in three stages, from simple to more sophisticated ones.  
Furthermore, at the first APEC Sub-Committee mee ting held in February in Seoul, Korea, two new TN/TF/M/6 
Page 26  
 
 items were adopted, namely:  time release measureme nt and adoption of implementation of the APEC 
framework based on the WCO framework of standards to  secure and facilitate global trade.  This Sub-
Committee supported and pursued a partnership with the WTO, especially in the WTO TF 
negotiations through their TA&CB programme for cust oms administrations in the APEC region.  The 
second Sub-Committee meeting would be held in Kor ea in September to further discuss TF matters.  
182. With respect to the question on enterprise classi fication raised in Korea's joint submission 
with China, Korea was of the view that the ultimate goal of risk mana gement could be applied in three 
areas:  (1) goods; (2) persons;  and (3) vehicles.  One could discuss risk management methods for 
goods, for example with respect to time release, as well as with respect to persons.  Korea saw 
enterprise classification as one of the ways for operat ors to apply risk management.  The third element 
was vehicles, relating, for example, to aircraft or vessels.  One could operate more differentiated 
surveillance for those vehicles, including aircraft, or vessels.  Overall, Korea saw the issue of 
enterprise classification as one of the challenges Members had to meet, but it was open to including that concept in the TF negotiations.  
183. The representative of Pakistan
 said that, in general, Pakistan appreciated all the proposals 
tabled. Pakistan especially supported  Japan's pr oposal on risk management (TN/TF/W/42) and the  
proposal from China and Korea (TN/TF/W/49).   
184. From its own experience, Pakistan felt that that was probably the best way to address the 
challenge of creating a balance between customs control and TF. It was the most efficient and effective way for the use of resources available in countries who already had resource constraints.     
185. The EC proposal (TN/TF/W/46) was also welcome.  It took a holistic approach for any future 
TF agreement, and the proposed application of co re GATT principles and the incorporation of S&D 
provisions made the proposal a very positive and be neficial one.  Pakistan especially noted with 
interest the EC's proposal that " any future WTO provisions should therefore include a range of special 
and differential treatment provisions, including  less onerous commitments for poorer developing 
countries, transitional periods for the assumpti on of commitments, and provisions regarding 
improvements in the supply of technical assistance ."   
186. The representative of the United States
 said that the contributions were all good.  The US 
noted with particular agreement the positive view  taken on risk management and risk assessment.  
Certainly, there were a lot of elements that made  up the process. The US also took note of the points 
made by Hong Kong, China.  The United States equa lly looked forward to the elaboration of specific 
examples relating to concrete commitments in that area, as well as to some of the other proposals put 
forward by the EC.  The US had questions similar to  those already raised.  The NG's work would be 
enriched by some specific ex amples being provided.    
187. The representative of Japan , in response to Turkey's question on the publication of standard 
times for trade procedures, said that Japan conducted a time release survey every two to three years as 
shown in Annex 1 of its paper (TN/TF/W/42), and published the results of those surveys.  It was 
useful for the trade community to understand the average time required for importing goods.  
However, Japan wanted Members to understand that that was not a binding target for the authorities.  The trade community recognized that point as well.  Therefore, when customs needed to carry out 
inspections on certain imported goods and the importer asked for the reasons for the delay, they were 
told that inspection was underway and accepted that explanation.   
188. Regarding Kenya's question about the possibility fo r a uniform system of risk management, it 
was of course desirable to have a consistent appr oach for risk assessment.  Some work was being 
carried out in the WCO in that area, and Japan looked forward to seeing further progress.  However, 
fundamentally, Japan's view was that the actual way to implement risk analysis or risk management  TN/TF/M/6 
 Page 27 
 
 
 differed from country to country, depending on the e nvironment, risk profile and level of techniques 
available.   
189. The representative of Turkey  replied to questions raised, saying that there was no doubt that a 
ruling had to be consistent with, a nd based on, general rules.  By us ing the word "case specific" while 
mentioning the conditions of advance ruling, Turkey  meant the binding feature of advance rulings for 
the customs administrations was against its applican t.  Turkey had been implementing such a system 
since 2000.  Turkey evaluated each application fo r an advance ruling in its individual conditions, 
taking care to note the factors which might effect the decision such as country of origin, nature of the good, composition of goods, origin of inputs, etc., where applicable.  "Case specific" certainly did not mean that an inconsistency in appl ying general rules might occur.  Turkey shared Canada's view that 
the same conditions of two different transac tions should deliver the same result.   
190. In Turkey's case, binding tariff or origin rulings  were binding on the customs administration 
as against the holder of the ruling only in respect of the tariff classification or determination of origin 
of goods, and only for goods on which customs form alities were completed af ter the date on which 
the necessary information was supplied by them.  Bi nding origin rulings were issued in compliance 
with the general provisions regarding the de termination of the origin of goods.   
191. As for publicizing the relevant legislation on the Internet, Turkey was of the opinion that it 
was unrealistic to expect developing countries and LDCs  to publicize all of their legislation in one of 
the official WTO languages.  Some reflections in the NG had revealed similar concerns.   Functional 
summaries of relevant legislation would be useful, but in cases where preparation of a meaningful summary was difficult, Turkey proposed the use of a keyword approach which had proved useful at 
the international portal on foods safety, animal and plant health.   
192. With respect to the acceptance of  copies, Turkey had proposed th at as an example of Turkey's 
practices in case of invoices submitted to customs.  Turkey was open to discussing the coverage of 
such a simplification – namely a list of documents, c opies of which could, or could not, be accepted.  
Accepting copies did not mean that there was no need  for the originals and the responsible authorities 
should at anytime be able to request them.  In case of failure in a given period, administration could 
suspend the procedure and annul it.  Clarification on the remaining questions would be offered at a 
later stage.  
193. The representative of Chinese Taipei
 replied to Canada's questions and addressed the 
recommendations of a phased approach to address TA &CB. In 1997, APEC had agreed to implement 
the principles contained in the WCO Guidelines in relation to express consignment clearance, and had 
then listed them as one of the twelve items in th e so-called Collective Action Plan for the 21-Members 
to further APEC's TF goal.  Chinese Taipei had committed itself to implementing it accordingly.  
Later, an assessment mission had been carried out, composed of customs experts from various APEC 
Members, as well as Members from international organization such as the Conference of Asia-Pacific Express Couriers (CAPEC) and the International Express Couriers Conference (IECC), as well as of 
representatives from industries.  A thorough review had been undertaken of how Chinese Taipei was 
processing express consignments, what progress had been made in implementing the WCO Guidelines, and what were its plans for further improvement.   
194. In 1998, Chinese Taipei's customs set up an ad  hoc Task Force to improve the express 
consignment system.  Furthermore, in December 2001, the APEC Sub-Committee on Customs Procedures selected Chinese Taipei's  customs as the first to be reviewed.  An advisory mission was 
sent to Chinese Taipei and the experts were im pressed with the progress and achievements made.  
They concluded that Chinese Taipei's customs ha d already achieved the main principles of the WCO 
Guidelines.  That was the so-called phased approa ch previously referred to. In Chinese Taipei's TN/TF/M/6 
Page 28  
 
 proposal, it was mentioned as a one-time shop.  By speaking of a phased approach, Chinese Taipei was 
referring to a step-by-step approach.     
195. As outlined in Chinese Taipei's submission, th e implementation process might be divided into 
three major phases, as reflected in the presented diagram.  The details of each phase were not definite 
and were subject to further discussion.  As men tioned by Canada, the phased approach might be 
applied to other Members' proposals, too, and Chin ese Taipei wished to further discuss those ideas 
with Members.   
196. With respect to the questions raised by Jam aica, Chinese Taipei appreciated a thorough 
discussion of the WCO Guidelines.  Chinese Taipei's  intention was for Members to apply the WCO's 
Guidelines to the greatest extent possible.  The concerns of so me Members about some specific 
principles should be taken into account a nd addressed while the negotiations proceeded. 
197. The representative of the European Communities
 replied to a number of questions from Hong 
Kong, China, Singapore and New Zealand, and said th at written replies would also be circulated in 
due course.   
198. Hong Kong, China had raised a question about  the ECs proposal in paragraph 3 of its 
submission, namely the concept of periodic revi ew and the idea that Members should no longer 
maintain the procedure or requirement if the reasons for its introduction no longer existed, or if there 
were less trade restrictive ways to carry out the obj ective.  In that regard, the EC believed that some 
examples of how that procedure could have aris en included instances where, for example, since a 
regional procedure had been introduced, a greater le vel of automation had been realized in customs 
which allowed for a move to a less burdensome proce dure.  Possibly, new inte rnational standards had 
been drawn up in the meantime which could then be  applied and replace a pre-existing procedure.  
Often, trade patterns had changed in a manner wh ich made it no longer necessary to carry out the 
same levels of physical inspection.  There w as a whole range of reasons why requirements and 
procedures should be reviewed to take into account of evolutions in trade and in customs practices. 
What the EC proposed was a provision whereby Members would periodically review their import and 
export procedures to see whether those procedur es still met requirements or could be further 
streamlined.   
199. Hong Kong, China had also asked for more cl arification about the proposal that Members 
might accept more routinely copies of customs docum ents and not necessarily the originals, and that 
commercially available information could be accepte d as well.  The discussions that had taken place 
at the last meeting had made clear that, for some Members, it was not foreseen in their legislation to 
accept copies of documents.  But there was a very  strong and consistent request of the business 
community for that to be possible.  Furthermore, there should be circumstances where copies could be 
accepted such as, for example, under a system of au thorized traders, where one could place sufficient 
trust in the authorized trader to accept copies of docu ments rather than originals.  And, thirdly, in a 
situation where most of the Members were moving progressively, or had already moved, to electronic 
data submission, the concept of original documen ts and copies did not really exist anymore.   
200. Hong Kong, China and Singapore had both asked for examples or an explanation of 
paragraph 9, namely that Members should commit to  non-discrimination in terms of the procedures 
applicable to like products dealing with undergoing import and export procedures, irrespective of the 
mode of transportation.  Relevant examples of pr oblems that EC traders had experienced in that 
regard included very different rates of physical inspection of cargos, or of like products depending on 
whether they were being imported by road, rail or air freight without there being any obvious 
objective risk assessment basis for those different ra tes of physical intervention.  Similarly, for 
products which were physically weighted by the cu stoms on import, there were cases brought to the 
EC's attention by traders of very different rates of  physical intervention for weighing. Those were the  TN/TF/M/6 
 Page 29 
 
 
 two examples which the EC had been able to identify and more would be brought up in the EC's 
written reply.   
201. With respect to Singapore's request for clarif ication of the EC's proposal that each WTO 
Member or customs union ought to have a uniform cust oms or aligned customs legislation etc, the EC 
made no apologies for a proposal which was aimed at transparency and simplicity in practice.  As 
many Members had modified, modernized, refined, or changed their customs legislation over the 
years, there had been an increase of regulations and requirements.  It would be very useful for the 
business community if the body of customs legislation could be within a single piece of legislation, or be a single, easily defined and circumscribed customs regulation, which was the essence of the proposal. 
202. In respect of customs unions, the EC believed th at for customs unions to function effectively, 
even if the legislation of each Member of a customs union was not completely, one hundred per cent a single document, there should be sufficient alignmen t of the customs rules of each member of the 
customs union that there was effectively a single body  of legislation. The EC had a single community 
customs code applying across its customs union and c onsidered that, at the very least, Members of a 
customs union, not only the EU, but other existing or emergent customs unions, should align their 
respective national customs legislation in order to  create the kind of single market that a customs 
union was meant to provide for. 
203. New Zealand had asked about the notion that  Members import and export procedures should 
not be more restrictive than necessary to fulfil le gitimate objectives and the question was made as to 
what would be such a legitimate objective. The EC did not want to give an exhaustive list, nor did it 
think it  possible or desirable to try to establis h one.  An illustrative list would include national 
security requirements, revenue protection, anti-fra ud and anti-smuggling policies, health and safety 
and environmental protection require ments and IPR.  These were some of the other policy objectives 
which were the responsibility of customs.   Obviously, none of those objec tives should be called into 
question at all by the negotiating process.   
204. The representative of Norway
 said that the intention of the border cooperation paper was to 
further encourage cross border cooperation as it was far more efficient and saved a considerable 
amount of resources, particularly for a country like Norway, which had a very long border to inspect.  Others were in the same situation.  The EC had po inted to the fact that they considered ways of 
further operationalizing or encouraging that kind of border cooperati on between neighbouring 
countries in the context of the negotiations.  While  Norway's paper was intended as an experience 
paper, acknowledging the political sensitiveness of th e matter for some Members, Norway agreed 
with the EC in trying to address the issue in the ne gotiations.  There could be  a paragraph encouraging 
such cooperation as one way forward, but Norway was flexible.    
205. Regarding the question raised by the EC on whether the Nordic customs border cooperation 
depended on the same procedures and standards, and the question by Kenya about the requirement of 
a certain level of harmonization in order to have such an arrangement, Norway could provide the 
following information on the establishment and devel opment of the agreement:  The Agreement with 
Sweden had started out with cooperation in the fi eld of customs enforcement or controls.  The 
cooperation between Norway and Sweden devel oped in parallel with the establishment of 
international standards in organizations such as the Customs Cooperation Council, the predecessor of 
the WCO.  The bilateral agreements between Norway and Sweden, and Norway and Finland must be 
regarded both as the result of close economic interest and mutual trust, and the fact that international 
recommendations existed to facilitate cross border tra ffic.  The agreements were not depending on the 
parties having the same or identical rules, but on  the proper education of the respective customs 
officers in the other parties' laws , regulations and procedures.  Howe ver, merely educating each others 
officials was not sufficient.  Both Parties to the Agreement had implemented in their national TN/TF/M/6 
Page 30  
 
 legislation certain provisions entitling customs officers  to exercise legal powers on behalf of the other 
state within the control zone.  That was why it had been necessary to have an agreement with the EC 
in order to continue the cooperation when Sweden and Finland joined the Community.   
206. The representative of China
 wished to take the opportunity to  respond, on a preliminary basis, 
to some questions raised with respect to China' s proposal and to provide further information.   
207. The concept used in the proposal  was enterprise classification.  China agreed with the views 
raised by the EC, Chinese Taipei and others that  the most important element in carrying out the 
system was to establish a rule for determining the specific categories of the enterprises.  The most 
important element was to keep the rules as transparent as possible so as to avoid any discrimination.   
208. With respect to the questions raised by Kenya on the longer transition period for the 
developing countries, China had no intention to deny the importance of TA&CB but merely wished to 
emphasize the importance of addressing the difficulties confronted by developing countries.   
209. The representative of Singapore  introduced Singapore's paper, explaining that it set out five 
specific proposals to clarify and improve Article V.   The proposals were by no means exhaustive, but 
were intended to complement recent papers on Ar ticle V.  Other proposals on Articles VIII and X 
might also be relevant as they related to tran sparency, simplification and standardization of 
documentation, data requirements and procedures.    
210. The first proposal related to risk management .  Singapore had suggested that Members should 
employ risk management techniques that enabled their authorities to concentrate inspection and 
monitoring activities on high-risk goods in transit.  That could facilitate the movement of low-risk 
goods in transit.  In that regard, Singapore noted  the recent proposals on risk management from Japan, 
and China/Korea, which were useful for Members' discussions on the matter.   
211. The second proposal related to Custom Houses as envisaged in Article V:3.  The provision 
stated that traffic in transit should not be subject to unnecessary delays or restrictions unless there had 
been a failure to comply with the applicable customs laws and regulations.  The phrase "unnecessary 
delays" was ambiguous and might possibly be subject to  arbitrary interpretation.  In that connection, 
Members might wish to discuss stipulating [a] time period/s, after which any further retention at the 
custom house could be deemed to constitute unnecessary delay.   
212. The third proposal related to the notions of "administrative expenses" and the "cost of 
services rendered" contained in Article V:3.  It was unclear what the permissible scope of "administrative expenses entailed by  transit" and "the cost of services rendered" was and how those 
requirements were to be applied on an objective and reasonable basis.  It was possible that 
"administrative expenses" could serve as a backdoor for the imposition of arbitrary charges.  It would 
therefore be useful for Members to discuss whethe r, and under what situations, those expenses should 
be imposed on transit traffic.  In that connecti on, Members could consider drawing up guidelines for 
the imposition of "administrative expenses".  For exam ple, Members could clarify that "administrative 
expenses" should only relate to costs for risk asse ssment and random inspections.  That could be a 
nominal fee, which should be applied on a non-di scriminatory basis.  Members could discuss what 
other elements to include in those guidelines.  With regard to "the cost of services rendered", it should 
be clarified that any charges imposed should only be  in respect of the provisions of services necessary 
to ensure the effective transit of goods.  The charges levied must refer to the approximate cost of the 
service rendered and might not be calculated on an ad valorem  basis.   
213. The fourth proposal related to the strengtheni ng of international cooperation with respect to 
transit traffic.  It was recognized that transit tr affic was in many cases best facilitated through regional 
cooperation.  The point had also been articulated  in the joint paper from Paraguay, Rwanda and  TN/TF/M/6 
 Page 31 
 
 
 Switzerland.  Apart from encouraging Members to c ooperate on a regional basis, the NG could also 
consider the possibility of drawing up a non-exha ustive list of elements that Members should 
endeavour to incorporate when negotiating regional  transit agreements.  Singapore had listed some 
examples of those elements.  In that context, Singa pore noted that Paraguay, Rwanda and Switzerland 
had enumerated a number of common features in cert ain transit agreements wh ich might be relevant 
for the discussions.   
214. Lastly, Singapore recognized that LDCs and some developing countries might have 
difficulties implementing some of the proposals on Ar ticle V.  SDT should therefore be an integral 
part of any commitment in the area.  In that c ontext, Singapore noted that the papers on Article V 
contained specific proposals on SDT.  Further to those proposals, Members might also wish to discuss 
(a) longer implementation timeframes for developi ng countries and LDCs; and (b) allowing those 
countries to implement, on a best-endeavour basis,  the more onerous obligations resulting from the 
Article V negotiations, including in the context of phased-in approaches.   
215. The representative of Chinese Taipei  said that Singapore's proposal complemented several of 
the elements contained in proposals submitted at pr evious meetings. Chinese Taipei was in support of 
all the principles proposed, such as the drawing up of guidelines for the imposition of "administrative 
expenses", the call for further clarification of the term "cost of services rendered", the drawing up of a list of elements in regional transit agreements , and the suggestion that the Group should elaborate 
further in a future meeting.  
216. In the meantime, however, Chinese Taipei wanted  to make a brief comment on paragraph 5 
regarding "unnecessary delays". "Unnecessary dela ys" had to be caused by unsound customs 
procedures and practices.  Thus, it seemed more important to find and resolve the problems on the 
procedures than to stipulate time periods, becau se it could prove extremely difficult to establish 
common time periods that fitted well with the wide diversity of different customs environments that 
existed across all Members.  
217. The representative of Rwanda
 associated her delegation with the statement by Zambia on 
behalf of the LDCs, and particularly welcomed  the submission by Singapore on GATT Article V.  
The proposals made in that paper were very c onsistent with those made by Rwanda in the co-
sponsored proposal TN/TF/W/39.     
218. In particular, Rwanda agreed w ith paragraph 3 of the paper th at risk management techniques 
would go a long way in expediting transit procedures Rwanda was very much interested in.  That was 
an area that might require TA for countries that had not fully established risk assessment techniques.  
Rwanda's experience had shown that lack of we ll-trained and adequate human resources and data 
bank compromised the benefits accruing from risk assessment techniques.  
219. Rwanda also agreed with the point made in paragraph 5 that the term "unnecessary delays" 
was ambiguous and that elements to avoid delays in clearance should be established. Rwanda would 
further consider the proposal of stipulating a time frame for that purpose.   
220. Rwanda also agreed with the point made by Singapore in paragraph 6 that the terms 
"administrative expenses" and "costs rendered" we re not clear and should be further clarified.  
Rwanda also welcomed and wished to consider further the proposal that guidelines for the imposition 
of administrative expenses should be established.   
221. A small clarification was sought from Singapore on paragraph 9, proposing that charges 
levied must refer to the approximate cost of the service rendered.  How would the approximate cost of 
a service be determined to ensure that the act ual cost was indeed the approximate cost?   TN/TF/M/6 
Page 32  
 
 222. The representative of Switzerland
 said that the proposal by Singapore complemented very 
accurately Switzerland's own submission with some  important issues that had not been listed under 
the common features.  For example, Switzerland had listed that transit arrangements used to treat 
transit of goods differently according to the risk  involved and its special characteristics.  The 
implementation of that principle would be grea tly supported by introducing risk management 
techniques.  It allowed more targeted physical c ontrols on sensitive goods but also plausibility checks 
across all products.  The latter point was particularly  interesting to track deceptive declarations of 
goods made to distract customs' attention fro m sensitive goods or because of other reasons. 
223. Another issue of particular interest in th e submission was the link it made between the 
promotion of regional transit arrangements and tr ansit measures, also mentioned under the common 
features of Switzerland's proposal.  Although trans it arrangements were primarily a regional matter, 
Members should be interested in reflecting best prac tices in that clarification exercise of Article V.  
Therefore, Switzerland liked Singapore's proposal of  drawing up a non-exhaustive list of elements 
that Members should endeavour to incorporate when  negotiating regional arra ngements. Furthermore, 
Switzerland did not have any problem with the other proposals on substance mentioned in the 
communication. 
224. The representative of Hong Kong, China  welcomed Singapore's paper.  In principle, Hong 
Kong, China supported the idea of employing risk ma nagement techniques to expedite the movement 
of goods in transit.  Hong Kong, China therefore welcomed further discussions on the proposal with a 
view to exploring whether reasonable, meaningf ul and enforceable WTO commitments could be 
established.   
225. With respect to proposal number 2 regarding customs houses and unnecessary delays, Hong 
Kong, China was of the view that, given that ci rcumstances might vary from case to case, it was 
necessary to maintain a certain de gree of flexibility for Members.  Therefore, Hong Kong, China was 
of the opinion that it might not be desirable to de fine a rigid period of time as unnecessary delay under 
Article V:3.  Moreover, Members could always i nvoke GATT Article XXIII if they considered that 
there was a violation related to unnecessary delays under Article V:3.   
226. Regarding proposal number 3 on Article V:3, Hong Kong, China generally welcomed 
discussions on the idea of drawing up guidelines for the imposition of administrative expenses to facilitate deliberations.  It would be  helpful if more details and examples on criteria to select elements 
for inclusion in the guidelines were given.  H ong Kong, China also suggested for Members to 
consider the implications of any possibl e overlapping with GATT Article VIII.   
227. Lastly, on proposal number 4 on strengthening international cooperation with respect to 
transit, Hong Kong, China supported the idea of ta king into account the relevant work of the WCO 
and other international organizations in the area of  TF in accordance with paragraph 9 of Annex D.  
With respect to the proposal for drawing up a n on-exhaustive list of elements that Members should 
endeavour to incorporate when negotiating regional  transit agreements, Hong Kong, China was of the 
view that it might not be effective for the WTO to develop a list of elements for regional transit given 
that they had been debated extensively in othe r fora such as the WCO.  Hong Kong, China also 
wondered if it was appropriate to incorporate elem ents into other regional transit agreements.    
228. The representative of Egypt
 commented on Singapore's proposal, saying that risk 
management, must be placed at the centre of tran sit procedures reforms since it allowed a balance to 
be struck between customs inspection and TF.  Thought should also be given to determining how 
customs authorities from developing and LDC countries could be assisted to assess risk.  As 
evidenced by Japan's experience, risk management required the establishment of specific procedures 
and automated systems which most developing  countries and LDCs currently lacked.    TN/TF/M/6 
 Page 33 
 
 
 229. Regarding the proposal listed in paragraph 2, item 2 on the customs house, Egypt was of the 
view that the discussion concerning the link of u nnecessary delays should take into account Members' 
different levels of development and capacity of customs authorities.    
230. Regarding item 4 on international cooperation, Egypt was of the view that Members should 
rely on the work undertaken by competent speciali zed organizations such as the WCO in order to 
further facilitate trade.   
231. With regard to harmonized elements, while Egyp t recognized that transit could be facilitated 
to regional cooperation, it was of the view that ne gotiations on trade facilitation should not be used to 
impose new obligations or burdens with regard to bilateral or regional coope ration arrangements.  The 
NG should concentrate on its mandate and not harmonize elements not directly related to TF issues.   
232. Finally, Egypt believed that the concern of de veloping countries and LDCs must be placed at 
the centre of the negotiations.  It was essential that  their implementation possibilities were duly taken 
into account.   
233. The representative of Bolivia  said that Singapore's contribution on Article V was useful for 
clarifying, improving and identifying the scope of Article V's current terms, particularly the ones 
mentioned in the second part of the proposal.   
234. Members required time to discuss those elements.  In some cases, they were quite ambiguous.  
However, Bolivia was of the view that Members had to look at the concepts, possible causes of 
unnecessary delays and, in particular, had to work out  how to encourage cooperation with regard to 
the facilitation of goods in transit.   
235. The representative of Singapore  responded to questions rai sed on Singapore's submission, 
starting with the critical point raised in various in terventions about the reference to SDT and TA.  The 
notion of SDT had been one of the guiding elem ents in drawing up the various proposals in 
Singapore's paper. When considering each proposal, Singapore tried to work out how those proposals could take into account the particular situation of  developing countries and LDCs.  If read carefully, 
the paper showed that care had been taken in approa ching, for instance, the matter of customs houses.  
The points made by Egypt, Chinese Taipei and Hong K ong, China referred to the particular situation 
of various countries, particularly developing ones and LDCs.  That was why, when talking about 
stipulating time periods, Singapore had put it in th e plural because Singapore recognized that, given 
their development situation, certa in developing countries and LDCs might not be in the same position 
as developed countries to undertake an obligation.  Singapore was open in that regard.  It could be 
"time period" or "time periods", or it could be in the form of bands of time frames.   
236. With respect to Hong Kong, China's second qu estion on the non-exhaustive list of elements, 
Singapore was not proposing to harmonize all regiona l transit agreements.  Singapore was well aware 
that transit agreements were based on a regiona l basis.  Therefore, Singapore proposed a non 
exhaustive list of elements, perhaps drawing from so me good practices in existing transit agreements.  
The paper by Paraguay, Rwanda a nd Switzerland had highlighted some good practices in some of the 
transit agreements they had looked at.  Singapore felt that having a non-exhaustive list of elements 
could serve as good practices which would facilitate trade on a regional basis. 
237. On the issue of a non-exhaustive list of elem ents and good practices, Singapore referred to 
discussions taking place elsewhere in the WTO, especially  in the services context.  Some years ago, in 
the context of the Working Party on Domestic Regul ations, the Secretariat had prepared a paper on 
guidelines for the negotiations on mutual recogniti on agreements.  Singapore knew that there were 
mutual recognition agreements.  The Secretariat had developed certain non- exhaustive or non-binding 
guidelines, to give a reference point of good practic es for Members to look at when drafting mutual TN/TF/M/6 
Page 34  
 
 recognition agreements.  The idea proposed in Singa pore's paper was similar.  Singapore wanted to 
encourage a non-binding, non-exhaustive list of elem ents that Members could look at when drafting 
their regional agreements. 
238. Regarding Rwanda's comments on the notion of approximate cost, what Singapore wanted to 
say was that the cost should be charged on the ser vice rendered rather than on the volume of goods.  
That was why Singapore referred to the approximate cost of the services rendered.  That concerned 
the form of jurisprudence as well.   
239. The representative of the Secretariat
 introduced document TN/TF/W/43, explaining that it 
was designed as a working document to assist delegati ons in their evaluation of the various proposals 
on how to improve and clarify GATT Articles V, V III and X.  It should also be seen as a living 
document, as it would be regularly updated to refl ect new inputs received from Members in that 
regard. The paper was essentially a snapshot of what had been put on the table so far, and a first step 
in the compilation process, rath er than an end-result.  
240. In preparing it, the Secretariat had tried to st ay as close as possible to the request for such 
documentation in making it a factual compilation of Members' ideas on how to clarify and improve 
the relevant Articles. At the same time, the docum ent also tried to respond to the expressed wish for 
more clarity on the overall amount of information by  seeking to highlight main elements and identify 
related S&D and TA components, wh ich was hoped would help delegations in their analysis of the 
measures proposed.  
241. The document adopted a thematic approach in grouping the inputs to reflect the fact that 
various proposals were presented in a similar manner and to pick up on what generally seemed to be 
the way in which Members presented and discussed the various contributions.  
242. The representative of New Zealand  said that the Secretariat compilation was a very useful 
document that perfectly satisfied the mandate given for that task.  It was particularly useful as it 
helpfully distilled the range of issues that had b een proposed to date and evidenced the significant 
progress the NG had made since last year.  It was al so a tool that might help Members establish the 
kind of inventory of existing TF measures that Peru had proposed at the last meeting.   
243. New Zealand agreed with the comments made by the Philippines on behalf on the Core Group 
as well as by Zambia that it was an extremely useful  document.  New Zealand also agreed with the 
point made by the Secretariat and by Zambia that, in order to remain useful, the document should be 
regularly updated and should become a living document.  
244. Building on the suggestion from Zambia, Ne w Zealand wished to propose that the 
compilation might be a helpful tool to assist with  better structuring further discussions in future 
meetings.  It would be useful for future meeti ngs to follow the issues in topics as covered in the 
compilation in order to have a substantive discu ssion and engagement on various measures that had 
been proposed, while allowing for the discussion of new papers as they emerged, and any other issues 
Members wished to cover.  That would enable a more focused debate, especially as Members moved 
closer to completing the issue iden tification phase of the negotiations. 
245. The Chairman  said that he welcomed New Zealand's comments. 
246. The representative of Hong Kong, China  said that the Secretariat compilation no doubt 
facilitated a better overview of the proposals made  in order to address the Doha mandate and 
Annex D.   Hong Kong, China appreciated the thema tic approach used in the listing of the proposals 
as Members could discuss specific proposed measures in  a more focused manner.  It also served as a 
useful tool for Members to abide by  to enable the start of text-based  negotiations.  In that regard, as  TN/TF/M/6 
 Page 35 
 
 
 Members were actively submitting new proposals and revisions, Hong Kong China trusted the 
Secretariat to update the document as necessary.   Moreover, on overall progress, Hong Kong China 
was much encouraged by the active participation of  all Members, developed and developing alike, as 
could be witnessed by the number of proposals circ ulated so far and by the constructive dialogue 
Members were engaging in.  Hong Kong, China was pleased that the NG was moving forward 
progressively and hoped that Members could main tain the same harmonious and positive momentum 
to move towards the Hong Kong Ministerial Conference.    
247. APEC Ministers responsible for trade had, in written statement WT/L/611, committed 
themselves to intensifying the work on TF by iden tifying possible elements of a final outcome based 
on proposals and comments from all Members.  To that end, Members might need to reflect further on 
means to develop synergies and to condense propos als in a transparent and complimentary manner 
that could satisfactorily respond to the needs of Members as well as the business community.   
248. The representative of China  said that the Secretariat compilation would be helpful for moving 
the negotiations forward.   
249. As for Egypt's question about China's proposal  in TN/TF/W/26, wondering how the suggested 
commenting period would absorb the suggestions from  other Members, China was of the view that, 
when a Member adopted and publicized its releva nt laws, regulations and other measures, it should 
provide a reasonable period of time for other Memb ers to make comments in writing.  If reasonable, 
the Member should consider those written comme nts in good faith when revising those laws, 
regulations, and measures, or make detailed ru les for implementation or provide legislative 
interpretation.   
250. Allowing for a reasonable period of time for other Members to make comments in writing 
after laws, regulations, and measure s were publicized well before bei ng implemented or enforced was 
a minimal requirement in that regard.  The meas ures to be publicized depended on the legislative 
regime of each individual Member, except for the TB T and SPS regulations.  In China, the drafts of 
laws, regulations and other measures which were of great interest to the whole society, such as those 
concerning financial services and tariff rate quot as, were published to solicit suggestions.   
251. The representative of the Philippines  said that the Secretariat compilation was a very useful 
document for all Members as they moved into th e next phase of the work, and called on the 
Secretariat to continuously update the paper as new proposals came in.   
252. Currently, the proposals were structured by themes.  If possible, the next compilation or 
update should have an Article -listing to be more consistent with the mandate.  In moving to the next 
phase of work, Members could concentrate on the proposals, views and comments that had been 
submitted by Articles.   
253. The representative of the Secretariat  explained that, as mentioned in the compilation 
document, the reason for the thematic grouping was that some submissions had not specified the 
Article they related to.  As the Secretariat had not  considered itself mandated to make that sort of 
judgement, which remained the prerogative of Member s, the inputs had not been listed on an Article-
by-Article basis.  Furthermore, there were also  proposals which indicated that they were to be 
understood as falling under more than  one Article.  The wish to avoi d duplication by repeated listing 
had been another reason for adopting a thematic approach.  
254. The representative of Malaysia  commended the efforts of the Secretariat in compiling 
Members' proposals. As Malaysia considered it ve ry important to share experiences on TF, a national 
experience paper had been submitted to the Secret ariat, which outlined Malaysia's own experience 
with TF measures as presented at an APEC seminar in March.  The paper focussed on Article VIII, TN/TF/M/6 
Page 36  
 
 looking at the integration of the provisions of the Article with the relevant portions of the Revised 
Kyoto Convention, while also looking at other releva nt WCO instruments.  It outlined the Malaysian 
approach to TF.  
255. The paper presented the practices implemented by  Malaysian customs, covering provisions on 
Article VIII:1(a), relating to fees and charges, as well as Article VIII:1(c), relating to minimizing the 
incidence and complexity of import and export form alities, and of decreasing and simplifying import 
and export documentation.  The paper further addressed  the areas of (i) border agency coordination;  
(ii) standardizing and simplifying of trade and clear ance procedures;  (iii) immediate release of goods; 
(iv) special procedures for authorized traders;  (v ) coordinated inspection by various agencies;  (vi) 
use of risk management techniques;  and (vii) im plementing enhanced clearance systems through use 
of collateral and monetary security.       
256. Going back to the Secretariat co mpilation, Malaysia wished to use the opportunity to register 
its feedback on the tabled proposals as well as share some of its experiences and raise its concerns on 
some of the elements.  
257. On the issue of publication of trade regulations , Malaysia's trade laws and regulations were 
readily published,  as well as standard processing tim es, which were published in the client charter of 
the Royal Malaysian Customs and other relevant bor der control agencies.  Malaysia also provided 
customers with reasons for delays in customs clearan ce, including an explanation of the basis for the 
delays. 
258. However, Malaysia wished to seek clarifi cation about the proposal in the joint paper 
TN/TF/W/8 where it was suggested that details of service contracts between PSI entities and 
governments be published.  Malaysia was not clear what was meant by it and why governments must 
reveal its contracts with any parties. 
259. On new Trade Laws, Malaysia was bound by its do mestic legal system that did not allow the 
publication of draft versions before they were enacted.  Malaysia also had reservations about 
providing comments on new laws.  However, Malays ia did have prior discussions through dialogues 
and meetings with the domestic private sector trade associations to ensure that their interests were 
taken into account in formulating and finalizing new laws and regula tions.  Malaysia found that there 
was always a need to strike a balance between ma intaining the prerogative and sovereign rights of the 
governments and taking care of the business interests of the private sector.  Whenever possible, 
Malaysia endeavoured to provide sufficient interval s between publication and entry into force of such 
regulations. 
260. Malaysia supported the proposal to establish enqui ry points, Single National Focal Points or 
information centres and believed it would facilitate  trade.  Besides setting up its own TF portal, 
Malaysia, together with its ASEAN partners, was currently working on the ASEAN Single Window 
project which was targeted for completion in 2007.   Malaysia welcomed TA&CB to strengthen its 
regional work in that area. 
261. On the proposal of providing advance rulings, Ma laysia was pleased to report that Malaysia 
had in place a somewhat simpler system of providi ng advance rulings on tariff classification, but not 
on valuation and duty referral.  Ma laysian Customs had always tried to facilitate written queries from 
traders and Malaysia had been providing rulings on tariff classifications.  Malaysia had yet to put in 
place an advanced system of also providing valuat ion and duty referrals.  Malaysia supported the 
proposal as it would provide traders with some amount  of certainty.  Capacity building to train human 
capital to handle such advanced t echniques was absolutely necessary.  TN/TF/M/6 
 Page 37 
 
 
 262. On the proposal for appeal procedures, Malays ia had in place mechanisms to allow for legal 
rights of appeal against decisions that traders were not happy with.  Traders could firstly appeal to the 
Royal Malaysian Customs, then to the Minister of Fi nance and also to the courts.  Malaysia wished to 
ensure that its laws were uniformly administered.  At the same time, the Malaysian General Orders 
had enshrined Rules and Codes of Conduct to main tain a high level of integrity of government 
officials. 
263. Malaysia also supported the proposal to ensure  that fees and charges imposed in connection 
with importation and exportation s hould be reasonable and commensurate with the services provided.  
Traders were only expected to pay a minimal fee for the trade documents/forms.  To foster a competitive environment, the government did not regu late the fees and charges imposed by the private 
sector for their services rendered. 
264. On the issue of consularization, Malaysia also  supported the move to eliminate the imposition 
of consular fees and charges.  Such a move would reduce the cost of doing business and could expedite trade. 
265. Border agency coordination was another area of  work that merited consideration.  That 
proposal, however, could only be worked out th rough bilateral arrangements between neighbouring 
states that could derive mutual benefits from such arrangements.  Coordination between Customs 
authorities, single inspection and the like might prove beneficial in the long term. 
266. Malaysia supported the idea to have an effi cient expedited release and clearance of goods 
systems as it was important to promote trade and facilitate business entities.  However, it took some 
time to implement that and stretched the resources required for all those systems.  Therefore, it was 
important to have continuous and effective TA  programmes to assist Members in developing systems 
to implement those programmes. 
267. On the proposal of adopting objective criteri a for tariff classification, Malaysia supported 
such moves.  Malaysia had adopted the WCO's Harmonized Tariff Classification System.  Currently, Malaysia was implementing the HS 2002 and in the process of upgrading and aligning its tariff 
classification to the HS 2007. 
268. With respect to the proposals on transit contained in documents TN/TF/W/28 and 
TN/TF/W/35, Malaysia had some concerns about the proposal on non-discrimination between modes 
of transport, carriers of goods in transit,  route chosen and particulars of goods. 
269. On non-discrimination between modes of transpor t, there should be a clear definition of the 
scope of modes of transit between modes which were considered "classic" i.e., road, rail and land, and 
non-classic modes such as carriages via other means such as pipelines and related means.  The scope 
of transit between the two should not be subjected  to the same definition, and must be given 
appropriate treatment with regard to national regulations and laws. 
270. In the area of carriers of goods in transit, the Malaysian National Road Transport Law was in 
place to ensure that the highest standard of road safety was being applied, which included 
requirements for vehicles/carriers to be road worthy , and to acquire necessary legal documents such as 
insurance and registration, which were recognized by other legal domestic policies and institutions. 
271. On routes, although it was realized  that carriers would prefer taking their individual choice of 
roads, as a credible trading nation, the governme nt was responsible to ensure the most safe, 
convenient and fastest routes for carriers to utilise.   The national law on road transport also upheld 
social responsibility, especially on public safety.  In  that regard, a restriction had been imposed for TN/TF/M/6 
Page 38  
 
 heavy/commercial vehicles to use certain routes to avoid the roads being damaged and become a 
danger to other road users. 
272. It must be stressed that each Member ha d its national position and priority list on 
goods/products considered as sensitive, dangerous and prohibitive.  Malaysia wished to seek 
clarification on the proposal by the EU with regard  to non-discrimination of the particulars of goods.  
Was the proposal also suggesting having a common de finition for sensitive, dangerous and prohibitive 
goods?  Malaysia was strongly of the view that fre edom of transit for certain goods across transiting 
territory should be negotiated on a case-by-case basis,  wherever possible.  That was to take into 
consideration the national interest, priority  and security of the transiting countries. 
273. On the issue of fees and charges, Malaysia s upported the need for prohibiting the collection of 
fees and charges which was not commensurate with the services rendered, as reflected in Article VIII 
of the GATT 1994.  Malaysia was of  the opinion that establishment of the self review mechanism was 
beneficial, and Malaysia, on its part, had conducted such exerci ses regularly through dialogues, 
meetings and consultations with the private sector .  Such establishment of a self review mechanism 
must be an internal/domestic process, and conducted on a best-endeavour basis. 
274. Malaysia's comments on the periodical self re view mechanism for transit formalities and 
documentation were similar to the ones made on the suggested self review of fees and charges.  However, Malaysia wished to seek additional clarific ation on who would qualify as "other parties", as 
reflected in the proposal TN/TF/W/28 in paragraphs 3 and 4, first bullet, last line. 
275. The proposal for efficient cross border cooperati on was important to ensure faster movement 
of goods between borders, while at the same time  understanding the need to protect each country's 
national sovereignty.  However, at the implementa tion level, cooperation programmes such as having 
a shared physical structure/presence, or one inspecti on system, were difficult to do administratively as 
they involved participation and approval of variou s agencies/authorities within  a government.  In that 
regard, Members that had successfully conducted cr oss border cooperation might like to share their 
experience that would be beneficial to other Members. 
276. The representative of Australia
 replied to the questions and comments raised by Egypt in 
JOB(05)/84, specifically in respect to document TN /TF/W/23 and question 3, which was also directed 
towards a paper co-sponsored with the European  Communities, which had already provided written 
responses to the questions.   
277. With respect to Egypt's question of how Austra lia determined the cost of customs fees and 
charges applied in connection with importation and exportation, Australia wished to inform that  
Australian Customs administered a cost recovery regime under the Import Processing Charges Act 
1997 .  The Government had directed that Australian Customs recovered the cost of its processing 
operations from the importing community. 
278. The customs system used ensure d that the charging regime was reasonable and transparent 
and provided certainty of costs.  The cost recovery  fees and charges were currently set by legislation 
and subject to change by regulation.  Advice of the costs applied was contained in the Australian 
Customs Notices and published on the Australian Custom s website.  The charges were also discussed 
with the industry at regular consultative meetings ; charges applied to Customs entries – both manual 
and electronic – as well as other Customs procedur es associated with imports and cargo reporting. 
The charge for an electronic entry was $A 44.00 plus $0.20 per line of entry after line 10;  the charge 
for a manual entry was $65.75 per entry and $1.00 after the first line.  
279. The representative of Kenya  said that the written responses to Kenya's questions by Canada 
and the EC had been submitted to the capital where further issues might need clarification.  Kenya  TN/TF/M/6 
 Page 39 
 
 
 would appreciate if other Members would also provi de written responses to the questions contained in 
JOB(05)/64.    
280. The representative of Peru  said that the Secretariat compilation was well structured and gave 
a good overview of the major issues involved.  The document was very useful and updating it would allow delegations to do the best work po ssible, coordinating with their capitals.   
281. Document TN/TF/W/40 by Argentina was a concrete proposal that did not seem to involve 
too many difficulties in terms of its implementation.  It would also yield some advantages in the short 
term.  With regard to languages of publication, Peru thought that to be something that could be looked 
into in the future.  It was something that had come  up in several of the proposals and it could be useful 
for those countries whose languages were not official languages of th e WTO.  In addition to having 
Spanish, Peru made an effort to have all of its administrative information available in various areas, 
particularly in the area of customs. Peru wished to have all the information available in English as 
well as in Spanish.  Peru also stressed  the importanc e of transparency in dealing with information.   
282. Document TN/TF/W/44 by Chinese Taipei on immediate release of express consignments 
was understandable and clearly set out.  The fourth  part on TA&CB was particularly important, 
especially with regard to having a phased appr oach for CB which would support sufficient and 
effective TA. The focus could be an example to fo llow not just for release, but for other issues in 
addition to customs clearance, that were discussed in the NG.  APEC could provide various examples 
that might be useful to look at, not merely in te rms of customs clearance, but with respect to other 
issues as well.   
283. With respect to the issue of risk manageme nt, which had been touched upon in Japan's 
document TN/TF/W/42 and in TN/TF/W/49 from China and Korea, as well as in the first part of 
document TN/TF/W/47 from Singapore, Peru considered  the issue of risk management to be very 
important.   
284. Peru had had positive experience with risk mana gement.  Both release and customs clearance 
had been much faster and there had been an impr ovement because of the risk management measures 
implemented, thanks also to the cooperation and TA  Peru had received at the right time.  That went 
together with SDT, which was important to allow all Members to be able to attain the appropriate risk 
management leveTl.  Customs procedures in Peru  were based on various selection models with 
various variables.   They had the advantage of id entifying the level of risk, which allowed to select 
and see which consignments were high risk.  Se cond, it allowed for a good balance between 
combating fraud and facilitating legal trade.  Thirdl y, it also eliminated additional and unnecessary 
costs.  And, fourthly, it provided effective protection,  particularly for good clients.  Finally, it meant 
that resources were spent and used well.  As a developing country which had been implementing 
various measures , Peru would be more than willing to share its experiences in risk management.    
285. The representative of Turkey
 commented on the submissions on Article V, saying that the 
movement of goods under transit procedures was becoming increasingly significant in the world 
trading system, as transit was the major procedure u sed for logistics needs.  Transit procedures,  
harmonization of practices, standardization of document requirements, international guarantee 
systems and transparency and predictability we re crucial elements to accelerate trade flows. 
286. Turkey supported most of the proposals set out in documents TN/TF/W/28, W/30, W/34, 
W/35 and W/39.  Turkey reinforced its support to enhancing transparency.  Lessons learned from the 
experiences faced by Turkish economic operators made  Turkey seek a more transparent environment, 
non-discrimination and justifiable fees.  TN/TF/M/6 
Page 40  
 
 287. Turkey wished to see regional cooperation ini tiatives to discipline transit formalities as an 
acknowledged method of facilitation by the WTO.  Th e most important element in regional initiatives 
should be the use of international sta ndards and rules in their arrangements. 
288. Turkey shared the views of Peru regarding th e use of IT in customs transit procedures and 
simplification in formalities by pre-arrival risk ass essment.  However, that required extensive and 
integrated computer systems among the customs administrations.  There were already some 
comprehensive studies being undertaken by WCO in that area.  A broad adoption of such instruments as developed by international organizations was indispensable for the proposed system. 
289. Turkey also supported all proposals put on the table by Bolivia, Mongolia and Paraguay and 
wished to emphasize the importance of transparen cy in fees and visa rules used in transit, the 
prohibition of unjustifiable fees and visa requirements in relation to transit and the establishment of a 
practice monitoring mechanism.  Turkey attached great importance to solving the problems arising 
from the perception of transit regime as a revenue generating mechanism. 
290. The representative of Mexico
 said that the development of an international framework of 
rules through the WTO was an essential means of  improving multilateral trade relations and of 
helping to create greater certainty for economic operators by providing tools that allowed clear and 
firm steps to be taken towards trade liberalization and, hence, higher levels of investment, production 
and employment. 
291. Significant advances had been made in securing freer  relations thanks to the trade rounds held 
to date, in which tariff reductions averaging roughl y 90 per cent were achieved for industrial products, 
so that customs duties were lower than 4 per ce nt.  At the same time, the international legal 
framework had been enriched through the adoption of various agreements allowing the reduction of 
non-tariff barriers to be addressed in an orderly an d transparent manner.  However, further resolute 
steps were needed in order to develop ne w disciplines to supplement the existing ones. 
292. Five times more goods were now crossing Mexico 's borders than ten years ago as a result of 
the operations which customs carried out daily a nd which amounted to more than 900 million dollars, 
involving the processing of more than 22,000 import documents, the transit of 1,150,000 persons and 
34,000 vehicles through the 48 customs posts and va rious inspection points.  As trade had thus 
expanded, the trading community had experienced new needs prompted by a growing interest in a 
swifter flow of goods, lower costs associated with commercial operations and greater efficiency in the 
operation of supply chains, with a view to more  efficient production and greater competitiveness. 
293. Trade facilitation was therefore one of the ma in strategies that would allow Mexico to 
enhance its importance as a strategic centre fo r attracting investment and developing productive 
activities.  For that reason, an ongoing programme was being implemented to modernize customs on 
the basis of four guiding principles: (i) securing customs' role in the achievement of legitimate 
objectives; (ii) optimizing customs control; (iii) deve loping mechanisms to ensure a swift and secure 
flow of goods;  and (iv) allowing pr oper enforcement of tax provisions. 
294. Measures taken under the above programme incl uded the simplification and automation of 
processes, improvement to infrastructure, acqui sition of new technologies and equipment and the 
establishment of cooperation programmes and agreem ents with industry and with foreign customs 
authorities.  
295. Mexico had likewise made significant progress in transparency, the implementation of 
schemes for certified traders, the application of  information technologies for import and export 
formalities, the establishment of facilities for temporary import, the development of more  TN/TF/M/6 
 Page 41 
 
 
 sophisticated risk management systems, clearance of  urgent shipments, integrity, advance rulings and 
appeal procedures.  However, efforts had to be ongoing in order to deepen and expand TF activities. 
296. Mexico had been following and studying closely the contributions made by various 
delegations in the exchange of views so far held  in the NG, and expressed its appreciation of the 
efforts delegations had made to illustrate clear ly the various aspects of their proposals. 
297. There had been in-depth discussions on a number of measures able to contribute positively to 
reducing transaction costs related to international tr ade and to accelerating trade flows, and which at 
the same time afforded major benefits in terms of raising production, employment and investment.  
However, without prejudice to other steps that co uld be considered with a view to reaching an 
agreement on TF, in Mexico's view, the following  measures, which other delegations had also 
referred to at one time or another, were most im portant to achieving the above-mentioned objectives: 
(i) the possibility of commenting on draft laws and re gulations; (ii) pre-arrival customs clearance; (iii) 
establishment of contact points; (iv) publication of and easy access to advance rulings; (v) establishment of minimum time periods for entry into  force of new regulations; (vi) publication and 
periodic review of charges and duties;  and (vii) use of international rules. 
298. Mexico realized that the success of the negotia tions and, above all, the proper implementation 
of any disciplines that might be agreed on, depe nded on the appropriate provision of assistance and 
the creation of technical capacity consistent with  Members' needs and priorities, and on a suitable 
definition of disciplines on SDT, based on implementation capacities and modalities that best addressed differences in such capacities. 
299. Mexico was grateful to the Secretariat for th e valuable work it had done in producing the 
compilation of Members' proposals which w ould, without doubt, facilitate progress in the 
negotiations. 
300. The representative of Brazil
 wished to share with Members a few comments on the proposals 
presented at the Group's last meeting.    
301. With respect to the proposals circulated by Paraguay, Mongolia and Bolivia, Peru, Korea and 
the European Communities on Article V, Brazil saw th e suggested measures in a positive way.  Many 
of them were in fact already used by Brazil's customs authorities.   On the question of granting 
freedom of transit through the territory of each Member via the routes most convenient for 
international transit, Brazil wished to point out that the practice adopted by Brazilian customs 
authorities was in principle that of leaving the choice of route to the operator.  That meant that Brazil's 
practice was already in accordance with the suggestion presented in the proposals of the European 
Communities and of Paraguay, Bolivia  and Mongolia in that regard.  
302. On the question of temporary admission of goods, Brazil was not yet a signatory to the 
WCO's Istanbul Convention.  However, many of the simplified procedures presented in that 
convention were adopted in the pr actice of Brazil's customs authorities.  Brazil considered it positive 
that the Group was looking at measures in that area.   
303. The adoption of measures to expedite the moveme nt of goods in transit within its territory 
was a top priority for Brazil.  As a country with a huge territory, Brazil fully understood the problems 
faced by some of its landlocked ne ighbours and was prepared to discu ss ways to solve them.  Brazil 
supported the idea of discussing issues that were of special relevance to landlocked Members as 
proposed by Bolivia, Mongolia and Paraguay in do cument TN/TF/W/28.  In the case of one of 
Brazil's landlocked neighbours, Brazil had already in ternally taken measures to address some of the 
concerns.  Brazil had a favourable position toward s the need of discussing means to improve some TN/TF/M/6 
Page 42  
 
 elements of Article V, such as non-discrimina tion, fees and charges, formalities and required 
documentation.   
304. With respect to Articles VIII and X, Brazil wished to offer one general comment on the 
proposals by Peru (TN/TF/W/30), New Zealand (TN/TF/W/24), the European Communities (TN/TF/W/6), as well as by Japan and Mongolia (TN/TF/W/8).  Many of those proposals referred to 
the TBT Agreement as providing a good model for a mechanism allowing WTO Members to 
comment and express their views on proposed regulations  to be published.  If one pursued the idea of 
establishing a similar mechanism in Article X, one w ould have to be very specific in identifying those 
legal instruments to be notified. Article X app lied to laws, regulations, judicial decisions and 
administrative rulings of general application.  Yet, in some cases, there might be a law or a decision 
which affected trade in an indirect way.  It had to be discussed whether Members were to notify those 
regulations or not.   
305. Another question related to the types of trade re gulations that would have to be available for 
consultations.  Brazil had noticed that the proposal s uggested that all relevant legislation in customs 
procedures should be published.  In discussing th e other proposals, Brazil believed Members would 
have to be more explicit and specific on what they considered to be relevant or, as an alternative, 
simply leave it to the discretion of the national authorities.   
306. With respect to the proposal by Argentina, Brazil supported the presented idea of improving 
transparency.  It certainly was a good idea to  implement any measures towards improving 
transparency of regulations.  Yet, as pointed out  by some delegations, one might need a lot of 
resources to translate all regulations of a country in to one of the WTO official languages.  Improving 
transparency was a good idea, but since one would need a lot of resources to do that, Members would 
have to come up with a mechanism in order to he lp countries do it.  For Brazil, the idea of having 
summaries might be a good alternative to translating the complete text of the entire legislation.  That 
might be good in terms of transparency. Yet, Br azil was not sure whether that would necessarily 
improve trade.  For instance, if a  Member published all their legisla tion in Spanish and other Member 
countries had, as their national language, French, th at might improve transparency, but not necessarily 
trade flows.  Perhaps one should think a bit more if  there were better ways to improve transparency 
while at the same time stimulating the activ ities of Members' importers and exporters.   
307. The representative of the Philippines
 commented on proposals previously made, starting with 
Article V.  
308. Section V.1 of paper TN/TF/W/28 suggested th at non-discrimination be observed between 
modes of transport, origin and destination, carri ers, routes and goods.  Since the Philippines believed 
that there already was a requirement in the existing Article V, paragraphs 2 a nd 5, to that end, the 
Philippines wanted to know if the proponents were  thinking of something different.  Also, the 
Philippines sought clarification on what was meant by the sentence:  "this is without prejudice to the commitments in force involving landlocked Member s".  Was that a reference to regional trade 
agreements entered into by the proponents?   
309. Regarding point III, 5.2, the sec ond and third elements of the proposal appeared to be a new 
set of obligations in Article V because they no lo nger confined themselves to freedom of transit but 
extended to issues dealing with fees and charges.  Th at was Article VIII.  Was it the intention of the 
proponents to amend Article V to incl ude features of Article VIII, applicab le only to goods in transit?   
310. With regard to point III, 5.3, the Philippines believed that the last three bullets contained 
therein should not present major problems.  Regard ing the first bullet, however, dealing with 
reasonable transit formalities and reasonable review  of such formalities, th e Philippines wished to 
know why the proponents suggested the periodic review  of formalities only to be based on comments  TN/TF/M/6 
 Page 43 
 
 
 by the private sector.  In respect of fees and charges, the proponents had even suggested the 
involvement of the private sector through a comm ission in the periodic self-review of fees and 
charges.  Was the difference in  approach intentional?   
311. Peru's proposals TN/TF/W/30 on Article V rega rding goods in transit merited serious 
consideration.   
312. As for Korea's proposal on Article V (TN/TF/W/34), a distinction was made between goods 
in transit involving, or not involving, transhipment.  But for both instances, it was proposed to simplify  procedures and service fees.   For the first type, a simple goods  declaration and a simple set 
of service fees would be sufficient for transit pr ocedures.  For the second type, additional inspection 
and security measures were foreseen to prevent the smuggling of the goods into the transit country.  
The Philippines believed that the Korean proposal move d in the right direction because it all related to 
reducing transaction costs.  Nevertheless, the Ph ilippines believed that facilitation should neither 
compromise the performance by customs authorities of their duties and responsibilities, nor prejudice the integrity of borders of the transit country.  Ko rea further noted that to implement its proposals, 
Members would need to review their documentary  requirements and fees for transhipped goods and 
non-transhipped goods in transit.  That was one  area where TA and cooperation for developing 
countries in establishing appropriate  documentary requirements and fees for goods in transit and other 
procedures would be most welcomed.   
313. In document TN/TF/W/35, the EC set out a number of real life problems faced by traders as 
goods transited countries and proposed a number of measures to remedy them.  The proposal touched 
on Article V per se  and also on the transposition of Article VIII-disciplines into Article V in the case 
of goods in transit.  Clarification was sought on several points. With regard to the suggestion of 
disciplines on charges on transit, was the EC suggest ing standards on what they might be, or only on 
how they were applied?  On the issue of transparen cy of transit requirements, procedures and charges, 
was the EC suggesting something more than what was already required by Article X?  With regard to 
the simplification of documentation, data requireme nts and procedures, would that imply that pre-
arrival processing of transit documents, risk mana gement, authorized traders, Single Windows, and 
time release standards would be the norm?  And lastly, on the improved cooperation among customs 
authorities, was the EC suggesting that it would be a matter of the right for one customs authority to 
request or demand cooperation and coordina tion from other customs authorities?   
314. The representative of India
 hoped that the very comprehensive and useful Secretariat 
compilation of the negotiating proposals made so  far would be updated from time to time to 
incorporate new proposals made.  India supported th e proposal by the Philippines for the Secretariat 
paper to have a reference to the GATT Articles under which the proposals were made.   India 
appreciated the difficulties the Secr etariat encountered in that resp ect but hoped that those were not 
insurmountable.  Furthermore, it could also be useful  to have a compilation of the questions raised on 
the proposals.  India recognized that there were  the minutes of the meeting to reflect those 
observations, but they were perhaps not as focused as  a compilation of the questions could be.  It was 
also India's hope that, in due course, once greater discussions had taken place on SDT, the ideas on SDT would be compiled as well.    
315. India's intervention was mainly focused on the proposals contained in papers TN/TF/W/28 to 
TN/TF/W/39.  Several proposals made in those pa pers were more or less a repetition of earlier 
proposals.  India's observations on such proposals re mained the same as the ones made earlier.  For 
the sake of brevity, India would limit India's inte rvention to the new proposals contained in those 
papers.  India would also make certain observatio ns regarding the proposal on prior consultation of 
new or amended laws contained in the negotia ting proposals TN/TF/W/6, W/7, W/24 and W/26. TN/TF/M/6 
Page 44  
 
 316. With respect to transit matters, India wish ed to emphasize that discussion on issues 
concerning transit of goods should not be detrimental to  the national security interests of any Member.  
India welcomed the recognition of that principle in paragraph 16 of paper TN/TF/W/39 by Paraguay, 
Rwanda and Switzerland which pointed out that all transit arrangements strove to strike the right 
balance between legitimate safety/secu rity concerns (including the ille gal diversion of goods into the 
domestic market) and the faster and more efficient movement of goods in transit.  India would have 
grave concerns regarding any proposals which tende d to militate against that basic principle.   
317. In that regard, India had a particular con cern regarding one such proposal, namely, the 
suggestion to operationalize the existing commitment in  Article V of free transit via the "routes most 
convenient for international transit" to mean leavi ng the choice of route and means of transport to the 
operator (TN/TF/W/35 by the EC).  India did not share the view that the term "routes most convenient 
for international transit" would imply leaving the choice to the operator alone.  In India's 
understanding, the route for international transit s hould be such that it was convenient for both the 
landlocked country and its neighbour.  One would need  to take into account various factors including 
the available infrastructure of roads, rail and port, the infrastructure at entry and exit points, security 
and safety concerns etc.  The choice of a definite r oute and identified transit points at the international 
border helped in achieving better coordination an d facilitation by the related government agencies.  
On account of those considerations, it was important  to recognize the principle that the number of 
transit points on international boundary would need to be identified bilaterally by the two countries 
concerned. 
318. With respect to the proposals regarding non- discrimination between modes of transport, 
origin and destination, carriers, routes and goo ds for transit movements contained in document 
TN/TF/W/28 by Bolivia, Mongolia, Paraguay, Kyrgyz Republic and Japan, and in document 
TN/TF/W/35 by the EC, India supported the princi ple of non-discrimination at a broad level but 
wished to caution that that principle could not be applied in all circumstances.  Members needed to 
have flexibility to permit certain procedures or practices relating, inter alia,  to modes of transport, 
destination of goods and carriers of goods in transit,  which might prima facie appear discriminatory, 
but were otherwise justifiable on the basis of perceived risk to goods under different modes of 
transport (such as containerized rail and truck cargoes and non-containerized or open truck cargoes), 
the level of trust placed between various types of  transport agencies (Government owned railways or 
truck companies versus privately owned truck comp anies) and the extent to which the destination 
country was willing to take responsibility on beha lf of its importers to make good any revenue 
demand arising out of diversion of goods in the transiting country.  India also requested the 
proponents of paper TN/TF/W/28 to amplify the im plication of their proposal to extend national 
treatment to landlocked developing Members. 
319. With respect to the proposal for non-discrimina tion to apply to fixed installations which 
themselves were capable of moving goods, such as pipelines (TN/TF/W/35), India was of the view 
that that proposal needed greater discussion and understanding.  India would also like to know 
whether the proposal was limited only to pipelines or whether any other type of fixed installation was 
likely to be covered under that proposal. 
320. As for the publication and periodic review of tran sit related to fees and charges suggested in 
TN/TF/W/28, India supported the principle of prohi biting the collection of fees and charges which 
had no legal basis.  India felt that to be a better standard of prohibition than the earlier proposal of 
Japan in the context of GATT Article X (TN/TF/W/ 17) to prohibit unpublicized fees.  Regarding 
periodic review of fees and charges, India had alread y stated in response to the paper of Taiwan etc. 
(TN/TF/W/25) that a periodic review was an economic  necessity and would need to take into account 
inflation and other factors impinging upon cost.  As  India considered the pe riodic review of fees and 
charges to be an economic exercise related to th e cost of services rendered, India did not find 
sufficient justification for the suggestion to create  an additional bureaucracy by having a permanent  TN/TF/M/6 
 Page 45 
 
 
 review mechanism, such as a commi ssion formed by representatives of the sectors involved.  India 
felt that the mechanism for self periodic review should be left for the Members to decide.  
321. With respect to the proposals on reasona ble transit formalities and documentation 
requirements and a periodic review contained in TN/TF/W/28, one had to be cautious regarding 
proposals that used terms which were subjective and which could be interpreted differently.  In that 
context, India sought a clarification from the proponents whether they had any concrete ideas 
regarding their suggestion to maintain "reasonabl e transit formalities" for "minimizing unnecessary 
delays or restrictions on traffic in transit".  Sim ilarly, India would request the proponents to clarify 
whether they had any concrete ideas on how to opera tionalize their suggestion to maintain "reasonable 
transit documentation requirements" for "minimizi ng unnecessary delays or restrictions on traffic in 
transit".  India would also suggest that any possible discipline on documentation requirements should 
take into account the legitimate concerns  of customs control over transit goods. 
322. India supported the proposal for periodic self re view of transit form alities and documentation 
requirements.  India however did not support any fi xed periodicity.  Each Member should be allowed 
to determine its own periodicity.  Furthermore, India sought clarification from the proponents as to 
what the term comments from "other parties" implie d.  India did not favour that to mean other WTO 
Members as well. 
323. As for the use of international standards fo r transit formalities and documentation suggested 
in TN/TF/W/28, W/30, W/35 and W/39, India supporte d that proposal in principle but with a built-in 
best-endeavour clause by use of the expression "to the extent possible".  That was important to 
provide some flexibility in using international st andards to suit available capacities and specific 
domestic circumstances of individual Members.  India also requested the proponents to list the 
international conventions which we re proposed to be taken into account for adopting international 
standards for transit formalities and documentation.   
324. Regarding the proposal on a bonded transport regime contained in TN/TF/W/28, India 
broadly supported that proposal.  India also sought  clarification with some examples regarding the 
meaning of the term "other charges".   
325. As for the coordination of documentation requi rements among relevant authorities suggested 
in TN/TF/W/28 and TN/TF/W/35, India's domes tic experience was that there was minimal 
requirement of documentation from authorities other than customs.  India would be interested in knowing from the proponents as to what types of documentation requirements were prevalent from other "relevant authorities" for which coordination was proposed.   
326. Regarding the establishment of a cross-border cooperation scheme suggested in TN/TF/W/28, 
W/35 and W/39, and the suggested periodic meeting of neighbouring Members authorities as set out in TN/TF/W/28, India supported those proposals as a best-endeavour clause for the same considerations that India mentioned in regard to similar proposals under GATT Article VIII.  Binding 
commitment would not be possible on account of factors such as political sensitivities, level of 
infrastructure development, level of automation, di fference in working hours and public holidays, etc. 
327. With respect to the proposal to accord goods in transit that do not require transhipment less 
burdensome treatment than goods in transit that do require transhipment (TN/TF/W/34),  India sought 
further clarification from Korea, through some ex amples, regarding their understanding of the term 
"transit with transhipment".  India would also like to know whether reference to "transhipment" 
applied to both within and outside the customs area.   
328. Concerning improved transparency of transit requirements, procedures and charges in line 
with the proposal already submitted to the NG (TN/TF/W/35), India supported the principles of TN/TF/M/6 
Page 46  
 
 transparency specifically enumerated in that propos al, namely publication of information and prior 
consultation for regulations.  India sought clarific ation as to what other elements of the proposals 
made under GATT Article X were proposed to  be applied to transit requirements. 
329. As to more effective GATT Article V discip lines on charges for transit, proposals already 
submitted to the NG in relation to GATT Article VIII  rules on fees and charges could be a basis for 
elaborating parallel provisions on charges for transit.  Members could consider how to ensure that all 
charges for transit were effectively covered (TN/TF/W/35 – EC) . 
330. India's domestic consultations indicated that India had minimal charges for transit.  India 
would therefore like to know from the proponents an  illustrative list of transit charges so as to 
understand their proposal "to ensure that all char ges for transit were effectively covered".   
331. With regard to simplifying and standardiz ing documentation, data requirements and 
procedures applied to goods and means of trans port in transit in line with proposals under GATT 
Article VIII (TN/TF/W/35 – EC) , India wished to sound a note of caution regarding the approach to discuss simplification of procedures under GATT Ar ticle V as a replica of procedures under GATT 
Article VIII.  Some of the procedures being discussed under GATT Article VIII, such as risk 
management and authorized trader systems, might  not be required for transit goods as the existing 
procedures might themselves be very simple and expe ditious.  For transit, a general system of risk 
management was already being followed by categ orizing goods as sensitive and non-sensitive.  To 
expand its scope by adding other risk parameters might not be feasible.  Similarly, if not many 
agencies were involved in permitting movement of goods under transit, there might not be much 
benefit in discussing a "Single Window" system.  India would therefore suggest that the proponents 
might suggest a distinct and preferably a minima l list of procedural simplifications under GATT 
Article V.   
332. With respect to the proposal for more e ffective disciplines on the level, nature and 
management of guarantees required fro m transit operators, including rules to ensure that they were not 
used as an instrument to raise revenue (TN/TF/ W/35), India supported the general principle that 
guarantees should not be used as an instrument to ra ise revenue.  However, India wished to emphasize 
that Members should have the freedom to adopt such a guarantee system which covered the risk 
involved on the goods in transit.   
333. As for the proposal on special procedures for tran sit that consisted of separate physical lines 
for border crossing and simplified border formalities contained in TN/TF/W/39, any proposal of that 
kind would need to be in terms of only a best-e ndeavour clause, as one had to keep in mind the 
associated issues such as in frastructure constraints (for instance, some countries might only have two-
lane roads), the relative volumes of in-transit and nor mal traffic, and any other unique situations.   
334. With respect to the proposal for limiting phys ical inspections and controls (TN/TF/W/39), 
India supported that idea in principle.  However, physical inspection would need to be commensurate 
with the actual circumstances and risk involved.  In  any case, the country of transit should retain the 
right of examination of goods wherever the circumstances so required.   
335. As for the proposal on simplification of customs formalities and increased use of electronic 
and interconnection media for the inspection of goods  upon entry to, at subsequent stops within, and 
on exit from a customs territory to ensure complian ce with the customs legislation in force in the 
territory of the Member (TN/TF/W/30), India supported that proposal in principle.  India however cautioned that any simplification effort should take  into account legitimate concerns of Members 
regarding safeguarding national secu rity and revenue.  India sought clarification from the proponents 
as to what the term "interconnection medi a for the inspection of goods" meant.  TN/TF/M/6 
 Page 47 
 
 
 336. With respect to the establishment of disciplin es on the application of risk assessment criteria 
and on pre-clearance, concurrent, and post-clearance control of goods proposed in TN/TF/W/30, India 
supported the principle of adopting a risk management system, but did not favour a discussion on the application of specific criteria for its implementation.   That should be left to individual Members.  
Similarly, the form and manner of post-clearance cont rol would need to be left to Members, too.   
337. On the proposal of automation of customs and other agency import/export procedures, with 
the possibility of electronic submission of customs and other declarations, and automated payment of 
duties and other fees and charges (TN/TF/W/30), I ndia supported in principle the proposal on 
automation of import and export procedures.  Howe ver, India suggested caution on the proposal of 
automated payment of duties and other fees and char ges.  India was internally attempting automated 
payment of customs duties and found that it need ed development of adequate capacities for other 
relevant partners like banks, traders and Customs br okers.  The automated payment of other types of 
fees and charges would be even more difficult to implement.  India therefore suggested that the 
automated payment system should be only a best-endeavour clause.   
338. With regard to the proposed two tests for import export formalities ((i) no more 
administratively burdensome or trade restrictive th an absolutely necessary to  achieve their legitimate 
objectives; and (ii) be applied in an efficient manner) contained in TN/TF/W/31, India noted that many specific proposals had been made for adopti on of various procedures which could possibly 
achieve the same end result in a more concrete manner.  India therefore did not see much value 
addition in adopting generalized principles which c ould be interpreted differently by Members.  
However, India also took note of footnote 1 of Annex D which stated that clarification and 
improvement of relevant aspects of Articles V,  VIII and X of GATT 1994 was without prejudice to 
the possible format of the final result of negotia tions.  India wished to know from Hong Kong, China 
(HKC) whether they proposed to have clarifica tion of Article VIII only in terms of generalized 
principles instead of discussing individual procedural elements.   
339. As for the suggested transpar ency and publication of information and electronic publication 
of information set out in TN/TF/W/32, India s upported the principle of publication of measures 
connected to import and export.  India however sought clarification as to in what manner HKC's proposal under paragraph 1(b)(i) was different from their proposal under 1(a).   
340. India also sought clarification regarding HKC 's proposal under paragraph 1(b)(ii) as to 
whether that only implied notifyi ng the relevant website addresses to the WTO Secretariat or 
something more.  India would support a proposal to notify the relevant website addresses which the 
Secretariat could put on a common website for information of all WTO Members.   
341. As for the proposals contained in TN/TF/W/36 concerning simplification, reduction and 
standardization of trade documents, India had al ready commented upon proposals such as the use of 
international standards, used of commercial docum ents etc., during previous meetings of the NGTF 
when it had focused on GATT Article VIII.  India reiterated its position on those issues.  However, 
that proposal contained an interesting new id ea of establishing a common net-based "bank of 
documents" where the user could choose the language for filling in and/or printing out the respective 
documents.  India recognized the trade facilitative pot ential of that proposal.  However, India needed 
further clarity on that issue.  A user could possi bly only choose the language for a blank document but 
India wondered whether the data bank could also ha ve the facility to fill in the documents in the 
chosen language.  In India's assessment, that mi ght not be possible because commercial data to be 
filled in in such documents might vary.  India however supported that idea and encouraged further 
discussion on it.   
342. With respect to the submission by Singapore on advance rulings (TN/TF/W/38), India 
welcomed the paper as an illustration of how a system of advance ruling worked in practical terms.  TN/TF/M/6 
Page 48  
 
 However, India wished to caution that India did not expect an outcome of TF negotiations to contain 
such detailed elements of procedure.  
343. With respect to the proposals for prior consu ltation of laws and regulations contained in 
documents TN/TF/W/6 by the EC, TN/TF/W/7 by Korea, TN/TF/W//24 by New Zealand and TN/TF/W/26 from the People's Republic of China, Indi a's domestic consultation with the Ministry of 
Law had indicated that a commitment of prior consultation could not be taken for what India 
understood as primary legislation.  Primary legisla tion was made by the Parliament/State Legislatures 
or by the President of India making regulations under Article 240 of the Indian Constitution (in 
relation to certain Union Territories).  Parliament/Sta te legislature enacted laws on the basis of Bills 
introduced therein either by the Government or by a private Member.  In the case of Government 
Bills, these were approved by the Cabinet.  Howe ver, it depended on whether it was a Government 
Bill or a Private Member Bill as to the consultati on prior to its introduction, and there were no hard 
and fast rules in that regard.  Once the Bill was in troduced in Parliament/State Legislature, it became 
their (i.e., Parliament) property and it was Parliament  who decided whether the affected parties were 
to be consulted or not. Or the Bill might be re ferred to the Department Related Parliamentary 
Committee or the Select Committee/ Joint Committee, or be circulated for the purpose of eliciting 
public opinion thereon, or it might be consid ered and passed without those formalities.   
344. However, in the case of subordinate/delegated legislation, prior consultation would depend 
upon the provisions of rule or bye-laws, in its pare nt or controlling enactment.  It could provide that, 
before making any rules or bye-laws, the same might be subject to previous publication.  In view of that, India reiterated its comments made during th e May 2005 meeting of NGTF with reference to 
New Zealand's proposal on the right to comment (TN/TF/W/24) that that commitment should not be 
too onerous and should only be in broad terms.  I ndia would also like to specifically add that such 
commitment would not apply to primary legislation ma de by parliament or State Legislatures or by 
the President.    
345. As for the paper by the African Group (TN/TF/W/33), India generally supported the ideas 
contained in that paper.  India would only like to sound a note of caution that a general demand for 
improvement of integration of African enterpri ses/economies into the in ternational payment and 
insurance system should not be construed to mean expanding the scope of negotiations into those new 
areas.   
346. India welcomed the China-Pakistan paper (TN/TF/W/29) on identifying trade facilitation 
needs and priorities of Members. The paper could serve as a good road map for developing and least-
developed Members to identify their TF needs and pr iorities.  Such an approach could lend greater 
depth of understanding regarding the universe of TF needs and priorities that the NG needed to focus 
on.  However, India wished to caution that that exercise should be essentially Member-driven and that 
the choice of tools be left to Members to decide  from amongst some broadly identified tools.  India 
fully supported the proposal that the assessment of  needs and priorities should take into account the 
unique situation of such Members who had vast regi onal economic diversities within their territories.   
347. As for the paper TN/TF/W/37 by the European  Communities, India appreciated the EC's 
commitment towards TA&CB.  Indi a wished to highlight the mandate under Annex D which stressed 
the need for support to developing countries a nd LDCs through TA both dur ing negotiations and upon 
their conclusion.  India supported a coordinated approach for TA in which the WTO would also need 
to play a role as per the mandate under Annex D.   
348. The Chairman
 urged Members to make copies of their statements available to the Secretariat.   
This was crucial to allow the Secretariat to prep are the minutes of the meeting, especially in the 
current situation with the Secretariat being tasked with more and more, stretc hing its resources to the 
limit.   TN/TF/M/6 
 Page 49 
 
 
 349. The representative of Colombia  commented on earlier proposals, starting with those relating 
to Article V.  The contributions submitted by Boli via, Paraguay and Mongolia, Korea, the European 
Communities, and Switzerland, Rwa nda and Paraguay reminded Colombia that freedom of transit was 
important for the multilateral trading system as well as for landlocked countries.  All contributions set 
forth specific proposals to be undertaken on various fronts in order to improve and clarify the 
provisions of the Article, and pursued the same  course as other proposals submitted in connection 
with Articles VIII and X. 
350. Colombia particularly wished to endorse the proposals by Bolivia, Mongolia and Paraguay in 
TN/TF/W/28 which targeted non-discrimination between  modes of transport used for transit of goods, 
origin or destination of goods in transit and th e routes chosen for transit.  Colombia found the 
proposal for a common checkpoint to be shared  by authorities from adjacent countries to be 
appropriate.  In the Andean regi on, arrangements were under way to set up Bi-national Border Service 
Centres and Colombia's authorities envisaged estab lishing several of them in the near future.  
Colombia also supported the proposal to simplify clearance for perishable goods by minimizing 
documentation requirements and expediting their passage through border customs controls. 
351. With respect to Article VIII and the area of fees and charges connected with importation and 
exportation, Colombia endorsed the proposals by Japan, Mongolia, Chinese Taipei and Peru 
(TN/TF/W/17, 10 and 25) for publication and periodic review of fees and charges which, in Colombia's view, could be carried out at least once every three years. 
352. It was important, in Colombia's opinion, to determine a method for calculating the 
administrative and operating costs of the import- a nd export-related services provided by customs, as 
any such charge should be strictly related to the cost of the service rendered, taking as a basis the 
proposals by Chinese Taipei in document TN/TF/ W/25, and by the European Communities and 
Australia in TN/TF/W/23.  For many  developing countries, the sums paid for the provision of services 
amounted in some instances to a barrier to trade.  Co lombia wished to point out in that context that it 
levied neither consular fees in connection with importation or exportation nor charges on customs 
services. 
353. With respect to formalities, Colombia had info rmed Members at the March meeting that the 
Colombian Government had established the Forei gn Trade Simultaneous Inspectorate in order to 
coordinate the activities of entities involved in physi cal inspection of goods or in the examination of 
freight entering or leaving the national territory through ports, airports or border crossings. 
354. Colombia therefore supported the proposals by Japan, Mongolia, Chinese Taipei and Peru 
(TN/TF/W/17) regarding formalities and inspection b ased on risk management systems.  Colombia 
likewise endorsed the suggestions made by Australia  and Canada on coordination of border agency 
procedures and formalities (TN/TF/W/19 and W/20). 
355. Colombia was much interested by Korea's proposal (TN/TF/W/18) for harmonizing and 
standardizing document formats for foreign trade oper ations.  Colombia wished to point out in that 
context that work was being done in the Andean  region to implement a Single Customs Document 
with a view to simplifying and streamlining cust oms formalities for the en try and exit of Member 
countries' goods and to consolidating information. 
356. As for substantial penalties for minor breaches, Colombia wished to reiterate its support for 
the proposal by Japan, Mongolia, Chinese Taipei and Peru (TN/TF/W/17) for clearly stating and publicizing penalty provisions for breach of impor t and export formalities, and for prohibiting the 
imposition of unpublished penalties. TN/TF/M/6 
Page 50  
 
 357. Colombia was currently reviewing its penalties system, focusing on the proportionality of 
penalties as a rule of due process.  The idea was that under the revised system, penalties would be 
proportionate to infringements. 
358. As for the issue of goods cl earance procedures and guarantees, at the March meeting 
Colombia had raised a number of concerns about the proposals from Canada and Australia 
(TN/TF/W/19) and the United States (TN/TF/W/21) concerning the creation of a mechanism for the 
provision of sureties so that goods might be rel eased before customs decided on classification and the 
final value of duties payable.  Having analysed the proposals and identified some difficulties that 
Colombia would have to overcome internally in th e area of commercial limitations in the insurance 
sector, Colombia expressed its support for those proposal s as it realised the benefits to be gained from 
swift goods clearance. 
359. With respect to Article X, and the issue of a dvance rulings, Colombia had noted in previous 
comments that its experience with issuing advance rulings on tariff classification had been positive.  
Colombia therefore wished to reiterate its support for the proposals for implementing such a measure 
and at the same time proposed that advance ruli ngs be issued in the following areas: tariff 
classification in accordance with the harmonized system  and its updates; valuation standards; rules of 
origin; return, deferral and payment of taxes; a nd description of the charges, surcharges and taxes 
required for importation. In Colombia's view, it wa s important to set a reasonable period of time for 
its implementation and to study the experien ces of various countries in that regard. 
360. The representative of Pakistan
 said that the systematic approach taken by the Secretariat in 
compiling document TN/TF/W/43 was commendable.  Pakistan did not see it as a mere compilation, 
but as a document which would stimulate structured discussions in the NG in the coming months.    
361. So far, the NG had discussed proposals as they we re tabled.  From July onwards as the Group 
approached the Hong Kong Ministerial Conference, it  was necessary to think about how to structure 
the discussions.  One could discuss the proposals Article  by Article, as suggested by the Philippines, 
or issue by issue, as listed in the compilation and suggested by New Zealand.  In Pakistan's opinion, 
those two approaches were not mutually exclusive.  Pakistan wished to echo New Zealand's 
suggestion to apply the issue-by-issue approach as it would help to better id entify the measures which 
could possibly be included in any future TF agr eement.  One could always cross-reference those 
issues with Articles V, VIII and X.  Pakistan was open on that issue and encouraged the Membership 
to refine its thinking and the work of the Group.  
362. The representative of Indonesia  said that the Secretariat's compilation was clear, concise and 
useful to help Members study further the proposals ta bled.  Indonesia wished to request the Secretariat 
to timely update the compilation to incorporate new proposals.   
363. With respect to the proposals by Japan and others  on risk management to improve the relevant 
aspects of Article VIII, Indonesia wished to highlig ht that the improvement of risk assessment and 
management techniques would provide greater accur acy of the investigation of goods during release 
that led not only to smooth inflows of goods but al so strengthened customs controls.  Therefore, by 
having risk management, one was creating a balan ce between TF and controls that was desperately 
needed in the WTO process for both trade and customs.   To that end, Indonesia wished to suggest an 
exchange of risk management techniques between Me mbers so that they could learn from each other 
to obtain a clearer picture of the practice of risk management.  In addition, Members would also learn from the WCO which had long experience in de veloping risk management techniques.   
364. Indonesia's experience with applying risk mana gement had shown some problems that should 
be properly addressed to enable Members to incr ease further the TF initiatives suggested by some 
proposals.  Adjustment problems covered the areas of how to increase the accuracy of import and  TN/TF/M/6 
 Page 51 
 
 
 export data;  how to use information technology in  an optimal manner, and how to enhance capacity 
building, technical assistance as well as training.   
365. Furthermore, Indonesia was of the view that some  of the proposals needed to be clarified.   
Under section II, paragraph 4, Canada proposed  a Single Window with Korea proposing a Single 
National Focal Point in TN/TF/W/37, paragraph (d).   For that purpose, it was defined that a Single 
Window was the environment where national Single Windows operated and integrated.  The function 
and roles of a national Single Window were based on a single submission of data and information, of 
a single and synchronized processing of data and information, and a single decision making for 
customs release and clearance.   
366. A single decision making was uniformly interpreted as a single point of decision for the 
release of charges by the customs.  On the basi s of decisions they could by-line authorities and 
communicate it timely to the custom s.  Indonesia believed that that system would enable Members to 
reap the benefits from simplifying trade procedures.   However, that would require many additional 
resources and infrastructure to fully connect be tween agencies dealing with ports and customs 
authorities.  In Indonesia's view, in practice, Members would face many problems and difficulties. 
There was lack of ability, infrastructure and differe nces in the level of development of IT inter- 
agencies.  There was also a difference in knowledge between agencies as well as SMEs.  They did not 
have the capability to invest in infrast ructure.  TA&CB was required.    
367. Regarding Japan's and Mongolia's proposal in  TN/TF/W/17, paragraph 5, concerning the 
review of fees and charges, I ndonesia believed that to be a good proposal which would bring greater 
stability and transparency.  In Indonesia's view, it wo uld enable Members to increase the efficiency of 
administration.  The growing privatisation of fees and charges in the ports would be determined by 
market forces.  In that regard, governments w ould have difficulties to establish the suggested 
periodical review.  Such a review would involve sep arate decrees from inter agencies.  In practice, it 
would be very time consuming and would create additional costs.   
368. With regard to Chinese Taipei's paper in TN/TF/W/44 on the experience in establishing a 
system for immediate release of express consignmen ts, Indonesia recognized that the paper was quite 
comprehensive as it captured and identified problem s for the immediate release of consignments.  
Indonesia wished to inform the Group that it ha d implemented express consignment procedures.  
However, the procedures were only applied for goo ds having a sensitive character, such as, among 
others, human organs, live animals and plants, ne wspapers delivered by express consignments, and 
other goods stipulated directly by the director-general of customs and excise.  Concerning the goods 
delivered by express consignments, goods  had to be exported by the use of  an airway bill.   As regards 
financial guarantees, Indonesia believed it was a good proposal as it provided for the facilitation of 
express consignments.  However, for the sake of cer tainty, Indonesia enforced financial guarantees 
that could be received from the importers.  Howeve r, when the goods' value was less than US$ 50 per 
shipment, a customs duty was not imposed.    
369. The representative of Paraguay  welcomed the statements by Br azil, the Philippines, India and 
Colombia on proposal TN/TF/W/28 on behalf of  Bolivia, Mongolia and Paraguay, as well as the 
questions on some of the points raised therein.  Since the proposal was sponsored jointly by several 
delegations, it was requested for delegations to s ubmit their questions on the paper in writing. They 
would then also be answered in writing and ci rculated for the next meeting of the NGTF. 
370. The representative of Jamaica  said that the Secretariat compilation not only assisted the 
process of establishing an inventory of trade facilitation measures, as suggested by New Zealand, but 
could also assist in the process of establishing an in ventory of what of the proposed measures were in 
place and in which Members states, as suggested by Ja maica in its intervention at the March meeting.  
Jamaica wanted to supplement its earlier co mment on the submission by the African Group TN/TF/M/6 
Page 52  
 
 (TN/TF/W/33).  In general, as Jamaica had indicated , Jamaica was in agreement with the principle 
and substance of that submission.     
371. With respect to section 2 on the scope of th e negotiations, Jamaica wondered whether it 
would not be prudent for the African Group to includ e footnote 1 of Annex D relating to the possible 
format and outcome of the final result of the negotiations.   
372. Regarding section 3, supporting TF needs and priorities, Jamaica endorsed the needs and 
priorities set out in that section and recognized that those were some of the concerns which had also 
been encountered in the Caribbean region.    
373. Jamaica endorsed section 4 addressing cost im plications, particularly paragraph 9 on the 
establishment of a mechanism for the provision of TA.  Jamaica wondered, however, whether the 
timetable of July 2005 was still feasible and whet her the African Group had given any thought to 
proposing a new date for the establishment of that mechanism. 
374. On paragraph 10, Jamaica thought that the s upport during the negotiations should include the 
NGO sectors and other key stakeholders.  On section 5, dealing with SDT, Jamaica agreed with the 
principles as set out. 
375. As for section 6 on inter-agency cooperation, Jamaica was of the view that that should not 
only be multilateral but should also include regional bodies.  Jamaica also felt that Members needed  
to explore expertise at the regional level.  Wh at was not clearly expressed through the African 
submission, however, were the challenges associated with the inter-agency work.  That was required 
as part of the implementation process.  Extensive collaboration would become necessary, particularly 
in the NGO community.  A large community of actors was affected by TF measures and there would 
be a need to strengthen the associations with the re levant government agencies there.  For example, in 
Jamaica's case, Jamaica would need to review all relationships with key agencies in associations like 
all port authorities, customs  brokers or shipping associations.   
376. With respect to section 7, Jamaica shared the concerns that the proposals so far provided for 
no new resources and agreed on the need to ope rationalize SDT instead of the best-endeavour 
proposals currently on the table.  
377. The representative of Kenya
 supported the views expressed by India and the Philippines that, 
with respect to the compilation, ot her than cross-cutting issues, the issues reflected in that document 
should be listed by Article. 
378. Kenya understood the difficulties relating to the issue of overlaps in that context while at the 
same time believing that, in line with the mandate, the issues should be listed by Article.  It would 
also be useful for the compilation to capture in a focused manner the observations and the concerns 
expressed by Members on the various proposals to balance the Group's work.  
379. The representative of the Philippines  said that, while the Philippines still had various 
questions concerning previous submissions, due to ti me constraints it would submit them in writing.  
It would be useful if all responses could be compile d together.  The habit of responding to questions 
in writing  would help demystify some of the pr oposals on the table. The Philippines had found it very 
useful to receive written responses to its questions.  
380. The representative of Switzerland  recalled that, in the joint submission with Rwanda and 
Paraguay, Switzerland had mentioned that certain pro posals might be of a best-endeavour nature.  In 
response to Korea's question about which of the co mmon features listed in the proposal were intended 
to be of a best-endeavour nature, Switzerland wished  to say that Members had not yet had sufficient  TN/TF/M/6 
 Page 53 
 
 
 discussions on those proposals to decide or propose which of them would be of which nature.  That 
would be left for a later time. 
381. In response to India's questions, Switzerland wish ed to note that, while the Swiss delegation 
would not be able to speak on behalf of the other co-sponsors Switzerland had found the Indian 
comments to be very accurate.  For instance, their poi nt that special procedures for transit should be a 
best-endeavour clause depending on infrastructure cons traints and the volume of traffic involved at 
certain border stations was shared by Switzerland. It was not intended to be a general aspect but rather 
something which should be targeted to the physical  and local conditions.  Switzerland also tended to 
agree on India's other point that physical inspection had to be commensurate with the risk involved.     
It had not been Switzerland's intention to say that physical inspection would be prohibited. Rather, the 
point that Switzerland had wished to make was th at there should be a difference between how goods 
were dealt with, and whether it was for imports or fo r transit.  The rate of physical inspection for 
goods transit should be lower that the one for import.  
382. The representative of Korea  said that, in order to respond to questions raised at the last 
meeting by delegations such as India, Kenya and th e Philippines and Egypt, and to further understand 
the intentions reflected in Korea's proposal, Korea had decided to circulate a written response to the 
questions as a job document. Any further questions would be answered in due course.   
383. The representative of the European Communities  wished to respond to a number of questions 
raised on some of the EC's proposals, particularly  from India. The EC would also try to reply in 
writing to some of those questions and comments as they had done with other questions.  
384. With respect to India's question about what in ternational standards or instruments could be 
referenced in the area of transit, the EC would prov ide a full list of its views, but examples of those 
standards applied by customs to transit operati ons and procedures included the UN Layout Key for 
documentation, the ATA Carnet System and the TIR Convention.  The EC had also proposed the WCO Data Set, a privileged international standard for customs data services, which equally applied to 
transit data. 
385. As for India's question about which proposals within the framework of Article X could also 
apply to Members' transit rules and procedures, the EC was of the view that, amongst the proposals made by the EC and others on Article X, first of  all, that would particularly be the case for the 
requirement to publish and make readily availabl e, laws, regulations, requirements and guidelines 
applicable to transit.  Second, the principle of so me form of consultations with the affected trading 
community equally applied to transit procedures.  A nd third, the need for a domestic enquiry point of 
some kind, would obviously include the possibility for traders to make enquiries about domestic 
transit rules. 
386. With respect to India's request for clarifica tion about the EC's proposal that Article VIII-
related fees and charges could also mutatis mutandis apply to fees and charges in transit, the EC was 
of the view that there was a good argument that, as with Article VIII fees and charges, similarly as 
regards transit in fees and charges, those fees should be published.  It should not be permissible for a 
government to levy fees if there was no regulatory basis for them. Second, the fees should reflect the costs of the service provided.  In that context, it  was recognized that, as far as transit was concerned, 
the service provided could include the costs for providi ng and maintaining the transit route.  Third, the 
fee for the transit operation or transit service should not be levied on an ad valorem  basis because ad 
valorem  fees, by definition, did not reflect the cost of the service provided to the transiting 
consignment. Those were the three principal resp ects in which the EC proposals regarding fees under 
Article VIII would equally apply to  fees and charges for transit. TN/TF/M/6 
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 387. With respect to India's question about fixed installations, suggesting more discussions, and 
asking whether the EC's reference to fixed installa tions was limited to pipelines and similar fixed 
installations, the EC could clarify that that was actua lly the case.  What the EC had thought of were in 
fact pipelines or goods for energy transmission. Th ere were no other significant fixed installations the 
EC was currently aware of.  If there were any,  the EC would be happy to learn about them.   The EC 
agreed with India that transit was essentially a simp le procedure.  However, on the point of the use of 
risk management techniques or authorized consign ee therefore being less relevant or less applicable, 
or that it could be done in a minimum way, the EC sugg ested to further reflect on that.  It was true that 
it was probably not necessary to have extensive risk analysis, but the EC had found that risk analysis was still very useful because, by applying risk an alysis and risk manageme nt techniques one could 
reduce the level of controls which was good for th e administration and also allowed to operate the 
system of authorized consignees which simplified ma tters on both sides.  The EC would be happy to 
provide more details on those two asp ects in their written replies.  
388. The representative of Argentina
 introduced document TN/TF/W/41, explaining that it was a 
communication that had been sponsored by a range of Latin American countries.  Argentina would 
first make some general comments to give an id ea of the context within which the communication 
was submitted and the reason and thinking behind it.  Bolivia would then present the more substantial 
part of the document. 
389. Looking at document TN/TF/W/41 (and Add. 1 and 2), one saw that that communication 
originated from the following Members: Argentina,  Bolivia, Brazil, Chile, Colombia, Costa Rica, 
Ecuador, El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras, Me xico, Panama, Paraguay, Peru, the Dominican 
Republic, and Uruguay.  That communication was very much the fruit of joint reflection by various 
delegations.  The Group of Latin American countri es which had looked into it with the view to 
facilitate trade was not a homogenous one.  All countries were at very different levels of development 
and had different customs practices.  Some were more advanced, others less.  Some states were 
currently implementing the process thanks to regiona l or bilateral agreements, which was important, 
as it provided an idea of what could be done and what  could be translated into  the multilateral arena.  
There was a whole range of situations and capacities. 
390. Despite the differences, the group shared the sa me goals.  All delegations attached great 
importance to TF measures and to the outcome of the negotiations, which was something that could 
be translated into the NG's work.  There were no di fferences amongst delegati ons in that regard and 
there were no differences in thinking of what Memb ers should achieve with TF.  Everybody agreed on 
it being a positive thing.  There were simply nuan ces regarding how Members were able to assess the 
capacity of shouldering certain commitments.  The doc ument therefore tried to answer the question of 
how Members should be designing disciplines or a possible agreement on TF, and how Members 
could bring together a su bstantial level of ambition while at the same time giving guarantees to 
Members who were going to have to implement tho se commitments.  When discussing those issues, it 
had become clear that the answer to that  question was to be found in Annex D.  
391. The communication did not simply deal with Annex D as a starting point to Members'  
discussion.  It was the end point and the outcome.  The basis and the elements contained in Annex D 
should be reflected in the final outcome in designing future TF disciplines.  
392. Obviously, progress achieved to date was important and the discussion of measures and 
specific proposals was important regarding Articles V,  VIII and X.  But it was equally important that 
Members did not overlook the general context, or the actual design of the disciplines themselves.  
Members had an historic opportunity to design an agreement which was differ ent to the ones that had 
been traditionally drawn up in the WTO such as  the many agreements that had emerged from 
Negotiating Rounds such as the Uruguay Round.    TN/TF/M/6 
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 393. At that time, commitments had been establis hed with thought being given to TA only 
afterwards.   The TA had been basically to implement or assist with the implementation of the 
commitments.  As a result, there had been examples  of many countries not being able to live up to 
their commitments.  Looking at the areas of Import Licensing or Customs Valuation, for instance, one 
had seen that, a whole series of countries who had failed  to respond to their notification requirements.   
The reason for not notifying had not been negligence. Rather, those countries did not have the 
required human resources, capacities and infrastructure.   One should avoid the same situation in the 
area of TF.  Trade Facilitation had much potential and could bring massive benefits to many.  And 
Members were able to design the appropriate mechanis ms to actually achieve that.  The whole design 
of future disciplines and the final agreement had to be different.  The basis was to be found in 
Annex D of the July Package.  It was an excellent opportunity to design a new type of agreement 
based on a new type of cooperation between interna tional bodies and countries, with or without the 
capacity, so that slowly but surely each Member c ould take on board the commitments effectively in 
order to have a proper outcome.   
394. The representative of Bolivia  wished to add to what Argentina had said about the submission 
by the Group of Latin American Members, which co mpiled the views of South and Central America, 
reflecting their commitment to move the WTO negotiations on TF forward. 
395. In the course of the recent multilateral negotiation process, those countries had become 
acquainted with the problems confronting every Memb er.  They had also benefited from constructive 
and innovative suggestions concer ning GATT Articles V, VIII and X, the framework of rules to be 
improved and clarified as prescribed by Annex D. Some Members had, in addition, raised other 
aspects of the mandate as reflected in ever y draft agenda of the Group's meetings. 
396. With all the material and tools that Me mbers now had, the co-sponsors of document 
TN/TF/W/41 believed that for the remainder of the negotiating process, account must be taken of the 
links between the various elements of Annex D, and th at that should be properly reflected in the final 
result of the negotiations, to quote Annex D:  "without prejudice to the possible format of the final 
result of the negotiations and would allow c onsideration of various forms of outcomes". 
397. That implied that for developing and least-developed countries: (i) the scope and the 
commitments to be adopted must be in line with their implementation capacity; (ii) the capacity to 
implement new commitments must be determined on th e basis of their needs and priorities in TF; (iii) 
TA&CB must assist the implementation of the commitments resulting from the negotiations;  (iv) special and differential treatment must, as the ma ndate indicated, go beyond the customary granting of 
transition periods for the implementation of commitme nts and must be horizontally related to each of 
the elements of Annex D. 
398. With respect to how such an interrelationship s hould be dealt with in terms of adopting future 
disciplines, the co-sponsors of the paper were of  the view that, as developing countries, their 
ambitions for this area of the negotiations were fairly  high.  Consequently, they foresaw that, in order 
to apply some of the future rules they agreed on, there would be need for resources, CB and, possibly, 
institutional adjustments in some cas es.  Despite their political resolve to give effect to new rules, 
there might be difficulties that exceed ed their implementation capacities.  
399. Bearing that in mind, the co-sponsors believed th at for the adoption of future commitments, 
work should be done on assessing the implementati on capacity of each Member, so that the new 
commitments might be executed in the best po ssible manner and in accordance with the capacity, 
level of development, and trade needs of each Member. 
400. The process already under way of identifyi ng needs and priorities was essential to the 
implementation of the proposal and must be pursued  in parallel to the identification of future TN/TF/M/6 
Page 56  
 
 commitments during the negotiating process.  It would be necessary to carry out a diagnosis of the 
real implementation capacity of each Member, a nd the suggestion was that each Member should 
conduct a self-assessment process with the necessary TA.  Such a proce dure, which in all cases should 
be carried out in parallel, would assist in the task of defining what was needed in terms of TA&CB in 
order for the commitments to be implemented effectively. 
401. A further proposal was that a deadline should be set for Members to report on their actual 
capacity to implement the new commitments.  Wher e there was no demonstrated capacity for their 
immediate implementation, differential transiti on periods were proposed, combined with TA&CB 
programmes geared to the obligations to be assumed a nd the analysis of national needs and priorities.  
That would afford assistance for the implementation – albeit gradual – of the new commitments where 
it was needed.  It was important to note that , while such TA&CB programmes were ongoing, the 
commitments would not be enforceable, in accord ance with the modalities for the negotiations. 
402. In the interests of the developing and least -developed countries, new disciplines should be 
devised, with the support of TA&CB programmes, with  a view to ensuring that future obligations 
were actually fulfilled.  The co-sponsors of TN/ TF/W/41 accordingly suggested giving consideration 
to whether it would be appropriate to establish a mechanism to organize and coordinate such action, 
taking into account donors, recipients and other inte rnational organizations with a view to ensuring 
that the TA corresponded to the recipients' needs. 
403. In keeping with Annex D, the principle of SD T, having been taken into account, horizontally, 
in the interrelationship of the elements of Annex D,  must effectively be reflected in the adoption of 
new WTO disciplines on trade facilitation. 
404. The representative of the Dominican Republic
 associated his delegation with the Latin 
American group and wished to co-sponsor document TN/TF/W/41 because it met the interests of many developing countries in th e TF negotiations and, above all, because it placed adequate emphasis 
on the essential aspects contained in Annex D for the ne gotiations on that topic. All of those elements 
should be taken into account as they touched upon the in terests of many countries, particularly in the 
Caribbean region.  
405. The paper was eminently constructive, favour ing the progress in the negotiations and 
contributing to moving them forward, taking into acc ount in a various balanced way the diagnosis of 
each country's TA and S&D needs.   
406. The document brought together very clearly some important points discussed earlier in the 
NG and referred to in their statements by many  countries from Latin America and Africa.  More 
particularly, it set out some key ideas that would have to be considered in the course of the 
negotiations. 
407. In expressing the Dominican Republic's support fo r the Latin American paper, the Dominican 
Republic wished to stress that the evaluation of the substance of the proposals submitted to date 
showed how close many of the positions were and that there was no divergence of views over many 
of the points raised. There was a large degree of consensus. 
408. The Dominican Republic therefore believed that the issues of resources, TA, CB and SDT 
should be viewed as favourably and with the same absence of disagreement as the other substantive 
matters that had been addressed in earlier meeti ngs.  In the Dominican Republic's opinion, those 
proposals should be incorporated in  a practical manner in the final results of the negotiating process. 
409. The representative of  Costa Rica
 was pleased to announce its co-sponsorship of document 
TN/TF/W/41 presented by Argentina and Bolivia on behalf of many Latin American countries.  TN/TF/M/6 
 Page 57 
 
 
 410. Costa Rica was highly satisfied with the progress the NG had made to date, evidenced by the 
large number of proposals and the level of partic ipation by Members.  Although some proposals had 
emphasized rules, on grounds of logic, Costa Rica believed that there was a need to consider in 
greater depth how the proposed measures, the iden tification of needs and priorities, TA&CB, and 
SDT should interact and be inte r-related in future disciplines. 
411. One objective that Members should consider  and which Costa Rica believed should be 
stressed, was that of ensuring, through the discip lines Members agree on, that developing and least-
developed countries made the most of the benefits to be derived from TF. 
412. Costa Rica had always held that, in order to define or have an idea of costs, benefits, the 
amount of assistance needed and the type of SDT Me mbers required, it was first necessary to  have a 
notion of the measures Members might have to implement. Members now had a sizeable framework 
of rules, as witnessed from the compilation prepared by the Secretariat.  That regulatory framework 
could go some way to enabling each Member to exam ine its own situation, as Malaysia had done, so 
that Members could determine the kind of assistance and SDT they required.  
413. That was why from now on, a relationship between the rules component, the identification of 
needs and priorities, and TA, was essential.  It wa s this inter-relationship that would enable Members 
to obtain instruments to establish and put into e ffect SDT that was in keeping with the measures 
Members agreed on and their capacity.  
414. Costa Rica furthermore emphasized that the components of that relationship should be dealt 
with in parallel, as China, Pakistan and Peru had noted in their submissions.  Costa Rica had already 
expressed the view that the process of identifying needs and priorities should not be separated from 
the negotiating process.  Members had to know what kind of measures could be included in a future 
agreement in order to facilitate the task of ascertain ing what their needs and priorities were as well as 
the costs and working of the agreement.  
415. Members had an opportunity to be creative in the negotiations and to devise disciplines that 
would secure the commitment of all Members to  facilitating multilateral trade, setting a balance 
between such commitment and sufficient cooperati on and CB to implement the future agreement. 
416. The representative of Brazil  fully supported the statements by the other co-sponsors of 
document TN/TF/W/41, in particular by Argentina and Bolivia.  The proposals aimed to draw attention to the fact that Members were advancing fast a nd well in one part of the mandate but not in 
another.  So far, the NG had discussed many propos als on the improvement of Articles V, VIII and X.  
Members had had a good exchange of views and ha d raised their concerns, which in turn had 
prompted further explanations from the proponent s.  Yet, when it came to TA, SDT and the 
identification of priorities, work was lagging behind,  as had already been noted at the last meeting in 
the proposal presented by the African Group.   
417. Proposal TN/TF/W/41 also aimed at pointing out  that work had to progress in a balanced 
way.  The objective was to ensure that the negotia tions were successful and that all elements of the 
mandate were properly taken into  account.  Failure to do that could create a problem at the Hong 
Kong Ministerial Conference.  A number of participan ts had shared their experience and their efforts 
to supply technical cooperation and assistance in th e area of TF with developing countries.  As 
important and commendable as those initiatives were, th ey were not sufficient to fulfil the mandate.  
The modalities for TF negotiations established a very clear link between assistance and the implementation of any new commitment.  That requir ed targeted and timely action.  Since the needs 
would depend on the nature of any new commitme nts, Members should not wait until the negotiations 
finished.  The modalities highlighted the need for support and assistance during the negotiations.  That 
was all the more important in the effort to identify the TF needs and priorities of developing countries.   TN/TF/M/6 
Page 58  
 
 418. With respect to the evaluation process, Brazil ha d come across the difficulty of defining the 
parameters for that and of deciding whether one  should use the WCO's Customs Capacity Building 
Diagnostic Framework as a basis for that or not, an d how to avoid duplication of efforts with other 
relevant organizations.  Those were important qu estions Members should face.  They had to discuss 
all of that in order to allow countries to engage in the parallel exercise right away.  Perhaps Members 
could tackle those difficulties by having at one of their next meetings presentations by some 
international organizations of their projects and the criteria they had and how they established them.   
419. The representative of Panama
 highlighted the elements which were very important and useful 
in proposal TN/TF/W/41.  Panama was committed to  the TF negotiations process and considered that 
the disciplines inter-related in the management of transit and clearance of goods were key factors to 
boost the competitiveness, transparency  and efficiency of export and import procedures.  For that 
reason and to achieve the objectives mentioned in th e proposal, Panama supported the proposal very 
strongly.  The suggested parallel a pproach would be very fruitful to  follow the negotiations and would 
enable Members to build the necess ary capacity to maximize the benefits of future possibilities on 
which Members could agree in the negotiations.   
420. The representative of Paraguay  was satisfied to observe that  work in the NG was gathering 
momentum and hoped that consensus would be  reached in due course on the adoption of 
commitments that contributed to facilitating trade.  The elements of Annex D would be of relevance 
in that context:  identifying needs and prioriti es, implementation capacities, TA&CB, and SDT.  
421. In order to put forward some views on the ways in which the above-mentioned elements 
could interact and interrelate with future disciplin es that might emerge from that exercise in the 
interests of all Members, 16 Latin American c ountries had joined forces to produce document 
TN/TF/W/41. 
422. As Argentina had aptly pointed out, failure to  apply multilateral trade disciplines was not an 
uncommon occurrence, since the obligations those disciplines imposed were beyond the material 
and/or technical means of those who had to appl y them.  That was why Annex D provided Members 
with a series of tools which had to be used in the process of clarifying and improving the Articles 
pertaining to trade facilitation if future commitment s were to be commensurate with each Member's 
actual capacity and to meet their trade needs and priorities. 
423. In order to make that possible, TN/TF/W/41 proposed a process of self-assessment to be 
conducted by each Member in the area of TF, in parallel to the process of devising and adopting 
disciplines.  That exercise should reveal the needs and priorities of Members, their actual capacity to 
implement the commitments, the time required to assume them and the type of assistance required to 
cover the gap separating them from the capacity to fulfil the commitments.  In Paraguay's view, such 
an assessment should be carried out as soon as possi ble, according to an orderly procedure agreed 
upon in the NG.  
424. Paraguay wished to draw attention to some other key components of the proposal: (i) the 
establishment of differential periods  for implementing future commitments, to be set on the basis of 
each Member's needs and priorities; (ii) the desi gning of assistance programmes to prepare Members 
that so require to assume each of the future commitments; (iii) the organization and coordination of 
technical assistance and capacity creation in the area of TF, bringing together donors, recipients and 
other international organizations. 
425. Those measures would obviously be geared towards developing a nd least-developed 
Members.  The ideas set forth in TN/TF/W/41 were open to discussion and further development.  To 
that end, future contributions to add to  or modify them would be most useful.  TN/TF/M/6 
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 426. The representative of the Philippines  welcomed the discussions on TA&CB and the pool of 
proposals on that issue, particularly TN/TF//29 from China and Pakistan, TN/TF/W/30 from Peru, TN/TF/W/33 from the African Group, and TN/TF/W/41 from a group of Latin American countries which were a good starting point for discussing what TA really meant under the current negotiations.   
427. The Philippines recognized that in the China-Pa kistan proposal, there seemed to be emphasis 
on the continuing nature and need for a mechanism for a continuing needs and priority assessment and 
implementation of capacity building issues.  The Ph ilippines noted also the Latin American proposal, 
which seemed to focus on an abbreviated and early arrival at what exactly the measure of CB would 
require to be integrated in the current negotiati ons.  The Philippines believed that further discussion 
on that question would be very helpful to consider wh at would really be the framework for TA&CB.    
428. The Philippines noted also the submission in  JOB(05)/101 from Japan which contained 
examples of the very specific programmes of TA that Japan undertook, as well as submission 
TN/TF/W/37 from the European Communities wh ich itemized the various existing bilateral 
programmes the EC had.  On page 11 of  the EC submission, more than fifteen projects totalling a 
cost of 400 million euros for infrastructure proj ects had been enumerated.  It would be a good 
opportunity to understand how existing TA already u ndertaken by developed countries would fit into 
the negotiating agreement that the Philippines hoped to arrive at.   
429. The representative of Venezuela
 supported document TN/TF/W/41 as it reflected in a very 
clear way the mandate under Annex D.  It was a vital step to make sure that developing countries and 
LDCs were in a position to unde rstand the scope of the new commitments, the cost of their 
implementation and their TA needs in that process.   
430. As Argentina had pointed out, that was extrem ely useful because Members had the historic 
opportunity to design an agreement which responded to  all of the concerns and needs of developing 
countries in a subject which could help them fulf il their development objectives.  Venezuela also 
shared the views expressed by Paraguay with rega rd to the parallel assessment with the view to 
identifying national needs and priorities and capacity  for implementation.  Venezuela hoped that other 
delegations would give high priority  to the Latin American proposal.   
431. The representative of Egypt  said that the paper provided important details on one of the most 
important aspects of the negotiations.   
432. With respect to paragraph 9, Egypt shared its interpretation of Annex D's elements.  Egypt 
also considered that compliance with new obl igations should be commensurate with the 
implementation capacity of each Member.  However,  Egypt would be interested in having more 
information on the proposed self assessment process.  Would that be left to each Member or would it 
have to be carried out according to agreed guidelines ?  Would it be subject to review and what would 
be the possible time frame for such a process?   
433. On paragraph 12, in the event that developi ng countries or LDCs had no or limited proven 
capacity for the implementation of new commitment s, which authority would be responsible for 
determining the transition period they could bene fit from?  How would such transition period be 
determined and how would the result of a TA&CB pr ogramme be directly linked with the length of 
the initially said transition period?   
434. With respect to paragraph 12, setting out the id ea of establishing a mechanism to organize and 
coordinate TA&CB in the area of trade facilitation, Egypt would be interested in knowing how such 
mechanism could be practically organized, having in mind the mechanisms already in place which 
included, inter alia,  the OECD/WTO database on TA&CB and the Global Facilitation Partnership TN/TF/M/6 
Page 60  
 
 (GFP) and Inter Agency Meetings on TF and the International Trade Procedures Working Group.  
The purpose of Egypt's comment was to stimulate further discussion.   
435. With respect to the suggestion made by th e Philippines to redraft document TN/TF/W/43 
according to the three Articles, Egypt had taken note of  the views of the Secretariat regarding some of 
the submissions being cross-sectoral.  Maybe one coul d still structure the paper according to the three 
Articles, and also have a fourth title perhaps calle d "cross-sectoral proposals".  Egypt also supported 
the suggestion to have a compilation of the pr oposals under SDT, as well as the concern or the 
questions posed concerning the different proposals.   
436. The representative of Korea
 appreciated the Latin American contribution on the inter-
relationship between the elements of Annex D a nd the development of some ideas and a possible 
approach to be taken.     
437. Generally, Korea admitted that any commitment agreed upon in the WTO should be followed 
by its implementation.  The paper clearly show ed the close inter-relationship between that 
commitment and its implementation.  For that purpose, finding out Members capacities and the 
required SDT and TA&CB was a crucial element fo r the full implementation of any commitment.  
Therefore, in principle, Korea agreed with that a pproach.  But in practice, Members were now in the 
process of figuring out all the elements for the fina l outcome of the negotiations.  Therefore, even 
though Korea admitted the usefulness of discussing that commitment and the relationship with its implementation, in practice it was too early, or too difficult, to fully discuss what kind of SDT elements and what kind of implementation capacity was needed.   
438. Furthermore, it was necessary to have more clar ity on the approaches such as self-assessment 
and on the reporting system.  Korea associated itsel f with the intervention by Egypt on the process to 
identify Members' needs and priorities by self ass essment and on what had been said about how to 
report.  With that clarification, Korea was read y to discuss that further at a later stage.   
439. The representative of Switzerland
 commented on the proposal by the group of Latin 
American countries, noting that it had helped to clarify Members' expectations from those 
negotiations.   
440. The submission stipulated the interrelationship of  the various elements contained in Annex D, 
namely the rules setting, the identification of n eeds and priorities as well as TA&CB, while at the 
same time being linked to SDT.  In doing so, the paper concluded, a new fo rm of cooperation between 
Members was outlined, aimed at ensuring that de veloping and least-developed countries had real 
capacity to implement the new commitments.   
441. Switzerland agreed with the layout of the paper.   Yet, the difficulty lay in how to make the 
inter-linkages operational and form a coherent system suitable to all stakeholders in the negotiations.  
There were some key paragraphs in the submissi on.  One of them was paragraph 9 proposing the 
implementation of commitments to be gradual in the way best suited to the capacity, development 
level and trade needs of each Member.  On the one  side, Switzerland was tempted to agree with the 
proposal, but on the other, Switzerland was reminded by many discussions that the countries 
encountering the greatest difficulties in implementing TF measures because of them going beyond their administrative and institutional capabilities were  also the ones whose trading possibilities had 
not yet developed to their full potential.  Moreove r, TF measures were part of the measures that 
contributed positively to a country's investment clim ate.  That aspect should not be neglected when 
looking at the proposal.    TN/TF/M/6 
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 442. In order to fully understand the proposal, Sw itzerland sought clarification on whether the 
gradual implementation would be freely chosen by each Member or whether there would be some criteria and time horizons deve loped to guide it.    
443. Switzerland had proposed a modules- or packag e-based approach.  That concept included a 
basic package of commitments to be undertaken in the form of general principles primarily requiring 
administrative measures to implement, to which all countries should subscribe on relatively short 
notice.  Subsequently, there would be a limite d number of additional packages, each of them 
containing a number of increasingly demanding measures both in terms of resources and implementation capacity.  An aspect Switzerland was still working on was how Members would negotiate compliance with those additional packages.   
444. Whatever the approach was, one should not loose sight of the fact that a number of TF 
measures were interlinked.  Sequencing of measure s was thus very important.  When sequencing, 
Members should look at three aspects:  (i) the co mplexity of implementing a measure and required 
resources; (ii) whether the implementation of a measure required the prior implementation of another measure;  and (iii) the leverage of  a measure on facilitating trade.   
445. Paragraph 10 of the Latin American paper sti pulated that the identification of needs and 
priorities be effected in parallel to the identif ication of future commitments.  Although Switzerland 
fully agreed with that in the light of what follo wed in the same paragraph that the diagnosis would 
serve to determine each Member's real situati on and the distance separating it from the capacity 
needed to implement obligations to be agreed in the future, Switzerland also recalled what the World 
Bank had mentioned at the last meeting on it being difficult to fully assess the consequences for a 
country as long as the commitments were not furt her defined.  Switzerland therefore wondered 
whether there were not two phases of assessment re quired: one to roughly evaluate the data and 
another, more in-depth one, leading to implemen tation plans and the full assessment of technical and 
financial means available domestically as well as of, as necessary, external resources needed.   
446. The submission further stated that, when rules were considered for possible adoption in the 
WTO, simultaneous consideration should be given to TA so as to guarantee the viability of their 
implementation.  Could the proponents of the submis sion give further explanation on what they meant 
by "simultaneous consideration"?   
447. In its intervention at the May meeting, Swit zerland had been talking about a mechanism of 
the kind mentioned in the Latin American subm ission. It had been proposed to determine a 
multilateral platform, including multilateral agencies,  donors, concerned developing countries, trade 
federations and interested companies.  The role of  the multilateral platform could be to coordinate 
assistance to Members, to organize necessary funds fr om donors as well as monitor the delivery.  The 
drawback of such a solution was that the same actors would organize funds, provide assistance, and 
implement and monitor success.  Therefore, Members had to consider whether it was not necessary to separate certain functions in order to keep a cer tain independence and obj ectivity which could be 
delegated to some kind of technical committee of independent, internationally-recognized experts 
acting in their personal capacity.  Those were just very preliminary ideas, subject to revision in light 
of subsequent discussions.    
448. With respect to the communication by the Eu ropean Communities, Switzerland welcomed its 
second part.  Switzerland agreed with the stipula tion that any commitment should not apply until the 
Member in question was in a position to implement them .  It also said that, in the meantime, technical 
assistance should be directed to helping those coun tries not having the resources to build up the 
necessary domestic capacities.  The submission w as also suggesting that some more specific 
arrangements should be put in place in order to  strengthen the link between the negotiation and 
implementation of any future commitments and the provision of TA&CB, and proposed five elements TN/TF/M/6 
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 around which such arrangements could be articulated.  Switzerland believed that those five elements 
were interesting and deserved to be looked at more closely.  Yet, Switzerland would appreciate 
additional explanations on how to operationalize that.   
449. With regard to transition periods, the EC made  an important statement:  transitional periods 
should in any case be linked to any reform or mode rnization programme under way in a country.   In 
Switzerland's view, Members had to be very caref ul when considering proposals suggesting total 
exemptions or indefinite transition periods.  Turk ey's paper TN/TF/W/45, for example, suggested that 
developed countries publish all regulat ions in one of the WTO official languages, but that it would be 
unfair to request the same from developing countries.   In that case, Switzerland wondered if traders, 
including from developing and least-developed count ries, would at the end of the day not be 
disappointed by the implementation of the measure. Qu ite a few, if not all developed countries already 
published the relevant information, or at least part of it, in one of the official WTO languages.  If the 
information was not available in the major trad ing markets, traders would invest to get the 
information in a suitable form.  However, if trading information was not available in less important markets, traders would not make the effort to get th e information and would simply turn their interest 
to other similar markets where such information wa s available.  Therefore, Switzerland was not sure 
who would complain at the end for not having the in formation available, the trader or the developing-
country Member.  On the other hand, Switzerland fully agreed that the measure proposed by Argentina was very costly and that Members thus n eeded to carefully reflect what information had to 
be available and in which form and language.   
450. The representative of El Salvador
 said that the content of document TN/TF/W/41 was a 
reflection of the logic of the negotiating process.  El Salvador did not want to go into detail about the 
content, but wished to address the logic behind the communication.  Currently, some countries had 
real capacity to implement, which meant that th ey could get the process going with a view to 
implementing what was contained in Articles V, VIII and X.  In the negotiating process, stress was laid on the fact that, when discussing a future rule, work  had also to be carried out at the same time on 
the identification of needs and priorities and SDT, TA&CB.  That was where a Member could decide 
whether it was in a position to adopt a measure and to  what extent it was able to implement those new 
future commitments.  It was important to know what  was the real and future capacity to implement 
the rule or commitment and to know the differenc e between real capacity and current and future 
capacity. 
451. The document talked about TA, CB and othe r resources which could be identified as 
Members moved forward, thereby establishing the capac ity to implement the rules. That was a basic 
element for a developing or least-developed Member to know whether it was in a position to comply 
with the rules.   There had been slightly different standards adopted by countries.   If Members were to 
enter into the commitments identified in the negotiating process, that was essential.     
452. The representative of India
 said that the inter-linkage between commitments and TA 
highlighted in the paper was already provided for under Annex D.  The time was now ripe for 
Members to look at that issue and see how they coul d creatively put that concept into practice.  From 
that perspective, India also felt that the paper w as timely as it provided some ideas which were useful 
for all Members.   
453. India felt that a key issue was how Members linked TA to the likely commitments.  The paper 
suggested the important principle to establish a me chanism to coordinate TA&CB efforts of donors, 
recipients and other international organizations.  That was an interesting idea and a way in which 
Members could move forward.  It had to be worked  out in tandem with what  had been suggested in 
paragraph 10 on Members themselves identifying thei r needs and priorities.  If TA was required, it 
should be forthcoming.    TN/TF/M/6 
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 454. On the whole, India felt that it was a paper whic h had rightly thrown in some important ideas. 
Members had to discuss that further to see how they could elaborate on that.  Perhaps, Members could discuss it in more detail at the next session where TA  issues would be discussed in greater detail.   
455. The representative of Chile
 said that the document Chile had co-sponsored would change in 
the light of the negotiations.  It was work in progress.   
456. The self assessment mentioned in paragraph 10 was a continuous process rather than a two- 
stage one.  The process had already started and was wh at all Members were engaged in.  It allowed to 
address all aspects present in the negotiations.  Th e self assessment would continue to develop as 
Members got a clearer picture of the disciplines.  It  would help Members establish exactly what could 
be implemented and what time and other requirement s were needed to implement certain aspects of 
the disciplines that Members could not take on board at day one.  It was an individual self assessment 
and some countries might need TA to assist them in making that assessment.     
457. The issue of coordinating technical assistan ce mentioned in paragraph 15 was another 
element highlighted in the document.  As India had pointed out, it was not totally developed as an 
idea, but Chile wished to carry on working on that area and it therefore attached great importance to 
the idea.    
458. The EC's contribution on TA in its Article V III-paper was an extra input to that discussion 
which Chile wished to carry over to the next meeting.    
459. The representative of the United States  said that the United States agreed completely with 
what had been said by Chile, India, Brazil and Egyp t, which spoke well of the approach pursued in the 
Group, and by the Chair.   
460. The discussion on the Latin American paper remind ed the United States of the question of 
themes and references to the GATT Articles raised  earlier with respect to the Secretariat's 
compilation.  The United States was of the view that  when, for example, considering what was being 
discussed by that paper, one would be thinking in terms of themes and types of provisions.  On the 
other hand, the United States fully understood the point made by the Philippines and India with regard 
to the mandate and the relevant GATT Articles.  What the United States would therefore like to 
suggest was to see whether there was a sort of duality that could be captured in terms of both thematic 
sorting of the proposals as well as benchmarking or noting with regard to the specific GATT Articles they relate to.  For the United States, it was just a matter of practicality.    
461. The Latin American paper reflected an inter esting range of developments as well as an 
interesting range of countries. But there was also  a common theme that the United States also shared 
strongly.  It was a very timely paper which the Un ited States particularly welcomed because it brought 
together all the elements and did so in the contex t shared by the United States.  The paper usefully 
addressed how those elements should interact and inte rrelate in future disciplines so that all Members 
could benefit from the outcome of the negotiations. 
462. That was central to what Members were doing and had many complexities as the paper 
outlined. When looking at the question, there were tw o ways to approach that.  One was to replicate 
some of the discussions that might be taking place elsewhere where Members all knew each other's lines.  The other one, as suggested in the paper, was that Members took char ge of that issue and 
adopted some practical approaches.  Brazil had raised  two very specific questions the US agreed with. 
It was necessary to take up the question of coor dination and of how to accomplish, improve and 
address that.   TN/TF/M/6 
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 463. The United States also agreed on the issue of assessment.  That work had to be accomplished 
in tandem with the proposals coming in and Member s doing their substantive work. Similarly, the US 
agreed with the questions raised by Egypt on ho w to accomplish that, how to decide on the process 
and how to report.  Those were the questions Memb ers had to look at. It would take more than a 
session or a seminar to do that.  That was why the paper was important. It raised issues and 
foreshadowed how the United States hoped for Members to take that up.  
464. Chile had made a very good point by characterizi ng the paper as a work in progress.  That just 
underscored that Members were going to  have to take this up and enga ge with all of them having to 
take ownership of that process.  No one was going to answer that question except Members 
themselves. No one was going to offer a magic process.  Members would have to figure it out 
themselves and take it up on a factual foundation.  That was why the United States underscored again  
the need to engage on making that assessment, even if the assessment might require assistance.  The 
US hoped that the paper would take Members forward to what had to be done in that area. It was 
going to take some creativity and a bit of hard-nose discussion, but, if Members approached that as the paper did, in terms of a problem-solving way and in terms of how all worked for future 
disciplines, all Members could benefit from the outcome of the negotiations.   
465. The representative of Jamaica
 said that the ideas presented in  the proposal by the 16 countries 
were useful starting points. Jamaica supported the proposal in paragraph 10 that a process of self assessment by each Member was important.  Such  a review was necessary before Members could 
commit to binding and enforceable obligations.  Th e provision of TA for that effort would be 
commendable and might prove instrumental to deve loping countries and LDCs that had to overcome 
challenges in conducting the assessme nt exercise.  In paragraph 12, the proposal recognized the 
importance of going beyond longer transition pe riods for implementing new commitments and 
combined the traditional S&D provision with progra mmes for TA&CB "geared to the obligations to 
be assumed and the analysis of national needs and priorities".    
466. A good guiding principle to be observed wa s found in paragraph 14, which tiled the 
possibility of the adoption of new rules simultane ously with TA.  Jamaica also considered the 
suggested creation of a mechanism to organize TA &CB for TF suggested at paragraph 15 to be a 
good idea and recalled that that was also s uggested in the African Group's submission. 
467. Jamaica looked forward to the elaboration of mo re details on such a mechanism, on the form, 
its organization, the body administering it etc., which would be useful in further discussions. 
468. The representative of Argentina
 said that while first initial answers to some questions on the 
Latin American paper had already been given, the co-sponsors of the paper would back up those first 
verbal replies with written answers, which would be  more useful for developing the implementation  
of some of the issues raised in the document.  
469. The co-sponsors of the paper were of the view that dealing with that matter was absolutely 
vital.  Now was the best time to tackle it.  It was neither too early nor impractical. What Members had 
to look into was how to make that mechanism, whic h would define future commitments operational.  
That naturally required reflection and was a real  challenge. But the sooner it was done, the better. 
470. Echoing the statement made by the US with r espect to the Secretariat compilation, Argentina 
was of the view that it would be useful if th e compilation adopted a cross-cutting approach with 
respect to the proposals rather than merely lis ting them based on Articles V, VIII and X.  
471. Argentina also agreed with the US that th e spirit of problem solving should be guiding 
Members' work with respect to designing the fu ture disciplines.  That would be efficient and 
beneficial to all.         TN/TF/M/6 
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 472. The Negotiating Group took note  of the statements made.    
B. TECHNICAL ASSISTANCE AND CAPACITY BUILDING  
473. The discussion under this agenda item was held in informal mode  (with the exception of 
Members' decision  to circulate the World Bank Trade Facilitation Negotiations Support Guide as an 
official WTO document.) 
C. AD HOC ATTENDANCE OF RELEVANT INTERNATIONAL ORGANIZATIONS , INCLUDING THE 
IMF,  OECD,  UNCTAD,  WCO  AND THE WORLD BANK, AT THE NEXT MEETING OF THE 
NEGOTIATING GROUP  
474. The Chairman  suggested inviting relevant internati onal organizations, including the IMF, 
OECD, UNCTAD, WCO and the World Bank to a ttend the next meeting of the NG on an ad hoc  
basis, as provided for in the Work Plan.  
475. It was so agreed . 
D. OTHER BUSINESS  
476. The Chairman  suggested that the next meeting of th e Group take place on 25-26 July 2005, as 
proposed in the indicative list of dates he had shared with Members at the Group's meeting in 
November 2004. 
477. It was so agreed . 
478. The Chairman  said that, as that slot implied that there would not be another formal session 
ahead of the July TNC meeting, where he woul d be asked to report on progress the NG had managed 
to achieve so far, he wished to share with the Group hi s thoughts on what he intended to include in 
that report as his personal reflection of how he saw the current state-of-play.  He then read out the 
main elements of the planned report to the TNC.    
479. The Negotiating Group took note  of the statement made. 
480. The meeting was closed.  
 
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