WORLD TRADE  
ORGANIZATION  TN/TF/W/129 
7 July 2006 
 (06-3281) 
Negotiating Group on Trade Facilitation Original:   English 
  
 
COMMUNICATION FROM BARBADOS, FIJI, PAPUA NEW GUINEA, AND THE 
SOLOMON ISLANDS 
  
 The following communication, dated 6 July 2006, is being circulated at the request of the Delegations of Barbados, Fiji, Papua New Guinea, and the Solomon Islands. 
 
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REGIONAL APPROACHES TO TRADE FACILITATION: ENQUIRY POINTS 
 
1. As small, vulnerable economies (SVEs), it should be recognized that the co-sponsors of this 
proposal suffer from a lack of adequate financial, technical and administrative capacities to implement 
all proposed trade facilitation measures at the national le vel. It should be noted that for SVEs the unit 
costs of adopting some measures are higher and ther efore may limit the ability of SVEs to reap the 
full benefits of implementation. This notwithstandi ng, many of the co-sponsors have adopted, or are 
in the process of adopting trade facilitation measu res autonomously in order to, lower transaction 
costs, improve the efficiency of port and transit procedures and improve transparency and predictability.  
2. There is a need in the current negotiations to  identify opportunities for regional approaches to 
implementing trade facilitation (TF) requirements an d for the provision of technical assistance and 
capacity building. Issues such as economies of scale, maximization of resources and targeted technical assistance and capacity building have to be im portant considerations in these discussions. 
3. The co-sponsors of this document have prev iously submitted proposals to the Committee on 
Trade and Development in Dedicated Session a nd to the WTO SPS, TBT and TRIPs Committees 
identifying regional approaches which could be utili zed by Members to fulfil notification requirement. 
Additionally, regional approaches to technical as sistance utilizing regional architecture to minimize 
administrative costs has also been proposed by the co-sponsors.    
4. This present proposal speaks specifically to a regional approach to enquiry points but does not 
preclude regional approaches being taken in any ot her relevant areas under discussion within the TF 
Negotiations. 
Proposal
 
 5. The proposals currently on the table recogni ze the importance and usefulness of enquiry 
points for providing information to traders and/or governments on the trade regulation of a country. 
This submission by the co-sponsors seeks explicit re cognition that a regional enquiry point for a group 
of countries shall also be accepted and recognized  as fulfilling any obligation under these provisions. 
Notwithstanding the proposal, it should be recognized that the responsibility for ensuring that the 
information is available to the regional enquiry point will remain with the individual WTO Members 
concerned. TN/TF/W/129 
Page 2  
 
  6. The following language is proposed for inclusion in  any draft text which could be prepared in 
the future: 
"Establish enquiry points at the national level or in the case of SVEs/developing countries 
involved in a Customs Union, FTA/RTA, the op tion of the establishment of enquiry points at 
the regional level, to provide relevant in formation on trade procedures to trade."  
 
"Members and the WTO, within its competen ce, shall provide technical and financial 
assistance at mutually agreed terms to  SVEs/developing countries to support the 
establishment, modification and maintenance of these national and/or regional enquiry points."  
 
Special and Differential Treatment
 
 7. SVEs/Developing countries/LDCs should have  longer time periods to implement any 
requirement on enquiry points.  
8. It should be understood that individual me mbers of the Customs Union/FTA/RTA may 
maintain a national enquiry point if it is within their ability to do so but existence of a regional 
enquiry point would preclude the obligation to maintain a national enquiry point. 
Technical Assistance and Capacity Building Requirements
 
 9. The regional approach lends itself to more eff ective and targeted forms of technical assistance 
and capacity building and much of the assistance would be directed towards a mechanism which 
would be utilized by all members of the Customs Union/RTA/FTA. To fully exploit the benefits of a 
regional approach capacity building and technical ass istance may also be channelled to the individual 
members.  
10. The specific forms of technical assistance and capacity building required at both the national 
and regional level would include the following: 
• Audit and compilation of regional trade-related legislation in an electronically exploitable 
format (to be carried out at the national level). 
• Creation of a regional database with a view to harmonizing and updating the legislation. 
• Provision of translations in Spanish, French, Dutch and English. 
• Provision of security for data transmitted by the internet from the national governments to the 
regional mechanism. 
• Review and revamping, where necessary, of national and regional trade policy 
communication plans to incorporate all levels of traders (commercial and informal) into the information forwarded to the regional mechanism. 
• Creation of websites and the development of inte ractive software on trade regulation to ensure 
that the national legislation and trade polici es can be fed into the regional mechanism. 
• Training for customs and trade officials in intern et publication [website data entry, monitoring 
and update of information] and dissemination of information. 
• Infrastructure for the establishment/conversion/designation of a regional body or for a 
department within a regional body to carry out the functions of a regional enquiry point. This 
could include physical construction or modification of a facility; the provision of computer systems;  the hiring of additional dedicated staff, etc. 
 
   TN/TF/W/129 
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  Final Remark  
 11. This proposal is without prejudice to individual country positions and to the rights of the co-
sponsors to submit additional proposals in future sessi ons on any issues contained in this paper and/or 
on any other issues not included here. 
 
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