WORLD TRADE  
ORGANIZATION  TN/TF/W/29 
28 April 2005 
 (05-1718) 
Negotiating Group on Trade Facilitation Original:   English 
  
COMMUNICATION FROM THE PEOPLE’S REPUBLIC OF CHINA  
AND PAKISTAN 
 
 The following communication, dated 25 April 2005, from the Delegations of the People's 
Republic of China and Pakistan, is being circulat ed in advance of the Negotiating Group meeting of 
2-4 May.   
 
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A PROPOSAL ON IDENTIFYING TRADE FACILITATION NEEDS  
AND PRIORITIES OF MEMBERS 
  
I. INTRODUCTION 
1. Modalities for negotiations on trade facilitation adopted in Annex D of the Doha Work 
Program by the General Council on 1 August 2004 s tipulate that "as an integral part of the 
negotiation, Members shall seek to identify their tr ade facilitation needs and priorities, particularly 
those of developing and least-developed countries, ----."  This implies that negotiations on trade 
facilitation should be based on the needs and prioriti es of Members, especially developing and least-
developed countries, to ensure that trade facilitation e ffort is to their best interest.  Based on the needs 
and priorities identified, it is of equal importanc e that Members have a clear idea of their current 
levels of trade facilitation effort.  This will facilita te our substantial work on  the negotiations.  Only 
when we know what the problems ar e can we know how to work them out, whether it comes to rule 
setting or arrangement of technical assistance, capacity  building and special and differential treatment.  
2. The Secretariat has prepared a document in an effort to reflect trade facilitation needs and 
priorities of Members (G/C/W/393).  The document helped us to have a preliminary view of 
Members’ interests in trade facilitation.  But as expl ained in the introductory pa rt of the document, the 
document was an indirect identification of Members’ needs and priorities based
 "primarily on 
information regarding trade facilitation programs/me asures proposed or executed, as well as on what 
has been presented as main obstacles to the facilitati on of trade" (G/C/W/393).  Moreover, the sources 
of the information used in the document were main ly derived from national experience papers of a 
limited number of Members.  We are still short of  a comprehensive review of the problems Members, 
especially developing and least-developed Members, are facing in trade facilitation. 
II. PROPOSAL 
3. With reference to the work already done by other international organizations, Members use a 
general tool to assess their needs and priorities as we ll as their current levels of trade facilitation.  
When conducting the assessment, outstanding diversiti es of levels of regional economic development 
within individual Members should be taken into fu ll consideration.  The result of the assessment 
should be  taken as a basis for establishment of relevant trade facilitation rules, the arrangement of 
special and differential treatment and the provis ion of technical assistance and capacity building 
support. TN/TF/W/29 
Page 2  
 
 A. P
ROPOSALS ON NEXT STEPS OF WORK 
(a) Based on the Secretariat’s document on Technical Assistance and Capacity Building 
on Trade Facilitation (TN/TF/W/5), the Secret ariat should frequently provide updated 
information to Members, if any, on the work done by other international 
organizations in assessing trade facilitation needs and priorities. 
(b) Members should study relative tools available and decide on the usage of a general 
tool.  There could be a series of tools al ready developed by different international 
organizations with each covering a different area. 
(c) Based upon the general tool agreed, Me mbers may conduct a self assessment and 
then submit a summary report on the assessment to the Secretariat.  
(d) Based on the summary reports, the Secretariat prepares a document reflecting major 
areas of interests of Members or a list of needs and priorities of Members within the general scope of GATT Articles V, VIII and X.  Future rules on trade facilitation will 
be developed mainly on the basis of those major areas. 
(e) During the assessment period, a working group made up of international 
organizations concerned may be set up to ensure the objectivity of the assessment and 
to give necessary assistance and support to developing and least-developed countries. 
Those Members who have already had the e xperience in such assessment are invited 
to share their experience with other Members. 
(f) For those Members who have huge regional economic level diversities within their 
territories, their assessment could be based either on the different or on an average 
level of development within their territori es.  The unique development situations of 
these countries shall be taken into full consid eration in the implementation of future 
trade facilitation rules. 
III. REASONING 
A. N
ECESSITY FOR THE IDENTIFICATION PROCESS  
4. Though the necessity to identify trade facilit ation needs and priorities of Members was 
already put forward when the issue of trade f acilitation was under discussion in the Council for Trade 
in Goods (CTG), no substantial work was done at that time as Members were not clear yet whether 
they should actually initiate negotiations on trad e facilitation or not.  Since we have now already 
launched the negotiations, it is high ti me that we took up the identification issue.  However, given the 
comparatively late initiation of the process at this time, we suggest that the identification process go 
along with technical negotiations on specific GATT Articles V, VIII and X with the identification 
process facilitating negotiations on specific rules proposed. 
B. BENEFIT OF HAVING A COMPARATIVELY STANDARD CRITERIA IN THE IDENTIFICATION 
PROCESS  
5. The proposal for Members to use a common tool fo r the identification effort is not meant to 
go for a one-size-fits-all approach, but rather to use comparatively standard criteria for assessment 
purposes to ensure a better and clear idea of the existing differences among Members in the area of 
trade facilitation.  It would be difficult for multilatera l rule setting if the work is not to be done on the 
same criteria.  By assessing their needs and priorities and their levels of current  trade facilitation effort 
with standard criteria, Members would have a be tter idea on the feasibility of measures proposed and  TN/TF/W/29 
 Page 3 
 
 
 the margin of effort that Members have to take to fully implement the measures concerned.  Based on 
such an assessment, conclusions may be drawn that for some measures proposed, they may be 
comparatively easy for some Members as they may have already had the system in operation, while it may require quite an effort for some others as they have to start the work from the very beginning.  
C. T
OOLS AVAILABLE  
6. To our relief, many international organizations have already done some work in this area and 
developed some relative tools needed.  This is al ready reflected in the Secretariat’s document on 
Technical Assistance and Capacity Building on Trad e Facilitation (TN/TF/W/5).  Their work saved us 
from the trouble of having to design all our own tools from the very beginning.  The tools already available might be different in focus, but they can  serve our needs in a complementary manner with 
our own tools which may need to be developed and w ith each set of tools to be used in a different 
area.  
D. R
EGIONAL ECONOMIC DIVERSITIES WITHIN A SINGLE MEMBER WORTH ATTENTION  
7. Because of its unique national situations, diversities of levels of regional economic 
development within individual Members could be  quite outstanding.  One of the problems in 
multilateral rule setting is that more often than not the comparatively fast developing areas of these 
Members catch the eye of the world while those are as which lag far behind are absolutely forgotten.  
Therefore, it would be difficult to have an objective and comprehensive assessment on trade 
facilitation needs and priorities of these Members if their unique situations were not properly handled 
in the multilateral effort. 
E. USEFULNESS OF SETTING THE FOCUS OF WORK 
8. Though the scope of trade facilitation negotiations  is limited to GATT Articles V, VIII and X, 
it still covers a wide range of areas if taken over at  random.  A good beginning is half the battle.  It 
would save Members’ resources if Members could agree on some major areas within the scope of the three articles that Members have more or less the sa me interests to work on.  With the focus of work 
decided, proposals and discussions could be more targeted. 
F. T
ECHNICAL ASSISTANCE AND CAPACITY BUILDING  
9. Apart from tools for identification, technical a ssistance and capacity building support are also 
of vital importance in the process.  Given the low le vels of development of the developing and least-
developed countries and the complexity of trade fac ilitation issues, it is difficult for many developing 
and least-developed Members to conduct an overall asse ssment by themselves.  Due effort has to be 
taken to ensure immediate technical assistance and capacity building support in the area. 
 
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