WORLD TRADE  
ORGANIZATION  TN/TF/W/10 
1 February 2005 
 
 (05-0408) 
Negotiating Group on Trade Facilitation Original:   English 
  
 
COMMUNICATION FROM THE SEPARATE CUSTOMS TERRITORY OF  
TAIWAN, PENGHU, KINMEN AND MATSU 
  
 The following communication, dated 31 January  2005, from the Delegation of the Separate 
Customs Territory of Taiwan, Penghu, Kinmen and Ma tsu, is being circulated in advance of the 
Negotiating Group meeting of 7 and 9 February.  
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TRADE FACILITATION:  
SOME POSSIBLE MEASURES TO IMPROVE GATT ARTICLES VIII AND X
 
 
 
I. INTRODUCTION 
1. The mandates in Annex D of the "July Package" states, among other things, that 
"Negotiations shall aim to clarify  and improve relevant aspects of Articles V, VIII and X of the GATT 
1994 with a view to further expediting the movemen t, release and clearance of goods, including goods 
in transit…".   
2. It is widely acknowledged that trade facilita tion, especially the establishment of more 
internationally-harmonized and transparent customs pr ocedures, can be instrumental in the promotion 
of global trade.  By clarifying and improving releva nt elements of the GATT Articles V, VIII and X, 
we believe that both developing an d developed countries will benefit from increased trade, which in 
turn will encourage more foreign direct investment  and lead to overall ec onomic development. The 
WTO Secretariat has compiled the contributions made by various Members into one document 
(G/C/W/434) and these contributions have inspired us to explore possible ways of expediting the 
legitimate flow of trade across borders.  
3. In the course of modernizing our own cu stoms processing (reference previous paper 
G/C/W/440) to cope with an ever increasing trad e volume and to meet the needs of the trading 
community, the trade facilitating measures implemen ted by Customs have resulted in significant 
reductions in clearance times. Based on our positive  experiences in this respect, we would like to 
propose for Members’ consideration, some possible measures aimed at improving the implementation 
of GATT 1994 Articles VIII and X. These measures ar e by no means comprehensive and we reserve 
the right to make further suggestions in the future. TN/TF/W/10 
Page 2  
 
 II. POSSIBLE MEASURES FOR CONSIDERATION 
A. GATT
 1994  ARTICLE VIII 
1. Pre-arrival clearance 
4. Clearance in advance of arrival enables importers to file their entries prior to the arrival of 
merchandise at the port of entry. Importers may cl aim their goods immediately after importation, so 
long as they are not selected for document review or  physical examination. With "just-in-time" 
inventory systems being widely used in the trad ing and business community, we would urge the WTO 
to promote the use of pre-arrival clearance methods among Members. 
2. Risk management and post-clearance audit system 
5. Ensuring border security while satisfying the need  for expeditious clearance is a constant 
challenge for Customs authorities. By applying risk  management techniques, Customs officials can 
focus their attention on high-risk  consignments using only limited human resources. The goal is to 
expedite clearance operations to the greatest extent  possible, and minimize Customs intervention in 
the flow of legitimate goods.  
6. Under the post-clearance audit system, Customs may first release most of the consignments, 
and then conduct a thorough review  of the documents of selected consignments after release. Since 
implementation of this system by our Customs in 1992, they have recovered a huge amount of duties 
and taxes, and enhanced the compliance rate signi ficantly while facilitating legitimate trade.  
3. Clearance for express consignments  
7. As global supply chain management becomes ever more important for industries involved in 
any type of international business, the demand for speedy clearance for express consignments 
increases. The handling of express consignments can  be simplified by using as a reference the WCO 
Customs Guidelines for Express Consignments.  
B. GATT  1994  ARTICLE X 
1. Advance ruling on tariff classifications 
8. Prior to importation, importers or the parties entrusted may apply to port Customs for advance 
classification of the goods being imported. In so  doing, importers can ensure correct tariff 
classifications and duty rates for goods, and calcu late the amount of duties on imported goods in 
advance.  This can prevent unnecessary disputes between Customs and importers.  
2. One-stop services: information center or inquiry point 
9. The concept of one-stop services to the trad ing community is akin to those offered by 
convenience stores that offer one-stop shopping. The goa l is to set up a "one-stop service center" at 
every clearance station to provide a full range of services to the business community. Around-the-
clock services for all express consignments and cargo es needed for release to aircrafts or ships may 
also be provided. For other import/export shipments, Customs may assign officers to process urgent 
imports or exports whenever adva nce applications are made. At th is juncture, we would like to 
recommend that information centers or inquiry points  be set up first with competent officers on duty 
so as to provide instant responses to inquiries. 
  TN/TF/W/10 
 Page 3 
 
 
 III. CONCLUSION 
10. The above suggestions are derived from some su ccessful measures that we have implemented 
in the modernization of our Customs operations to further expedite legitimate trade flows, and are 
those which we would like to share with Members at  this stage. In addition, as a developing economy 
ourselves that relies heavily on trade, we committ ed ourselves to do our best in providing other 
developing Members with the necessary technical assi stance. Toward this end, we have voluntarily 
organized a two-week workshop, starting 8 Marc h 2005, on the subject of Trade Facilitation for 
developing and least-developed Members, in order to further share experiences in this field.    
 
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