. /.   WORLD TRADE  
ORGANIZATION  TN/TF/W/112 
6 June 2006 
 (06-2681) 
Negotiating Group on Trade Facilitation Original:   English 
  
 
 
COMMUNICATION FROM HONG KONG CHINA, KOREA, 
AND SWITZERLAND 
  
 The following communication, dated 2 June 2006, is being circulated at the request of the 
Delegations of Hong Kong China, Korea, and Switzerland.  
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ACCEPTANCE OF COMMERCIALLY AVAILABLE INFORMATION 
AND OF COPIES (H.1.F.) 
 
 1. Following-up with the joint communication TN/ TF/W/92 by the Delegations of Hong Kong 
China, Korea and Switzerland, the following draf t text is submitted for consideration by the 
Negotiating Group.  
Textual proposal on the acceptance of commerci ally available information and of copies
1 
Customs and other border agencies shall require onl y those documents necessary to permit control of 
the operation and to ensure that all requirements relati ng to the application of relevant laws have been 
complied with.  
For goods subject to control of legislation conf ormity and documentation requirement, customs and 
other border agencies shall endeavour to accept copi es of documents, in particular (a) commercial 
documents (invoices, bills of lading, etc.); and (b) where a government agency already holds the 
original and multiple authorities are involved. In th e case of (b), Me mbers shall accept authenticated 
copies by the agency holding the original in lieu of the original document.  
Customs and other border agencies shall endeavour to  use relevant information already available in 
the context of commercial transactions (e.g., quantit y and commercial description of the goods) and 
submitted to customs and other border agencies as a means of foregoing the relevant information in 
supporting documents. 
In cases where Goods declarations and other s upporting documents are lodged electronically and 
authenticated by electronic signatures or electronic procedures and received by customs and other 
border agencies, no other original of these documents shall be requested by customs and other border 
agencies.  
 
                                                      
1 The text is intended to be consistent with the relevant standards contained in Chapter 3, General 
Annex of the Revised Kyoto Convention (in particular: GA 3.15, 3.16, 3.17, and 3.19) TN/TF/W/112 
Page 2  
 
  Customs and other border agencies shall endeavour to allow supporting documents not to be 
presented provided they are held available by the d eclarant, requisite information is provided by the 
declarant about the documents, and the documents are available from the declarant for a specific 
period. 
Customs and other border agencies shall not require a translation of the particulars of supporting 
documents (e.g., invoices, bills of lading), excep t when necessary to permit processing of the Goods 
declaration.  
Elements on which substantive discussion has ta ken place in the NGTF on a horizontal basis: 
2. Special and differential treatment, tec hnical assistance and capacity building : The co-
sponsors propose that these issues be taken forward through through the deve lopment of a horizontal 
mechanism that would, among others, take full account  of the needs, priorities, cost concerns and 
implementation capacities of developing and least-developed Members in relation to commitments. A number of relevant submissions on this issue have been made to the Negotiating Group, one of which 
contained a textual proposal. 
 
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