# **2. The Survey**

The survey was implemented during October-December 2008 in Egypt, Jordan, Lebanon, Morocco, Saudi Arabia, Syria, Tunisia, United Arab Emirates and Yemen. The questionnaire was completed by some 300 companies. Between 11 and 50 firms per country responded to the survey, with some 80 percent of the sampled firms exporting to other Arab countries. Follow up interviews were conducted with company managers to confirm the answers. To complement and validate/cross check the data gathered on procedures and policy measures to export and import consignments, interviews were also conducted with Customs and Trade Ministry officials as well as senior executives in freight forwarding companies in the surveyed countries.

Firms selling or producing food/agricultural products and chemical, rubber or plastic products each account for about 20 percent of the sample. Services firms represent around 17 percent. These are mostly distributor services (import/export) and transport services (maritime and road). Other sectors include textiles and leather; basic metals, electrical appliances and transport equipment – each of which represent between 4 and 10 percent of the total (Figures A-1 and A-2).

About a quarter of the respondents are “pure” traders; three-quarters are manufacturers or transport companies (Figure A-3). The sample is deliberately skewed towards small and medium sized, privately-owned firms with less than 250 employees (these account for 73 percent of the sample). The reason is that these types of companies will be more likely to confront scrutiny and administrative burdens. Large companies generally have better access to rapid clearance/”green channel” procedures. Only 5 percent of the respondent companies have public sector ownership. An implication of the sampling frame is that the results regarding trade costs are likely to be upper bounds.

The survey compiles information on the extent to which customs and other administrative requirements affecting the process of importing and exporting goods are perceived to be problematical (costly), including the stringency of customs clearance, technical controls, inspection and the extent of irregular payments and the time costs associated with border clearance. The survey also includes questions pertaining to the perceptions of traders in PAFTA member countries about the benefits to their businesses from PAFTA, as well as other trade agreements. The survey allows data to be compiled on the relative intensity of trade barriers on a bilateral country pair basis as well as on regulatory measures affecting road transportation to and from neighboring PAFTA countries. This is in contrast to the data on trading across borders collected by the World Bank in the _Doing Business_ report and similar indicators compiled by the World Economic Forum, which provide information at the country level as opposed to the level of a specific dyad (country pair/border).

The survey focuses on four topics. A first set of questions deals with customs and administrative procedures affecting the import and export of goods, restrictions on overland transport and transit, and the extent of informal payments to Customs. The second set of questions focuses on the specific trade policy instruments that are subject to PAFTA commitments/disciplines – to find out if these have been removed – and on the extent to which administrative requirements and burdens reduce or nullify the benefits of removal of tariffs by PAFTA members. The third set of questions addresses the relative intensity of the barriers that are perceived to prevail on a bilateral country pair-basis. A final set of questions focuses on the relative importance of the business environment confronting companies that want to invest in neighboring countries.

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