TRADE FACILITATION OF THAILAND AND LESSONS FOR VIETNAM

MINISTRY OF EDUCATION AND TRAINING
FOREIGN TRADE UNIVERSITY

MASTER THESIS

TRADE FACILITATION OF THAILAND AND
LESSONS FOR VIETNAM

Specialization: International Trade Policy and Law

TRINH THI HUYEN

Hanoi – 2019


MINISTRY OF EDUCATION AND TRAINING
FOREIGN TRADE UNIVERSITY

MASTER THESIS

TRADE FACILITATION OF THAILAND AND
LESSONS FOR VIETNAM

Major: International Economics
Specialization: International Trade Policy and Law
Code: 8310106

Full Name: Trinh Thi Huyen
Supervisor: Doctor. Phan Thi Thu Hien

Hanoi – 2019

i

DECLARATION
I hereby commit that this thesis is my own study and there is no information
used with the unauthorized data source. The research contents in this topic are
completely honest and have not been used or published in any form. The information
and data of other authors and other organizations referenced in the thesis are fully
cited and annotated.
Due to limited time period and knowledge, this thesis faces with flaws and
inevitably contains errors. In addition, when the author carried out the research about
the trade facilitation implementation of Thailand, it still exists the shortage in figuring
out the details because of a big language barrier (a huge amount of information is in
Thailandese). Therefore, I look forward to receiving the contributing ideas to finish
this study.
I would like to express my sincere and grateful thanks to Doctor. Phan Thi Thu
Hien, who enthusiastically guided me under the process of completing this study.

Student: Trinh Thi Huyen


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TABLE OF CONTENT

DECLARATION ................................................................................................... I
LIST OF FIGURES............................................................................................. IV
LIST OF TABLES............................................................................................... VI
ABBREVITION LIST....................................................................................... VII

ABSTRACT ......................................................................................................... IX
INTRODUCTION ................................................................................................. 1
CHAPTER 1: OVERVIEW OF TRADE FACILITATION ............................... 6
1.1. Trade facilitation definition ........................................................................ 6
1.1.1. Definition ............................................................................................. 6
1.1.2. Impact of trade facilitation ................................................................... 9
1.2. Trade facilitation main indicators ............................................................ 12
1.3. WTO’s Trade Facilitation Agreement (TFA) .......................................... 18
1.3.1. Overview of TFA establishment .......................................................... 18
1.3.2. Main contents of TFA ......................................................................... 18
1.3.3. Current implementation of TFA .......................................................... 19
CHAPTER 2: THE CURRENT IMPLEMENTATION STATUS OF TRADE
FACILITATION OF THAILAND ..................................................................... 21
2.1. Overview of Thailand ............................................................................... 21
2.1.1. Thailand geographical location .......................................................... 21
2.1.2. Thailand economy .............................................................................. 21
2.1.3. Transportation and logistics structure in Thailand ............................. 27
2.2. Current implementation of TFA of Thailand .......................................... 30
2.2.1. TFA Commitment ............................................................................... 30
2.2.2. TFA Implementation of Thailand ........................................................ 32
2.3. Achievements of TF in Thailand .............................................................. 44
2.3.1. Trade Facilitation Main Indicators .................................................... 44


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2.3.2. Implementation of TFA Indicators by OECD ...................................... 48
2.3.3. Overall assessment of TF in Thailand and lessons learned ................. 54
CHAPTER 3: THE CURRENT IMPLEMENTATION STATUS OF TRADE
FACILITATION OF VIETNAM ....................................................................... 58

3.1. Overview of Vietnam ................................................................................ 58
3.1.1. Vietnam geographical location ........................................................... 58
3.1.2. Vietnam economy ............................................................................... 58
3.1.3. Transportation and logistics structure in Vietnam .............................. 62
3.2. Current implementation of TFA of Vietnam ........................................... 66
3.2.1. TFA commitment of Vietnam .............................................................. 66
3.2.2. TFA Implementation of Vietnam ......................................................... 67
3.3. Achievements of TF of Vietnam ............................................................... 73
3.3.1. Trade Facilitation Main Indicators .................................................... 73
3.3.2. Implementation of TFA Indicators by OECD. ..................................... 78
3.3.3. Overall assessment of TF in Vietnam .................................................. 81
CHAPTER 4: STRENGTHENING TRADE FACILITATION OF VIETNAM
FROM THAILAND’S EXPERIENCES ............................................................ 83
4.1. Vietnam’s view for improvement trade facilitation of vietnam .............. 83
4.1.1. Opportunites of Vietnam ..................................................................... 83
4.1.2. Challenges for Vietnam ...................................................................... 85
4.2. Solutions for strengthening trade facilitation of Vietnam from
lessons/experiences of Thailand. ..................................................................... 87
CONCLUSION .................................................................................................... 91
REFERENCES .................................................................................................... 93


iv

LIST OF FIGURES
Figure 1.1. Buy-Ship-Pay Model ............................................................................. 8
Figure 1.2. Principle of trade facilitation ................................................................. 8
Figure 1.3. What is measured in Doing Business? ................................................. 13
Figure 1.4. The Global Competitiveness Index 4.0 2018........................................ 15
Figure 1.5. The implementation commitment of WTO Members ........................... 20

Figure 2.1. GDP of Thailand (2009-2018) ............................................................. 22
Figure 2.2. GDP/ capita of Thailand & East Asia & Pacific (2009-2017) .............. 22
Figure 2.3. Share of economic sectors in GDP from 2007-2017 ........................... 23
Figure 2.4. Balance of Trade of Thailand from 2009 – 2019 .................................. 25
Figure 2.5. Thailand’s Exports from 2009 – 2019 .................................................. 25
Figure 2.6. Thailand’s Imports from 2009 – 2019 .................................................. 26
Figure 2.7. Thailand’s Foreign Direct Investment (2013 – 2018) ........................... 27
Figure 2.8. Notification Status of Thailand ............................................................ 32
Figure 2.9. Thailand National Logistics strategy.................................................... 34
Figure 2.10. Conceptual Model of Thailand National Single Window ................... 36
Figure 2.11. Thailand National Single Window operation ..................................... 40
Figure 2.12. AEO Organization of Thailand ......................................................... 42
Figure 2.13. Thailand AEO Members .................................................................... 44
Figure 2.14. Thailand Ease of Doing Business (2009-2018) .................................. 45
Figure 2.15. Logistics Performance Index of Thailand.......................................... 46
Figure 2.16. Thailand’s Competitiveness index 2009 – 2018 ................................ 47
Figure 2.17. Thailand’s Enabling Trade Index 2016 ............................................. 47
Figure 2.18. Thailand’s LSCI (2010-2018) ........................................................... 48
Figure 2.19. Trade Facilitation and Paperless Trade Implementation of Thailand in
2017 ...................................................................................................................... 49
Figure 2.20. “Transparency” measures implementation ........................................ 50
Figure 2.21. “Formalities” facilitation measures implementation ........................... 51
Figure 2.22. “Institutional arrangement and cooperation” measures implementation
.............................................................................................................................. 52


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Figure 2.23. “Paperless trade” measures implementation ...................................... 53
Figure 2.24. “Cross-border paperless trade” measures implementation .................. 54

Figure 3.1. GDP of Thailand, Vietnam, Malaysia (2013-2018) .............................. 59
Figure 3.2. GDP/capita of Thailand, Vietnam, Malaysia (2013-2017) ................... 59
Figure 3.3. Share of economic sectors in GDP Thailand-Vietnam, 2013-2017 ...... 59
Figure 3.4. Vietnam’s Exports from 2009 – 2019 .................................................. 61
Figure 3.5. Vietnam’s Imports from 2009 – 2018 .................................................. 61
Figure 3.6. Vietnam’s FDI (2009 – 2019) .............................................................. 62
Figure 3.7. Notification Status of Vietnam ............................................................ 67
Figure 3.8. Number of AEO in Vietnam (2014-2018) ........................................... 73
Figure 3.9. Ease of Doing Business in Vietnam- Thailand (2009-2018) ................ 74
Figure 3.10. Logistics performance index of Thailand, Vietnam and Malaysia ..... 75
Figure 3.11. Vietnam’s GCI 2009 – 2018 ............................................................. 76
Figure 3.12. Vietnam’s Enabling Trade Index 2016.............................................. 77
Figure 3.13. Vietnam’s Performance of TFI(s) of 2017 by OECD ........................ 81


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LIST OF TABLES
Table 1.1. Benefits for governments and business communities ............................ 11
Table 1.2. OECD’s Trade Facilitation Indicators ................................................... 17
Table 2.1. Development of Thailand’s international trade in January 2019 ............ 24
Table 2.2. Score for Infrastructure ......................................................................... 28
Table 2.3. Notified items of Thailand ................................................................... 30
Table 2.4. Thailand NSW Participating Agencies. ................................................. 38
Table 2.5. Major Documents Exchanged via THAI-NSW ..................................... 40
Table 3.1. Development of Vietnam’s international trade in Jan. 2019 .................. 60
Table 3.2. Score for Infrastructure ......................................................................... 63
Table 3.3. Maritime and Ports infrastructure in Vietnam-Thailand ........................ 65
Table 3.4. LSCI of Vietnam, Thailand and Malaysia ............................................. 78

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ABBREVITION LIST

ADB

Asian Development Bank

AEO

Authorized Economic Operator

APEC

Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation

ASEAN

Association of Southeast Asian Nations

ATIGA

ASEAN Trade in Goods Agreement

B2B

Business to Business partnerships

DG TAXUD

Directorate General of Customs and Taxation

EC

European Commission

EDI

Electric Data Interface

EU

European Union

FoS

Factor of Safety

FTA

Free Trade Agreement

GATT

General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade

GDC

General Department of Vietnam Customs

GDP

Gross Domestic Product

G2B

Government to Business partnerships

G2G

Government to Government partnerships

ICC

International Chamber of Commerce

ITC

International Trade Centre

ITO

International Trade Organization

OECD

Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development

NESDB

National Economic and Social Development Board

NLC

National Logistic Committee

NSW

National Single Window

NTFC

National Trade Facilitation Committee

PDSC

Policy Support Dialogue Component

RFID

Radio Frequency Identification

RTC

Royal Thai Customs


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TEC-II

Thailand-EU Cooperation Facility Phrase II

TF

Trade facilitation

TFA

Trade Facilitation Agreement

THAI-NSW

Thailand National Single Windows

UN

The United Nations

UNCTAD

United Nations Conference on Trade and Development

UNECE

United Nations Economic Commission for Europe

UNESCAP

UN Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific

UNESCO

United

Nations

Educational,

Organisation
WB

World Bank

WCO

World Customs Organization

WTO

World Trade Organization

Scientific

and

Cultural

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ABSTRACT

Trade facilitation with many benefits for countries in enhancing the
effectiveness of international trade, including but not limited to cost cutting, risk and
uncertainity reduction, market expansion, has been increasingly received more and
more interest from many countries in all over the world, especially in developing
countries and least developed countries. Southeast Asia is a typical region of the
developing countries for active implementation of trade facilitation, two of them are
Vietnam and Thailand. This paper presents the current status of the results of the
implementation of Trade Faciliation Agreement of Thailand and Vietnam, the results
of these two countries in trade facilitation through trade facilitation indicators given
by other international organizations such as World Customs Organization, World
Bank… In addition, at the same time, the paper presents the difficulties and
challenges that the two countries encounter during the implementation process of the
trade facilitation, as well as the experiences that Thailand has drawn during the
implementation of the trade facilitation, thereby giving lessons to Vietnam. From
these studies, the Thesis would like to provide solutions for Vietnam to further
promote and improve the process of trade facilitation from time to time based on
experiences of neighbouring coutry as Thailand.


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INTRODUCTION
1. The research rationale
Nowadays, the increase of trade in both value and volume sets out with the
question for countries that is to create a favorable business environment to promote the
movement of goods across national borders for the purpose of optimizing transaction

costs and time. In a globalized world characterized by globalization and integrated
supply chains, the need for global regulations and rules to facilitate trade are more and
more pressing. As a consequese, many international organizations such as WTO,
WCO, UNCTAD, OECD, APEC, focused on the trend of trade facilitation. Derived
from that, trade facilitation has become the target and tool to improve national
competitiveness of many countries in the world such as Thailand and Vietnam.
Trade Facilitation Agreement (TFA), the first multilateral trade agreement of
WTO with its fundamental role for reforming of trade all over the world, is the source
of international law for countries to build and enforce national trade facilitation. The
TFA regulates the expedition of the movement, release, clearance of goods and sets
out measures for effective cooperation between customs and other governmental
authorities on trade facilitation and customs compliance issues. As of 22 February
2017, the TFA came into force following its ratification by two-thirds of the WTO
membership. Thailand and Vietnam are two countries of the south-east asia (ASEAN)
who actively participated and ratified the TFA.
With a high level of human development and the second largest economy in
ASEAN and the 20th largest in the world by purchasing power parity, Thailand is
classified as an emerging industrial economy in which production, agriculture and
tourism are key sectors of the economy and it is an export-dependent market economy
with exports. Thailand became the 20th WTO Member to formally accept the WTO’s
Trade Facilitation Agreement (TFA) when it submitted its instrument of acceptance on
5 October 2015. About two months later, Vietnam also did ratify the TFA in 15
December 2015 with its orientation to quickly adapt and figure out how to keep up
with other members.
Vietnam and Thailand are the two countries in Southeast Asia, located in the


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center of the world's most vibrant economy, having a favorable geographical position

and natural conditions to develop all types of freight transport. They have similar
characteristics in terms of tropical climate and traditional agriculture. Also, the both
countries have the borders on the sea, with seaports and favorable natural conditions
for tourism development and import export activities. Despite of above-mentioned
similar characteristics, the economic starting point of the two countries is quite
different. In the 1970s, Thai implemented the "export-oriented" policy, of which
ASEAN, America, Japan and EC were the main export markets. Industry and services
and tourism have gradually played an important role in the economy and the role of
agriculture has been declining. Thailand is now a new industrialized country (formerly
a traditional agricultural country). Meanwhile, Vietnam is also a traditional agricultural
country. Thanks to economic and political reforms under ”Đổi Mới” in 1986, Vietnam
have achieved rapid economic growth and transformed Vietnam from one of the
world’s poorest to a lower middle-income country. According to the World Bank's
Doing Business 2019 report, Thailand ranks 27th among 190 economies in the Ease of
Doing Business (EODB) ranking (taking the third place after Singapore and Malaysia
within ASEAN area), and ranks 32th in the logistic performance index (LPI) ranking
in 2018. These results demonstrate that Thailand has achieved certain
accomplishments in trade facilitation.
As the two typical economies of the Mekong region, Vietnam and Thailand are
on the momentum of economic development and effort to apply trade facilitation
measures to strengthen economic cooperation with countries in the region and the
world. The achievements and experiences that Thailand gained from trade facilitation
are absolutely some of the best ways for Vietnam to learn and apply for itself.
Therefore, the topic "Trade facilitation of Thailand and lessons for Vietnam" is
chosen to be the topic of this master thesis.
2. Literature review
As a category to promote international trade, trade facilitation quite received
much attention and research from many organizations and researchers, including the
research on trade facilitation in general, on trade facilitation in Asia inluding the

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ASEAN countries.
Regarding studies of trade facilitation in general, it would be impossibe not to
mention on the work “Indicators for Trade Facilitation”. This digital Handbook was
developed as a follow-up to the Workshop on Trade Facilitation Performance and
Monitoring, co-organized by the United Nations Economic and Social Commission for
Asia and the Pacific (UNESCAP), the Organization for Economic Cooperation and
Development (OECD) and the Asian Development Bank (ADB), in collaboration with
World Bank (WB), International Trade Centre (ITC), World Customs Organization
(WCO), United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD), with the
support of the United Nations Network of Experts for Paperless Trade and Transport
in Asia and the Pacific (UNNExT), the China International Electronic Commerce
Center (CIECC) and the New Zealand Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade. For the
“Trade facilitation: ITC publications”: The International Trade Centre (ITC) has many
publications to help businesses and policymakers make the most of important
agreements to break down trade barriers. Among them are insights on the Africa
Continental Free Trade Area, the WTO TFA and the WTO Information Technology
Agreement.
For the studies of trade facilitation in the Asia, the publication on trade
facilitation: “designing and implementing trade facilitation in asia and the pacific 2013
update” is the outcome of a collaborative effort between the Asian Development Bank
(ADB) and UNESCAP. It provides the operational guidance on how to assess the status
of trade facilitation, what measures are necessary, how to design trade facilitation
objectives and how to implement it at national and regional levels, which shall help to
bridge the gaps among policy makers, practitioners, and economists. The book also
provides lots of experiences of countries within region, consisting of Thailand and
Vietnam - for training on regional trade policy and help to shape trade facilitation
measures in Asia and the Pacific. Next relevant publication is “Trade Facilitation and

Paperless Trade Implementation in ASEAN” (ST/ESCAP/2805) – results of the UN
Global Survey 2017 on Trade Facilitation and Paperless Trade Implementation for
ASEAN countries. The Survey provides information on the implementation of selected


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measures under the WTO TFA, as well as on the implementation of innovative,
technology-driven measures aimed at enabling trade using electronic rather than paper
based data and documentation - otherwise referred to as “paperless trade”. The report
also includes the analysis of the impact on the trade cost of increasing the
implementation rates in ASEAN coutries.
In Vietnam, there are also some studies on the trade facilitation such as: Article
“Facilitating trade and harmonizing Logistics policy in ASEAN countries” published

in External Economic Review No. 63/2014, Foreign Trade University of three authors
Nguyen Thu Thuy, Hoang Truong Giang and Nguyen Trung Kien. This paper outlined
general trade facilitation, explores trade facilitation in ASEAN members, provides the
analysis on logistics policy comparisons among ASEAN members, then proposes some
solutions to harmonize logistics policies of ASEAN countries including Vietnam.
Thus, the paper only focuses on facilitating trade in general in terms of harmonizing
logistics policies of ASEAN countries, including Vietnam. Article “WTO Trade
Facilitation Agreement: Opportunities and Challenges for Vietnam” published in
External Economic Review No. 71, Foreign Trade University of two authors Trinh Thi
Thu Huong and Phan Thi Thu Hien. The Article goes through the overview of the TFA,
goes deeper into studying the opportunities and challenges posed to Vietnam, thereby
proposing solutions to Vietnam on ratification and enforcement of TFA. The Article
has a broad scope, a joint study for relevant subjects in the Vietnamese territory in the
implementation of the Agreement. However, the time for writing the article is February
2015 so the information has not been updated, especially after the TFA officially took

effect on February 22, 2017.
However, there is very few research analysing trade facilitation of Vietnam in
comparison with Thailand. This comparison is very important because the
neighbouring country has had great success in facilitating trade so far. There are
absolutely some precious lessons that are suitable for Vietnam situation. Therefore, it
is suggested that there should exist a depth and comprehensive research on the current
status of Vietnam's trade facilitation and Thailand’s experiences in this issue.
3. The research purpose


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The general objective of the paper is to provide recommendations on enhancing
the Vietnam’s trade facilitation implementation from the lessons of Thailand. To
achieve this overall aim, there are specific tasks that the thesis needs to solve:
 Summarizing the basic theories of trade facilitation, the impact of trade facilitation
in improving trade efficiency worldwide, encouraging economic growth.
 Studying the current status of Thailand’s trade facilitation implementation, then
identifying the core experiences behind the country’s practices.
 Analyzing the overall situation of trade facilitation in Vietnam, its challenges and
difficulties, analyzing the trade facilitation gaps between Vietnam and Thailand.
 Providing the great experiences from Thailand and avoid the negative situations
that the country may suffer, then propose recommendations for Vietnam.
4. The research scope
-

Research time: The thesis will focus the research on trade facilitation of Thailand

and Vietnam in the recent 10 years, from 2009 to 2019.
-

Reseach scope: The thesis shall be studied in two aspects: (i) The legal frame that

Thailand and Vietnam established to promote the trade facilitation and TFA
commitment of Thailand and Vietnam up to now; and (ii) measures and standards of
trade facilitation indicators for practical analysis in both countries.
5.

The research methodology and data source:
In the dissertation, this paper is made with the qualitative research methodology

and secondary information to reach the research objective. The author has used the
method of collecting materials, documents and analyzing the data, statistics and
information at the table, combining the methods of comparing, referring and
synthesizing to perform the above tasks.
6.

The structure of the paper:
Beside Introduction, Conclusion, Reference, the paper consists of four chapters:

Chapter 1: Overview of trade facilitation
Chapter 2: The current implementation status of trade facilitation of Thailand
Chapter 3: The current implementation status of trade facilitation of Vietnam
Chapter 4: Strengthening trade facilitation of Vietnam from Thailand’s experiences


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CHAPTER 1: OVERVIEW OF TRADE FACILITATION
1.1. Trade facilitation definition

1.1.1. Definition
Trade facilitation is a very popular issue in international trade. This issue is
frequently mentioned in cross-country conferences among the countries and
international organizations. Many international organizations in all over the world
express their particular interests in trade facilitation such as the WTO, ITO, WCO,
UNECE, World Bank. Understanding the term “trade facilitation” varies in the
literature and amongst practitioners. Trade facilitation is mainly and widely used by
institutions which seek to improve the regulatory interface between government bodies
and traders at national borders.
In order to answer the question “what is trade facilitation?”, there are a few
international organizations who expressed their ideas as follows: With regard to WTO,
it defined that trade facilitation refers to “the simplification and harmonization of
international trade procedures, where trade procedures are the activities, practices, and
formalities involved in collecting, presenting, communicating, and processing data and
other information required for the movement of goods in international trade”.
Meanwhile, regarding the United Nations Centre for Trade Facilitation and Electronic
Business (UN/CEFACT), trade facilitation means “the simplification, standardization
and harmonization of procedures and associated information flows required to move
goods from seller to buyer and to make payment”. Such definition implies that both
the physical movement of goods and the associated information flows are important in
a supply chain. It also comprises of the governmental agencies that intervene in the
goods transit, and the various commercial entities that conduct business and move the
goods. Similar to WTO, APEC also mentioned that trade facilitation refers to “the the
simplication and rationalization of customs and other administrative procedures that
hinder, delay or increase the cost of mong goods across international borders”.
So, why does trade facilitation matter? There are great potential gains from trade
facilitation for both governments and the business community. Governmental
authorities shall profit in terms of enhanced trade tax collection, better use of resources

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and increased trader compliance. A more efficient and transparent public services will
allow the administration to maintain high security levels and effective government
control. Meanwhile, traders will gain higher predictability and speed of operations and
lower transaction costs, resulting in more competitive exports on global markets. For
countries, reducing unnecessary delays and costs attracts investments, and supports
growth and job creation. Trade facilitation measures can particularly benefit
developing countries, where it frequently takes three times as many days to export
goods as it does in developed ones. Exports from developing countries require nearly
twice as many documents and six times as many signatures (World Bank: Doing
Business 2012).
To utilize the benefits that trade facilitation can bring for trade, according to
OECD, trade facilitation refers to “policies and measures aimed at easing trade costs
by improving efficiency at each stage of the international trade chain”. The WCO had
another approach when indicating about the goals to avoid of unnecessary trade
restrictiveness: Trade facilitation “can be achieved by applying modern techniques and
technologies, while improving the quality of controls in an internationally harmonized
manner”. Meanwhile, the definition of OECD and UN/CEFACT give the broader
approach to trade facilitation by mentioning about the behind-the-border measures
such as conformity assessment measures, business facilitation and logistics services at
the international trade level. The model Buy-Ship-Pay (Figure 1) lays down the three
main processes of internation trade transactions, consisting of (1) Buy: referring to
contract establishment, order making, (2) Ship (the most complicated): referring to five
main activities: preparing for export, export, transportation, preparing for import,
import; and (3) Pay: referring the payment made by buyer to the seller. This model
suggests the application of total traspaction approach in regulatory procedures,
government control and improve business processes.

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Figure 1.1. Buy-Ship-Pay Model

Prepare
for
export
Commercial
procedures
 Establish contract
 Order goods
 Delivery goods
 Request payment
 Warehousing

Pay

Ship

Buy

Export

Transport

Transportation
procedures
 Estrablish
transportation
contract

 Collect, delivery
gooods
 Provide shipping
documents…

Prepare
for
import

Import

Regulatory
procedures
 Obtain
import/export
license
 Provide customs
declaration
 Provide cargo
declaration
 Clear goods
 Payment request

Financial
procedures
 Provide credit
rating
 Provide finance
 Provide
insurance

 Execute
payment
 Issue statements

Source: , 2019
Trade facilitation regulates the fundamental principles, consisiting of
transparency, simplification, harmonization, and standardization.
Figure 1.2. Principle of trade facilitation
Transparency

Simplification

Principles
(Pillars)

Harmonization

Standardization

Transparency is understood within government promotes openness and
accountability. Disclosure of information should be done in the way that trade can


9

access and use it. Policy decision, regulations and decisions should be disseminated
and discussed with trade prior to the enforcement to facilitate the shaping on amended
or new laws. Simplification is with the intention of eliminating all unnecessary
duplications in trade procedures and processes and enabling automation of cargo processes. Harmonization is as the alignment of national procedures, operations and
documents with international conventions, standards and practices. It may come from

adopting and implementing the same standards as partner countries, either as part of a
regional integration process or as a result of business decisions. Standardization of
international process and practices, documents and information agreed by various
recognized international bodies. Standards are intended to be used for adoption leading
to harmonized practices and methods.
To achieve these principles, it is essential to get full cooperation between
government authorities and with the business community.
1.1.2. Impact of trade facilitation
International trade has grown rapidly in recent years, thanks partly to the
progressive reduction of tariffs barriers and quotas through successive rounds of
multilateral trade liberalization among the countries in all over the world. However,
this progress brings to light one of the remaining weak links of international trade,
which prevents countries from drawing full benefits from the advantages of open
global markets: border bottlenecks generated by inefficient, outdated and complex
trade procedures and formalities. The impact of trade facilitation in economic view is
the link between trade facilitation and trade flows, government revenue and foreign
direct investment. It was found that the improved and simplified customs procedures
would have a significant positive impact on trade flows. It further shows that a large
number of mostly developing countries have managed to boost government revenue
by implementing customs modernisation programmes that result in more efficient
collection of trade taxes. Trade facilitation aims to reduce trade costs, which includes
all costs except from the cost of production incurred in getting a good from the
producer to the final consumer. Supply chain models recognize that the components
embodied in final goods are made in many different countries. As a result of this


10

organizing global production, trade costs cumulate and are magnified along the value
chain so that inefficient border procedures have a substantial deterrent effect on trade.

Conversely, the positive effect of trade facilitation on value chain trade is magnified
and will increase specialization in those production stages in which countries have a
comparative advantage.
For the benefit: Trade facilitation have a positive influence in the international
transaction. The cost for international transaction has been remarkably reduced thanks
to the trade facilitation process amoung the countries and regions in all over the world,
such as the cost of preparing documents as recognized by the customs authorities, the
cost of moving goods from warehouse to loading port, from loading port to the
unloading port, from unloading port to the user’s warehouse, the costs happening at
the port and border, the financial cost, insurance. Besides, there are some indirect costs
including opportunity costs related to time of transport of goods from sellers to buyers.
These costs account for about 80% of the total international transaction costs. In
addition, trade facilitation can reduce transaction risks and uncertainty in international
trade. Obviously, everyone stands to gain from making the trading process easier.
Trade facilitation initiatives benefit both the business community and governments in
terms of increased economic efficiency, better security, faster delivery of goods and
reduced costs. The business community benefits by obtaining enhanced
competitiveness in national and international markets due to reduction in delays and
costs which are achieved with predictable and efficient movement of goods across
borders. While, national administrations are able to utilize modern procedures to
enhance controls, ensure proper collection of revenues due and at the same time
contribute to the economic development through increased trade and encouragement
of foreign investment. As for the consumers, they are not paying the costs of lengthy
border delays. If a truck waits at the border for a week, ultimately the customer is
paying for its being off the road and unproductive during that time.


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Table 1.1. Benefits for governments and business communities

As for government

As for the enterprises

- Increasing the effectiveness of

- Reducing costs and delays

management measures

- Doing clearance and faster releasing of

- Exploiting resources more efficiently

goods due to policy transparency

- Increasing the revenue reasonally

- A simpler trade framework for both

- Encouraging the foreign investment

domestic and international trade

- Promoting economic development.

- Improving competitiveness.

Source: UNECE, Trade Facilitation: An Introduction to the Basic Concepts and
Benefits (ECE/TRADE/289), 2002

For the costs of trade facilitation: Regardless of the benefits of trade facilitation,
many developing countries are reticent with the cost of trade facilitation. The
enactment and enforcement of trade facilitation can lead to the establishment of
relevant departments and other organizational model and cause to the generation of the
relevant costs. Some types of costs related to trade facilitation can be listed as follows:
(i)

Organizational costs, such as organizational restructuring costs, new
organization/agency establishment costs. The risk management team or a
central enquiry point may require additional staff. These changes may involve
in new operational mechanisms to enhance information exchange and
cooperation among related organizations and agencies. This involves cost even
if existing staff are redeployed, mainly because of training requirements.

(ii)

Legislative costs, including the costs related to the new issuance of
rules/regulations or revisions/amendment of the existing legal framework.
Additionally, the trade facilitation measures also require time and staff
specialized in regulatory work.

(iii)

Training costs, including the cost of building electronic data management
system, the cost of training human resources to understand, apply and manage
the system. Countries may choose to recruit new expert staff which is rather
costly, train existing staff or import trained staff through exchanges with other
agencies. Most countries that have undertaken reforms have chosen to train

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existing staff on the job. This will be a lengthy process as staff need to
simultaneously perform their normal duties.
(iv)

Equipment and infrastructure costs, including the costs related to tnformation
and communication technology which help improve efficiency and
effectiveness. If there is not enough equipment and infrastructure, facilitation
measures shall be more difficult to implement. Most equipment and
infrastructure should be viewed as implementation tools that should be carefully
combined and sequenced with regulatory, institutional or human resource
changes.

1.2. Trade facilitation main indicators
Different definitions of trade facilitation by international organizations gave the
broad range of trade facilitation indicators. More than a dozen of indicators of trade
facilitation had been developed, testifying to the importance of the subject as well as
its complexity. The World Bank indicated about the Doing Business and the Logistics
Performance Index (LPI), the World Economic Forum mentioned about Global
Competitiveness Index (GCI) and Enabling Trade Index (ETI); United Nations
Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD) mentioned about the Liner
Shipping Connectivity Index (LSCI). Among others, OECD has developed the set of
trade facilitation indicators (TFIs) included in WTO TFA which identify areas for
actions and enforce the potential reform impact to be considerd.
As for World Bank, the following indicators are given for assessment of trade
facilitation:
Doing Business: The Doing Business Report is a study by the World Bank
Group firstly published in 2003 with aim to provide objective measures of business
regulations and their enforcement across 185 economies. Doing Business Report 2019

at 16th edition focus on training for reform and compare business regulation for
domestic firms in 190 economies. Economies are ranked on their ease of doing
business, from 1–190. A high ease of doing business ranking means the regulatory
environment is more conducive to the starting and operation of a local firm. The
rankings are determined by sorting the aggregate scores on 10 topics, each consisting


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of several indicators, giving equal weight to each topic. An economy’s ease of doing
business score is reflected on a scale from 0 to 100, where 0 represents the lowest and
100 represents the best performance. For example, an ease of doing business score of
75 in 2018 means an economy was 25% points away from the best regulatory
performance constructed across all economies and across time. A score of 80 in Doing
Business 2019 would indicate the economy is improving. Doing Business indicator
gathers detailed and objective data on 11 areas of business regulation as in the Figure
1.3 below, helping governments diagnose issues in administrative procedures and
correct them accordingly. The report measures the complex regulatory processes by
zeroing in on their quantifiable components, which can be contested, compared-over
time and across economies and reformed.
Figure 1.3. What is measured in Doing Business?

Source: WTO, Doing Business database, 2019
Logistic Performance Index (LPI): The indicator introduced by WB for every
two years since the year of 2007 is based on a worldwide survey of operators on the
ground (global freight forwarders and the express carriers), providing feedback on the
logistics implementation of the countries in which they operate and those with which
they trade. The LPI is an interactive benchmarking tool which was created to help
countries identify the challenges and opportunities they can face in their performance
on trade logistics and what they can do to improve their performance. The LPI 2018

allows for comparisons across 160 countries all over the world, measuring the logistic


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friendliness of countries, ranking them according to customs, infrastructure, ease of
arranging shipments, quality of logistics services, tracking, tracing and timeliness,
which is explained as follows:
 Efficiency of the clearance process (i.e., speed, simplicity and predictability of
formalities) by border control agencies, including customs;
 Quality of trade and transport related infrastructure (e.g., ports, railroads, roads,
information technology);
 Ease of arranging competitively priced shipments;
 Competence and quality of logistics services (e.g., transport operators, customs
brokers);
 Ability to track and trace consignments;
 Timeliness of shipments in reaching destination within the scheduled or expected
delivery time.
Scores of the six components across the 2012, 2014, 2016 and 2018 LPI surveys
were used to generate a “big picture” to better indicate countries’logistics performance.
This approach reduces random variation from one LPI survey to another and enables
the comparison of all the countries.
Regarding the World Economic Forum, it focuses on the below indicators:
Global Competitiveness Index: Produced by World Economic Forum, Global
Competitiveness Index (GCI) attempts to quantify the impact of key factors which
contribute to create the conditions for competitiveness, with particular focus on the
macroeconomic environment, the quality of the country’s institutions, and the state of
the country’s technology and supporting infrastructure. It measures “the set of
institutions, factors and policies that set the sustainable current and medium-term
levels of economic prosperity”. The Global Competitiveness Index Report 2018

assesses the competitiveness landscape of 140 economies, providing unique insight
into the drivers of economic growth in the era of the Fourth Industrial Revolution (4.0)
and measuring the national competitiveness - defined as the set of institutions, policies
and factors that determine the level of productivity. The Report is made up of 98
variables, from a combination of data from international organizations as well as from