Growing Together: Economic Integration for an Inclusive and - escap

CHAPTER TWO
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Towards a broader integrated market
Cooperation in trade facilitation
Although trade facilitation measures are
implemented by national authorities, their
effectiveness depends largely on the extent
to which regulations affecting trade are
harmonized across countries and on their
cooperation in sharing information. As a
result, bilateral and regional cooperation is
essential. To realize the full benefits of single
windows and other electronic trade data
exchange systems, one of the most important
goals of regional cooperation is to ensure
that all electronic data and documents in
national single windows are accepted by the
authorities of partner countries. However,
while international standards have been
developed to address technical issues
related to cross-border data exchange, there
has been little progress in developing an
appropriate international legal framework
for the cross-border electronic exchange
of trade data and documents. Indeed, the
pioneering ASEAN Single Window initiative
which aims to develop a regional Single
Window environment for its members by
2012 (see box II.3) has experienced difficulties
in establishing the necessary legal basis for
electronic exchange among participating
member countries. An additional challenge is
building capacities for the effective utilization
of single windows and paperless trade, a key
objective of the United Nations Network of
Experts for Paperless Trade for Asia and the
Pacific (UNNExT) (see box II.4).
Most RTAs among economies of the region now
include trade facilitation provisions. The latest
ASEAN Agreement on Trade in Goods (ATIGA),
which came into force in 2010 includes an
entire chapter on trade facilitation. The third
round of negotiations of APTA also resulted
in a Trade Facilitation Framework Agreement
among its six members (Bangladesh, China,
India, the Lao People’s Democratic Republic,
the Republic of Korea and Sri Lanka) in 2009. A
comparative study of recent RTAs conducted
by ESCAP found that all agreements commit
to increasing transparency, including through
an obligation to publish laws and regulations
affecting trade, and recognize the importance
of using international standards for trade
facilitation. Other measures that appear to
be increasingly common include those on
automation/use of ICT risk management,
advance ruling and single windows. 55
An important aspect of trade facilitation
is standards harmonization and mutual
recognition and conformity assessment
procedures. In this direction, SAARC has made
progress. The South Asian Regional Standards
Organisation (SARSO) is being set up in Dhaka
to implement the Regional Action Plan on
Standards, Quality Control and Measures.
Within the SAARC framework, harmonization
of standards in twelve identified products is
being undertaken. In addition, the SAARC
Agreement on Multilateral Arrangement on
Recognition of Conformity Assessment and
the SAARC Agreement on Implementation
of the Regional Standard were signed during
the seventeenth SAARC Summit held in Addu,
Maldives in November 2011. With regard to
customs cooperation, the SAARC framework is
focusing on building infrastructure, including
roads and railways networks near the Land
Border Customs Stations (LCSs), smoothening
of customs clearance procedures at LCSs,
standardization and harmonization of export
documentation, automation in customs
clearance including through electronic data
exchange, and harmonization of tariff lines for
top 100 8-digit tariff lines. 56
An essential component of trade facilitation
is transit facilitation measures, although they
are usually not specifically covered in trade
agreements. While separate bilateral and
regional transit agreements are often in place
among developing economies of the region,
the extent to which they are implemented
– as well as their consistency with existing
multilateral trade commitments, such as WTO,
GATT Article V – is not always clear. Significant
barriers to transit trade remain in place in
South and Central Asia.
South-East Asia has made more progress
in facilitating transit trade through a mix of
bilateral, subregional and regional agreements
and initiatives. However, according to a recent
report, the comprehensive GMS Cross-border
Transport Agreement (CBTA) (see box II.5) is
still not fully operational and the transport
industries of the region remain fragmented