New Publication: Trade Facilitation: A Handbook For Trade Negotiators
28 March 2007
The book provides approaches on handling the trade negotiations issues with a view to expediting the movement, release and clearance of goods and services
The Commonwealth Secretariat has published a new book to guide trade negotiators, particularly those from developing countries, to enable them get the best results for their citizens in trade facilitation ventures.
The publication, ‘Trade Facilitation: A handbook for trade negotiators’, is meant to throw light on the provisions of three articles of the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade (GATT 1994), on freedom of transit, on fees and the formalities connected with importation and exportation, and on the publication and administration of trade regulations.
The book provides approaches to handling trade negotiation issues with a view to expediting the movement, release and clearance of goods and services.
Trade facilitation is the process of managing the controls and procedures governing trade across national borders efficiently while safeguarding legitimate regulatory objectives.
This handbook provides background information and identifies issues that may need further examination by the negotiating parties.
It also contains suggestions on how the negotiating approaches adopted under other World Trade Organization (WTO) Agreements could be taken into account while developing new rules in the area.
Trade facilitation has formed a part of the WTO work programme since 1996, although no significant progress has yet been made in launching negotiations, mainly due to the opposition of a number of developing countries.
Following the failed Cancun meeting in 2003, WTO members formally agreed to commence negotiations on trade facilitation.
The main aim of the current trade facilitation negotiations is to clarify and improve the provisions of these three GATT 1994 articles.
The publication posits that the negotiations aim at providing technical assistance to developing and least developed countries with a view to strengthening their technical capacities for the application of innovative techniques and methods in the clearance of goods, and for the gradual acceptance of the obligations and new rules that may be adopted in the Doha Round of negotiations.
The book has been written by Vinod Rege, a Geneva-based multilateral trade adviser financed by the Commonwealth Secretariat, in co-operation with Isabella Kataric, consultant for the Secretariat-International Trade Centre (ITC) joint project.
ISBN 978-0-85092-855-6; 208 pages; price: £30.00
HOW TO ORDER
This title can be bought online at www.thecommonwealth.org/publications.
A full catalogue of Commonwealth Secretariat and Commonwealth Foundation publications can be viewed on the website, which provides a secure online buying facility, and orders can also be made through e-mail or by post. Pre-payment is essential. Payment by sterling cheque, international money order, postal order or bank draft must accompany your order.
Payment should be in sterling, drawn on a UK bank and made out to the Commonwealth Secretariat. If you require the order form as an attachment in Word format please e-mail the Publications Section (see address below). Post and packaging charges should be added to every order in the following way: UK orders: 15 per cent of order value (minimum charge £2.00). Non-UK orders: 25 per cent of order value (minimum charge £3.50).
Send orders to: Publications Section, Commonwealth Secretariat, Marlborough House, Pall Mall, London SW1Y 5HX, United Kingdom. Tel: +44 (0)20 7747 6534; Fax: +44 (0)20 7839 9081; E-mail: publications@commonwealth.int.
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