Enhancing Public Availability of Customs Information
In the Islamic Countries
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technical assistance from international organizations, as well as a considerable body of
knowledge that can be used in South-South experience sharing, suggests that this
approach may be within the reach of a considerable number of countries.
4. Ambition in TFA Notifications: Improving trade facilitation, including through
enhancing the public availability of Customs and trade-related information, is part of a
newly competitive environment for attracting trade and investment. Joining Global
Value Chains (GVCs) and leveraging them for development outcomes requires that trade
costs be as low as possible. As such, OIC member countries should be ambitious in
notifying their TFA obligations. Concretely, that means they should put as much as
possible of the agreement in Category A. Category B notifications should preferably
involve relatively short time limits for implementation. Category C notifications should
be used sparingly, and should identify with precision the technical assistance and
capacity building that are required.
5. Going Beyond the TFA : The case studies show that many countries—and not just
developed ones, but also some middle income countries—have already moved well
beyond the TFA in terms of making trade-related information publicly available. The
TFA should be seen as a basic benchmark, not an objective. Developing countries looking
to attract trade and investment, particularly through GVCs, should try to go beyond the
TFA to incorporate cutting edge technologies and strong commitments to transparency
and the rule of law in trade governance.
6. South-South Technical Assistance : Not all world leaders in pubic availability of trade
information are developed or high income countries. Some middle income countries are
also very strong performers, such as Morocco and Malaysia, and even Senegal. There is
considerable scope for a diverse organization like the OIC to promote South-South
knowledge exchange in this area, with the aim of developing relatively low cost but
efficient systems to disseminate information and reduce informational trade costs in the
developing world.
7. Synergies between SingleWindows and Trade Information Portals : In the post-TFA
environment, many developing countries will be looking to work simultaneously on
Single Windows—preferably virtual—and TIPs. There is a strong argument for
combining these efforts to produce a single online interface that combines the
transaction processing power of a Single Window with a comprehensive repository of
trade-related laws, regulations, rules, procedures, and documents, as is commonly
associated with a TIP. The synergy between PortNet and TradeSense in Morocco is an
example of this process in action in a middle income country.
Based on the field visit case studies, it is possible to formulate a roadmap for upgrading
performance in the three regional groups, based on what was observed in the three countries
studied. These specific recommendations are offered in addition to the general principles
offered above:
African Group
8. Work with international organizations like the World Bank and the major aid agencies
to expand existing technical and financial assistance in the framework of TFA
implementation to improve existing structures for disseminating information.
9. Work to move from the use of printed materials to disseminate information to the use
of information technology solutions.