Enhancing Public Availability of Customs Information
In the Islamic Countries
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more detail, there is considerable scope for motivated governments to improve performance
even in low income environments, with consequent gains for traders and the general public.
In a more detailed sense, the following key points emerge from this section’s review of the
international evidence on public availability of trade information:
1. The TFA framework for facilitating trade through improving information availability is
the culmination of a process that has been underway through, in particular, WCO
instruments, and RTAs.
2. Two main datasets are available to evaluate the state of play and recent progress in
relation to the public availability of trade information, focusing in particular on Articles
1-4 of the TFA: the OECD TFIs and the UNGS.
3. Both data sources show that performance is typically stronger in higher income
countries. On a regional basis, performance is more variable: on average, regions tend
to perform well in some areas but less well in others.
4. An analysis of recent trends suggests that there is an ongoing process of convergence to
global norms, which is observed as catch up by weaker performing countries. The rate
of improvement in low scoring countries is typically much faster than for higher scoring
countries. On a geographical basis, there is evidence of rapid improvement, in relative
terms, in Sub-Saharan Africa.