Enhancing Public Availability of Customs Information
In the Islamic Countries
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it is in line with expectations that performance should be variable. The key result is that the OIC,
which is composed mainly of non-OECD countries, tends to perform than the non-OECD group
as a whole. This result suggests that the group has been active in working on this area of trade
facilitation, and has enjoyed considerable successes.
At the level of regional groups, the areas of achievements and remaining challenges tend to vary.
In the latter category are publication of regulations and advance publication, appeal procedures,
and advance rulings for the African Group; advance rulings and stakeholder consultations for
the Arab Group; and advance publication and establishment of NTFCs for the Asian Group.
Remaining areas are ones where there is evidence of important achievements, along with
general results suggesting forward movement over time.
3.4. Conclusion and Lessons Learned
This review of the data has looked at the recent experiences of the three OIC regional groups,
both as groups, and at the level of individual countries. By focusing on data from two
international sources, it has been possible to identify significant policy changes at a detailed
level, and to show cases where country-level performance has either improved significantly
over time, or where it is now close to the global best practice frontier.
This Section suggests the following lessons from the detailed data review that has been
conducted:
1. In line with the OIC’s heterogeneous nature, regional and country experiences vary
greatly with respect to public information availability.
2. In a broad sense, Africa tends to have a lower level of performance than the other two
regions, but the fastest rate of improvement over time.
3. The Arab and Asian Groups contain a variety of country experiences, but each has an
example of a country—the UAE and Malaysia—where practice is approaching the global
frontier. This stock of knowledge constitutes a valuable asset for the OIC’s membership,
as it suggests the possibility of knowledge sharing within the organization, as well as
capacity building and technical assistance if appropriate.
4. Although the evidence differs across datasets, the general impression is that
performance on public information availability across the dimensions measured here is
generally improving over time. Countries need to be cautious about backsliding, but
generally the impetus is in the right direction, spurred, no doubt, by passage of the TFA.
5. Having said this, at the country level, performance improvements tend to be piecemeal
rather than broad-based. There is a case for policymakers to revisit this approach: a
value chain is only as strong as its weakest link, so given the importance of information
flow for value chain optimization, it may be desirable to look at programs of broad-
based performance upgrading in the area of information availability.
6. Particular areas in which further attention from policymakers is necessary include:
a. African Group: Publication of regulations, and advance publication, as well as
appeal procedures, and advance rulings.
b. Arab Group: Advance rulings, and stakeholder consultations.
c. Asian Group: Advance publication, and establishment of NTFCs.