Single Window Systems
In the OIC Member States
2
These Single Windows can be found in diverse countries from all three geographical groupings;
eight in low income, seven in high income, and seven in lower middle-income countries. The
number of Single Windows in OIC Member States has really increased in the past five years. The
majority of the 22 Single Windows became operational in the past five years. Five Single
Windows however are now operational for ten years or more years – Cameroon, Malaysia, Saudi
Arabia, Senegal, and Tunisia.
35 OIC Member States do not have an operational Single Window yet. But five of these 35
countries are currently implementing a development project and are expected to launch their
Single Windows in near future. Six OIC Member States have a formally adopted Single Window
strategy. 24 Member States do not have a Single Window initiative yet, but in six countries the
Single Window is on the political agenda.
Collecting statistics on the implementation level was not the only intent of this study.
Information was also collected to understand the diverse characteristics of the Single Windows
initiatives.
Diversity of Single Window Approaches
The term Single Window for Trade denotes a variety of platforms for the exchange of electronic
information between traders, government agencies and departments, and a variety of
commercial service providers from the transport, logistics and banking sector. The objective is
to offer a single point of submission of trade relevant data and single point of contact, and to
speed up processing ideally in a paperless environment.
There are different ways to achieve this objective and the OIC Member States Single Windows
reflect the diversity of approaches. This study compared the regulatory business process and
services coverage, technical and technology and organizational aspects of the existing OIC
Member States Single Windows.
OIC Member States chose amongst three different organisational models for the Single Window.
More than half are fully government owned; eight have a mixed public-private ownership with
public majority in four cases and private majority in four cases. The organisational entities are
either a departmental or non-departmental public body, namely the Custom Services in seven
countries, or a public benefit non-profit company in six countries, or a for-profit company, with
majority private or public ownership in seven countries. 2
The core activities of the Single Windows are government licensing and permit approvals,
submission of documents to Customs services, port and transport activities, and transit
movement control activities. The Single Windows predominantly focus on document filing and
submission services. Few cover collaboration services, such as risk management and scheduling
2 For two countries this information was not available.