Improving Customs Transit Systems
In the Islamic Countries
11
of first entry to another location in the same country where other customs procedures are
conducted or between two inland customs offices within a country.
In most of the cases, national and international transit is combined, especially when it comes to
landlocked countries.
The term landlocked country is used to describe countries that are entirely enclosed by land, or
whose coastlines lie on closed seas2. Out of the 193 Member States of the UN, 44 are landlocked,
32 of who are landlocked developing countries (LLDCs), while 17 out of 32 LLDCs are least
developed countries3 . There are also double-landlocked countries which need to transit via
another landlocked country to the nearest seaport.
1.2 Landlocked Countries Times and Transport Related Costs
The landlocked countries face an additional challenge – in terms of transport times and
transport costs - when importing goods because the goods are required to move through one or
more transit countries to reach the final destination. In such geographical circumstances, they
fully depend on transit through other countries. Each day in transit is worth 0.6% to 2.1% of
the value of the good and 75% of delays to shipping containers between the origin and
destination countries is result to bureaucracy: customs procedures, tax procedures, clearance,
and inspections. 4
Transport of perishable goods, particularly agricultural goods is a special case, firstly, due to
their importance for trade in themany OICMember States and LLDC in general. These shipments
face a particularly disadvantageous set of challenges, summarized i
Table 1: Disadvantageous set of challenges of perishable goods
Requirements/Needs Border & Transport Reality
Perishable goods, need to be delivered
urgently
Faces additional time-consuming controls
(phytosanitary and veterinary)
Due to uncoordinated working hours, trucks spend
weekends and holidays at Border Crossing Points
Simplified paperwork needed Paperwork about 100% higher versus industrial goods
Low-margin business needs affordable
transportation & good road/rail
infrastructure
Must cover costs of gen-sets and/or special equipment
(reefer containers, refrigerated trucks)
Uniform international rules and documents
related to the phytosanitary and veterinary
products, related certificates and means of
E-Phytosanitary Certificate by Food and Agriculture
Organization of the United Nations (FAO) is still in a
pilot stage.
2 Reis, T. H. Cross Border Transport Facilitation in the Context of the United Nations General Assembly Resolution 70/197:
Prospects for the TIR and the Harmonization Conventions. Asian Journal-Inter-Country Road Transport Facilitation, 20-35.
3 United Nations Conference on Trade and Development: List of Landlocked Developing Countries
checked June, 2019
4 CEPII: Lionel Fontagné, Gianluca Orefice & Roberta Piermartini: Making (Small) Firms Happy.The Heterogeneous Effect of
Trade Facilitation Measures No 2016-08 – April Working Paper