COMCEC Trade Outlook 2019

Trade Facilitation:

An important project developed by the COMCEC towards facilitating trade among the Member

States is the Standard and Metrology Institute for Islamic Countries (SMIIC). SMIIC entered into

force in May 2010 following the ratification of its Statute by the tenth Member State.

SMIIC is an affiliated institution of the OIC which is responsible for contributing to the

development of standards in the OIC Member States. SMIIC aims at realizing harmonized

standards and eliminating any standard related factor that adversely affects the trade among

the member countries.

After the ratification of its Headquarters Agreement by the Republic of Turkey on March 31st,

2011, headquarters of SMIIC was formally established. As of October 2019, the number of SMIIC

Member States is 37, observer states are 3.

Till today, SMIIC has successfully accomplished a series of events including capacity building

programs, forum, seminars and visits to the relevant organizations in the Member States in the

area of standards and metrology. Also the Committee on Standards for Conformity Assessment

(SMIIC/CCA) has been established to prepare guides/standards on criteria for bodies involved

in testing, calibration, certification, inspection, accreditation, their operation and assessment,

and other related standards and especially halal conformity assessment and accreditation

guidelines or standards.

To enrich the depth of the efforts, Financial, Terminology and Technical Committees were

established under the SMIIC which dwell upon technical aspects of the relevant topics. The

Technical Committees are Halal Food Issues, Halal Cosmetic Issues, Service Site Issues,

Renewable Energy, Tourism and Related Services, Agriculture Processes and Transportation.

Regarding trade facilitation, the COMCEC TradeWorking Group has devoted its several meetings

to its different aspects and for each meeting, a research report has been prepared for producing

and disseminating knowledge on the current status of trade facilitation in the Member

Countries. These reports also provides policy recommendations for the member countries for

facilitating trade by utilizing a set of tools and policies. In this regard, the study titled

“Facilitating Intra-OIC Trade: Improving the Efficiency of the Customs Procedures in the OIC

Member States” was prepared specifically for the 3rd Meeting of the COMCEC Trade Working

Group suggests that

following factors are important in implementing the customs reforms in the

Member States in order to improve their trade performances:



Political will,



Establishment of well-functioning coordination mechanism among the relevant

government agencies and private sector,



Improving the legal framework,



Institutional arrangements,



Human resources management and,



Allocation of necessary financing.

Recognizing the importance of reducing trade costs, effective implementation of trade

facilitation measures is important. This in turn requires close cooperation and coordination

among the customs administrations, other relevant government agencies and the private sector.

For the last forty years, international institutions such as UNECE and the UNCTAD encourage

COMCEC Coordination Office, 2014.