Establishing Well Functioning National Trade Facilitation Bodies (NTFBs)
In the OIC Member States
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1. GENERAL FRAMEWORK
1.1 Introduction
Part 1 is divided into four sections and presents the conceptual framework of this study. The first
section introduces the reader to the subject and the other three sections provide a general
background for the rest of the study.
Specifically, in section 2, subsection a. explores the concept of trade facilitation through the different
definitions used by various international organizations and NTFBs. Subsection b. highlights the
importance of trade facilitation in reducing costs in international trade transactions, whilst
acknowledging that there is a cost in implementing measures of this nature, and provides policy
solutions for reducing these costs. Moreover, subsection c. gathers information from OIC Member
States, based on the World Bank (WB) parameters from the Doing Business publications for 2006,
2007, and 2015, and focuses on the data provided from the WB's Trading Across Borders (TAB)
index. Tables highlight the WB ranking of each OIC Member, and show in which place this ranking
would fall if compared only with other OIC Member States. Furthermore, subsection c. provides an
historic evolution, explaining that over time trade facilitation measures (such as, a decrease in the
number of documents, days, and, thus, costs worldwide and within OIC Members) have contributed
to an improvement in a Member's WB TAB ranking throughout the years.
Section 3 explains the importance of creating NTFBs in order to coordinate efforts between the
public and private sector with a view to designing and implementing trade facilitation measures. To
this end, an historical background is presented, which demonstrates the efforts made by
international organizations over the years in encouraging countries to establish NTFBs. This is the
case of the United Nations (UN), since 1974, with its Recommendation No. 4, which was revised in
2015; and, most recently, since 2004, of the World Trade Organization (WTO), with the negotiation of
its Trade Facilitation Agreement (TFA), which was accepted in Bali in December 2013 and now
reflected in Article 22.3 of the TFA.
At the end of Part I, Section 4 articulates the main reasons for a country to establish a NTFB, for
instance: a) designing and implementing effectively trade facilitation measures; b) coordinating the
main agencies that participate in cross border trade procedures, such as trade, customs, and
transport, whilst taking into account private sector needs; and/or c) creating a common position in
the negotiations of the WTO's TFA.
1.2 The Relevance of Trade Facilitation Worldwide and OIC Member Country's
Performance
1.2.1. The concept of trade facilitation
Numerous international organizations that work in this field, as well as National Trade Facilitation
Bodies (NTFBs), have characterized trade facilitation as the act of simplification of procedures in
international trade operations. In addition to this main feature, other concepts are incorporated in
definitions of trade facilitation, such as: harmonization and standardization of trade proceedings;
reducing costs; and ensuring that international trade operations are undertaken in a transparent
manner.