Establishing Well Functioning National Trade Facilitation Bodies (NTFBs)
In the OIC Member States
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Recommendations are that:
 Governments establish and support NTFBs with balanced private and public sector
participation.29
 Such NTFBs should
1. include trade facilitation as an integral part of a national integrated strategy for trade
policy and sustainable economic development;
2. identify issues affecting the cost and efficiency of their country’s involvement in
international trade, develop simplifications measures to eliminate or reduce such
barriers and assist in their implementation;
3. provide a national focal point for the collection and dissemination of information on best
practices in international trade facilitation;
4. Participate in international efforts to improve trade facilitation and efficiency.30
The guidelines cover how NTFBs should be established (e.g., organization, membership, role and
responsibilities); the coordination of NTFBs at national and regional levels; the funding, budget and
staffing of NTFBs; and how to go about creating a NTFB (e.g., consultation with interested parties).
Moreover, UNCTAD also maintains a repository with country-specific information.
1.3.2.2. UNCTAD Repository: Trade Facilitation Bodies around the World
UNCTAD has worked as a forum for National Trade Facilitation Bodies (NTFBs) to promote
institutional coordination. In its repository
emphasizes on the
importance in the collaborative involvement of all the parties in the private and public sectors.
UNCTAD has greatly contributed to clarifying the state-of-play of NTFBs in more than 50 countries.
Their data have been collected “through desk research and detailed survey with national entities”31 It
has also highlighted the most relevant stakeholders and classify them in to the following categories:
 Governmental actors: Ministries, agencies and officials involved in export, import and transit
processes. Moreover, for the purposes of this study, this includes policymakers and
lawmakers.
 Private actors: Users of trade services (in whatever capacity this may entail, grouped under
a chamber of commerce or business association and all relevant parties involved in the trade
supply chain.
1.3.3. The NTFBs Inclusion in the WTO Agenda
The WTO provides a treaty framework of international rules that govern how international trade
happens. All WTO Members must comply with WTO law or expose themselves to WTO disputes
settlement and, moreover, all regional or bilateral trade rules concluded between countries that are
29 Ibid, p. 4.
30 Ibid.
31