Single Window Systems
In the OIC Member States
18
Table 2: Expected SW Benefits
Users Expected benefits
Traders and Intermediaries
(customs brokers and freight
forwarders, transporters)
Less paperwork through single data entry and uploading of structured
and unstructured data
Less contact points
24h/7d/365d processing and location independent processing
Less waiting and idle times and better information on status progress
Improved predictability and certainty
Less data and process errors through standardised data requirements
and advance information
Government Faster and less resources intensive processing
Sharing of infrastructure
Efficient allocation of resources to tasks
More effective controls through data validation and authorization and
information (risk) information sharing
Visibility about status quo of processing and revenue collection
Revenue upsides
Uniform application across territory
Other service providers (i.e.
commercial banks)
Better service availability –additional service provision channel.
Processing efficiency
Source: Authors’ own compilation
below gives examples of improvements achieved by Single Windows. These
improvements are at the level of border crossing times, documents collecting time, cargo
turnaround or dwell time, and customs clearance times.
Costs, time and predictability are decisive factors for companies’ competitiveness in the global
economy. In the past 20 years, supply chains have become increasingly geographically
fragmented9, offering companies from around the world new ways to integrate into global
value chains or regional production networks with their specialized products and services. Not
tariffs but non-tariff measures, including border controls, administrative procedures and
documentary requirements, constitute barriers to compete in international trade. Because
these barriers increase costs, time and delays they limit the ability to integrate into global
value chains and attract foreign investments.
An OECD study found that harmonizing trade documents, streamlining trade procedures,
making trade-related information available and using automated processes could reduce total
9 WTO, “The rise of global value chains”, in World Trade Report 2014 (Geneva: WTO, 2014), 78-128, under publications
(accessed January 2017)