Ratify – the sooner the better: the developing countries that will ratify the agreement in the coming months (and hopefully not years) have already missed some critical deadlines that will prevent them from using as much as possible the specific and differentiated provisions for the treatment of ADTs. Bureaucratic delays and “bureaucracy” weigh on traders for cross-border trade. Trade facilitation – the simplification, modernization and harmonization of export and import processes – has therefore become an important issue for the global trading system. Category A: provisions that developing WTO member countries had to implement by 22 February 2017, when they came into force (least developed countries had to implement them by 22 February 2018). It is estimated that it is in developing and least developed countries, mainly African countries, that trade costs could be significantly reduced. The Trade Facilitation Committee was established on 22 February 2017 with the entry into force of the Trade Facilitation Agreement (TFA). The Committee held its constituent meeting on 16 May 2017 and elected Ambassador Daniel BLOCKERT (Sweden) as its first President. The current chair is. Rwanda, Oman, Chad and Jordan presented their adoption instruments to WTO Director-General Roberto Azavédo, exceeding the required threshold of 110 ratifications.
The entry into force of this agreement, which aims to accelerate cross-border trade, the release and release of goods, will launch a new phase of global trade facilitation reform and will significantly boost trade and the multilateral trading system as a whole. “This would increase world trade by $1 trillion a year, with the largest profits being in the poorest countries. The impact will be greater than the removal of all existing tariffs worldwide. According to a 2015 study by WTO economists, full implementation of the TFA will reduce members` trade costs by an average of 14.3%, with developing countries being the most affected, according to a 2015 study by WTO economists. In addition, the TFA is expected to reduce the time required to import goods by more than one and a half days and by almost two days for the export of goods, a reduction of 47% and 91% from the current average. The TFA came into force on 22 February 2017, after two-thirds of WTO membership completed its ratification process on national territory. The agreement is unique in that it allows developing and least developed countries to set their own timetables for the implementation of the TFA, based on their willingness to do so. At the request of developing and least developed countries, a Trade Facilitation Mechanism (TFAF) has been set up to ensure that they receive the assistance they need to take full advantage of the benefits of the TFA and to support the final goal of full implementation of the new agreement by all members. For more information on TFAF, see www.TFAFacility.org. Small differences in the time and cost of trade can determine whether or not a country participates in global value chains. In this regard, the World Trade Organization (WTO) Trade Facilitation Agreement (TFA), which came into force on 22 February 2017, is an important step in its comprehensive report on issues of reducing bureaucracy and promoting efficiency and transparency, as well as the fact that it is the first multilateral agreement since the creation of the WTO in 1995.