News
World Trade Organization (WTO) members intensified work to ensure full implementation of the Trade Facilitation Agreement (TFA) at the May 2 meeting of the Committee on Trade Facilitation.
The committee reviewed a total of 63 new notifications from members of their respective timetables and assistance needs to implement provisions of the TFA, import and export procedures and other information helpful for traders and governments, and details of available technical assistance and support for capacity building.
A look at the overall situation shows a steady increase in commitment levels. According to the TFA database, the current implementation rate of the Agreement stands at 59.7% as of May 2. Broken down by level of development, this equates to a 100 percent implementation rate by developed members, 58 percent among developing members and 21.2 percent among least developed countries (LDCs).
Developing countries will immediately apply the TFA provisions they have designated as Category A commitments. For the other provisions of the Agreement, they must indicate when these will be implemented and what capacity building support is needed to help them implement these provisions, known as Category B and C commitments. These can be implemented at a later date, with LDCs given more time to notify these commitments.
So far, 112 members have notified their category A commitments, approaching the overall number of notifications in this area that is likely to be received. The current number of category B commitments stands at 62 and at 52 for category C.
