In partnership with the United States Trade Representative (USTR), USCIB and NTFC collaborated on a webinar related to the accelerated implementation of the World Trade Organization (WTO) Trade Facilitation Agreement (TFA) for the Committee on Trade Facilitation at the WTO.

At the core of the May 27 event was the communication that has been co-sponsored by nineteen countries, including two new co-sponsors North Macedonia and Switzerland: Australia; Brazil; Canada; Colombia; European Union; Iceland; Japan; Republic of Korea; Mexico; New Zealand; Norway; Singapore; the Separate Customs Territory of Taiwan, Penghu, Kinmen and Matsu; Thailand; Turkey; United Kingdom and the United States, all of which “support the timely and efficient release of global goods through accelerated implementation of the WTO Trade Facilitation Agreement (TFA).” Linked to this communication is the U.S. and Norway communication to abolish consularization.

USCIB Director for Customs and Trade Facilitation Megan Giblin and private sector representatives from Amazon, Cargill, FedEx, and Intel, joined a responsive conversation about the importance of accelerating the implementation of the WTO TFA. According to Giblin, this was a great opportunity for USCIB members to share private sector experiences related to COVID and the need for accelerated implementation of the WTO TFA.

“The TFA, from negotiation to country implementation and all stages in between, has been a priority for USCIB,” said Giblin. “We are dedicated to robust implementation of the TFA down to the best practices, such as customs bonding (Article 7) and ATA Carnet (Article 10 – Temporary Admissions), that underpin the Articles of the Agreement.  Many of the hurdles faced during COVID, and many noted in our early recommendations, could have been reduced or eliminated through accelerated implementation of TFA commitments.”

“USCIB believes that the U.S. government-led webinar sets a high bar for other governments as these domestically focused private sector dialogues continue in the Committee on TF,” added Giblin.

USCIB calls on WTO Members to sign-on to both the communication for accelerated TFA implementation and communication related to the abolishment of consularization.