. Procedures and rules affecting the movement of goods Tariffs can be thought of as the highest and most visible part of an iceberg that m...
. Procedures and rules affecting the movement of goods Tariffs can be thought of as the highest and most visible part of an iceberg that may block entry into a harbour. Whether those tariffs are relatively high or low, the mass of procedures that lay beneath them could prove to be even more obstructive. A TPF should devote just as much attention to the other procedures and rules that affect the movement of goods as it does to tariffs, and should be especially attentive to those that the country itself might employ. Unlike tariffs, which may at least have the ancillary benefit of providing government revenue, these other barriers will sometimes amount to little more than a deadweight loss for the country and its partners. A TPF will do well to identify ways in which border procedures may be made more efficient and affordable for both exports and imports.
The TPF for Algeria, for example, stresses that port infrastructure has not evolved since independence and is unsuitable for container traffic. This imposes additional costs on the economy via congestion, waiting times and demurrage. Similar problems plague the air transport sector. Despite substantial investment in airport infrastructure, there is a shortage of space and equipment (e.g. dedicated scanners for processing perishable fruits and vegetables). The TPF recommended a new plan for the extension and modernization of existing ports. The data in table 12 underline the significance of this problem for countries in all developing regions, showing the amount of time and money it takes to export or import goods. These numbers are based on World Bank calculations that assess the actual procedures required in each country, averaged out here for regions. For example, border compliance for exports is calculated as “time and cost for obtaining, preparing and submitting documents during port or border handling, customs clearance and inspection III. INSTRUMENTS OF TRADE POLICY 27 procedures”
. The data show that by comparison to the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) countries, the procedures in the average sub-Saharan African country take 10.4 times as many hours for exports and 21.2 times as long for imports. In the Middle East and North Africa, the costs associated with compliance are especially large. These costs are 4.1 times more expensive than those of the OECD countries for exports, and 6.6 times greater for imports. The gap is smaller between the OECD countries and the developing countries of Europe and Central Asia, but even there it remains considerably more time consuming and expensive to comply with the trade procedures in the lower-income than in the high-income countries. A TPF should start by reviewing the reported World Bank data and examine the various requirements that the country currently imposes on exporters and importers. Most countries could benefit from reforms in the amount of paperwork that is required to be filed, and in the ways that the data are submitted and processed. A TPF should also address the question of whether the country ought to sign on to the WTO Trade Facilitation Agreement, what reforms might be needed to bring the country into compliance with this agreement, and what technical assistance might be sought to achieve these reforms. Countries may also consider other means of facilitating the movement of goods. These include special tariff treatment for certain products, free zones, duty drawback programmes and exemptions.
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