WTO Agreement On Trade Facilitation And Its Application In China

Trade facilitation, which is regarded as an important means of global economic recovery, aims to enhance the operational efficiency of the global supply chain through simplifying trade procedures and formalities, and then bring profits such as lower trade costs, higher social welfare and modernized port management. As a WTO package agreement, TFA creates a more independent and relaxing global governance mode, and will enhance the interests of global trade facilitation, whereas it will also be subject to the bifurcation points of negotiations in subsequent approval and implementation procedures.TFA aims to’simplify, coordinate, transparentize, rationalize and standardize international trade procedures’,’perfect customs regulation mode and efficiency’, ’improve world trade environment’, etc. It follows the principles of transparency, predictability, convenience, flexibility, expansibility, special and differential treatment, etc. It highlights several rule features, such as the regulation scope being limited to the customs and cross-border procedures areas of cargo trade, the indication of the obligation degree being diversified, the effectiveness of various facilitation measures being linked, the value of facilitation and security being both taken into account. TFA is inferior to the WCO rules in the aspects of the category and application scope of facilitation measures, while it pays more attention to the rationality and specialization of the measures, which improves the trade facilitation institution under the WTO system. TFA takes the nationalized and autonomous ways on its own application, and follows the principles of’complementarity’ and ’non-antagonism based’on the application with other WTO agreements. As for the potential application problems of TFA, we can see that the applicability between members is different, the value conflict and rule interpretation are easy to cause disputes, and the non-mandatory obligations of foreign aid will have a direct impact on the applicable effects.China has a huge demand for trade facilitation, along with the ability to independently implement TFA. Meanwhile, our current trade facilitation practice is a non-systematic project, not only for the complex, cross and lack of binding rules, and the slow progress of rule implementation, but also for the efforts to implement modern administrative concept and invest information-based infrastructure is insufficient. In the terms of the domestic application of TFA, we should make efforts to perfect trade facilitation system, optimize the port enforcement model, improve the level of information technology and ability, and deepen international collaboration on trade facilitation.