The Bali Trade Facilitation Agreement And Its Impact On Rulemaking

At the Bali Ministerial meeting in December 2013, WTO members successfully concluded the first multilateral agreement since the launch of the Doha Round in 2001, Trade Facilitation Agreement (TFA). Focusing on transparency, procedures simplification and customs cooperation, TFA aims at cutting the red tape surrounding the movement of goods across borders and brings challenges as well as opportunities with it.This paper attempts to analyze TFA from four aspects including history, structure, economic impact and rulemaking impact. Firstly, a dynamic analysis method produces a comprehensive picture of the produce process of TFA, especially the ups and downs in this process. Secondly, this paper makes a comparative study of TFA against GATT1994 and SPS. On one hand, TFA inherited and expanded GATT1994 regulations. On the other hand, it can also be regard as a SPS-plus Agreement which increase the stability of this agreement. Through literature analysis and comparative analysis, the article gets to conclude that TFA will contribute to reducing international trade costs, increasing efficiency, and promote the growth of international trade.With an extensive a la carte approach to determining the timing of implementation by developing countries of its various disciplines, TFA ensures its disciplines could apply to all WTO Members. The combination of Mandatory regulation and self-regulation ensure the implementation of the agreement which is strongly connected with infrastructure aid. In this way, TFA sets a good example for the rulemaking of WTO. Secondly, TFA expand the scope of the regional trade agreements with new ideas as well as templates. Thirdly, the stimulating effect of TFA on international trade will encourage Governments to carry out policy reforms.What’s more, the economic effect and ripple effect of TFA and the challenges and opportunities to China’s reform of trade facilitation provided by TFA are also illustrated in this paper.