36 An exploration of the need for and cost of selected trade facilitation measures in Asia and the Pacific in the context of the WTO negotiations
The results provide qualitative estimates of setup costs, operating costs as well as
long-term savings to be incurred by the governments implementing the selected measures.
The most striking result is that all respondents, which also included senior customs officers
from developing countries not initially supportive of including trade facilitation in the WTO
negotiations, agree that long-term savings far exceed the setup and operating costs for all
TF measures.
Figure IV.1 also reveals that operating costs are perceived to be much lower than
initial setup costs, except for three of the 12 measures: online publication, single national
focal points, and national trade facilitation committees. However, the overall costs of
these three measures are among the lowest in the set considered. The trade facilitation
measure with the lowest cost and the highest relative long-term savings to cost ratio is that
which refers to the adoption and use of international trade facilitation standards such as
the United Nations Layout Key for trade documents and the HS nomenclature.
Establishment of (electronic) single windows system is perceived as the most
costly of the 12 TF measures, followed by the implementation of a risk management
system and the establishment and wider use of audit-based customs. These three measures
also take the most time to implement, with experts indicating that least developed and
low-income developing countries would need at least 3 to 5 years for implementing them,
provided they had adequate resources to do so (3 to 5 years). Expedited procedures for
express shipments and qualified companies, setup of a system of bond or deposit guarantees
and establishment on national trade facilitation committees, were seen as three measures
that could be implemented quickly provided that political will existed.
As part of the survey, experts also provided, for all TF measures considered,
qualitative cost estimates broken down into five categories: regulatory setup costs,
institutional setup costs, human resources training setup costs, equipment setup costs,
political setup costs and recurring costs. Interestingly, political costs, defined as the
“Extent to which a measure will be resisted by staffs within relevant institutions; or by
policymakers because of fear of losing political support they need” are among the top two
cost categories for 10 of the 12 TF measures considered (see figure IV.2). Equipment/
Infrastructure also ranks as a top cost category for five of the 12 measures, followed by
human resources training cost during the initial implementation phase (top cost category
for 4 of 12 TFMs). Regulatory costs are generally perceived to be low relative to other
cost categories, except for the implementation of effective procedures for appeal of customs
rulings and the establishment of a bond guarantee or deposit system to expedite the
clearance of goods.
A similar survey instrument was also used in the Bangladesh case study to elicit
qualitative estimates from two senior government officials directly involved in the development
of trade control and facilitation procedures. The two experts rated most trade facilitation
measures as having small implementation costs and perceived that long-term savings
would justify costs for all measures but for the establishment of Single National Focal
Points (SNFPs) and an advance ruling system. Establishment of SNFPs would require an