44 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 fact that customs valuation (and SPS/TBT) rank as the most problematic
issue(s) in all countries studied some years after the WTO Customs Valuation
Agreement and the SPS and TBT Agreements have been implemented is an
important signal to the Geneva negotiators of the discrepancies that may
emerge between an agreement and its implementation in the area of trade
facilitation. As such, it may be better to be less ambitious in the number of
trade facilitation measures to be implemented, but more detailed in defining
how compliance will be monitored and what technical assistance will be
provided.