“Simplifying trade documentation”; “automating border procedures”; “streamlining border controls” – all cliche’s of the modern customs and international trade scene, but just how attainable are they? Beyond the pleasantries, and fanfare of ribbon cutting ceremonies, very little seems to happen at the cold face. Sovereign states are inward-looking and jealously wish to preserve their ‘sovereign domains’.

A major World Trade Organization deal on streamlining global customs rules could cut international trade costs by between 12.5 percent and 17.5 percent, a study by the Organization for Economic Co-Operation and Development showed on Thursday.

A deal between India and the United States on the Trade Facilitation Agreement last year, which needs to be backed by all 160 WTO members, had resurrected hopes that the trade body could push through such reforms to cut red tape.

“There are very practical measures that we’ve identified that offer significant benefits,” Ken Ash, the OECD director for Trade and Agriculture, told media.

“Things like simplifying the required trade documentation. Automating border procedures, or streamlining border controls.”
Economists say the Trade Facilitation Agreement could save $1 trillion. Ash declined to endorse this figure, only saying the Paris-based body expected each 1 percent reduction in worldwide trade costs to bring $40 billion in savings.

Australia was to formally accept the agreement later on Thursday, Steven Ciobo, parliamentary secretary to the minister of foreign affairs, said at the news briefing in Paris, making Australia the seventh WTO member to adopt the agreement.