Trade Facilitation and SMEs

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Trade Facilitation and SMEs

• Tom Butterly
• Chief, Trade Facilitation Unit
• United Nations Economic Commission for Europe
  (UNECE)

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SMEs

• SMEs account from between 60 and 70 of
  employment in OECD countries
• Figure often much higher in developing countries

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UN/CEFACT SUPPLY CHAIN REFERENCE MODEL
SHIP
PAY
BUY
Prepare For Export
Prepare For Import
Export
Transport
Import
INVOLVES

• Commercial
• Procedures
• Establish Contract
• Order Goods
• Advise On Delivery
• Request Payment

• Transport
• Procedures
• Establish Transport Contract
• Collect,Transport and Deliver Goods
• Provide Waybills, Goods Receipts Status reports

• Regulatory
• Procudures
• Obtain Import/Export Licences etc
• Provide Customs Declarations
• Provide Cargo Declaration
• Apply Trade Security Procedures
• Clear Goods for Export/Import

• Financial Procedures
• Provide Credit Rating
• Provide Insurance
• Provide Credit
• Execute Payment
• Issue Statements

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Building Trade Efficiency
Total Trade Transaction Integrated supply-chain
Company processes
Trade facilitation
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General needs

• Customers
• Finance
• Information
• Buyers
• Price
• Standards
• Quality
• Packaging
• Transport
• Taxes,duties, etc
• Transport Infrastructure
• Trade Support Services
• Etc

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Trade Facilitation Needs

• Reduce complexity and cost (relatively higher for
  SMEs)
• Certainty / transparency (advance ruling)
• Speed
• Access to International Supply Chains
• ICT Solutions low cost and simple to use (on my
  PC)

Must assess specific needs of SMEs in a given
country/region
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Major Issues

• Authorised Economic Operator (AEO) implications
  for SMEs Authorised Supply Chain
• Security implications for SMEs
• Consultation SMEs part of the solution
• Life before and after trade facilitation

Benchmarks and milestones (roadmap national
and regional strategies for TF)
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Selected Case Studies of Public-Private Sector
Partnerships in Trade Facilitation

• Export Electronic Single Window, Guatemala
• Mauritius TradeNet, Mauritius
• Port Net Amsterdam, Netherlands
• Cargo Risk Analysis and Scanning, Sierra Leone
• Computerised Risk Management, Tanzania
• Tunisia TradeNet, Tunisia
• Cargo Processing System in the Port of
  Felixstowe, United Kingdom
• Chicago Rail Industry, United States.
•  

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.. now we have to make trade facilitation happen!
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Follow-up

• All UNECE Recommendations, codes, standards and
  publications are available for free on our
  website at
• www.unece.org/trade
• www.unece.org/cefact/
• www.unece.org/etrades/unedocs/
• E-mail tom.butterly_at_unece.org

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UNECE Paper on Public-Private Sector Partnerships
in Trade Facilitation Implementation
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Key Factors

1. High level of trust among the participants A
   strong degree of trust between the partner
   organisations allows partner organisations to
   contribute a substantial amount of resources and
   effort in the assured knowledge that the partner
   will do the same.
2. Fixed deadlines Setting deadlines allow each
   partner organisation to focus on the relevant
   task(s) that need(s) to be accomplished.
3. Clear objectives Clear objectives act as an
   ongoing guideline by which the partnerships
   success can be constantly evaluated.
4. Constant communication There needs to be a
   constant flow of information, feedback and
   evaluation between the partner organisations to
   enable both parties the opportunity to voice
   their concerns and to make crucial interventions
   at various stages of the partnership when
   necessary.

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• Funding The issue of funding is crucial as it
  allows for all the concepts and ideas that have
  been proposed to attain the operational or
  implementation stages.
• Transparency At any point in the development of
  a PPP there needs to be the ability to evaluate
  any area of the partner organisation.
• Leadership Strong leadership ensures that the
  various aspects of the PPP are achieved in a
  timely, effective and efficient manner.
• There are significant positive benefit/cost
  ratios that can be derived by implementing TF
  measures through the medium of PPPs, due to the
  particular abilities of both sectors. Certainly,
  the increased funding or pool of skills available
  between partner organisations increases the
  chance of successful implementation and
  sustainability of PPPs and the substantial
  benefits therein.