On February 22, 2020, the World Trade Organization (WTO) published an update on the implementation of the Trade Facilitation Agreement (TFA). TFA entered into force on February 22, 2017, and ratified by more than 90% of the WTO members.
TFA allows for developing and least-developed countries to set their own timetables for implementation based on their capabilities. The countries have reached implementation levels of 64% and 31% respectively.
The WTO conducted a study in 2015 showing the expected benefits from the agreement:
- Cut trade costs by an average of 14.3%;
- Reduce the time needed to import goods by 47% over the current average; and
- Reduce the time needed to export goods by 91% over the current average.
The WTO update can be found here:
https://www.wto.org/english/news_e/news20_e/fac_22feb20_e.htm
