Trade Facilitation in the WTO and Policy Implications for Korea
Chan-Hyun Sohn and Hyo-Sung Yim
Trade Facilitation is often defined as "the simplification and harmonization of international trade procedures" with trade procedures being the "activities, practices and formalities involved in collecting, presenting, communicating and processing data required for the movement of goods in international trade". This definition relates to a wide range of activities such as import and export procedures (e.g. customs or licensing procedures); transport formalities; payments, insurance, and other financial requirements. Steadily growing volumes of trade, together with tariff levels at an all-time low after the conclusion of the Uruguay Round and modern technology available to significantly improve the management of cross-border trade and distribution of goods have lately created a strong interest from international business in the improvement of the infrastructure for international trade. The losses that business suffers through delays at borders, complicated and unnecessary documentation requirements and lack of automation of government mandated trade procedures are estimated to exceed in many cases the costs of tariffs.

Work in this area has been carried out by organizations such as UNCTAD, UN/ECE or the WCO for several decades. At the regional level, initiatives such as APEC and ASEM either in the framework of customs cooperation, general trade facilitation work, or in support of free trade agreements have recognized the need to reduce, simplify and harmonize trade procedures. However, trade facilitation was only added to the WTO agenda in December 1996, when the Singapore Ministerial Declaration directed the Council on Trade in Goods (CTG) "to undertake exploratory and analytical work, drawing on the work of other relevant organizations, on the simplification of trade procedures in order to assess the scope for WTO rules in this area." Specific elements connected with the simplification and harmonization of trade procedures are already contained in the WTO legal framework, e.g., in Articles V, VII, VIII, X of the GATT 1947 as well as the in Agreements on Customs Valuation, Import Licensing, Preshipment Inspection, Rules of Origin, Technical Barriers to Trade, and the Agreement on the Application of Sanitary and Phytosanitary Measures. However, only the Singapore Ministerial Conference gave the WTO the mandate to take a more comprehensive look at trade facilitation.

WTO's initiative on trade facilitation has advanced considerably with the holding of a symposium on trade facilitation in March 1998, where members heard first-hand from some of the most prominent corporations in the world on the practical problems they encounter in moving goods across borders. The symposium placed WTO Members in a position to move to the phase of analytical work on trade facilitation, in order to assess the scope for WTO rules in this area, as set out in the Singapore Declaration. In the WTO Trade Facilitation Symposium, a large number of issues were raised, which forms the basis of the current WTO discussions.

Work within the WTO thus far, through a series of informal discussions under the auspices of the CTG, has identified problems of real concern concerning customs procedures and physical movement of consignments. The CTG's next discussions will be critical in the development of the issues which will focus on relevant elements of various WTO Agreements, the role of electronic commerce and the link between economic development and the trade facilitation environment. However, work on trade facilitation is still in its initial stages with discussion being confined to identifying areas where WTO has a relevant role and if WTO has a relevant role at all in trade facilitation. While considerable time will be required to make any progress within the WTO that would ultimately lead to rule-making, there is a consensus among the key players, such as the EU and US, for a need for additional WTO action on trade facilitation. With CTG's recommendations due to be made at the Third Ministerial Conference, it is highly probable that that trade facilitation will be incorporated into next phase of WTO negotiations scheduled to be launched in the year 2000.

Trade facilitation has numerous implications for Korea. As Korea relies heavily on trade, trade facilitation initiatives could provide an opportunity for domestic firms to strengthen its competitiveness by substantially reducing logistic and financial costs. Therefore, there is no reason for Korea to oppose WTO's initiative in the field of trade facilitation. Rather, Korea should take an active position in the multilateral discussions since it has already achieved to a considerable extent modernization of customs procedures and the benefits of trade facilitation accruing to domestic firms are substantial. Moreover, in order to reap the full benefits of trade facilitation, Korea must continually reform its customs laws and procedures in line with the changing technological and global trade environment..

Ⅰ. 서론

Ⅱ. 무역원활화의 개념 및 중요성
1. 무역원활화의 개념
2. 무역환경의 변화와 무역원활화의 중요성
3. 무역원활화의 경제적 효과

Ⅲ. 무역원활화의 논의현황
1. 국제협약
2. 국제기구의 논의경과

Ⅳ. WTO에서의 논의현황 및 전망
1. 무역원활화 관련 기존 WTO규정
2. 논의 전개과정
3. WTO에서의 주요이슈
4. 각국의 입장
5. 향후 WTO협상 전망

Ⅴ. 우리나라의 무역원활화관련 제도현황과 대응과제
1. 우리나라의 무역원활화관련 제도현황
2. 대응과제