The Role of Customs Administration in Trade Facilitation in Developing Countries. The Case of Southern Africa

Abstract

The paper seeks to highlight the role played by customs administrators in the facilitation of trade in developing countries. It acknowledges that international trade cannot be avoided and countries need to adapt to the requirements of trade facilitation with reference to the Trade Facilitation Agreement. It seeks to clarify the ‘assumption that facilitating trade leads to loss of revenue and how trade facilitation can reinforce revenue collections at a lower cost. The paper explores further on trade facilitation benefits the private sector have as they seek to trade internationally. With the increase in trade volumes countries through their customs administration requires trade facilitation measures to ensure no non-tariff barriers hinder trade. There is also need to capacitate these customs administration in the adoption of these trade facilitation measures before any policy framework can be implemented at national or regional level. Major reasons put forward for trade facilitation measures are increased trade in finished products by developing countries, globalisation of manufacturing processes, proliferation of regional trade agreements and continued diversification of exports. In summary trade needs to be facilitated if developing countries are to benefit from international trade and the most influential actors are customs administrations. With trade facilitation measures developing countries might even collect more revenue than previously collected before these measures are in place.