Since SITPRO took over the chairmanship of the UN's International Trade Procedures Working Group (ITPWG), as reported in Issue 47, the Group has made considerable progress on a number of major work items. These projects have the potential to deliver practical trade facilitation benefits to the business community.
In addition to the Recommendation and Guidelines for establishing a Single Window (reported on in Building the Business Case for a Single Window), a second major task nearing completion is a concept paper on benchmarking. Drawing heavily on the experience of SITPRO's Interact project (benchmarking the costs of international trade), the concept paper explains how a standard measurement methodology can bring about swift and significant advances in performance by establishing points of reference and charting a path to make improvements. Chapters in the paper identify the what, why and how of a benchmarking project and ways to avoid common pitfalls in measurement activities. The paper will be widely circulated within the UN and the business community to gauge the demand for any further work, such as the development of a Recommendation or Guide.
The UN hopes that revisions to Recommendation 12 will lead to better use of Maritime Transport Documents
The ITPWG have also revised UN Recommendation 12 (Maritime Transport Documents Procedures) and will present the final draft of the new version to the UN in May 2004. The Recommendation strongly encourages sellers and buyers in international trade to throw off inertia and actively review their commercial practices regarding the use of maritime transport documents. Negotiable bills of lading, as documents of title, can complicate the information flow surrounding the movement of goods by sea often resulting in lost documents (requiring a Letter of Indemnity) and delays in delivery at the port of destination. Equally, the need to convey a bill of lading makes it more difficult to apply electronic business solutions to speed up the transfer of essential information.
The new Recommendation advises sellers and buyer to adopt, wherever possible, the use of the non-negotiable sea waybill to improve the documentary flow, whether based on paper documents or electronic transmission methods. What the Recommendation does not advocate is the removal of the bill of lading from maritime transport documents. There will always be the need for a negotiable transport document, for example where the goods are traded in transit, or independent documentary evidence is required by the contract of sales or finance. However, in the majority of transactions between a seller and buyer with a robust trading relationship, a non negotiable sea waybill offers a simpler easier documentary procedure.
The Recommendation also urges governments and third parties, especially the banking sector and maritime carriers, to adopt an open and transparent trading environment that allows the use of sea waybills. This means that Governments should not demand commercial negotiable documents to perform secondary quasi-official functions such as pre-shipment inspection, exchange control procedures and customs clearance. Equally it means that third party service providers should not use application procedures, commercial practices or industry rules to steer the seller or buyer to seek a negotiable transport document. The selection of the appropriate maritime transport document must be left to the person arranging the contract of carriage. Third parties to the trade transaction should allow that person to exercise this choice with their involvement restricted to rendering advice on the options available.
Return to SITPRO News: Issue 50, April/May 2004
