As UK trade is increasingly governed by decisions made in the European Parliament and European Commission, SITPRO is very aware of the need to influence developments in Brussels. To this end it is an active participant in EUROPRO, the European trade facilitation organisation. EUROPRO is an umbrella body for the EU Member States and the EFTA countries. Its members consist of procedural organisations (or PROs) that were established, like SITPRO, on the basis of the UNECE's Trade Facilitation Recommendation 4, as well as other, like-minded, non-profit-making bodies.
EUROPRO's main aim is to promote and harmonise facilitative trade practices within the European Union and internationally, and to help remove procedural barriers to trade. As such, EUROPRO is promoting the initiation of negotiations on a WTO trade facilitation agreement in September at Cancún (as discussed in February's issue). EUROPRO's Chair, Christina Rahlen, from SWEPRO, the Swedish procedural organisation, explained, "Having worked with trade procedures for many years, it is my sincere hope that countries will come together and commit themselves to the removal of unnecessary procedural trade barriers, and thereby make substantial savings that could be utilised by governments and companies, not least SMEs."
Over the last couple of years, EUROPRO has worked hard to broaden support for its work in this area. It established the European Business Trade Facilitation Network (EBTFN), bringing together European-based trade associations that represent a wide range of industries directly involved in the trade process. The EBTFN has made a major contribution to formulating an approach to a WTO agreement that has been welcomed by the European Commission, and well received by business in Europe, the US and Australia. With the European Union's boundaries set to expand in 2004, EUROPRO is committed to facilitating the process of integration. Procedural organisations already exist in the majority of accession countries and EUROPRO is currently conducting a study of each organisation to find out whether it is still operating and, if so, what are its main issues and areas of work. By sharing knowledge and experience, EUROPRO aims to assist the PROs in reaching the standards required by the EU and to provide advice on how problems might be tackled. It is the opinion of Ms Rahlen that "EUROPRO members have a lot of useful experience to share with other PRO organisations, especially those that haven't been established for that long. One extremely important area that we can advise on is co-operation between the public and private sectors. I believe that transparency, trust and co-operation have a crucial part to play in the simplification of trade procedures".
In a parallel initiative, EUROPRO is strengthening ties with SECIPRO, an organisation that focuses on trade facilitation in Southeast Europe. Established in 1998, it is a regional endeavour involving eight Balkan countries, the World Bank and the US Government and is supported by the governments of the Netherlands, France and Austria, and regional academic institutions. SECIPRO has reached a stage of development where it is keen to establish some independence from its donor organisations, and is looking to EUROPRO for guidance on operating a trade facilitation organisation.
EUROPRO views its work on Enlargement and with SECIPRO as preparation for creating a truly united Europe one day. One of the tools that will make this possible in the trade environment is a fully automated Customs union. That utopia is some time away as yet, but DG TAXUD of the EC is working on a variety of e-Customs initiatives such as the New Computerised Transit System (NCTS) and the computerisation of the movement and control of Excise goods (EMCS). EUROPRO is pleased that a trade consultation mechanism exists for these and other initiatives, as it feels strongly that trade input is essential to avoid pitfalls and create systems that actually modernise and simplify procedures, as well as making them electronic. A WTO agreement could help pave the way for a fully functional, automated Customs union, so it is imperative that business's voice is heard in Brussels and beyond.
Return to SITPRO News: Issue 44, April/May 2003
