- Hello Customer - Log in or Register!
Q. What are some practical benefits of the trade facilitation agreement reached by the WTO in late 2013?
A. A big benefit, if member countries can pull it off, is reducing onerous, time consuming and largely unnecessary paperwork. In its 2013 Doing Business Report, the World Bank cited that the cost of exporting in the U.S. is $1,090 per container, $230 of which, on average, is for document preparation, as a single U.S. export shipment could require several different documents to be filed by paper with various agencies. To ensure that U.S. companies are well-positioned to compete in an open, fair, and growing world economy, the U.S. Government has an obligation to develop an efficient and cost-effective trade processing infrastructure, such as the International Trade Data System (ITDS), to modernize and simplify the way that Federal departments and agencies interact with exporters.
Studies suggest that by reducing document preparation time by even a day with a virtual single window, exporters could save $115 per container. Additional streamlining will mean even greater savings, freeing up money to pursue new business, improve products and overall competitiveness, and generating more sales.
U.S. manufacturers, producers of perishable goods, freight forwarders, logistics providers, express carriers and entrepreneurs seeking to enter the export market stand to benefit directly from the recent conclusion of the WTO Trade Facilitation Agreement.
An Executive Order on trade facilitation is in the clearance process and should be released early in 2014. In addition, the next phase of the Obama Administration’s National Export Initiative, the so-called NEI 2.0, will certainly be working to implement the WTO agreement’s objectives. Some countries that are still at NEI 0.0, or in other words haven’t elevated exporting to a national priority, will not see these savings anytime soon. Instead, they may see the transaction costs increase, making their exports even less competitive.
One of the pieces of paper and attendant labor costs to fill it out, if you are in North America, is the NAFTA Certificate of Origin, which is required if you are a member of the region and want to export or import from a member country by claiming preferential tariff treatment.
Yippee 2.0
We’ve long advocated lower the threshold at which imports are subject to duties, and we favor lowering the value amounts before an exporter has to complete and file a NAFTA Certificate of Origin. In fact, it would be better to do away with a paper filing altogether and substitute a declaration of origin on the commercial invoice.
Canada announced that, effective January 8, 2013, the value threshold exemption from the NAFTA Certificate of Origin requirements for commercial goods imported into Canada, for which the benefit of preferential tariff treatment under NAFTA is claimed, will be increased from CAD$1,600 to CAD$2,500.
Hey, it’s only 900 loonies (Canadian dollars), but it will capture a fair amount of commerce, especially involving small companies and those engaging in ecommerce. This initiative supports the Canada-U.S. "Beyond the Border" Action Plan announced and released by the Prime Minister of Canada and the President of the United States on December 7, 2011. Canada's intention to increase this value threshold to CAD$2,500 for exemption from the NAFTA Certificate of Origin requirements, thereby aligning it with the current threshold of the United States, was published in Part 2 of "Beyond the Border: A Shared Vision for Perimeter Security and Economic Competitiveness" Action Plan. Information on the "Beyond the Border" Action Plan is available at: http://www.actionplan.gc.ca.
Same mariachi music, different tempo
Now we need to get Mexico to sign on. Mexico is still stuck at U.S. $1,000. And you thought FTAs were all about harmonization of regulations and processes. In part they are, but there’s still a lot of disharmony that needs to be fixed in the sprit of lowering transaction costs.
To avoid hiccups at the border for goods under the threshold--$2500 for U.S. and Canada, $1,000 for Mexico (for the time being, at least), for goods to qualify for NAFTA preferential duties, the invoice accompanying the commercial importation must include a statement certifying that they qualify as originating goods under the NAFTA rules of origin. The statement should be handwritten, stamped, or typed on or attached to the commercial invoice.
For shipments to the U.S., don’t try to fool Customs and Border Protection by breaking commercial shipments down into less than $2500 in value pieces in order to evade the need for a Certificate of Origin. Visit this Website for additional information and corresponding legalese.
We’re making some headway on reducing burdensome regulations. It’s not fast enough for our taste, but we’ll accept what we can with graceful impatience.
| Product Model | Inside Diameter | Outside Diameter | Thickness |
| PSMF182516A51 bearing | 18 | 25 | 16 |
| PSMF182512A51 bearing | 18 | 25 | 12 |