Expedited Shipments
Expedited deliveries are express, fully trackable, door-to-door deliveries carried out by courier companies such as FEDEX, DHL, UPS etc. This type of shipment is often used for high value, small items, give the high cost of this service, including contracts and commercial documents as well as urgent parts and components. The use of expedited shipments is increasing worldwide due to the exponential growth of ecommerce and is also used in just-in-time supply chains [1]. The impact of a fully functioning and efficient courier industry is therefore important for industry and commerce, as well as for end-consumers.
The objective of this exercise was to develop a roadmap for implementation of provision 7.8 of the World Trade Organization’s Trade Facilitation Agreement (TFA), which was ratified by the Government of Mozambique in January 2017[2], and came into force in February 2017.
Prior to ratification, a process of ‘categorization’ was carried out by a technical working group made up of public institutions, the private sector and donor representatives. This technical working group would later be formalized through the creation of the National Trade Facilitation Committee (TFC), by ministerial decree[3].
The categorization process was permitted under the TFA’s ‘special provisions’ for developing countries, enabling these to decide which provisions they were already compliant with or would implement immediately (Category A), those with which the country was not in compliance, but could become so without outside technical and financial assistance (Category B) and those which due to the complex or costly nature of implementation, would require international assistance (Category C).
Mozambique classified 24 provisions as Category A, 7 as Category B, and 10 as Category C[4]. At the time of writing, 5 of the 7 Category B provisions have been implemented, with another on track for implementation by the end of 2019. The final Category B will be re-classified as Category C. Progress has been made on Category C provisions, with one completed and work initiated on some others (e.g. PSI, Single Electronic Window), but a few, including expedited deliveries, remain to be addressed.
[1] Hao Wu, (2017) A Commentary on the Article on Expedited Shipments in the WTO Trade Facilitation Agreement http://www.wcoomd.org/-/media/wco/public/global/pdf/topics/research/research-paper-series/gtcj120402.pdf?la=fr
[2] Deposited with the WTO 6th January 2017. 1
[3] Decree 81/2017, of 29th December 2017.
[4] Ministry of Industry and Commerce, June 2016 Trade Facilitation in Mozambique, Categorization and Next Steps