Trade Hub Supports Expansion of Electronic Single Window in Southern Africa
19 March 2012
A Single Electronic Window is a crucial instrument for eliminating inefficiency and ineffectiveness in business and government procedures and document requirements along the international supply chain, reducing trade transaction costs, as well as improving border control, compliance and security. To support Botswana's commitment to improving its Doing Business ranking, SATH arranged for a team from Mozambique to share its experience in implementing an Electronic Single Window at its borders with private sector and government stakeholders. As a result, the Botswana Commissioner of Customs and Excise, on behalf of all stakeholders, confirmed that Botswana will now move forward with the development and implementation of the Single Electronic Window.
Companies involved in international trade regularly have to prepare and submit large volumes of information and documents to governmental and regulatory authorities to comply with import, export and transit-related regulatory requirements. This information and documentation often has to be submitted through several different agencies, each with their own specific (manual or automated) systems and paper forms. This constitutes a serious burden to both governments and the business community, and is also a serious barrier to the country's competitiveness.
Africa continues to lose export business due to administrative non-tariff barriers such as a lack of transparency and consistency in customs procedures, overly bureaucratic and arbitrary processing methods and documentation requirements for consignments, high freight and transport charges and generally, services that are not user-friendly.
An internationally recognized framework for addressing the need for coordination of multiple agencies involved in cross-border trade in any country is a Single Window - "a facility that allows parties involved in trade and transport to lodge standardized information and documents with a single entry point to fulfill all import, and export, and transit-related regulatory requirements".
A single window provides the trader with a single point for the one-time submission of all required information and documentation to all governmental agencies involved in export, import or transit procedures. As the Single Window enables governments to process submitted information, documents and fees both faster and more accurately, traders benefit from faster clearance and release times, enabling them to speed up the supply chain. In addition, the improved transparency and increased predictability reduces the potential for corrupt behavior from both the public and private sector. If the Single Window also functions as a focal point for access to updated information on current trade rules, regulations and compliance requirements, it will lower the administrative costs of trade transactions and encourage greater trader compliance.
In Southern Africa, Mauritius already has an effective Single Window, which is reflected in its "Trading Across Borders" ranking of 21. Mozambique recently launched its pilot Single Window. Namibia has also expressed a strong interest.
SATH will support and facilitate the processes for the establishment of a Botswana National Single Window system to streamline cross border trade. The current SATH Trans Kalahari Corridor (TKC) Cloud Computing Connectivity program, which is being piloted between Botswana and Namibia, provides an ideal technology platform for linking Botswana and Namibia Single Windows, leveraging the investment by BURS, Namibia Customs and SATH to date in the development of this system. SATH is currently in the process of gauging support for National Single Window in South Africa.
Companies involved in international trade regularly have to prepare and submit large volumes of information and documents to governmental and regulatory authorities to comply with import, export and transit-related regulatory requirements. This information and documentation often has to be submitted through several different agencies, each with their own specific (manual or automated) systems and paper forms. This constitutes a serious burden to both governments and the business community, and is also a serious barrier to the country's competitiveness.
Africa continues to lose export business due to administrative non-tariff barriers such as a lack of transparency and consistency in customs procedures, overly bureaucratic and arbitrary processing methods and documentation requirements for consignments, high freight and transport charges and generally, services that are not user-friendly.
An internationally recognized framework for addressing the need for coordination of multiple agencies involved in cross-border trade in any country is a Single Window - "a facility that allows parties involved in trade and transport to lodge standardized information and documents with a single entry point to fulfill all import, and export, and transit-related regulatory requirements".
A single window provides the trader with a single point for the one-time submission of all required information and documentation to all governmental agencies involved in export, import or transit procedures. As the Single Window enables governments to process submitted information, documents and fees both faster and more accurately, traders benefit from faster clearance and release times, enabling them to speed up the supply chain. In addition, the improved transparency and increased predictability reduces the potential for corrupt behavior from both the public and private sector. If the Single Window also functions as a focal point for access to updated information on current trade rules, regulations and compliance requirements, it will lower the administrative costs of trade transactions and encourage greater trader compliance.
In Southern Africa, Mauritius already has an effective Single Window, which is reflected in its "Trading Across Borders" ranking of 21. Mozambique recently launched its pilot Single Window. Namibia has also expressed a strong interest.
SATH will support and facilitate the processes for the establishment of a Botswana National Single Window system to streamline cross border trade. The current SATH Trans Kalahari Corridor (TKC) Cloud Computing Connectivity program, which is being piloted between Botswana and Namibia, provides an ideal technology platform for linking Botswana and Namibia Single Windows, leveraging the investment by BURS, Namibia Customs and SATH to date in the development of this system. SATH is currently in the process of gauging support for National Single Window in South Africa.
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