management activities on behalf of other border agencies. A true interagency approach will enable the development of a single access point for the border clearance process (a single window) rather than a sector specific approach that, while improving individual processes, will still require the trading community to deal with multiple points of access to complete regulatory requirements. Cross border harmonization
The third dimension of border management reform is cross border harmonization. The need to consider cross border harmonization comes directly from the fact that international trade is, by definition, a cross border transaction. Cross border harmonization increasingly draws policymakers’ attention because of evolving regional integration initiatives and is of great interest particularly to landlocked countries, whose competitiveness is partly governed by the performance of neighboring countries. The export process in one country relates directly to an import process in another country and, with increased integration of trade supply chains, opportunities exist to create efficiencies through harmonization efforts that can treat both the import and export procedures as part of the same clearance process. Targeted areas could include harmonization of data requirements and procedures, coding harmonization, delegation of authority, synchronization of working hours, joint inspection processes, sharing of facilities (juxtaposed offices, one stop border posts), and regional single windows.
11 Reform instruments, tools, and best practice approaches
The need for coordination
Interagency coordination and cross border harmonization will require modification in one or more agency’s systems, and this raises issues of jurisdiction and demarcation. A regulatory framework is traditionally based upon an individual agency’s requirements within a sovereign country. For example, customs laws may prescribe how a customs administration operates—but not how other agencies should undertake their regulatory responsibilities. Equally, one country’s customs laws cannot dictate the roles and responsibilities performed by another country’s customs administration. The impact of an interagency approach may be significant. Regulatory requirements on data and 176
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documents, including formatting and coding, may need to be consolidated between agencies, and information and communications technology (ICT) systems may require extensive modification or complete redevelopment to enable integration and systems compatibility—raising the questions of who changes what and who pays. In addition to these technical issues, the question of who leads the changes and who bears the burden can result in a situation where individual agencies may agree with the concept of an interagency approach, but gaining consensus on how these changes should be implemented becomes problematic. For example, consider the situation where all key border agencies have their own ICT systems which are not interoperable and they discuss implementation of a single window. In such a situation, when one agency states that the single window should be based on its system, it is not difficult to imagine that the other agencies would counterargue and prefer a single window based on their own agency specific systems. Sustainable high level political commitments, such as decisions at the ministerial or cabinet level, would help to resolve such issues— but ministers need an appropriate guide. The role of international instruments
International instruments can range from legally binding requirements, such as those incorporated in World Trade Organization (WTO) agreements, through to recommended best practices and guidelines. Usually they are developed and negotiated by countries in specialized multilateral organizations. As international instruments are generally agreed and ratified at the political level, they can be a persuasive driver of change—with high level political commitment, interagency conflicts over leadership and ownership can be managed across agencies. Change based on international instruments can also bring clarity to overall change objectives, thus increasing engagement with industry stakeholders (including donor community stakeholders, private sector stakeholders, and government employees). International instruments are not generally standalone texts, and usually they are supported by implementation guidelines to help countries make the necessary changes to their systems and procedures. Furthermore, certain international instruments function