Norway forwarded in June 2005 a paper on Nordic border co-operation. This is an area where Norway together with Sweden and Finland has an extensive and valuable experience. The cooperation has been developed over a number of years and has resulted in an efficient cooperation with our neighbours. The intention with the paper has been to contribute to further thinking on cross border co-operation that has proved very efficient for a small country like our own. We have also included the statement held when the document was introduced in the negotiating group.
26/07/2005 ::
Presentation of our experience paper on Nordic border co-operation
Mr. Chairman,
At our last meeting of the negotiating group on trade facilitation you asked us to prepare our interventions in such a way as to allow for a more structured debate on each of the GATT articles under discussion.
As stated in previous interventions, we are strongly committed to avoiding unnecessary procedural barriers to trade. Thus, the further development of Art. VIII is one of our main priorities in these negotiations.
In our communication on border agency cooperation, TN/TF/W/48, we have provided information on our experience with the customs border cooperation between Norway, Sweden and Finland. Before I give some more details on this co-operation allow me to underline that our paper is not a proposal, but merely an “experience paper” and “food for thoughts” on how co-operation among Members can be developed, and the benefits that arise from it. We also believe that elements of our experience can benefit greater co-operation between different border agencies at a regional (as well as on a domestic) level.
The co-operation between the three nordic Members is based on the simple idea that the national border authorities of each country are allowed to provide services and exercise legal powers not only on behalf of their home state, but that of their neighbouring states as well. For example in Norway we do work both for export of goods out of Norway and import of goods into Sweden or Finland. This division of labour saves time, money and human resources both for the border authorities and for the economic operators. The border co-operation has developed gradually over the years to become the integration of the services of today.
I will not go into all the details in our paper as it very much self explanatory, but mention that it describes in details how this joint border co-operation is carried out, facts on the agreements that governs the co-operation, and what the results are of this co-operation.,The paper also provides an estimation of the resources that have been saved both for the government as well as for the traders at the Norwegian side of border (as this is not taking into account possible savings on the Swedish and the Finish part of the border and lastly some words on the co-operation between the different Customs Authorities on the administrative level).
The administrative co-operation between the customs administrations of the Nordic countries makes it possible to plan the future and harmonize to the extent possible procedures as well as technical assistance. As the Nordic countries are small with limited resources we have found it necessary and useful to join forces when contributing to technical assistance and capacity building. This has been done by allocating human resources and economical funding to various projects coordinated by the WCO. The Nordic customs administrations appreciate the work done by the WCO in this respect.
If someone would like to have some more information on the nordic border co-operation we have today brought along one of our expert from the Directorate of Customs and Excise who would be pleased to provide further details. (either in private or in the context of the group as such).
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