The development impact of information technology in trade facilitation

This publication brings together case studies from five different countries in Southeast and East Asia to examine the impact of IT-based trade facilitation measures already implemented, with a specific focus on their effect on small and medium sized to enterprises. The development of IT systems to streamline the trade transaction processes has typically been partial and often uncoordinated across government agencies involved in trade control, often resulting in limited gains in trade efficiency. However, as big and small enterprises alike overwhelmingly rely on specialised third parties to complete trade procedures, IT-based trade facilitation measures are generally not found to have a discriminatory effect on smaller enterprises.