This note is part of a new global effort by all United Nations Regional Commissions (UNRCs), in cooperation with other interested international organizations, to provide reliable and sufficiently detailed data on the implementation of trade facilitation in general - and single window and paperless trade in particular at the global level. It features the results of the 2015 UNRCs Joint Survey on Trade Facilitation and Paperless Trade implementation for the South-East Asian sub-region, covering ASEAN countries and Timor-Leste. This note is a complement to the more elaborate Regional (Asia-Pacific) Report. It should best be read in conjunction with it, as well as the associated Country Notes.

The survey was prepared taking into account the final list of provisions included in the WTO Trade Facilitation Agreement (TFA) as well as the content of the draft text of the regional UN treaty on cross-border paperless trade facilitation under negotiation at ESCAP. It covers 38 trade facilitation measures divided into four groups, namely, General trade facilitation measures, Paperless trade, Crossborder paperless trade and Transit facilitation. The General trade facilitation measures - as well as Transit facilitation measures - are essentially measures featured in the WTO TFA. In contrast, most paperless trade and, in particular, cross-border paperless trade measures, are not specifically featured in the WTO TFA, although their implementation in many cases would support the better implementation of many of the General trade facilitation measures.

More reports and country notes on Trade Facilitation and Paperless Trade Implementation Survey 2015 are available here here.