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By Janaka Wijayasiri and Suwendrani Jayaratne

The role of trade facilitation in increasing and maximizing benefits of trade has been widely acknowledged. In this regard, the use of Information Technology (IT) in trade facilitation has received considerable attention in policy circles given its potential to reduce costs, paper work and processing times involved in trading goods across borders. Countries around the world including Sri Lanka have automated their import/export processes with some countries having more success than others. In the case of Sri Lanka, the Customs Department introduced the ASYCUDA system as far back as 1994 while the Electronic Data Interchange (EDI) facility was introduced more recently in 2002, which allows traders and customs agents to electronically process trade related documents. Unfortunately, the EDI system has only been partially implemented with the progress to date being poor. The main agencies in the import/export process such as the Customs, the Ports, etc., are only partially connected to the system while most regulatory agencies function outside the system. Moreover, important trade documentation such as the manifest and the shipping note cannot be submitted electronically.

By Janaka Wijayasiri and Suwendrani Jayaratne
The role of trade facilitation in increasing and maximizing benefits of trade has been widely acknowledged. In this regard, the use of Information Technology (IT) in trade facilitation has received considerable attention in policy circles given its potential to reduce costs, paper work and processing times involved in trading goods across borders. Countries around the world including Sri Lanka have automated their import/export processes with some countries having more success than others. In the case of Sri Lanka, the Customs Department introduced the ASYCUDA system as far back as 1994 while the Electronic Data Interchange (EDI) facility was introduced more recently in 2002, which allows traders and customs agents to electronically process trade related documents. Unfortunately, the EDI system has only been partially implemented with the progress to date being poor. The main agencies in the import/export process such as the Customs, the Ports, etc., are only partially connected to the system while most regulatory agencies function outside the system. Moreover, important trade documentation such as the manifest and the shipping note cannot be submitted electronically.

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Trade, Investment and Innovation Division +66 2 288-1234 [email protected]