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As specified in UN/CEFACT Recommendation Number 33, the Single Window concept covered in these Guidelines refers to a facility that allows parties involved in trade and transport to lodge standardized information and documents with a single entry point to fulfil all import, export, and transit-related regulatory requirements. If information is electronic, then individual data elements should only be submitted once.

The comprehensive framework of CPT is illustrated as Figure1. In the end of 2016,
there are twenty-eight participating agencies, including Customs, trade authorities,
port authorities, quarantine authorities, have electronically linked with CPT through
the network dedicated to domestic government agencies. The trading communities
(importers, exporters, customs brokers, freight forwarders, carriers, etc.) are the main users of CPT. According to the statistic, there are about five thousand user accounts registered on the website of CPT.

Besides integrating customs clearance, licensing, and harbor information systems to provide one-stop services, the CPT Single Window will also bring together information from government agencies and traders in a central database that gives access to all kinds of import and export information. Further, the Ministry of Finance is negotiating with foreign governments for the cross-border exchange of information with the aim of expanding the CMT Single Window into an e-commerce information platform for international trade and logistics businesses.

Business needs. This comprises the capture, analysis, evaluation and agreement on business needs as the primary driver for cross-border SWI by including perspectives from public and private stakeholders in trade by the participating countries

Electronic services provided by a SW facility could offer specific benefits to stakeholders in international trade. For example, government authorities, such as customs, permit-issuing agencies, ministries and other trade monitoring bodies, would be able to obtain international trade-related data and statistics in a comprehensive and timely manner for the regulatory requirements. Shipping and freight forwarding agents, shippers, traders as well as the banking and insurance community can obtain necessary information and handle related transactions electronically and efficiently through this facility. Without such a facility, traders and transporters traditionally have to deal with duplicate paper documents, and make several physical visits to multiple government agencies in different locations to obtain the necessary paperwork and clearances in order to complete their import, export or transit-related processes.

However, international trade involves not just stakeholders within one country, but also stakeholders within the other country where the trading occurs. In the same cross-border trade or shipment, data and documents that are created in one country will then be used in the other country. Information in one country’s export declaration can be the same as, or similar to the other country’s import declaration. A Certificate of Origin issued in the exporting country is normally accepted by the importing country. Therefore, if the information can be shared by electronic information exchange between the two countries’ SW facilities, the transactions along the international trade supply chain can be handled in less time, and more reliably and more cost-efficient. The other potential benefits include improved data accuracy, closer cooperation between countries, better risk analysis, faster advanced security declarations, better intelligence information gathering and advanced processing.