BULPRO COUNCIL FOR FACILITATION OF INTERNATIONAL TRADE PROCEDURES

Goals and objectives

1. Unified world language in international trade
   Facilitation of international trade procedures is related to concessions, rationalization and where possible removal of trade procedures. Trade procedures are activities for collecting, presenting, communicating and processing data (in paper or electronic format). Foreign trade operations are a source of mass information transfer through trade, transport and payment channels, as a result of which exporters, importers, customs authorities, banks, forwarding agents, insurers, etc. cover, communicate, receive, process, correct and classify a large volume of information elements related to the goods subject of transactions. This information is contained in a large number of various documents and an even larger number of copies of these documents. If the development of electronic data transfer, used not only in trade but in all sectors of society, is taken into consideration, we could say that facilitating trade procedures is a process which results in reducing operational costs on national and international level by means of simplification, rationalization and where possible removal of some procedures.
   
   The first attempts to facilitate trade procedure were made in the 1950s when different international bodies and organizations started having various demands and recommendations for participants in trade transactions. In 1953 the Nordic countries, led by Sweden, began work on the systematization of foreign trade documents. At their initiative, in October 1960 the Committee on Trade Development with the UN Economic Commission for Europe established a Working Party on Simplification and Standardization of External Trade Documents. Its task was to address problems in this area and to develop recommendations for reduction in number, unification and standardization of these documents.
   
   In October 1963 the Working Party prepared a model form, which could be used as a layout sample for the unification and standardization of trade documents. The model form soon became widely used and in a short period of time a lot of countries designed series of national trade documents after it. The standardized documents introduced to practice in the early 1970s allowed a lot of trade organizations to significantly reduce their expenses.
   
   To coordinate the work on facilitating international trade procedures worldwide, a Special Programme on Trade Facilitation (FALPRO) as a separate division of the Secretariat of UNCTAD (United Nations Conference on Trade and Development) was developed.
   
   In 1972 the Working Party on Simplification and Standardization of External Trade Documents with the UN Economic Commission for Europe received the name “Working Party on Facilitation of International Trade Procedures” (WP.4), which more fully and accurately reflected the new group of tasks it had to solve. In 1996 the Working Party was replaced by Centre for the Facilitation of Procedures and Practices for Administration, Commerce and Transport (UN/CEFACT).
   
   Since its establishment, the Working Party has developed over 30 recommendations for simplification of international trade procedures, some of which were approved as international standards.
   
   We could say that in its 40-year-history the Working Party managed to create a “unified world language in international trade”.
   
   In the past 20 years, significant success was achieved with the development of a mechanism which would make Electronic Data Interchange (EDI) in international trade more reliable, effective and cheaper. In international trade there is a tendency to stop using traditional documents as data carriers and to exchange the data via telecommunication channels instead. Huge success has been achieved with regard to EDI. The Working Party proposed a standard of UN/EDIFACT to be approved (ISO 9735) "Electronic Data Interchange for Administration, Commerce and Transport". This system together with the Guide on Trade Data Elements could be considered the most significant event for the rationalization of international trade procedures and a new stage in the development of the international trade transactions technology, aimed at increasing its economic efficiency.
   
   Out of all recommendations of WP.4, recommendation 4 “National Trade Facilitation Bodies” is of significant importance. It recommends that the Governments of countries Members of the Economic Commission for Europe, in accordance with their national regulations, encourage the implementation of recommendations on facilitation of international trade procedures through setting up national organizations or committees, or by administrative or other suitable means. The participants in the trade transaction from various countries – manufacturers, exporters, importers, freight forwarders, banks, insurance companies, etc. each have joint and separate interests in the simplification of trade procedures. Accordingly there should be consultation and co-operation between each of these interests. This consultation and co-operation may be achieved in several ways including through the use of national committees or organizations set up expressly for the simplification of trade procedures (PRO Organizations). Experts from various Ministries and institutions, NGOs and the business participate in these national organizations.
   
    
2. BULPRO
   In our country, work for facilitation of international trade procedures began in the late 1960s – early 1970s, while the first successes were achieved in the period 1975 – 1984. In 1975, a Bulgarian state standard BDS 13083-75 “United system for unified management documents: foreign trade documents and sample forms” was developed and adopted. Based on a sample form under BDS, called Main Matrix, sectoral norms for unified and standardized foreign trade import and export documents were developed, respectively ON 1367642-78 and ON 1371793-80.
   
   In correspondence with Recommendation No. 4 of Working Party 4, on 8 June 1990 BULPRO was established as a Council with BCCI for simplification of trade procedures and trade facilitation. In July 1993 the Council of Ministers adopted Decision 313 establishing the status of the BULPRO Council with BCCI as a national body.
   
   Shortly after its establishment, BULPRO developed new and modernized some old forms of foreign trade documents – export invoice, certificates for import/export, certificates of origin, etc. A number of international classifiers and codes were implemented. The BULPRO Council with BCCI developed projects for 2 state standards – BDS ISO 6422 “Layout key for trade documents” and BDS ISO 3166 “Codes for the representation of names of countries”. The 2 standards were adopted by the Committee on Standardization and Metrology as Bulgarian state standards and entered into force as of 1 July 1995. The standards were identical to the international standards ISO 6422-1985 “Layout key for trade documents” and ISO 3166-1993 “Codes for the representation of names of countries”.
   
   Since the end of the last century, BULPRO together with the PRO Committees of the Southeast European countries, has worked actively for the facilitation of traders, freight forwarders and shippers in the import, export and transportation of goods. For this reason, BULPRO has organized and held bilateral meetings with the PRO Committees of Greece, Turkey, former Yugoslavia and Romania, and has participated in the work of SECIPRO (the Association of National PRO Committees in Southeast Europe ) in general. BULPRO takes an active part in the Project of the World Bank for Trade and Transport Facilitation in Southeast Europe (TTFSE) . In 2000, BULPRO prepared and published a “ Border Crossing Guide ” providing information about the crossing of border checkpoints in the Republic of Bulgaria.
   
   For many years BULPRO has worked for the optimization of tariff restrictions – minimizing customs duties and other state fees for the import of goods in the Republic of Bulgaria. The Council has had certain success in optimizing non-tariff restrictions by using logistics as a new kind of theory for realization and management of stock and cash flows, market analysis, coordination of demand and supply, harmonization of the interests of participants (service providers) and in carrying out foreign trade transactions.