Preface

International trade in agricultural and food products is more complex than trade in manufacturing – trade regulations are stricter, paperwork is more cumbersome and logistics are more complex. These elements are mainly required for ensuring food safety for consumers. Detailed information on traded goods alongside the movement of goods in a supply chain is critically important for food safety. Various actors need to exchange information in the complex process of importing and exporting agrifood products. While there has been significant progress in the development of regulatory trade single windows to facilitate trade in goods in general, together with efforts to issue electronic sanitary and phytosanitary (SPS) certificates as well as to establish food traceability systems in some countries, these paperless systems may not fully meet the needs of the agriculture and food sector, where the requirement for accurate and timely information on products and their movements from farm to fork is becoming increasingly important to trade facilitation.

Related Subject(s): International Trade and Finance