One Filing, 48 Agencies: Introducing the 'Single Window' for Trade Compliances

For international traders who are sick of filing documents with multiple regulatory agencies, help is on the way. Get ready for the Single Window. The term describes a means by which importers, exporters, carriers and third parties can submit standardized information and documentation via a single entry point. In other words, one filing satisfies the requirements of multiple agencies – 48 in the U.S., to be precise. And other countries are embracing the method as well, under the Trade Facilitation Agreement, negotiated by the World Trade Organization at its ministerial conference in Bali. International legal consultant Donald J. Lewis, former visiting associate professor and lecturer at Stanford University, joins us on this episode to explain the thinking behind the Single Window, and how it will transform international trade. For once, it seems, government red tape really is being cut.