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13 United Nations Centre for Trade Facilitation and Electronic Business. (2005). Recommendation and Guidelines on establishing a Single Window.Hong Kong was once a pioneer in the digitalisation of trade documents (Figure 29). In 1997, the Government launched the Government Electronic Trading Services (GETS) to handle electronic submission of four documents. Subsequently in the 2000s, it introduced the Digital Trade and Transportation Network (DTTN), which served as an information exchange platform within the industry. However, since then, the Government’s efforts in digitalising trade documents have gradually subsided.In 2005, the United Nations recommended establishing a Trade Single Window (TSW), which is a ‘facility that allows parties involved in trade and transport to lodge standardised information and documents with a single entry point to fulfil all import, export, and transit-related regulatory requirements.’13 By 2018, 70 economies had established their own TSW, including South Korea, Taiwan, Singapore, and all GBA cities except Hong Kong.Hong Kong began consultation on TSW only from 2016. Phase 1 of TSW was rolled out in 2018, but the complete implementation of TSW will have to wait until 2024 at the earliest. And the Government has yet to provide any information on how and when the TSW will be connected to the TSW of other economies or other B2B systems used by the industry. Without a timely implementation of a well-integrated TSW, Hong Kong may potentially be at a disadvantage in promoting trading and logistics activities.43

