STUDY ON BORDER CROSSING PRACTICES IN INTERNATIONAL RAILWAY TRANSPORT Bangkok, 2018 This study was prepared by Transport Division ESCAP. The draft of the study was prepared by Mr. Goran Andreev, Consultant, under the supervision of Mr. Sandeep Raj Jain, Economic Affairs Officer, Transport Facilitation and Logistics Section (TFLS), Transport Division. Overall guidance was provided by Mr. Li Yuwei, Director, Transport Division. The study extensively benefited from the visits made by the ESCAP study team to several border crossings (in chronological order): Sukhbaatar (Mongolia), Dong Dang (Viet Nam), Padang Besar (Malaysia), Sarkhas (Islamic Republic of Iran), Rezekne (Latvia). The assistance provided by the railways, customs and other authorities at these border crossings, their officers and staff for the study is duly appreciated. Acknowledgments are also extended to the representatives of Intergovernmental Organisation for International Carriage by Rail (OTIF) and Organisation for Co- operation between Railways (OSJD), for their constructive comments on the draft Study and the contribution in providing valuable inputs on the publication. The views expressed in this guide are those of the authors and do not necessarily reflect the views of the United Nations Secretariat. The opinions, figures and estimates set forth in this guide are the responsibility of the authors, and should not necessarily be considered as reflecting the views or carrying the endorsement of the United Nations. The designations employed and the presentation of the material in this study do not imply the expression of any opinion whatsoever on the part of the Secretariat of the United Nations concerning the legal status of any country, territory, city or area, or of its authorities, or concerning the delimitation of its frontiers or boundaries. Mention of firm names and commercial products does not imply the endorsement of the United Nations. This study is issued without formal editing. ii Study on Border Crossing Practices in International Railway Transport INTRODUCTION .................................................................................................... 6 1 LEGAL FRAMEWORK ON BORDER CROSSING BY RAILWAY ............................. 12 A International Conventions and Agreements ................................................................ 12 1. Railway transport conventions and agreements ....................................................... 12 1.1. OSJD Agreements ......................................................................................................... 13 1.2. COTIF ............................................................................................................................ 14 1.3. Initiatives on unification of railway transport regimes ................................................ 16 2. Customs related Conventions .................................................................................... 18 2.1. Revised Kyoto Convention............................................................................................ 18 2.2. Customs Convention on Containers ............................................................................. 19 2.3. Other Customs related Conventions ............................................................................ 19 3. Conventions on Facilitation and Harmonization on Frontier Controls ...................... 19 B Regional Agreements and Initiatives .............................................................................. 20 1. Trans-Asian Railway Network ................................................................................... 20 2. Regional Cooperation Framework for Facilitation of International Railway Transport (ESCAP) .................................................................................................................... 21 C Subregional Agreements ..................................................................................................... 22 1. Eurasian Economic Union .......................................................................................... 22 2. Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS) ............................................................ 24 3. TTFA ........................................................................................................................... 24 4. TRACECA .................................................................................................................... 25 5. ASEAN ........................................................................................................................ 26 D Bilateral agreements on railway transport .................................................................. 26 2 REVIEW OF RAILWAY BORDER CROSSING PROCEDURES AND PRACTICES ....... 30 A Major Railway Border Crossings in ESCAP region...................................................... 34 1. Zabaykalsk (Russian Federation) - Manzhouli (China) .................................................. 34 2. Erenhot (China) - Zamyn Uud (Mongolia) ..................................................................... 48 3. Sukhbaatar (Mongolia) - Naushki (Russian Federation) ............................................... 56 4. Alashankou (China) - Dostyk (Kazakhstan) ................................................................... 62 5. Pingxiang (China) – Dong Dang (Viet Nam) .................................................................. 77 6. Padang Besar (Malaysia) - Padang Besar (Thailand) .................................................... 84 7. Sarakhs (Islamic Republic of Iran) - Saraks (Turkmenistan). ......................................... 91 iii 8. Raxaul (India) - Birgunj (Nepal) ................................................................................... 100 B Overview of railway border crossing issues in freight transport by rail ......... 106 3 RECOMMENDATIONS .................................................................................. 114 A Break of gauge ....................................................................................................................... 114 B Railways to railways and railways to Customs information sharing ................ 115 1. Use electronic information systems for sharing information .................................. 115 2. Railways to railways electronic data interchange (EDI) .......................................... 119 3. Information exchange between railways and control authorities .......................... 127 C Standardized, harmonized and reduced documentary requirements ............. 131 1. Participation in major arrangements on international railway transport .............. 131 2. Use of a common railway consignment note .......................................................... 132 3. Reduced data and document requirements ............................................................ 134 C Single Window and Government to Government information exchange ........ 135 1. Standardization and harmonization of data requirements ..................................... 135 2. Rail Transport Single Window Facility/System ........................................................ 138 3. Government-to-Government electronic information exchange .............................. 139 E Good practices regarding Customs and OGA formalities ....................................... 141 1. Pre-arrival information, risk assessment and selective controls ............................. 141 2. Use of a railway consignment note as a customs declaration ................................ 142 3. Use of new technologies and non-intrusive inspections .......................................... 144 4. Simplification for customs transit procedures at railway border crossings............. 149 5. Joint controls by border agencies at the railway border crossings ......................... 153 F Border crossing facilitation for container block trains ......................................... 158 4 PERFORMANCE MEASUREMENT AND MONITORING MECHANISM ............... 164 A Available tools for performance measurement and key performance indicators on border crossing by railway ................................................................... 164 1. ESCAP Time Cost Distance Methodology ................................................................. 164 2. CAREC Corridor Performance Measurement and Monitoring ................................. 167 3. WCO Time Release Study ......................................................................................... 169 4. OSJD Standards Time Targets ................................................................................. 172 5. Other performance indicators and monitoring tools .............................................. 173 B Recommended monitoring mechanism ....................................................................... 175 iv Annexes Annex 1 – List of International Legal Instruments .......................................................... 179 Annex 2 – Recommendations for simplification and harmonization of customs procedures ............................................................................................................... 184 Annex 3 – Railway Border Crossing Points along Trans Asian Railway .................. 187 Annex 4 – Case Study of Rezekne railway border crossing in Latvia ........................ 190 Annex 5 – List of Bilateral / Tripartite Agreements ....................................................... 199 Annex 6 - Questionnaire on Country