• 3-year project to integrate 18 regulatory agencies
• Traders to access all approvals through single system
• TNSW expansion aims to cut bureaucracy and delays
• Project revived after years of stalled progress

The Department of Trade and Investment Policies has launched a three-year project to expand the Trade National Single Window (TNSW) by targeting the integration of 18 regulatory agencies for the purpose of streamlining the trade process.

Speaking to The Sunday Morning Business, Department of Trade and Investment Policies Director General M.K. Pradeep Kumara revealed that a project had been launched in October 2024 to expand the existing TNSW in order to integrate more regulatory agencies into the system.

He explained that the aim of the project was to increase the number of regulatory agencies connected to the TNSW to 18 within three years.

“This will facilitate trade. With their Customs Declaration (CusDec), some traders also have to go to the Sri Lanka Standards Institution (SLSI) and submit the same documents again. With the single window, they can obtain everything from one single point,” he stated.

He explained that once this project was completed, the final goal for the TNSW was to integrate other stakeholders including banks into the system in order to streamline the trading process.     

Kumara pointed out that at present, Sri Lanka Customs and a few other regulatory agencies had already been connected to the TNSW. 

According to the TNSW web portal, the other integrated agencies include the National Plant Quarantine Service, Department of Animal Production and Health, and SLSI.

This system is part of Sri Lanka’s commitment to the World Trade Organization’s (WTO) Trade Facilitation Agreement, which the country ratified in 2017. 

The 2018 Budget announced an allocation of Rs. 500 million to introduce an e-Local Government application system, automated construction permit issuing mechanism, integrated e-Land Registry (eLR), and 45 digitised land registries, as well as to establish a TNSW connecting 31 regulatory agencies with the Customs Department. 

Initiated in early 2018, this was to be based on the blueprint provided by the World Bank to the Government. Although it resurfaced a few times, no tangible outcome was seen. 

The 2018 performance report of the Department of Trade and Investment Policies stated that the TNSW and the Trade Information Portal (TIP) were among the key priorities of the Trade Facilitation Agreement action plan, but once again, it remained merely an action plan with no portal launched within the stipulated time period.

It should also be noted that the Sri Lanka-Singapore Free Trade Agreement (SLSFTA) required Sri Lanka to maintain a single-window Customs system in order to ensure the efficient clearance of goods and minimise the documentation necessary for Customs clearance.

In late 2019, it was announced that the Government had committed itself to establishing a TNSW to facilitate trade and boost exports by 2030. 

This ‘definitive date’ of 31 December 2030, which was confirmed by the Government to the WTO, was eight years later than the ‘indicative date’ of 31 December 2022 initially provided by the Government. 

There were complaints around this time that the date had been arrived at without any consultation from the private sector. 

In June 2022, Cabinet approval was granted for the project to be completed in three phases at an estimated cost of $ 15 million, with funding expected from the World Bank and other stakeholders.