This chapter defines the context of IT in TF and delineate its environment. The argument is that the importance of the IT context cannot be overlooked and may even be critical to its successful application to a country's trading system.

It is important to lay out a framework for understanding how trade facilitation (TF) affects the movement of goods, and where information (IT) fits in. This relationship, in turn, sets the stage for locating small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) in international transactions. There is an...

The main purpose of this chapter is to provide an overview and the context of the country studies on IT in TF in SMEs. Following this introductory clarification of the differing views about the importance of IT in TF, where the interests of SMEs lay and how these interests are promoted, section...