The Model Customs Facilitation Agreement is intended to serve as a basis for the development of practical working tools on a bilateral, UN - particular country level. It has several specific features that make it extremely suited for that purpose, in particular:

• only internationally recommended Customs facilitation measures are included in the text of the agreement

• the agreement aims at speeding up and simplification of existing national Customs clearance procedures, and not at their abolishment;

• no new privileges and/or immunities are foreseen and/or requested for any of the participants in the UN-led humanitarian emergency assistance operations and full compliance with national regulations is required from them;

• the agreement includes a confidence-building measure in the form of UN certification of all non-UN participants in a particular UN-led humanitarian emergency assistance operation;

• the agreement covers all UN-led humanitarian emergency assistance operations and is to be automatically applied by all national Customs offices at border- crossing points.

The agreement would apply, in particular, to United Nations delegates, experts on mission for the United Nations, to emergency response personnel to assist refugees and internally displaced persons, to international search and rescue teams, medical teams, specialised teams provided by foreign military, civil defense and civil protection organizations (MCDA teams), to governmental service packages requested by United Nations, and to United Nations Disaster Assessment and Coordination (UNDAC) teams.