Consider the following statements: 1. India has ratified the Trade Facilitation Agreement (TFA) of WTO. 2. TFA is a part of WTO's Bali Ministerial Package of 2013. 3. TFA came into force in January 2016. Which of the statements given above are correct?

The correct answer is A (1 and 2 only). Statement 1 is right: India accepted the Trade Facilitation Agreement in April 2016, and the WTO's Protocol of Amendment that inserts the TFA into Annex 1A of the Multilateral Trade Agreements needed acceptance by two-thirds of members before it could take effect.

Statement 2 is right: the TFA was adopted at the WTO's Bali Ministerial Conference in December 2013, as one of the three parts of the Bali Package, alongside agriculture and LDC issues.

Statement 3 is wrong. The TFA entered into force on 22 February 2017, not in January 2016. Because the agreement needed two-thirds of members to ratify, its entry into force lagged well behind India's own acceptance.

• Core concept: Trade Facilitation covers customs procedures, transit, border formalities, and transparency, aimed at reducing trade costs.
• Mains angle: India's stance on TFA linked food security stockholding and the Bali Package's 'peace clause', which is useful for GS-II and GS-III on WTO negotiations.

Trap: Aspirants often assume a treaty takes effect on acceptance by one member, or they mix up the date of the Bali Package (2013) with the date the TFA came into force.