Legal Requirements for Reducing Cross-Border Barriers in Maritime Silk Road (MSR) Corridors with Reference to IMO and WCO Conventions

Despite accounting for more than ۴۳% of global container throughput, the maritime corridors of the New Maritime Silk Road (MSR) remain constrained by complex legal and institutional barriers that hinder genuine cross-border trade facilitation. This study examines international trade facilitation law and customs sovereignty—specifically, the requirements for reducing transboundary obstacles in MSR maritime corridors in light of the conventions and standards of the International Maritime Organization (IMO) and the World Customs Organization (WCO). The research aims to identify points of convergence, conflict, and gaps between the legal instruments of these two international bodies and to evaluate the extent to which MSR corridors comply in practice with their binding obligations. The methodology is descriptive-analytical and based on treaty instruments, official IMO and WCO documents, the GISIS database, global logistics performance indicators, and legal assessment of the six major branches of the MSR regime. Findings show that, despite the remarkable advancement of East Asian ports, three deep gaps—geographical, institutional, and doctrinal—have resulted in prolonged delays, multi-billion-euro climate penalties, sharp increases in war-risk insurance premiums, and elevated systemic risk, effectively turning the MSR into a “two-speed” corridor. Sustainable facilitation therefore requires a transition toward a new corridor-based legal regime, a supranational coordination mechanism, and a chain-compliance index capable of balancing customs sovereignty with the demands of secure and friction-reduced maritime trade, while minimizing regulatory divergence.

کلیدواژه ها:

Maritime Silk Road ، maritime trade facilitation ، FAL Convention ، SAFE Framework ، corridor governance