This study compares the treatment of trade facilitation in four selected regional trade agreements, AFTA, APEC, SAFTA and PACER, and in one bilateral free trade agreement being the Australia-Singapore Free Trade Agreement (ASFTA), with a view to determining model trade facilitation principles and measures which may be instructive for developing country negotiators and policy makers. Given the varying degrees of progress in trade facilitation reform in the agreements, the comparative analysis reinforces the importance of clearly formulated, specific trade facilitation principles and measures if trade facilitation reform is to be successful. The effectiveness of specific measures implemented by parties to APEC and ASFTA and to a lesser extent in AFTA suggest that clearly designed trade facilitation principles and measures that are binding or that at least require a commitment to quantitative outcomes are more likely to succeed than more aspirational approaches.