IAF is an international association of organisations that work together to achieve common trade facilitation objectives. The terms of reference, tasks and duties of the Members, the Board of Directors, and the Secretary are defined by the Bylaws and the Memorandum of Understanding (MoU).

The highest level of authority in IAF is the Members in a General Assembly. General Assemblies make decisions and set policy on behalf of IAF Members. The Board is responsible for legal actions to be carried out on behalf of IAF Members, for developing broad policy directions and for ensuring that the day-to-day work of IAF is carried out in accordance with the approved policies.

The Executive Committee is responsible to the Board of Directors for the day-to-day work of IAF based on decisions made by IAF Members and directions from the Board of Directors.

The relationships between the various parts of IAF can be found in IAF PL 5 which can be downloaded from the Policy Documents section of the site.