Customs Working Group -- a working group that focuses on the elimination of trade barriers and the promotion of trade facilitation in the ASEAN region through concrete proposals and activities

Overview

The establishment of the ASEAN Free Trade Area (AFTA) has helped spur a significant increase in trade and investment flows in the region. However, as tariffs are lowered or removed altogether, many non-tariff barriers that significantly impact business operations still remain.

The Council regularly meets with the ASEAN Customs Directors-General, the ASEAN Economic Ministers, and other related ministries to discuss trade and investment issues and provide private sector input on how ASEAN can be more attractive to foreign investors. However, the Council recognizes that in order to have more impact, a regular, more informal consultation between ASEAN Customs and the Council need to be established. This will provide both sides an opportunity to discuss major non-trade barriers and customs regulatory issues on a more regular basis and come up with a concrete action plan as to how to address the issues raised. An ongoing consultation will also provide an opportunity to engage and encourage ASEAN governments to consider policies in some of the new areas in trade liberalization such as trade facilitation and supply chain security.

This has prompted the Council to form a Customs Working Group within the Council as a formal mechanism to gather US private sector input.

Mission

The Working Group will work to promote understanding and cooperation between US business and ASEAN customs administrations. This will be achieved by engaging the various ASEAN Customs Administrations, the ASEAN Secretariat and other related ASEAN Ministries in discussions on customs and trade facilitation related matters.

We will seek to position the group as a formal, permanent resource to ASEAN as a whole, as well as to the individual member economies, especially in the intra-ASEAN free-trade process, as well as the ASEAN free-trade process with China, Japan, Korea and India.

The working group will focus in the areas of

1. Trade facilitation
2. Supply Chain Security
3. Harmonization of customs administrative procedures and rules of origin with the goal of attaining one single customs union.
4. E-customs
5. Customs Valuation
6. Customs Standards
7. Some other issues include review & appeal, advance rulings.

To learn more about the Council's Customs Working Group, please contact:
Martin Hutagalung
Regional Director
Manager, ASEAN and APEC Affairs
Coordinator, Customs Working Group
mhutagalung@usasean.org

Please contact Martin Hutagalung at mhutagalung@usasean.org for upcoming Customs Working Group event in the works.

more upcoming events

US-ASEAN Business Council
Annual Dialogue with
ASEAN Customs
Directors-General

Bandung, Indonesia
June 12-14, 2007

The US-ASEAN Business Council held its 11th annual consultation with the ASEAN Customs Directors-General (DGs) in Bandung, Indonesia last week. Members of the Council delegation, which included senior representatives from IBM, Levi Strauss & Co and Kraft Foods Asia, made a series of presentations at the session covering issues related to Supply Chain Security, ASEAN Single Window and other customs related issues. The delegation was led by Andrew Jackson, Chairman of the Council's Customs Working Group. For a Press Release, click here.

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