ASEAN Trade Procedures Simplified

The 10 ASEAN countries have signed an agreement that will increase the convenience of companies focused on the export market, with new regulations expected to simplify the trading procedures and remove or reduce protectionist policies. (Image : MOTIE Homepage)

SEOUL, Aug. 24 (Korea Bizwire) - Trade procedures among the 10 countries forming ASEAN will be simplified, and import regulations will be loosened.

The 10 ASEAN countries have signed an agreement that will increase the convenience of companies focused on the export market, with new regulations expected to simplify the trading procedures and remove or reduce protectionist policies.

The Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy(MOTIE) explains that the Free Trade Agreement (FTA) will be used by domestic companies that trade overseas, and exports are anticipated to expand based on the updated regulations. In particular, the revised protocol includes improvements related customs clearance.

Firstly, certificates of origin will be officially recognized. Until now, some companies in certain countries have been rejecting electronic certificates, causing inconvenience.
In addition, a screening service has been adopted, allowing companies to determine exactly how much they might benefit from the FTA.

Trade reciprocity will be minimized. Until now, the policy was very protective of each country, setting higher duties on certain products. A total of six countries, including Korea, Brunei, Laos and Singapore promised to stop the trade reciprocity rules, and the other four countries decided not to add any more items to their high-duty lists.

Tax rates for each year until 2024 were also specified. Until now, certain countries have managed their FTA tax rates according to their own laws.

The revised protocol will be published on the FTA homepage (http://www.fta.go.kr), and is expected to go into effect as soon as January 1, 2016.

The MOTIE stated their determination to comply with the new terms push for the protocol to take effect as soon as possible. “We plan to go through procedures among countries so that the policy can start from January 1. Once the procedures are done, we will discuss closely the details of the new regulations.

By M.H.Lee (mhlee@jkoreabizwire.com)