APEC agrees to simplify customs procedures

APEC agrees to simplify customs procedures

MANILA (Agencies): Members of the Asia-Pacific Economic
Cooperation (APEC) forum have agreed to simplify and harmonize
customs procedures to ease trade and investment flows, a senior
Philippine official said yesterday.

Antonio Basilio, deputy chairman of an APEC senior officials'
meeting being held in Manila, said the measures would help lower
the costs of doing business in the region.

"Most of the collective actions are in the nature of business
facilitation measures which will have the effect of lowering the
cost of doing business," Basilio was quoted by Reuters as saying.

He said APEC was also compiling a database on customs
information which includes the applied tariff rates for all
products being traded by its 18 member economies.

The first version of the database will be available next year
and in 1998 will be expanded to contain information on customs
procedures and non-tariff measures.

Basilio said APEC members were also working on setting up an
electronic system to by 1999 to process imports and exports.

Meanwhile, officials said that a U.S. proposal to free trade
in information technology by 2000 has won broad outline support
from the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) forum.

Senior APEC officials told AFP there was a consensus on the
need for the U.S.-proposed Information Technology Agreement (ITA)
during an APEC Committee on Trade and Investment which met
Thursday evening.

But he and other APEC officials said details of the accord
such as the products to be covered by the ITA as well as the time
frame will be discussed later.

"The agreement is that there should be an ITA," a southeast
Asian delegate who attended the committee meeting said.

A Filipino delegate, who attended the meeting, confirmed the
Southeast Asian official's statement, saying the United States
was able to convince skeptics about the need for an ITA.

Senior APEC officials are attending a three-day meeting which
started here Friday to hammer out outline agreement on regional
free trade goals and other issues ahead of an APEC summit in the
Philippines next month.

Formal approval

Despite the broad support, Antonio Basilio, deputy chairman of
the senior officials' meeting, told a news briefing said he did
not expect the ITA to be formally approved before the APEC
summit.

Basilio said there was "greater understanding, more
receptivity" among APEC members to the proposal and that the ITA
has been scheduled for discussion on Saturday.

The U.S. proposal calls for a "phased reduction" of all
tariffs on information technology products, now ranging from zero
to 60 percent, to eliminate them by January 1,2000.

Items covered would include computer hardware like parts and
accessories, semiconductors and integrated circuits, computer
software, telecommunications equipment and semiconductor
manufacturing equipment.

A U.S. document circulated to officials here said agreement on
the ITA in APEC would serve as a "strong impetus" for further
liberalization in the sector at a World Trade Organization (WTO)
meeting in Singapore next month.

"We are happy with the discussions we are having this week,"
John Wolfe, Washington's coordinator and ambassador to APEC, told
AFP.

APEC sources said Washington wanted a consensus on the ITA
reached before the WTO ministerial meeting in Singapore, saying
it wanted to present the deal as a model for a global accord on
information technology.

The U.S. proposal acknowledged that "there may be costs
especially for the less developed of APEC economies" in the near
term but stressed that "in the medium and longer terms, the
benefits are significant."

It added that a consensus on the ITA would be a "win-win
situation for APEC economies."

Some developing APEC economies had earlier expressed caution
over the U.S. proposal, citing the disparity between the rich and
developing APEC members.

APEC operates through a consensus, meaning all 18 members must
agree on a policy before it is deemed approved. All agreements
reached by the senior officials are to be recommended to the APEC
leaders for final approval.

APEC groups Australia, Brunei, Canada, Chile, China, Hong
Kong, Indonesia, Japan, South Korea, Malaysia, Mexico, New
Zealand, Papua New Guinea, the Philippines, Singapore, Taiwan,
Thailand and the United States.