APEC to streamline customs procedures

APEC to streamline customs procedures

MANILA (UPI): The Asia Pacific Economic Cooperation's efforts to streamline customs procedures between and among its 18 members will help increase trade in the region, an official said at a three-day meeting here ended yesterday.

George Jereos, head of the Philippine delegation to the meeting of the APEC Sub-Committee on Customs Procedures, said the lose trade group is in the process of outlining specific measures to streamline customs procedures and these include preparing an advance manifest prior to shipment of goods.

"When a vessel leaves a country, Australia for example, the contents of the manifest will already be electronically transmitted to the Philippines," Jereos told journalists.

"Philippine customs can already check which shipments, by certain parameters, should undergo 100 percent examination and which are low-risk and therefore should be facilitated by way of releasing them immediately after payment of taxes."

Jereos did not identify other measures being considered by the sub-committee.

The 7-year-old APEC hopes to completely open trade and investments in the region by the year 2010 for industrialized economies and 2020 for developing ones.

The group's 18-member economies are Australia, Brunei, Canada, Chile, China, Hong Kong, Indonesia, Japan, Malaysia, Mexico, New Zealand, Papua New Guinea, the Philippines, Singapore, South Korea, Taiwan, Thailand and the United States.

The three-day Sub-Committee on Customs meeting that began Saturday was set to discuss the issue of funding for the collective actions suggested by the group to facilitate trade and investments through better customs procedures.

The sub-committee previously completed a summary report of its suggested implementation schedules for each economy based on facilitation, accountability, consistency, transparency and simplification. It has surpassed all other sub-committees and experts groups in the accomplishment of tasks, mainly because it has spent more time with lengthy discussions, officials said.

Canada and Japan previously submitted a framework for technical assistance and human resources development. That framework has enabled the sub-committee to complete a nine-point action plan that includes the harmonization of tariff structure, transparency of customs procedures and protection of intellectual property rights.

The sub-committee's meeting is among those set immediately preceding the three-day Senior Officials Meeting or Som starting Oct. 18.

The sub-committee is under the Committee on Trade and Investment, which has been tasked to iron out details of how to increase economic activity and facilitate the flow of goods and services among member economies, foster cooperation to liberalize and expand trade, and create a more open investment environment.

The coming Som is the fourth and last formal meeting scheduled before the 4th APEC Summit to be held in November at the Subic Bay Freeport Zone just north of Manila. Member-economies are expected to submit during the Som revised and perhaps final versions of their individual action plans for breaking down trade barriers.

The results of the four Soms would form the Manila Action Plan for APEC '96, which is expected to iron out the details of the implementation of agreements in two previous APEC Summits in Osaka, Japan and Bogor, Indonesia.

The Asia-Pacific region, with a combined output of US$13 trillion, makes up about 56 percent of the world's gross domestic output and more than 46 percent of the world's total merchandise trade. About 40 percent of the world's population live in the region, which occupies 30 percent of the world's land area.