ASEAN customs officials start tariff talks in Jakarta

JAKARTA (JP): Senior customs officials from the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) began a two-day meeting here yesterday to discuss further steps to harmonize tariffs in the region.

Director General of Customs and Excise Soehardjo said yesterday the meeting's main agenda included discussions of tariff nomenclature, product classification and customs procedures.

The topics are essential to simplify trade transactions among the nine members of ASEAN, he said.

"Tariff harmonization would avoid unnecessary confusion or complexities since an appropriate classification of a product would facilitate cross-border flows of goods in the region," he said.

"Tariff harmonization is also part of our preparation to face the free trade era in the next millennium," he said.

He said all ASEAN members were expected to implement the harmonization in 2000.

ASEAN groups Brunei, Indonesia, Laos, Malaysia, Myanmar, the Philippines, Singapore, Thailand and Vietnam.

Soehardjo said Brunei, Singapore and the Philippines had announced last year they would harmonize tariffs in 1998, but the move was postponed until 2000 due to difficulties.

"These countries committed last year to implement a tariff harmonization in 1998, but postponed it to 2000," he said.

Soehardjo said tariff harmonization would allow declarers to lodge incomplete customs declarations to release their goods upon arrival.

The harmonization would create common procedures for temporary admission of goods and ways to improve green lane systems for some commodities, he said.

He added that it would also allow lodgement, checking and registration of goods prior to arrival.

"The bottom line is that tariff harmonization is aimed at preparing ASEAN to face the trade liberalization era in the next millennium," he said.

"(ASEAN's) vision is to establish an ASEAN customs partnership (by 2020) in which world class standards and excellence in efficiency, service and uniformity exist through harmonized procedures," he said.

Minister of Finance Mar'ie Muhammad said yesterday ASEAN customs cooperation could be an effective tool in fighting the economic crisis hitting the region.

The region's customs administrations should improve transparency, predictability and consistency in the implementation of customs policies, customs rulings and customs procedures, Mar'ie said in a speech read by the ministry's secretary-general, Dono Iskandar.

Such steps are important in improving flows of trade and deepening ASEAN's economic integration, the minister said. (aly)