ASEAN customs officials start tariff talks in Jakarta
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)