The ASEAN Trade in Goods Agreement (ATIGA) officially took effect on May 17, 2010 after Thailand, the last ASEAN member state, submitted its ratification of ATIGA to the ASEAN Secretariat. As a result, all ASEAN member nations have ratified ATIGA, one of most important economic agreements in the region.
The ATIGA, which is comprehensive in its scope and brings transparency to regional trade liberalization, consolidates all CEPT/AFTA commitments related to trade in goods. It focuses not only on tariff liberalization and non-tariff measures, but it also includes matters related to simplification of rules of origin and its implementation. Compared with the Common Effective Preferential Tariff (CEFT), which is effective in 1992, ATIGA is more flexible and detailed.
ASEAN - a market with 600 million consumers and over US$1,300 billion of GDP - is the most dynamic region in the world. ASEAN is one of four leading trade partners of Vietnam.
Dr Surin Pitsuwan, Secretary General of ASEAN, said: The ATIGA is a major achievement towards the establishment of a single market and production base under the ASEAN Economic Community 2015. The entry into force of the ATIGA will help facilitate trade by simplifying processes and procedures thereby reducing transaction time and cost of doing business, hence benefitting the business community and the public.
The ATIGA contains the full import duty liberalisation schedule among ASEAN member states and spells out the tariff rates to be applied on products, except for agricultural products with 0-5 percent tax rates. This agreement provides businesses with transparency and certainty in making business and investment decisions.
This agreement specifies the number of tax lines to be delayed their tariff elimination until 2018, applied to a group of four countries of Cambodia, Laos, Myanmar and Vietnam. At the same time, it allowed temporary suspension or adjustment of tariff reduction and exemption commitments within ASEAN member states.
Apart from the aim of eliminating tariff barriers, ATIGA points the joint effort of ASEAN to handle non-tariff barriers, customs cooperation and sanitation and quarantine.
With the coming into force of ATIGA, Brunei Darussalam, Indonesia, Malaysia, Philippines, Singapore and Thailand will issue their legal enactments in 90 days, while Cambodia, Laos, Myanmar, and Viet Nam will do so in 180 days.
Various agencies and regulatory bodies dealing with entry of goods, such as the customs, and health and agricultural authorities, will jointly operate in ensuring smoother operations at the customs entry points.
In short, since the ASEAN Economic Community (AEC) Blueprint was approved in 2007, ASEAN has made quick progress to implement AEC. After January 1, 2010, ASEAN-6 countries eliminated tariffs on 99.65 percent of tax lines, ASEAN-4 (including Cambodia, Laos, Myanmar and Vietnam) have listed 98.86 percent of tax lines to the CEPT programme to build the ASEAN Free Trade Area (AFTA) where tariffs range 0-5 percent.
Huong Ly
Vietnamese
