New joint action plan to facilitate customs clearance in Asean

ASEAN on Tuesday (Jun 7) launched the Joint Action Plan on the Asean Authorised Economic Operator – Mutual Recognition Arrangement, which will help facilitate customs clearance in the region, at the 31st Asean Directors-General of Customs meeting.

Under this arrangement, businesses which are successfully validated by any Asean country will have reduced documentary and cargo inspection across all Asean countries.

They will also enjoy a higher level of facilitation during customs clearance, priority treatment if goods have been selected for inspection, as well as expedited clearance in the event of trade disruption.

“The benefits are substantial – studies have shown that such arrangements can improve customs clearance efficiency by 30 per cent or more,” said Singapore’s Minister for Finance Lawrence Wong at the opening ceremony of the meeting, held in Singapore.

For businesses, this will mean higher cost savings; for Asean countries, this means more efficient trade in order to remain competitive, he added. 

Wong also noted 2 other areas of further customs collaboration: deepening customs collaboration with Asean’s major trading partners, and aligning its respective customs processes to common standards, which could benefit industries like e-commerce.

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For the first area, the Singapore government will look at linking the Asean Single Window with key trading partners like the US, China, Japan and South Korea. This will help lower trade-related costs for businesses and support more interlinked supply chains from these countries to Asean, said Wong.

The Asean Single Window is a regional electronic platform which enables the electronic exchange of border trade-related documents among member states to promote economic integration.

“These 2 areas will involve a lot of close coordination and technical study. But I am confident that we will continue to make progress, through the strong spirit of collaboration and partnership that underpins everything we do in Asean,” Wong added.