Three ports in Metro Manila have gone live on the ASEAN Single Window (ASW) and will initially exchange electronic trade documents with Indonesia and Malaysia to facilitate clearance of export and import shipments.
Finance Undersecretary Gil Beltran, in a report to Finance Secretary Carlos G. Dominguez III, said the Bureau of Customs (BOC) joined the ASW live operations on December 30, 2019.
This means that the BOC’s Export Coordination Division (ECD) and Export Divisions in the three pilot ports - the Port of Manila (POM), Manila International Container Port (MICP) and the Ninoy Aquino International Airport (NAIA) - have been issuing the electronic Certificate of Origin (eCO) via the TRADENET.gov.ph platform, the Philippines’ National Single Window.
Three more documents will soon be exchanged via the ASW. These are the e-Phyto-Sanitary Certificate, e-Animal Health Certificate and the e-ASEAN Customs Declaration Document (ACDD).
TRADENET aims to facilitate online the processing of permits, licenses and other clearances for the export and import of an initial 7,400 products across the region.
To promote regional economic integration, TRADENET will soon be connected to the NSWs of the other ASEAN members.
In a statement, the DOF quoted Beltran as saying the ASW “lowers communication costs to as low as 10 percent of the original amount and encourages small enterprises to take advantage of preferential tariffs under ATIGA (ASEAN Trade in Goods Agreement).”
The ASW Steering Committee plans to develop a roadmap to enable the exchange of trade documents online with the 10 ASEAN countries.
It will also develop guidelines to handle cancellation or revision of documents exchanged and set Business Process Specifications (BPS) using the Common Header, Beltran said in his report.
For the Philippines, the goal is to eventually have all 76 trade regulatory government agencies under 18 government departments fully interconnected. (Ventures Cebu)
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