THE THIRD ASEM PROCEDURES WORKING GROUP

MANILA, 26 FEBRUARY 1999

1. On 26 February 1999 the Third ASEM Procedures Working Group Meeting ( the Working Group) was held in Manila and chaired by the European Commission, Directorate General XXI (Taxation and Customs Union). It was attended by customs officials from the ASEM countries including the European Commission and the European Council (see annex I: list of participants of the Working Group).

2. This was the third meeting of the Procedures Working Group exploring the issues of simplification and harmonisation of customs procedures identified by the ASEM Customs Directors General and Commissioners in their statement issued in Shenzhen on 21 June 1996 and in their Vienna Declaration of 20 and 21 June 1997.

3. The attached Working Group Agenda (Annex II) was adopted.

4. The meeting was preceded by the First ASEM Seminar on the Simplification and Harmonisation of Customs Procedures. It was held in Manila from 23 until 25 February and organised by the Asian Development Bank in co-operation with the Philippine Customs Administration. The Seminar was chaired by the Philippines Customs (Deputy Commissioner Ms. Emma ROSQETTA). Participants were the customs officials and the representatives of the private sector from ASEM partners.

THE FEATURES OF THE SEMINAR AND THEIR ASSESSMENT BY THE PROCEDURES WORKING GROUP

5. Though the role and objectives of the Working Group and the Seminar were different, it was considered that there was a close link between them and that the Procedures Working Group would draw upon the outcome of the Seminar, should evaluate its progress reports, presentations and discussions and make recommendations about a possible follow-up.

Simplification and harmonisation of Customs Procedures in other International Organisations

6. The following progress reports on the work in other international fora given to the Seminar were considered by the Group.

-APEC Subcommittee on Customs Procedures (APEC-SCCP)

SCCP's activities on its 12 points Collective Action Plan (CAP) to simplify and harmonize customs procedures was introduced.

The Working Group welcomed these activities.

-ASEAN

Customs co-operation in ASEM is undertaken by the "Expert Committee on Customs matters".

The Working Group welcomed the work of the ASEAN fora.

-The Group of Seven (G 7)

The following subject is under examination by the G7 members:

-- harmonization, standardization and reduction of data requirements for import, export and transit in order to allow through the use of common electronic messages a seamless data flow.

By now, the harmonisation of the data-elements for the import declaration and cargo report has largely been completed. Work on export data set is being continued during the ongoing German G7 presidency.

The Working Group welcomed the progress made by the G7 group and noted that the G7 initiative is attracting the interest of other international organisations and trade. Some delegations expressed, however, their concern that such an important subject should be handled by an exclusive group of states and that it would perhaps be more appropriate to take the work to the level of the World Trade Organisation where a broader range of countries could be included into the effort. Some others hold the view that further careful examination by G7 countries would be necessary to handle this important issue and that the WCO, in their view sole international organisation for customs administrations which ensures the right balance between enforcement and facilitation, would be a suitable organisation to deal with this issue.

-World Customs Organisation (WCO)

It was reported that the WCO has reviewed the Kyoto Convention and that the adoption of the revised texts by its Council was expected by mid 1999. The parts of the Convention lay down the core provisions covering all customs procedures. The revised Kyoto Convention will, furthermore, contain Specific Annexes where reservations are possible against Recommended Practices.

The Working Group welcomed the progress in the WCO and expressed the hope that the revised Convention will get the broadest possible acceptance. The Working Group noted, however, that the great diversity of economic development in Asia might prevent some partners from immediate acceptance.

-World Trade Organisation (WTO)

In the forthcoming Millenium Round of the WTO trade facilitation would be one of the possible areas which may play an important role. The final decisions concerning the beginning of the negotiations and their subjects are expected to be taken by the WTO Council of Seattle by the end of 1999.

The Working Group took note of the on-going, very important analytic work. Some of the delegations endorsed the intention of the WTO to take into account the results reached in other international fora like G7 and WCO in order to avoid double work.

 

The different presentations made at the Seminar

7.The Procedures Working Group expressed its appreciation for the great number of interesting presentations which were made by speakers from customs and the private sector, both from the Asian and European side. They concerned:

• Efforts undertaken by ASEM and Japan towards Trade Facilitation,

• A Customs System for Improved Services and Efficiency,

• Risk Analysis and Simplification of Procedures,

• The Role of Information Technology,

• The Fiscal and Governance Dimension of Customs Procedures,

• Relations between Customs and the private operator,

• Relations between Customs and the Airline Industry,

• Problems and Prospect in Asia-Europe Trade.

8. The Working Group welcomed the fact that there was general acceptance that customs is not killing trade; that on the contrary it plays an indispensable role in fostering trade by a modern organisation of cross-border transactions; that it is the customs' task also to protect the society.

General assessment of the Seminar by the Working Group

9. The Working Group thought that the seminar was a success. The group took note that also the seminar participants (over 100) considered the approach especially useful. Its added value was, in particular, the possibility to discuss on both sides with greater freedom than would have been the case in a more formal setting.

10. The approach that customs would be open to reward modernisation of the private sector found a positive echo in the Seminar and was endorsed by the Working Group.

It was considered that the Seminar gave an excellent possibility for the trade to inform customs about their problems. In this context, there were useful discussions about reduction of costs of cross-border transactions associated with customs. There was general agreement that the fight against corruption is best assisted by trade facilitation since it delivers a great deal of transparency, in particular by making use of information technology-based customs procedures.

It was the view that partnership between customs and business community constitutes a win-win situation for both parties.

11. In the light of the above, the Working Group strongly proposed to continue the organisation of ASEM Seminars. The meeting agreed that seminars should be held in the form of focussed workshops with specifically identified topics.

EXAMINATION BY THE WORKING GROUP OF THE CUSTOMS AREAS IN THE TRADE FACILITATION ACTION PLAN (TFAP), STATE OF PLAY

12. At the ASEM Summit II in April 1998 the ASEM Leaders adopted the Procedures Working Group to discuss and coordinate the implementation of the TFAP.

Deliverables on customs simplification were set out in Annex I of the TFAP. They were scheduled for achievement between the Second Summit in 1998 and the Third Summit (Summit III) in 2000.

13 The Working Group studied a working document established by the Asian and European ASEM Partner about the state of play with regard to the TFAP deliverables.

Achievements or major progress reached in the meantime for the following deliverables

14. The Working Group considered that in the meantime the following deliverables had been achieved or that major progress had been made.

• Alignment of HS for tariff nomenclature: with the exception of new partners, this objective is achieved.

• WTO Valuation Agreement: this will be fully implemented by most ASEM members in the year 2000.

• Negotiations on the Customs Co-operation and Mutual Administrative Assistance Agreements (CCMAA) between the European Community and interested ASEM Asian partners: There was a certain progress reported. One agreement was concluded. Negotiations between other partners have started. Contacts between partners provide a good background for moving towards agreements.

• Organisation of ASEM Seminars for customs and business representatives: The successful organisation of the First ASEM seminar held in Manila from 23 until 25 February 1999 falls within these deliverables.

• Publication and clarification of Customs regulations and procedures: implementation achieved in nearly all ASEM members.

TFAP deliverables requiring further action

15 The Working Group considered that more attention should be given to technical assistance and training programme.

Some Asian ASEM members showed a particular interest in this subject, including HS, origin, post-clearance audit, the Kyoto Convention, valuation, UN/EDIFACT, standardised and simplified documents, risk analysis, warehousing, free ports, ATA carnets (see Annex III: Working Document Matrix of the Technical Assistance Interest).

16. Promotion and transparency through access to existing data bases were deliverable on which the Third Working Group Meeting gave particular attention.

The European Union presented and explained in detail a list of data bases that it operates with a view to managing the customs related Community legislation. This concerned:

-- The Integrated Tariff of the European Community (TARIC),

-- The Data Dissemination System (DDS),

-- The European Binding Tariff Information,

-- The Base for Tariff Suspension and Tariff Quotas,

-- The Binding Origin Information Base.

OTHER ISSUE

17. A presentation was made for the Working Group by a European ASEM partner showing the mechanism of the paperless declaration which is open to authorised traders in the EU. The Procedure Working Group took note of the importance of customs clearance through EDI.

CONCLUSIONS AND SUGGESTED FOLLOW-UP

18. Progress in the promotion and transparency through access to existing databases on different customs issues was noted by the Working Group and it was proposed to build on this and to take the existing databases into account. In this context, it was strongly recommended to establish an ASEM internet web site which could also give information, for example on the results of the preceding Seminar, those of the Third Procedures Working Group Meeting and on all customs issues related to ASEM.

19. The Working Group will continue to follow up the TFAP in particular with regard to technical assistance and training programme and endeavour to find budgets for this purpose.

20 The Working Group recommended further ASEM seminars on the basis of workshops with the customs and the private side.

21. A new list of contact points with regard to the ASEM customs officials designated for this purpose was set up (see Annex IV). The advisability of establishing and distributing a detailed directory listing the officials responsible in the various sectors of the ASEM customs administrations may be examined at a future meeting.

22. It was agreed that the next meeting of the Procedures Working Group should be held in Brussels at a date still to be fixed.

23. It was decided that the next Procedures Working Group Meeting should be chaired by an Asian ASEM member to be designated by the Asian side.

24. It was agreed that the European Commission as the chairman of the Procedures Working Group will prepare a report of its meeting.

25. Gratitude was expressed to the Asian Development Bank for its assistance in organising the Seminar in its Headquarters and also for its hospitality to the Working Group, and for making available meeting rooms, a secretariat and the necessary technical equipment.

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