REPORT
ON THE SEVENTH ASEM PROCEDURES WORKING GROUP (PWG) MEETING
Jakarta,
Indonesia 10 and 11 December 2003
The Seventh meeting of the ASEM Procedures Working Group was held on 10 and 11 December 2003 in Jakarta and was chaired by Mrs. Isabel Menendez Ros from European Commission (EC). The meeting aimed to address Customs issues tackled by ASEM partners toward trade facilitation & security issues. The meeting was attended by representatives from Belgium, Brunei Darussalam, China, France, Germany, Indonesia, Japan, Korea, Malaysia, the Netherlands, Singapore, Sweden, Thailand, Vietnam and the EC.
In the opening speech, the Chair highlighted the progress of activities in trade facilitation both in Asia and Europe.
Adoption of the Agenda
The Meeting adopted the agenda as appears in
Doc. No.1.
Report on other ASEM meetings relating to
customs since the 6th PWG
(1)
The EC reported on the 6th ASEM PWG Meeting in
March 2002. The 6th ASEM PWG highlighted the
developments of 11 deliverables TFAP 2000-2002 and action plan
for the year 2002-2004 as well as trade facilitation in WTO. The
report appears as Doc. No. 3.
(2)
France reported on
the SOMTI IX held in French in June 2003. The SOMTI IX
highlighted some issues such as the economic pillar review,
multilateral trade issues/Doha Development Agenda (DDA)
negotiations, regional integration, investment promotion action
plan, TFAP, ASEM taskforce for a closer economic partnership,
interaction with Asia Europe Business Forum (AEBF), and
preparations for future meetings. The senior officials stressed
on reducing barriers to trade. The report appears as Doc.
No. 4
(3)
China reported on the
5th ASEM Economic Ministers’ Meeting in July 2003.
The Meeting reviewed the implementation of TFAP (Trade
Facilitation Action Plan) and IPAP (Investment Promotion Action
Plan). The Ministers endorsed the Review of the ASEM Economic
Pillars presented by Asia-Europe economic coordinators. The
Meeting adopted the Chairman Statement which urges the Ministers
to work together and push forward the negotiations with goodwill
on several important issues before 1 January 2005. The report
appears as Doc. No. 5.
(4) Indonesia reported on the Fifth Asia-Europe Finance Ministers’ Meeting held on 5-6 July 2003 in Indonesia. The Ministers welcomed the objectives of the initiative proposed by Indonesia to strengthen the partnership for Growth and Development between Asia and Europe, which is also called as the Bali Initiative. The Ministerial Statement appears as Doc. No. 6.
(5) Korea reported on the Fifth Meeting of the ASEM DG-Commissioner Meeting held in Seoul on 30 September to 1 October 2003. The Meeting discussed about some important issues such as Report on Inter-sessional Developments concerning the Customs Activities and Outcomes of the 3 Topical Issues namely Customs Procedures and Trade Facilitation, Enforcement and Security, and Customs Cooperation in ASEM. As a follow of measure of the 5th ASEM Customs DG-Commission Meeting, Korea reported the action plan on “Seoul Initiative”. KCS has planned to form a study group composed of the experts from major ASEM members and invite the major EU members and all ASEAN member as well as China and Japan for the Workshop to implement Seoul Initiative. The detail plan and invitation will be sent to all members in February 2004. The report appears as Doc. No. 7.
Update
of the Work Undertaken in Other International Bodies with regard
to Simplification and Harmonization of Customs Procedures
(6)
Japan presented a paper on the Update of
Development of G-7 in the Standardization and Simplification of
Customs Procedures. The presentation covered the current status
and revision of the WCO Customs Data Model. The report appears as
Doc. No. 8.
(7)
EC briefed on the recent progress on trade
facilitation following the Doha Development Agenda and Cancun
Ministerial Meeting. EC also presented on the EU perspectives
with respects to the discussions on Trade Facilitation in WTO. The
report appears as Doc. No. 9.
(8) Thailand reported recent progresses made by APEC in customs area since the last ASEM PWG Meeting. Thailand reported the results of the Sub Committee on Customs procedures (SCCP) Meeting in Phuket and Chiang Mai in 2003. SCCP meeting has been placing emphasis on strengthening the Multilateral Trade System, Trade Facilitation, Pathfinder initiative, CAP Evaluation, transparency standard and counter terrorism. The report appears as Doc. No. 10.
(9)
Thailand reported on the results of the
Eleventh Meeting of the ASEAN Directors-General of Customs on
8-10 July 2003 in Bangkok, Thailand. The report appears as Doc.
No. 11. The Meeting was attended by the delegates from Brunei
Darussalam, Cambodia, Indonesia, Lao PDR, Malaysia, Myanmar, the
Philippines, Singapore, Thailand and Viet Nam as well as Deputy
Secretary-General of ASEAN. The following were some
significant outcomes of the Meeting:
- Endorsement of the ASEAN Post Clearance Audit (PCA) Manual for the use in ASEAN Member Countries.
- Endorsement of the Meeting endorsed the ASEAN Customs Valuation Guide (ACVG).
- Discussion on the implementation of the ASEAN Harmonized Tariff Nomenclature (AHTN) to ensure that all ASEAN Members will collectively apply the AHTN by 1 January 2004 without any difficulties.
Trade
Facilitation Action Plan
(10) Japan, the Asian facilitator of Customs Procedures, presented a report on the progress made by the ASEM partners on the TFAP deliverables for the period 2002 - 2004, based on responses to a questionnaire. It is proposed that further promotion efforts should be made towards the full achievement of the 13 deliverables of the TFAP 2002-2004. The report together with a matrix is attached respectively as Doc. No. 12.
Sharing
Information on TFAP
(11)
Korea presented a paper on the obstacles and remedies
and on the establishing one stop shop service (establishing a
single window for cargo clearance procedure). Some of the
observed obstacles are:
-
Inefficient cooperation between government agencies
-
The difficulties of technical transfer and the difference
between newly-developed internet-based techniques and the
existing EDI/VAN-based infrastructure
To overcome those obstacles, Korea set up and run a manager-level
consultative body, e-Government Committee, and etc. The
paper is attached as Doc. No. 13.
(12)
Belgium presented on Best practices of
Customs Clearance Procedures. Belgium shared EC’s best
practices of the implementation of single administration Document
(SAD). A single administrative Document (SAD) was introduced on 1
January 1988. Since then, Customs legislation has undergone
fundamental changes, in particular as a result of the
introduction of the single market on 1 January 1993. Another
step was the integration of the SAD and its explanatory note in
the provisions implementing the Community Customs Code on 1 January 1994.
Meanwhile, a new explanatory note shall apply from 1 January
2006. Some Member States wish to introduce the new measures as
soon as possible and it is therefore necessary to allow an early
implementation. The presenter explained in detail the use of some
of the boxes in the SAD taking into account the latest
development of computerised-based explanatory note with reference
to international standards. The paper appears as Doc. No. 14.
(13) Indonesia reported on the 3rd ASEM Customs Seminar on the simplification and harmonization of Customs Procedures. The report appears as Doc. No. 15. Indonesia summarized the recommendation of the Seminar. On trade facilitation, ASEM Customs administrations were advised to attempt achieving Customs Deliverables for 2002-2004 within its target period and capacity building is still required for developing countries for seeking the target of period implementation. On the issue of good governance, ASEM Customs administrations are expected to improve the level of integrity. Meanwhile, on the aspect of security and facilitation, ASEM Customs administrations should strengthen the level of cooperation, enhance the application of risk management techniques and optimize the utilization of information technology. Cooperation between Customs and business should also be promoted. Also important to keep in mind is the consistency with instruments developed by international bodies, more specifically WCO, in order to promote uniformity and harmonization of Customs procedures and to avoid unnecessary excess from any narrower scope of initiatives. Finally, ASEM Customs administrations should maintain and enhance cooperation between Customs administration and business communities concerning trade facilitation and security issues.
(14)
The EC delivered a presentation touching the issue of
paperless trading in the European Commission and Member States of
the EU. The presentation discussed various actions under
e-customs composing of legal requirements (amendments in the
customs code), operational and technical aspects. There are also
explanations on the cost and benefit analysis of paperless
trading both for the traders and the customs administration. The
presentation appears as Doc. No. 16.
(15)
Japan presented the status report of the ASEM Database
& ASEM PWG homepage. The report is attached as Doc. No.
17. The ASEM Procedures Working Group homepage was created
based on input from ASEM partners in June 1999 in order to
promote the transparency of Customs procedures among ASEM
partners. For the purpose of further promoting the transparency
of Customs procedures and fulfilling the recommendation made by
AEBF IV and the decision made at the Fourth Procedures Working
Group (PWG) Meeting in 2000, the ASEM Customs Procedures Database
(ASEM Customs Database) covering tariff rates and Customs
formalities for imports and exports was also
established through the collaboration of all ASEM partners in
October 2000.
It
was reported that, although the number of visitors to the Website
is relatively small, it has been increasing for the past year.
It is proposed that the interim summary report on the ASEM TFAP
deliverables 2002-2004 should be uploaded on the PWG Homepage in
order to further promote transparency.
Customs
Approaches to Security and Trade Facilitation Issues
(16)
Malaysia reported the recent development of ASEM
Enforcement Working Group. The 6th and 7th
ASEM Customs Enforcement Working Group Meeting was held in
Malaysia. The theme for the 6th Meeting was ‘Fight
Against Fraud’ and the 7th Meeting was ‘Intelligence
and Cooperation Towards Effective Security and Facilitation’.
During the 7th Meeting, two action plans were drawn up
i.e. ‘Fight Against Fraud’ and ‘Intelligence and
Cooperation Towards Effective Security and Facilitation’. The
meeting highlighted capacity building for effective enforcement,
Anti smuggling coalition and Customs Enforcement Network (CEN)
training. The meeting stressed on the action plan on fight
against fraud and joint project between RILOs and developing more
practical ways of using CEN.
It was noted that the Enforcement Working Group strongly favors the establishment of a permanent secretariat to monitor the development progress of the above said action plans. The report appears as Doc. No. 18.
(17)
Sweden presented on the utilization of Information
Technology in dealing with security issues. It highlighted
that IT could help accommodating the Customs’ concerns about
trade facilitation and security all together. The
presentation document appears as Doc. No. 19.
(18)
Germany presented a paper on the best Practice of procedural
approaches which accommodate security concerns. It highlighted
that security initiatives - such as CSI, 24-Hour
Advance Cargo Manifest Rule and Customs-Trade Partnership Against
Terrorism (C-TPAT) ? either directly or indirectly affect Customs
procedures. It elaborated the procedural measures for the
application of CSI as well as the legislative measures, in
European Union. The paper appears as Doc. No. 20.
(19)
Singapore presented a paper on promoting Partnership with
Private Sector in addressing security issues. Such a
partnership has been established to maintain the high standard of
both service and security. The paper appears as Doc. No.
21.
Capacity
building in ASEM (Consideration of joint ASEM capacity building
projects)
(20)
Japan presented a paper on the capacity building in ASEM.
It highlighted the duplication of various technical assistance
and the joint ASEM capacity building project as agreed by the 5th
ASEM Customs DG-Commissioners Meeting. Japan informed that
it is ready to act as the facilitator and make necessary
arrangements in some process of such projects. Japan also
presented a list of possible training programs which could be
conducted as joint projects and asked for members’
consideration for active participation in these programs. The
paper appears as Doc. No. 22.
Others
Update
of the contact points list
Amendments to the list of contact points should be sent to the EC no later than 1 April 2004. An updated version will then be sent to all ASEM partners.
Nomination
of the next PWG Meeting
The
Meeting agreed that the 8th Meeting of the ASEM ASEM
Procedures Working Group (PWG) Meeting will be held under the
chairmanship of Singapore.
The
date and place of the next PWG Meeting
The 8th PWG Meeting will take place in 2004. It will be prepared by the incoming chair in consultation with the outgoing chair.
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