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    The ASEAN Free Trade Area (AFTA) Sean - Aug 8 1967

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    Clarissa Degamo
    The ASEAN Free Trade Area (AFTA) has virtually eliminated tariffs between member countries. Tariffs have been reduced to 0-5% for over 99% of products traded between the original six members, and about 80% for the newer members. ASEAN countries have also committed to reducing non-tariff barriers and simplifying rules of origin to further promote intra-regional trade. The establishment of AFTA has supported ASEAN's economic recovery following the Asian financial crisis, with intra-ASEAN trade growing in recent years.

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    The ASEAN Free Trade Area (AFTA) Sean - Aug 8 1967

    Uploaded by

    Clarissa Degamo
    21 views3 pages
    The ASEAN Free Trade Area (AFTA) has virtually eliminated tariffs between member countries. Tariffs have been reduced to 0-5% for over 99% of products traded between the original six members, and about 80% for the newer members. ASEAN countries have also committed to reducing non-tariff barriers and simplifying rules of origin to further promote intra-regional trade. The establishment of AFTA has supported ASEAN's economic recovery following the Asian financial crisis, with intra-ASEAN trade growing in recent years.

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    Asean Free Trade Area

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    The ASEAN Free Trade Area (AFTA) has virtually eliminated tariffs between member countries. Tariffs have been reduced to 0-5% for over 99% of products traded between the original six members, and about 80% for the newer members. ASEAN countries have also committed to reducing non-tariff barriers and simplifying rules of origin to further promote intra-regional trade. The establishment of AFTA has supported ASEAN's economic recovery following the Asian financial crisis, with intra-ASEAN trade growing in recent years.

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    Download as docx, pdf, or txt
    21 views3 pages

    The ASEAN Free Trade Area (AFTA) Sean - Aug 8 1967

    Uploaded by

    Clarissa Degamo
    The ASEAN Free Trade Area (AFTA) has virtually eliminated tariffs between member countries. Tariffs have been reduced to 0-5% for over 99% of products traded between the original six members, and about 80% for the newer members. ASEAN countries have also committed to reducing non-tariff barriers and simplifying rules of origin to further promote intra-regional trade. The establishment of AFTA has supported ASEAN's economic recovery following the Asian financial crisis, with intra-ASEAN trade growing in recent years.

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    ASEAN FREE TRADE AREA

    OVERVIEW
    The ASEAN Free Trade Area (AFTA)

    Sean – Aug 8 1967

    The ASEAN Free Trade Area (AFTA) has now been virtually established. ASEAN Member

    Countries have made significant progress in the lowering of intra-regional tariffs through the

    Common Effective Preferential Tariff (CEPT) Scheme for AFTA. More than 99 percent of the

    products in the CEPT Inclusion List (IL) of ASEAN-6, comprising Brunei Darussalam, Indonesia,

    Malaysia, the Philippines, Singapore and Thailand, have been brought down to the 0-5 percent

    tariff range. [Figure 1]

    ASEAN’s newer members, namely Cambodia, Laos, Myanmar and Viet Nam, are not far behind in

    the implementation of their CEPT commitments with almost 80 percent of their products having

    been moved into their respective CEPT ILS. Of these items, about 66 percent already have tariffs

    within the 0-5 percent tariff band. Viet Nam has until 2006 to bring down tariff of products in the

    Inclusion List to no more than 5 percent duties, Laos and Myanmar in 2008 and Cambodia in

    2010.

    Following the signing of the Protocol to Amend the CEPT-AFTA Agreement for the Elimination of

    Import Duties on 30 January 2003, ASEAN-6 has committed to eliminate tariffs on 60 percent of

    their products in the IL by the year 2003. As of this date, tariffs on 64.12 percent of the products

    in the IL of ASEAN-6 have been eliminated. The average tariff for ASEAN-6 under the CEPT

    Scheme is now down to 1.51 percent from 12.76 percent when the tariff cutting exercise started

    in 1993.

    The implementation of the CEPT-AFTA Scheme was significantly boosted in January 2004 when

    Malaysia announced its tariff reduction for completely built up (CBUs) and completely knocked

    down (CKDs) automotive units to gradually meet its CEPT commitment one year earlier than

    schedule. Malaysia has previously been allowed to defer the transfer of 218 tariff lines of CBUs

    and CKDs until 1 January 2005.


    Products that remain out of the CEPT-AFTA Scheme are those in the Highly Sensitive List (i.e.

    rice) and the General Exception List. The Coordinating Committee on the Implementation of the

    CEPTScheme for AFTA (CCCA) is currently undertaking a review of all the General Exception Lists

    to ensure that only those consistent with Article 9(b)1 of the CEPT Agreement are included in the

    lists.

    ASEAN Member Countries have also resolved to work on the elimination of non-tariff barriers. A

    work programme on the elimination of non-tariff barriers, which includes, among others, the

    process of verification and cross-notification; updating the working definition of Non-Tariff

    Measures (NTMs)/Non-Tariff Barriers (NTBs) in ASEAN; the setting-up of a database on all NTMs

    maintained by Member Countries; and the eventual elimination of unnecessary and unjustifiable

    non-tariff measures, is currently being finalized.

    In an effort to improve and strengthen the rules governing the implementation of the CEPT

    Scheme, to make the Scheme more attractive to regional businessmen and prospective

    investors, the CEPT Rules of Origin and its Operational Certification Procedures have been

    revised and implemented since 1 January 2004. Among the features of the revised CEPT Rules of

    Origin and Operational Certification Procedures include: (a) a standardized method of calculating

    local/ASEAN content; (b) a set of principles for determining the cost of ASEAN origin and the

    guidelines for costing methodologies; (c) treatment of locally-procured materials; and (d)

    improved verification process, including on-site verification.

    In order to promote greater utilization of the CEPTAFTA Scheme, substantial transformation has

    also been adopted as an alternative rule in determining origin for CEPT products. The Task Force

    on the CEPT Rules of Origin is currently working out substantial transformation rules for certain

    product sectors, including wheat flour, iron and steel and the 11 priority integration sectors

    covered under the Bali Concord II. Direction of Trade ASEAN’s exports had regained its upward

    trend in the two years following the financial crisis of 1997- 1998 reaching its peak in 2000 when

    total exports was valued at US$ 408 billion. After declining to US$ 366.8 billion in 2001, as a

    result of the economic slowdown in the United States and Europe and the recession in Japan,

    ASEAN exports recovered in 2002 when it was valued at US$ 380.2 billion. The upward trend for

    ASEAN-6 continued up to the first two quarters of 2003. Intra-ASEAN trade for the first two
    quarters of 2003 registered an increase of 4.2 and 1.6 percent for exports and imports

    respectively. [Figures 2, 3 & 4]

    Direction of Trade

    ASEAN's exports had regained its upward trend in the two years following the financial crisis of

    1997-1998 reaching its peak in 2000 when total exports was valued US$ 408 billion. After

    declining to US$ 366.8 billion in 2001, as a result of the economic slowdon in the United States

    and Europe and the recession in Japan, ASEAN expots recovered in 2002 when it was valued at

    US$ 380.2 billion. The upward trend for ASEAN-6 continued up to first two quaters of 2003.

    Intra-ASEAN trade for the first two quarters of 2003 registered an increase of 4.2 and 1.6

    percent for exports and imports respectively. [Figures 2,3 & 4]

    ASEAN Trade with Selected Trading Partners

    The United States, the European Union and Japan continued to be ASEAN’s largest export

    markets. Japan, followed by the U.S. and EU, were the largest sources of ASEAN imports. During

    the first half of 2002-2003, ASEAN-6 trade with major markets as a whole increased by 11.71

    percent for exports and 6.91 percent for imports. However, ASEAN exports to the U.S. and India

    and imports from Canada and India declined during the same period. [Figure 5]

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