ASEAN Free-Trade Area

Syllabus of the Subject: ASEAN Free-Trade Area (AFTA). Tariff Liberalisation

1. Introduction to the ASEAN Free-Trade Area (AFTA)
2. Free Trade Agreement of the ASEAN Free Trade Area (AFTA)
   1. Tariff Liberalisation
   2. Import Duties and Tariff Rate Quotas Elimination
   3. ASEAN Rules of origin
   4. Calculation of the Regional Value Content
   5. Non-tariff Measures
   6. Import Licensing Procedures
   7. Trade Facilitation
   8. Standards, technical regulations and conformity assessment procedures
   9. Sanitary and Phytosanitary Measures
3. Single Window of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN)
4. ASEAN Customs
   1. Customs Valuation
5. Emergency situation

Sample: ASEAN Free-Trade Area (AFTA)

Description: ASEAN Free-Trade Area (AFTA)

The objective of the ASEAN Free-Trade Area is to reach free trade in products in the ASEAN Region to create a single market and production base for a deeper economic integration of the ASEAN economies towards the ASEAN Economic Community achievement by 2015.

The Agreement on Common Effective Preferential Tariff Scheme for the ASEAN Free-Trade Area needs that the tariff rates levied on a huge range of foreign trade of products within the ASEAN Region be reduced to 5%.

Most of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) region is a free-trade area. Accounting for 96% of all the international trade of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations, the first six signatories of the Common Effective Preferential Tariff Scheme for the ASEAN Free-Trade Area (AFTA) have reduced their custom tariffs on the intra-regional trade to 5% for all the export products to the “Inclusion list” or removed them in total.

The member economies of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) should eliminate the import duties on all the export products traded between them by 2010 for the ASEAN-6 and by 2015, with flexibility to 2018, for CLMV (Cambodia, Laos, Myanmar and Vietnam.).

1. ASEAN-6: Brunei Darussalam, Indonesia, Malaysia, the Philippines, Singapore, and Thailand
2. CLMV: Cambodia, Laos, Myanmar, and Vietnam

For ASEAN-6, by 1 January 2009 (Brunei Darussalam, Indonesia, Malaysia, the Philippines, Singapore, and Thailand)

1. Import duties of at least 80% tariff lines are eliminated
2. Import duties on all the Information and Communications Technology (ICT) products, as defined in the e-ASEAN Framework Agreement, are removed
3. Import duties on all the Priority Integration Sectors products are at 0%
4. Import duties on all the goods are equal to or less than 5%

For Laos, Myanmar, and Vietnam, import duties on all the products are equal to or less than 5% by 2009.

For Cambodia, import duties of at least 80% of the tariff lines are equal to or less than 5% by 2009.

1. ASEAN Economic Community
2. Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) in the ASEAN Countries
3. ASEAN Free Trade Agreements (FTA): ASEAN Free-Trade Area (AFTA), Indonesia-Malaysia-Thailand Growth Triangle, Mekong Economic Cooperation Strategy, East ASEAN Growth Area, China, Canada, Australia-New Zealand, India, European Union, South Korea, Russia, United States, Pakistan, Japan...
4. Singaporean Free Trade Agreements: APEC, Indian-Ocean Rim Association, Comprehensive and Progressive Agreement for Trans-Pacific Partnership, Australia, China, Jordan, India, Japan, Korea, New Zealand, Panama, Peru, EFTA, United States...

Transport Corridors:

1. Asia-Africa Growth Corridor
2. East-West Economic Corridor (Myanmar-Thailand-Laos-Vietnam)
3. Nanning-Singapore Economic Corridor
   1. Pan-Beibu Gulf Economic Zone