Agreement

The Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) is composed of 10 Member States, namely, Brunei Darussalam, Cambodia, Indonesia, Laos, Malaysia, Myanmar, Philippines, Singapore, Thailand, and Viet Nam.

At the 4th ASEAN Summit in January 1992, the ASEAN Heads of Government agreed to establish an ASEAN Free Trade Area (AFTA) by the year 2008 to open up their economies in the era of globalization. The main implementing mechanism of AFTA was the Common Effective Preferential Tariff (CEPT) Scheme. The Agreement on the CEPT-AFTA was signed in Singapore on 28 January 1992.

On 23 August 2007, the 21st AFTA Council Meeting agreed to enhance the CEPT-AFTA Agreement into a comprehensive Trade in Goods Agreement for the AFTA.

The ASEAN Trade in Goods Agreement was signed on 26 February 2009 and is the product of the enhancement and consolidation of all existing provisions under the CEPT-AFTA Agreement and relevant ASEAN economic agreements and instruments.

Implementing Executive Orders

The following E.O.s implement tariff commitments of the Philippines as an ASEAN Member State:

Pursuant to Section 1100 of the Customs Modernization and Tariff Act, an importer or exporter may file a written application for an advance ruling on the tariff classification of goods with the Commission.

Submission of Certificate of Origin Form D is required in order to avail of ATIGA preferential tariffs.

Date of Full Implementation

2010

Overview of Tariff Commitments / Reciprocity

Except as otherwise provided, ASEAN Member States (AMS) shall eliminate import duties on all products traded between the AMSs by (a) 2010 for ASEAN-6 (Brunei, Indonesia, Malaysia, Philippines, Singapore, and Thailand) and (b) 2015, with flexibility to 2018, for CLMV (Cambodia, Laos, Myanmar, and Vietnam).

Import duties on unprocessed agricultural products shall be reduced or eliminated to 0% - 5% by 2010 for ASEAN-6; 2013 for Viet Nam; 2015 for Lao PDR and Myanmar; and 2017 for Cambodia. Import duties on sugar products for Viet Nam shall be reduced to 0% - 5% by 2010.

Products placed in the General Exceptions (GE) List of each AMS shall not be subject to reduction/elimination of import duties.

Reduction and elimination of import duties shall be implemented on 1 January of each year.

For a product to be eligible for tariff concession under the ATIGA, the following conditions have to be met:

1. (1) Products on which tariffs of the exporting Member State have reached or are at the rate of 20% or below;
2. (2) If the goods have a Regional Value Content (RVC) of not less than 40%, or if all non-originating materials used in the production of the goods have undergone a Change in Tariff Classification (CTC) at four-digit level (i.e., a change in tariff heading) of the Harmonized System; and
3. (3) Preferential tariff treatment shall be supported by a Certificate of Origin (CO) Form “D” issued by a Government authority designated by the exporting Member State.

Amendments

Please visit www.asean.org for any future amendments to the Agreement.