THE Department of Finance (DoF) is set to roll out its trade facilitation platform to the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) Single Window (ASW) by December this year, starting with the most-traded commodities.
Finance Undersecretary and Chief Economist Gil S. Beltran said that the program, called TradeNet, will perform the functions of the country’s National Single Window (NSW), allowing traders to use the system to apply for import and export permits for shipments, in a single agency.
He said that the program will initially be applicable to imports, or exports of rice, sugar, used motor vehicles, chemicals (toluene), frozen meat, medicine (for humans, animals or fish) and cured tobacco.
“The initial deployment will allow traders to use the system for the first seven commodities that represent 50% of the total trade volume of the Philippines,” Mr. Beltran was quoted as saying in a statement from the DoF yesterday.
The NSW, which will eventually be interconnected by December to the ASEAN Single Window, is a regional initiative that aims to speed up cargo clearances and promote economic integration by enabling the electronic exchange of border documents among the organization’s 10 member-states.
According to Mr. Beltran, there are at least 16 agencies involved in the processing of permits for the trade of the said commodities.
These include the Bureau of Animal Industry (BAI), National Tobacco Administration (NTA), Fair Trade and Enforcement Bureau (FTEB), National Food Authority (NFA), Bureau of Plant Industry (BPI), Food and Drugs Administration (FDA), National Meat Inspection Service (NMIS), Bureau of Internal Revenue (BIR) and Bureau of Customs (BoC).
Other goods will be “progressively placed,” in TradeNet in coordination with other government agencies.
The program aims to shorten the processing time of import/export clearances, reduce the number of transactions and required documents to be submitted, and remove red tape that has plagued businesses and citizens dealing with the government.
On top of facilitating trade, the program will “heighten transparency in customs procedures and improve revenue collection.”
“The steering committee handles the NSW and aims at facilitating trade transactions. We want, as much as possible, to reduce processing time, cut transaction costs and enhance competitiveness. The NSW is one of the most important reforms in government,” said Mr. Beltran, who also chairs the NSW panel.
“We are all performing important functions that will impact our [country’s] capability to generate investments. This is the reason why NSW was created,” he added.
In 2015, the country committed to join the ASW by the second quarter of 2016; but the BoC canceled the initial bidding process that year, claiming there were other data systems that are more cost-effective.
Of the 10 ASEAN member states, only Indonesia, Malaysia, Singapore, and Thailand have successfully integrated into the ASW. — Elijah Joseph C. Tubayan
