ASEAN members agree to improve e-Form D function

BANGKOK, April 23 (TNA) - Thailand and other member countries of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) are improving their utilization of the Electronic Certificate of Origin (e-Form D), which has been transmitted online between them, to better facilitate regional trade and business operators. Permanent Secretary for Commerce Nuntawan Sakuntanaga, in her capacity as the head of a task force in charge of following up Thailand's trade facilitation measures, told journalists on April 22 that she has assigned her ministry's Department of Trade Negotiations to hold talks with other ASEAN member countries on the move to improve the utilization of the e-Form D. Nuntawan stated that the department, in its capacity as the secretary of the task force, first hosted a meeting late last month with the other ASEAN member countries having jointly utilized the e-Form D since January 1, 2018, including Indonesia, Malaysia, Singapore, Vietnam and Thailand, and all agreed to quickly address the existing technical problems of the e-Form D as they are considered non-tariff barriers to regional trade. Nuntawan explained that the technical problems include the unstable connection of the regional e-service due partly to the imposition of some conditions which are incompliant with the Operational Certification Procedures (OCP) for the Rule of Origin (ROC) under the ASEAN Trade in Goods Agreement (ATIGA). According to the senior official, Thailand and the other ASEAN member countries have agreed to further discuss the improvement of their joint utilization of the e-Form D during a meeting of the High Level Task Force on ASEAN Economic Integration (HLTF-EI) to be held in June 2018, when a proposal on the e-revision and the e-revocation of the e-Form D between Thailand and the other ASEAN member countries will also be raised for talks. The senior official said that Thailand and other ASEAN neighboring countries are, in the meantime, using the e-Form D together with the paper-based ROC certificate pending the improved function of the e-Form D. The senior official revealed that she will also carry out a policy on the observation of the Agreement on Trade Facilitation (TFA) under the Geneva-based World Trade Organization (WTO) by Thailand for the sake of transparency in the world trade and the elimination of non-tariff barriers, which will further enhance Thailand's trade and investment facilitations consequently. (TNA)