Australia, New Zealand, ASEAN Sign FTA Amendment to Strengthen Facilitation
Ministers from Australia, New Zealand and the Association of Southeast Asian Nations signed on Aug. 26 an amendment to the ASEAN-Australia-New Zealand Free Trade Area that aims to boost customs efficiency. The free trade pact entered into force for all parties in 2012 (here). The First Protocol amendment (here) makes substantial changes to rules of origin in the trade pact. The amendments will enter into force 30 days after Australia, New Zealand and at least four ASEAN members notify the parties that they have completed the domestic procedures required, the Australian government said in a statement (here). The protocol makes the following amendments, the parties said in a release:
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- Removal of the requirement for exporters to include the Free on Board value of goods on Certificates of Origin when not using a value based rule to claim preference
- Removal of the ‘general rule’ for rules of origin in favor of a consolidation of Product Specific Rules for all products in a comprehensive Annex
- Removal of the List of Data Requirements (Certificate of Origin content) from the treaty text, so that the list is easier to amend
- Establishment of procedures to be followed to expedite future transpositions of the tariff and Product Specific Rules schedules following changes World Customs Organization Harmonized System tariff classification