The Philippines and seven other members of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) are expected to exchange customs and other trade-related documents over a single integrated online platform by yearend as part of the efforts of the 10-nation bloc to boost cross-border trade and reduce the cost and time of doing business across the region.

Finance Undersecretary Gil Beltran said that besides the Philippines, the other ASEAN member-states that will go “live” on the ASEAN Single Window (ASW) platform are Indonesia, Malaysia, Singapore, Thailand, Vietnam, Brunei and Cambodia.

Myanmar and Laos are expected to join the ASW by November and December 2019, respectively.

He said that ASEAN member-states that are already “live” on the ASW–Indonesia, Malaysia, Singapore, Thailand, Vietnam and Brunei—exchange over 460,000 customs and other trade-related documents a year at only 10 percent of the usual cost to traders.

Starting next year, additional documents that are expected to be exchanged through the ASW include sanitary and phytosanitary certificates, animal health certificates, self-certification of product origin, and shipping documents, Beltran said in a report to Secretary Carlos Dominguez III during a recent Department of Finance (DOF) Executive Committee (Execom) meeting.

Beltran said the United States, Australia and New Zealand will provide technical assistance to ASEAN to ensure that its members take full advantage of the ASW by 2020.

“Once the ASW is streamlined and used across ASEAN, businesses will benefit through lower transaction costs and less time to export their goods to countries within the region,” Beltran said. “Lower transaction costs will, in turn, enhance ASEAN’s trade competitiveness.”

The Philippines will join the ASW via its National Single Window (NSW) dubbed TradeNet, which will facilitate online the processing of permits, licenses and other clearances for the export and import of goods across the region.

TradeNet will be connected and integrated to the NSWs of the other ASEAN members to expedite cargo clearance and promote regional integration.

The Philippines’ goal is to eventually have all 76 trade regulatory government agencies across 18 government departments fully interconnected. TradeNet will simplify import and export documentary processes covering an initial 7,400 regulated products.

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