Mekong - U.S. Partnership
ASEAN plans to establish a region-wide system or self-certification by 2015 to facilitate and reduce the cost of doing business in ASEAN. As in any preferential trading area, a product must first receive origin certification before it can claim any trade privileges.
Normally such certificate will be issued by a government agency or an authorized third party entity. ASEAN has decided that exporters should be allowed to self-certify based on where their exports/products originated. A pilot project was initiated between Brunei, Malaysia, Singapore, and Thailand to test the new scheme.
Myanmar has decided to join these countries in the pilot phase. To assist Myanmar in this endeavor, the USAID’s ASEAN Connectivity through Trade and Investment project organized a workshop on Self-certification of Origin on November 12-13 in Yangon. Various government agencies responsible for trade policy and customs participated as well as representatives from the business. Participants learned how other countries have implemented self-certification and discussed a possible roadmap for Myanmar to implement self-certification.
Source: General Development Office-USAID/RDMA Monthly Highlights
