TradeNet to cover rice, 6 other commodities by Dec

THE government’s online trade facilitation platform, TradeNet will initially cover rice and six other commonly traded goods that represent half of the Philippines’ total trade volume when it rolls out by December this year.

TradeNet aims to minimize the costs of doing business and cut the processing time for import and export permits.

According to Department of Finance (DOF) Undersecretary and Chief Economist Gil Beltran, TradeNet.gov.ph, which will also perform the functions of the country’s National Single Window (NSW), will allow traders to use the system to apply for import and export permits for rice, sugar, used motor vehicles, chemicals (toluene), frozen meat medicines (for humans, animals or fish) and cured tobacco.

The NSW, which will eventually be interconnected by December to the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (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.

“The initial deployment will allow traders to use the system for the first seven commodities that represent fifty percent of the total trade volume of the Philippines,” Beltran said.

Beltran said 16 agencies involved in the processing of permits for the import and export of these first seven commodities will have to be connected

online to TradeNet by December.

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).

He said other goods will also be progressively placed onboard the TradeNet as other regulatory agencies involved in trade facilitation get engaged in the system. DOF