Pilot test on Asean trade interconnection a success, says DOF

The Department of Finance (DOF) said the initial tests on the country’s interconnection with other members of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) through an online platform to facilitate trade in the region was successful.

Finance Undersecretary Gil Beltran said the development and testing of the ASEAN Single Window (ASW) would continue in the next few weeks after a successful initial tests with Indonesia.

“Although there were some gaps in the responses between the two systems, the initial testing on the ASW connection with Indonesia was successful,” Beltran said in his report to Finance Secretary Carlos Dominguez during a recent DOF Executive Committee meeting.

Beltran said the ASW’s interconnection tests would run until May for newly connected countries Philippines, Cambodia and Brunei.

The ASW 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 memberstates. Indonesia, Malaysia, Singapore and Thailand are already using the ASW to exchange information on customs clearances.

In the Philippines, a National Single Window (NSW) was set up by the DOF in partnership with the Department of Information Technology (DICT) through the TradeNet platform.

He pointed out the finance department has so far engaged 65 of the country’s 76 government regulatory agencies that are required to go online to streamline applications for permits on imports and exports in line with the Duterte administration’s goal of improving the ease of doing business.

The TradeNet platform for traders that would also serve as the Philippines link to the ASW gateway was launched last December and is expected to minimize the costs of doing business and cut the processing time for the issuance of import and export permits.

Beltran said the Bureau of Customs (BOC) is set to identify five exporters who would pilot test TradeNet this month.

He added a team would do a demonstration on the Integrated Importer Accreditation Module that aims to simplify the accreditation process for importers.

“This module will later link accreditation records of regulatory agencies to the BOC records to form a full importer profile,” he said.