National Chamber to conduct seminar on TIP Sri Lanka

A seminar on the Trade Information Portal (TIP) Sri Lanka will be held on Tuesday, December 10, 2019, from 9:00 a.m. to 12:30 p.m., at the National Chamber Auditorium, 450, D.R. Wijewardene Mawatha, Colombo 10.

Commerce Department Deputy Director Premathilake Jayakody, International Trade Centre (ITC) Consultant to TIP Kanchanee Seneiratne and ITC Consultant to TIP Fowzer Mohammed Fiyaz will be the resource persons.

There will be a panel discussion headed by ITC National Project Coordinator Dr. Dayaratne Silva and Commerce Department Deputy Director Premathilake Jayakody and GIZ SME Development Programme Senior Advisor Hasitha Wijesundara.

The target audience will be all exporters and importers, trading community and those who are involved in export and import. This session will be ideal to get updated with all the details related to export and import regulations.

In parallel to the National Single Window, it is expected to implement the TIP in Sri Lanka, which would help generate trade and investment in the country. The trade portal is a web-based portal system and it will make all cross-border trade regulatory information available at a stroke of a key. The information include all laws, prohibitions, restrictions, technical standards, entire commodity classification and tariffs, all procedures for licence and permit application and clearance, in plain language instructions.

Information pertaining to government ministries and agencies, Customs, regulatory authorities, Ports Authority and Standards Institution will be included in the TIP. As per the studies already conducted, Sri Lanka TIP will carry approximately 69 acts and circulars, 120 gazette notices, 23 guidelines, 176 measures, 186 procedures, 225 forms and 50 information pages. It is noteworthy, that Sri Lanka is having approximately 788 regulatory documents to be uploaded to the TIP and it is only second to Vietnam TIP, having 1665 such documents.

Countries such as Bangladesh, Lao, Cambodia, Malawi, Lesotho, Botswana and Nepal have also implemented their TIPS by now. The World Bank Group would assist Sri Lanka both technically and financially in implementing the TIP and the Government of Sri Lanka, having the Commerce Department under the Industry and Commerce Ministry, will take the primary responsibility of the sustainability of the TIP.

The cross-border trading community, specially the private sector, would be greatly benefitted by this TIP and the Commerce Department launched the TIP in the second half of 2018.

The TIP will help save both time and money, reduce error and improve transparency and transaction times to a great extent. The TIP will make easier for traders to comply with the regulatory requirements by having access to such regulatory procedures on the portal. Further, it would be a great opening for small and new exporters.

For further details, those interested may contact the National Chamber on 011 4741788 (Dilrukshi/ Nirmani) or email nishanthi@nationalchamber.lk/ nirmani@nationalchamber.lk.