Asean looks to 'Single Window'

 

ASEAN member countries are working on having one system that will help the region's exporters and importers deal with Customs electronically to boost trade.

The system, dubbed the Asean Single Window, is expected to take shape next year, Dagang Net Technologies Sdn Bhd chairman Datuk Dr Syed Muhamad Syed Abdul Kadir said.

Dagang Net is Malaysia's largest e-commerce service provider operating the "my TradeLink" system that benefits manufacturers, forwarders, shipping agents, terminal and port operators, banks, port authorities and Customs houses.

"We are working with other Asean countries and our single national window is an asset for the (development and implementation) of a regional window," Syed Muhamad said at a media briefing at the fifth ASEAL Summit Meeting (Asia Europe Alliance on Paperless Trade) in Kuala Lumpur yesterday.

Except for Cambodia, Laos, Vietnam and Myanmar, six other Asean member states have developed, or are already developing, their own national single window, he added.

The Asean secretariat had asked for Dagang Net's help to produce a framework to enhance paperless electronic Customs-related service.

"As in all international discussions, it will take time and there may be some delays, but the interest is everywhere."

Even South Africa and former Soviet states have expressed interest in developing the technology.

Dagang Net's "Sistem Maklumat Kastam-Dagang.Net" is linked to 454 Customs stations nationwide. It handles about RM1.8 billion worth of electronic Customs duty payments and about 275 million electronic document transfers a year.

Syed Muhamad said the company had invested RM18 million in its systems and people.

myTradeLink was implemented in September last year to expedite Customs clearance and reduce the time and costs involved.

Deputy International Trade and Industry Minister Datuk Mukhriz Mahathir, who launched the summit, said that Malaysia had conducted a technical feasibility initiative by electronically exchanging the preferential Certificate of Origin and Common Effective Preferential Tariff (CEPT) information between Malaysia, Indonesia and the Philippines.

Malaysia and Indonesia have been exchanging information since July last year, and with the Philippines since October.

"We are now confident that the Asean Single Window initiative can now be well positioned as an excellent platform to expedite the eventual massive flow of our products to the world market," Mukhriz said.

Together with Dagang Net, the government is pushing for paperless trade.

Mukhriz said it was important to explore the Asia-Europe International Single Window to process cross-border trading between 38 countries.

The Asia-Europe Alliance, an international organisation to develop and expand cooperation in paperless trade, includes members and observer economies such as France, Germany, South Korea, Taiwan, the UK, Canada, Tunisia, Finland, Norway, Sri Lanka and Ireland.