AN ASEAN body is now discussing in Manila some schemes that would speed up the elimination of nontariff barriers (NTB) in intra-Asean trade in pursuit of the region’s integration into a single market by 2010.

Some 60 delegates from the Asean member-countries composing the Asean Consultative Committee on Standards and Quality (ACCSQ) will explore strategic approaches to address standards and conformity assessment as a way to do away with NTBs.

The different kinds of NTBs have been occupying the debates in the Asean as members use them to outwit each other so as to restrict the entry of goods from other countries in the region even with the already existing zero to five percent intra-Asean tariff regime.

A ranking trade official earlier commented that “some countries know how to use them (NTBs) and some know how to use them better.”

According to the planned integration of the Asean into a single market, the tariffs on all goods, except those in the general exclusion list such as rice and sugar, will be eliminated by 2010.

Consistent with the tariff elimination schedule under the Asean Free Trade Agreement-Common Effective Preferential Tariff (Afta-CEPT) scheme, tariffs should be at the zero to five percent level by 2010.

Member-countries, however, are now looking at NTBs like sanitary and phytosanitary measures and several standards and conformity policies as a way of protecting their respective domestic industries.

In hosting the ACCSQ meet, Trade Secretary Peter B. Favila said the country is showing that it is “committed in achieving the Asean goal of creating a stable, prosperous and highly competitive economic region that is well-integrated into the global economy.”

ACCSQ, Favila said, has been doing tremendous work to facilitate the elimination of technical barriers to trade among Asean members through the harmonization of national standards and mutual recognition arrangements (MRAs) on conformity assessment.

In its two-day meet in Manila that will end today, the body will facilitate the realization of the Asean Economic Community, which includes the finalization of the “Asean Policy Guideline on Standard and Conformance.”

This contains the guiding principles with focus on the harmonization of standards and the implementation of the relevant conformity assessment schemes for accelerating economic integration toward the Asean Economic Community.

The Manila meeting also intends to finalize the guide as well as the agreement on the application of the Asean Conformity Mark, which is the proposed regional third-party mark of conformity that indicates the product’s conformity to the Asean Harmonized Technical Regulations/Requirements to further facilitate the flow of goods in the region.

AN ASEAN body is now discussing in Manila some schemes that would speed up the elimination of nontariff barriers (NTB) in intra-Asean trade in pursuit of the region’s integration into a single market by 2010.

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