Myanmar has waived over US$4.7
million of import tariffs on goods from Association of Southeast Asian
Nations (Asean) member countries.
The Ministry of Commerce said it has
given the tax relief from 2012-2013 to Asean countries that import goods
certified under the Asean Trade in Goods Agreement (ATIGA). The
agreement aims to liberalise and trade and investment in Asean with the
goal of reaching a single market base with free flow of goods by 2015.
In 2011, the ministry waived about
US$731,765 import tax for 318 ATIGA certifications, which is seven-fold
of the last year’s amount.
According to the ATIGA programme,
imports with approval certifications from Asean Free Trade Area,
Asean–China Free Trade Area, Asean Korea Free Trade, Asean Japan Free
Trade and Asean-Australia and New Zealand Free Trade are qualified for
duty relief in Myanmar.
The Border Trade Department under the
ministry is also issuing certifications at its offices in border towns
for imports of goods through border gates.
The Common Effective Preferential Tariff
Scheme, or CEPT, is a cooperative arrangement among ASEAN Member States
that will reduce intra-regional tariffs and remove non-tariff barriers
over a 10-year period commencing January 1, 1993. The goal of the Scheme
is to reduce tariffs on all manufactured goods to 0-5% by the year
2003. This will benefit Philippine exporters to ASEAN. The lower CEPT
rates make the country’s products cheaper in these markets, thus
stimulating greater demand. The increase in exports to ASEAN would
depend on the price elasticity of demand.
The CEPT Scheme is the main instrument
for making ASEAN a free trade area in ten (10) years. This means that
ASEAN Member States shall have common effective tariffs among themselves
in ASEAN Free Trade Area but the level of tariffs vis-à-vis non-ASEAN
countries shall continue to be determined individually.
source: Eleven Myanmar
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