A WCO Sub-regional Workshop on Technical Update of Rules of Origin for ASEAN Member Customs Administrations was conducted from 5 to 9 June 2017, in Bangkok, Thailand. It was carried out in close cooperation with the ASEAN Secretariat and the Thai Customs Department.
The objective of this Workshop was to support the ASEAN Member Customs administrations in increasing their institutional capacity to carry out origin work, specifically assisting them to technically update the Product Specific Rules (PSRs) to the latest edition of the Harmonized System (HS), using the “WCO Guide for the Technical Update of Preferential Rules of Origin”.
Twenty-six Customs officers dealing with origin and/or HS classification from ASEAN Members countries, as well as representatives from the ASEAN Secretariat and the WCO ROCB-A/P, participated in this Workshop, which was facilitated by two origin and classification experts from the WCO Secretariat.
During the Workshop, the “WCO Guide for the Technical Update of Preferential Rules of Origin” was explained and there were presentations on the “HS 2017 Amendment and its impact” and on the implementation of HS 2017 in ASEAN Member countries. Participants of two administrations shared their experiences with the updating of Preferential Rules of Origin. All participants worked on a series of basic and practical exercises in the technical update of rules of origin of the ASEAN Trade in Goods Agreement (ATIGA) Product Specific Rules (PSRs). Furthermore, they worked in groups and in the final session the complete updated table was reviewed.
At the end of the Workshop, the participants shared the view that it was very useful to understand how to apply the method for transposition of the PSRs taking into account the nature of the HS amendments. The representatives of the ASEAN Secretariat highlighted the importance of updating the Preferential Rules of Origin and suggested that the scope of the Workshop should be expanded in order to include other FTAs in the future.
14/06/2017