Chiang Mai, Thailand, 8 September 2011
Delegates from ASEAN Member States participated this week in the 4th Workshop on Legal Matters for the ASEAN Single Window (ASW), which will be followed by the 13th Meeting of the Working Group on Legal and Regulatory Matters for the ASW (LWG). As the ASW technical architecture begins to take shape, this workshop will support the development of an ASW Legal Framework Agreement (LFA).
ASEAN Member States agreed to establish their respective National Single Windows (NSWs) by 2012 and to connect them through a regional Single Window, a cornerstone of establishing the ASEAN Economic Community by 2015. Through a NSW, traders electronically submit forms for export, import, and transit procedures only once, and they are processed and cleared by multiple government agencies in a single integrated process. The ASW will provide a secure architecture that allows NSWs to exchange cargo clearance data electronically.
The Workshop aims, among others, to support the development of the LFA. As complex as the technical challenges of connecting and integrating NSWs are, establishing an effective legal environment at both regional and national levels is no less a daunting task. It is also recognised that a carefully structured LFA will play an important role in allaying the fears and providing the needed guidance to the business community to leverage on the advantages of the ASW.
Atty. Simplicio Domingo II, Chair of the LWG for the ASW, highlighted the importance of the Workshop to the work of the LWG in crafting the LFA. “We should aggressively push for the completion of the ASW Legal Framework taking the reference the fresh insights we have obtained from this Workshop while not losing sight too of the continuing and immediate task vested us by our Customs Directors-General to expedite the implementation of the adopted work programmes of the ASEAN Single Window Steering Committee (ASWSC), Working Group on Technical Matters for the ASEAN Single Window (TWG) and LWG and strengthen the cooperation and partnership with the trading community, towards the continued work on the NSW and ASW”, said Atty. Domingo.
In an electronic ASW environment there is a need to provide an adequate legal framework for data privacy, acceptance of electronic signatures, electronic data retention and archiving policies, and admissibility of electronic evidence in court proceedings.
Participants in the workshop, which was opened by Mrs Chawewan Kongcharoenkitkul, Principal Adviser on Duty Collection Management and Development at Royal Thai Customs, reviewed these concepts and had an opportunity to analyze implications of the recently-agreed technical architecture for the ASW Pilot Project on the LFA being developed by Member States. The LFA, once adopted, will set a common legal framework in ASEAN for the exchange of transaction data electronically.
While the LFA is being developed, Member States have signed a Memorandum of Understanding on the Implementation of the ASEAN Single Window Pilot Project, which sets the basic legal framework for the implementation of the ASW Pilot Project.
This U.S. support to ASEAN expands on existing assistance to establish an ASEAN Economic Community and promote economic integration in the region through the U.S. Agency for International Development and the U.S. State Department. The workshop was funded by USAID.
