The vast majority of trade agreements contain rules of origin to prevent third parties from freeing up the sacrifices these parties have made. These rules determine who can claim the benefits of a particular agreement and under what circumstances those parties can do so. The management of THE AFTA is managed by the national customs and trade authorities of each ASEAN member. The ASEAN secretariat is authorized to monitor and ensure compliance with AFTA`s measures, but it does not have the legal authority to enforce them. This has led to inconsistent decisions taken by the ASEAN national authorities. The ASEAN Charter aims to strengthen the capacity of the ASEAN secretariat to ensure consistent implementation of AFTA`s measures. The AFTA agreement was signed in Singapore on 28 January 1992. When the AFTA agreement was originally signed, ASEAN had six members: Brunei, Indonesia, Malaysia, the Philippines, Singapore and Thailand. Vietnam joined the country in 1995, Laos and Myanmar in 1997 and Cambodia in 1999. The AFTA now includes the ten ASEAN countries. The four laggards had to sign the AFTA agreement for ASEAN membership, but were given longer delays in complying with THE AFTA tariff reduction obligations. Under ATIGA, products are considered to originate from the Member State in which the goods were processed or processed. This is determined by compliance with at least one of the following conditions: under ATIGA, products classified as « original products » are allowed to benefit from tariff reductions.
This new analysis proposes to examine two key areas, including port facilities and competitiveness in Internet services. According to the report, reforms in these areas could increase ASEAN trade by 7.5% ($22 billion) and 5.7% ($17 billion). On the other hand, a reduction in tariffs on all ASEAN members on the South-East Asia regional average would increase intra-regional trade by about 2% ($6.3 billion). [12] Efforts to close the development gap and expand trade among ASEAN members are essential elements of the political debate. According to a 2008 research mandate published by the World Bank as part of its « Trade Costs and Relief » project,[11] ASEAN members have the potential to reap significant benefits from investment in new trade facilitation reforms, as a result of the important customs reform already implemented by the ASEAN Free Trade Agreement. Currently, the ASEAN Merchandise Trade Agreement (ATIGA) – ASEAN`s main agreement on reducing regional tariffs – contains a number of criteria used to determine the country of origin of a commodity, as well as guidelines for determining whether certain products receive preferential tariff treatment.