ASEAN: Regional Trends in Economic Integration, Export ... - USITC

TABLE 2.8 Ease of trading across borders, 2009
Global
Rank (of
183)
Documents
to export
(number)
Time to
export
(days)
Cost to
export
(US$ per
container)
Documents
to import
(number)
Time to
import
(days)
Cost to
import
(US$ per
container)
Country or Region a
Singapore 1 4 5 456 4 3 439
Thailand 12 4 14 625 3 13 795
Malaysia 35 7 18 450 7 14 450
Indonesia 45 5 21 704 6 27 660
Brunei 48 6 28 630 6 19 708
Philippines 68 8 16 816 8 16 819
Vietnam 74 6 22 756 8 21 940
Cambodia 127 11 22 732 11 30 872
Laos 168 9 50 1,860 10 50 2,040
United States 18 4 6 1,050 5 5 1,315
East Asia and Pacific (average) 7 23 909 7 24 953
OECD (average) 4 11 1,090 5 11 1,146
Source: World Bank, Doing Business database, accessed April 20, 2010.
a No data available for Burma.
ASEAN members addressed trade facilitation to a limited extent in the 1990s, 81 but
increased their focus on it in the next decade 82 when they recognized that they would
need to reduce NTMs in order to enjoy the maximum benefits of tariff liberalization. 83
The ASEAN Trade Facilitation Work Programme (ATFWP), adopted in August 2008, 84
calls for an ambitious set of trade facilitation measures in areas including customs
modernization, simplified rules of origin, and harmonization of product standards and
technical regulations. 85 It also includes ASEAN’s most visible effort to facilitate trade:
establishment of the ASEAN Single Window (ASW). 86
ASEAN Single Window
ASEAN members’ senior economic officials have deemed the ASW “the single most
important initiative of customs that will ensure expeditious clearance of goods and reduce
the cost of doing business in ASEAN.” 87 ASEAN members signed the Agreement to
Establish and Implement the ASEAN Single Window (ASW Agreement) in December
2005. The agreement defines the ASW as “the environment where National Single
81 Examples of ASEAN work on trade facilitation in the 1990s include the ASEAN Agreement on
Customs (1997), the ASEAN Framework Agreement on the Facilitation of Goods in Transit (1998), and the
Agreement on the Recognition of Commercial Vehicle Inspection Certificates for Goods Vehicles and Public
Service Vehicles Issued by ASEAN Member Countries (1998).
82 For evidence of this increased focus on trade facilitation, see, for example, the Recommendations of
the High-Level Task Force on ASEAN Integration (2003), which call for numerous measures related to
customs and standards.
83 ASEAN Secretariat official, interview by USITC staff, Jakarta, Indonesia, March 1, 2010.
84 ASEAN Economic Ministers, “Joint Media Statement,” August 25–26, 2008.
85 Some of the measures are particularly important for specific sectors examined in this study. Please see
the profiles of ASEAN industries in chapters 3 through 8 for examples.
86 ASEAN, “ASEAN Trade Facilitation Work Programme 2007–2015, Revised 08 July 2009,”
July 8, 2009.
87 ASEAN Economic Ministers, “Joint Media Statement,” September 28, 2005.
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