Trade liberalisation through the elimination of tariff and non-tariff measures (NTMs) encourages greater trade and investment flows; creates new business opportunities and jobs in the Asia-Pacific; and contributes to APEC's goal of advancing free and open trade and investment in the region.
Established in 1998 by the
Committee for Trade and Investment (CTI), the Market Access Group's (MAG) mandate is to advance and integrate the CTI's objectives on tariffs and NTMs. These are two of the 15 specific areas outlined in the
Osaka Action Agenda through which APEC member economies are working to eliminate barriers to trade.
In order to involve business in its work, the MAG invites representatives from the business community, including the
APEC Business Advisory Council (ABAC), the International Centre for Trade and Sustainable Development (ICTSD), and the World Customs Organization (WCO), to its meetings and workshops.
The MAG also works with other APEC groups including: the
Sub-Committee on Standards and Conformance (SCSC); the
Group on Services (GOS); the
Energy Working Group / Expert Group on Energy Efficiency and Conservation [on environmental goods and services (EGS)]; and the
Sub-Committee on Customs Procedures (SCCP) and the
Electronic Commerce Steering Group (ECGS) [on simplifying documents and procedures relating to rules of origin].
Import Regulations and Business Information Links
The MAG has compiled a comprehensive set of links to import regulations and other business information in APEC member economies to make it easier for importers and exporters to access information before trading in the Asia-Pacific region. To access these links, simply click on the drop down menu below.
- Achievements
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The MAG supports the World Trade Organisation's on-going Doha Development Agenda and Non-Agricultural Market Access (NAMA) negotiations by sharing information on specific liberalization initiatives. The MAG has affirmed the importance of adhering to commitments made by the Information Technology Agreement (ITA) participants to provide duty-free treatment for products covered by the ITA. The MAG has been considering ideas to implement the instructions from APEC Leaders in 2011 to play a leadership role in launching negotiations to expand the product coverage and membership of the ITA.
In September 2011, the MAG held an “APEC Workshop on ITA – Then, Now, and In the Future.” The workshop participants noted the significant role played by the ITA in APEC economies and recommended that the CTI and other APEC groups (including the MAG) explore ways to contribute to advancing work on expanding the ITA. IT industries presented similar messages at an “ITA Dialogue” held in March 2011 and expressed their support for a quick launch and conclusion to a negotiation on expanding ITA product coverage.
Advancing trade in environmental goods and services (EGS) is another priority for the MAG. In 2008, the MAG helped develop the EGS Work Programme Framework. The objectives of the Framework are to support the development of the EGS sector in APEC and to provide a coherent setting for the work underway in various APEC bodies. The Framework has four components: (i) research and development, (ii) supply, (iii) trade, and (iv) demand. The EGS Work Programme is updated prior to every CTI meeting.
In 2009, the MAG helped the CTI develop several projects to facilitate trade in EGS, notably in launching the Environmental Goods and Services Information Exchange (EGSIE) website in November 2009. The EGSIE serves as a one-stop gateway to access and exchange EGS-related information. In 2011, a number of other EGS related activities were conducted by APEC, including an “APEC Seminar on Dissemination of Environmental Technologies” and a “Trade Policy Dialogue on Environmental Goods Non-Tariff Measures.”
In addition to the work on EGS, the MAG also conducted a series of workshops and initiatives on remanufacturing to enhance understanding of the benefits of the removal of trade barriers in remanufactured products. Recent activities included holding a “Workshop on Remanufacturing at the Border” in September 2011 which addressed issues such as how economies treated remanufactured products at the border, experiences of remanufacturing companies at the border, the characteristics of the remanufacturing industry, and the specific economic and environmental benefits of the industry. As a result of the MAG’s ongoing efforts on remanufacturing, in November 2011, Ministers agreed to facilitate trade in remanufactured goods by making existing and future measures applied to goods that are not newly-manufactured publicly available. Ministers also endorsed the APEC Pathfinder Initiative on Facilitating Trade in Remanufactured Goods, under which participating economies committed not to apply measures specifically concerning used goods to remanufactured goods. In March 2012, the MAG held a “Workshop on Remanufacturing R&D” that included site visits to remanufacturing facilities, which discussed the design, industrial processes, business processes, and proprietary technology used for remanufactured goods. The workshop participants highlighted that remanufactured goods were not simply repaired goods but were “as good as new,” including a period of warranty.
In 2009, the MAG also extensively discussed making ROO more business-friendly through the harmonization, cumulation, and simplification of documents and procedures. In particular, the discussion led to the voluntary analysis of ROOs in a number of sectors, including refrigerators, musical instruments, steel, bicycles, consumer electronics, sporting equipment, motor vehicles, parts, and accessories and hand tools. Additional analyses on machine tools and parts, and toys and games, were completed by MAG in May 2011.
The MAG endorsed the adoption of a set of APEC Elements for Simplifying Documents and Procedures Relating to ROOs which includes concepts such as reasonably long validity period, waivers of certificates of origin and declaration for low value shipments. The MAG collected information under these concepts. In the third MAG meeting held in Sendai, Japan in September 2010, the group also shared information on the implementation of the electronic certification of origin and discussed possible projects that addressed harnessing IT to ease documentation processing and procedures. Further information gathering on the APEC Elements of harnessing IT as well as minimum data requirements in FTAs was carried out by MAG in 2011 and their results were reported in 2012.
In 2010, Ministers welcomed the launch of the APEC Website on Tariffs and ROOs ("WebTR"). The objective of the WebTR is to improve access to, and the transparency of, tariffs and ROOs in APEC member economies. Specifically, the WebTR provides up-to-date and accurate tariff and ROOs information (in English, in almost all cases) of each APEC member economy. The MAG has been considering ways to expand and improve the functionality of the WebTR to make it more useful for the private sector.
In September 2010, the MAG successfully organized the "APEC/MAG Workshop on Non-tariff Measures (NTMs) and Non-Tariff Barriers (NTBs) Affecting Trade in Food and Agriculture Products in the APEC Region" that was held in Sendai, Japan. A number of themes emerged from the workshop, which included improving transparency by economies with respect to the NTBs/NTMs that they put in place, as well as engaging more closely with business. As a result of the workshop, the MAG agreed at its March 2011 meeting in Washington DC to adopt a new work stream on NTMs and NTBs affecting trade and agricultural products in the APEC region.
By undertaking these projects relating to trade facilitation in remanufactured products and in EGS, as well as adopting a set of APEC elements to simplify rules of origin, the MAG contributes to APEC's goal of accelerating regional economic integration (REI).
The MAG met three times in 2011. Its first meeting was in Washington DC, USA, in March; the second in Big Sky, Montana, USA, in May; and the third in San Francisco, USA, in September. The MAG had its first 2012 meeting in Moscow, Russia, in February 2012 and the second meeting in Singapore in March 2012.
At the third meeting in San Francisco, the MAG discussed the results of two surveys relating to simplification of documents and procedures: the first on the harnessing of IT in ROO and the second on minimum data requirements in FTAs. In the area of Environmental Goods and Services (EGS), the MAG received presentations from Mexico and Malaysia on their respective EGS case studies, which highlighted the value of those studies in helping their economies gain a better understanding of their EGS sectors and potential opportunities. There were continuing discussions on remanufactured goods, and a proposal on facilitating trade in remanufactured goods, consistent with the direction laid out by APEC Trade Ministers in May. The key elements of this proposal include capacity building, transparency and the APEC Pathfinder Initiative on Facilitating Trade in Remanufactured Goods that were incorporated into the 2011 APEC Ministerial Statement.
At its first 2012 meeting in Moscow, the MAG discussed potential initiatives that the MAG could take to support the multilateral trading system, including the WTO Information Technology Agreement (ITA) as instructed by APEC Leaders in 2011. The MAG agreed to hold an ITA dialogue with industry representatives and the APEC Business Advisory Council (ABAC) at the next MAG meeting in March 2012, in order to further understand business interests in ITA expansion. In the area of remanufacturing, the MAG discussed the ways to implement the Ministers’ instruction on transparency and capacity building on remanufacturing. The MAG agreed to hold a workshop on remanufacturing research and development at the next MAG meeting in March 2012.
At the second meeting in Singapore, the MAG discussed key messages from the ITA Dialogue and Remanufacturing R&D Workshop. Regarding the ITA, the MAG noted industry’s interest and support for a quick launch and conclusion to ITA expansion negotiations and the MAG members were encouraged to accelerate domestic consultations on it. With regards to the Remanufacturing R&D Workshop, the MAG noted messages from industry representatives that remanufactured goods should be treated as equivalent to new products in economies’ trade policies.
The MAG is also working closely with ABAC to garner more inputs from the business community. In response to a proposal from ABAC, MAG and the APEC Group on Services (GOS), the groups held a joint session in February 2012 on the theme “The Value of Embodied and Embedded Services in Manufacturing Competitiveness”. Other partnerships under consideration include working with multilateral organizations such as the International Centre for Trade and Sustainable Development (ICTSD) on EGS and the World Customs Organization (WCO) on ROOs - whose representatives attended and briefed the MAG meeting in March 2011 and February 2012.
The next MAG meeting will take place in Kazan, Russia, in May 2012.
Chris LANGLEY (Mr)
Chair
Deputy APEC Senior Official
Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade
New Zealand
Tel: +644 439 8394
Email:
Fadzilah Abu HASAN (Ms)
Program Director
APEC Secretariat
Email: