A WCO Sub-regional Workshop on Advance Rulings and Origin Certification for ASEAN Member Customs administrations, funded by Customs Cooperation Fund (CCF) Japan, was conducted from 20 to 24 March 2017.  It was carried out at the WCO Regional Training Centre of Malaysia (Royal Malaysian Customs Academy - AKMAL), in close cooperation with Malaysian Customs and the ROCB AP and officially opened by welcoming remarks from the Deputy Director of AKMAL, Mr. Saidi bin Ismail.

The objective of this Workshop was to assist the ASEAN Member Customs administrations in increasing their institutional capacity to carry out origin work, including origin certification, and in developing an advance ruling system for origin, as required under the WTO Trade Facilitation Agreement (TFA).

Eighteen Customs officers from Cambodia, Indonesia, Malaysia, Myanmar, Philippines, Thailand and Vietnam participated in this Workshop, facilitated by the WCO Secretariat, and one WCO Accredited Experts from New Zealand.

During the Workshop, several presentations with respect to advance rulings and origin certification as well as tools and instruments developed under the Revenue Package were presented.  At the discussion session, all the participants had an opportunity to share views and experiences on their own advance ruling programme for origin and then discuss how to implement advance rulings in an efficient and effective manner.  They also actively participated in the discussion on possible way forward for ensuring proper origin controls, given the changing trends in origin certification systems.

At the end of the Workshop, all the participants shared the view that well-organized infrastructure including legislation, policy guidelines, procedures and staff with sufficient level of skills formed the basis for objective, predictable and transparent practices in the subject areas and recognized the importance of increasing their institutional capacity to carry out origin work in an efficient and effective manner.  They also shared the view that awareness raising of an advance rulings programme played an important role in ensuring a well-functioning self-certification systems.