MANILA, Philippines–The Department of Trade and Industry is pushing for the creation for a “national trade repository” that will ensure a more transparent environment for trading and help reduce the cost of doing business in the Philippines.
At the same time, the development of the Philippine National Trade Repository (PNTR) will also support the country’s compliance with its international commitments, such as the Trade Facilitation Agreement under the Bali Package, which was adopted by the World Trade Organization in December last year.
In a statement issued Saturday, Trade Undersecretary Adrian S. Cristobal Jr. said the proposed PNTR would be a web-based portal that would provide a single source of comprehensive, accurate and current information on all trade matters.
“The establishment of the PNTR is an important component of the government’s trade facilitation strategy. It provides businesses easier access to information and facilitates their compliance with prescribed regulations. The PNTR will create a more transparent environment for trading and will help reduce the amount of transaction time and costs,” he said.
The PNTR is also envisioned to connect and interoperate with the national trade repositories of other Asean member states to create the Asean Trade Repository (ATR) under the Asean Trade in Goods Agreement (Atiga).
The PNTR is expected to be launched in 2015, as part of the country’s preparation for the forthcoming establishment of the Asean Economic Community.
The ATR will serve as a gateway of regulatory information at regional and national levels. It will carry, among others, information on tariff nomenclature; preferential tariffs offered under the Atiga; rules of origin; nontariff measures; national trade and customs laws and rules; documentary requirements; and list of authorized traders of the 10 Asean member states.
Once the ATR is fully functioning, businessmen, as well as government agencies and researchers, may access the information through the Internet, the Asean said.