The Agreement Establishing the ASEAN-Australia-New Zealand Free Trade Area (AANZFTA) is a deal between ASEAN Member States (Brunei Darussalam, Cambodia, Indonesia, Laos, Malaysia, Myanmar, the Philippines, Singapore, Thailand and Vietnam), Australia and New Zealand.
The Australian Border Force (ABF) has issued Australian Customs Notice No. 2024/07 with the title, “AANZFTA Product Specific Rules of Origin – use of 2022 Harmonized System Nomenclature.”
It announces that, from 01 March 2024, an updated version of the AANZFTA Product-Specific Rules (PSR) will be used by AANZFTA parties. The PSRs use the nomenclature of the 2022 Harmonized System (HS). Where possible, AANZFTA Certificates of Origin (COO) documentation issued after 01 March 2024 for goods imported into Australia claiming to be AANZ originating goods should make use of HS 2022.
Transitional arrangements.
The ABF will continue to accept AANZFTA COOs issued with the former nomenclature, HS 2017, for goods imported into Australia issued prior to 01 March 2024. The importer must ensure that the goods are classified correctly using HS 2022 on the import declaration.
Where the HS 2017 PSR is used on an AANZFTA COOs issued after 01 March 2024 the importer should confirm whether that exporting party is still using HS 2017 on Certificate of Origin that it issues. The COO may be treated as acceptable if the origin of the goods is otherwise not in doubt.
In the situation where the exporting party is using HS 2022 in its COO, but the COO was issued in HS 2017, the importer should consider replacing the AANZFTA COO with the HS 2022 PSR.
Where an AANZFTA Certificate of Origin is issued or completed prior to 1 March 2024, and a back-to-back Certificate of Origin is issued or completed on or after 1 March 2024, the back-to-back Certificate of Origin should include the HS Code in HS 2022, even though the initial Certificate of Origin should use HS 2017 – subject to the above exceptions.
A copy of the PSR in HS 2017 will be accessible on the ABF AANZFTA web page under Product-Specific Rules of Origin in order to assist importers with this transition. However, no concordance table will be provided. Once all AANZFTA parties have transitioned to using HS 2022 on the Certificate of Origin, it is expected that there will be significantly limited situations where HS 2017 will be used on a Certificate of Origin.
The AANZFTA is a comprehensive and single-undertaking free trade agreement that opens up and creates new opportunities for approximately 663 million peoples of ASEAN, Australia and New Zealand – a region with a combined Gross Domestic Product of approximately USD 4 trillion as of 2016. In line with the ASEAN Community Vision 2025, the AANZFTA aims for sustainable economic growth in the region by providing a more liberal, facilitative and transparent market and investment regimes among the twelve signatories to the Agreement.
For related news on trade with ASEAN members, read our recent article, Greater Access for Exports to Thailand.
For more information about international trade and shipping, whether between AANZFTA members or elsewhere around the globe, contact us here at Colless Young. As licensed Customs Brokers and Freight Forwarders we offer correct, professional advice on all your transportation requirements. We are based in Brisbane and provide a complete range of logistics services, both airfreight and sea cargo, through all Australian ports and airports.
