Brunei On Target To Achieve APEC Goals
By CT Hj Mahmod

Bandar Seri Begawan - Brunei's progress towards achieving Asia Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) free and open trade targets in eliminating all tariffs is right on track, according to the Individual Action Plan (IAP) Peer Review for Brunei Darussalam 2005.

Currently, 79 per cent of Brunei's import tariff lines or 5,130 out of 6,489 lines are already at zero and the average applied rate is lower than two per cent.

In a report on Brunei's IAP Review, Dr. Tze-Wei Chen, an independent expert from National Taiwan Normal University, who attended the IAP Review Session of Brunei, stated that Brunei's progress in the tariff issue of 2004 JAY is cumulatively substantial.

However, there still exist some areas where further action could be taken such as further progress in privatisation, simplification and transparency of quarantine and customs inspection, creation of a more favourable environment to foreign investors and more transparent procedures in introducing new regulations.

Attending the IAP Peer Review Session of Brunei held early March in Seoul, South Korea were Brunei officials from various ministerial departments, including Industry and Primary Resources, Development, Health, and the Attorney General Chambers as well as other APEC member economies.

The IAP of APEC member economies is intended to document the economy's progress towards achieving the trade and investment liberalisation and facilitation components of APEC goals set out in the Bogor Declaration of 1994.

Thirteen specific areas were considered in the IAP Peer Review Study Report on Brunei, highlighting the progress and best practices towards the achievement of Bogor goals.

On Non-Tariff Measures (NTM), Brunei authorities maintained that NTMs are required to protect health, safety, security, environment and religion. It appears there is a marginal decline on the current NTM for Brunei when compared to the 2001 IAP and the WTO trade policy review.

It was reported in the IAP review that the country is in the process of formulating a set of competition policies related to consumer protection, fair trade and monopoly.

The Price Control Act was described as a "very unique feature" of Brunei's law governing the functioning of the market, which covers market activities such as control of movement, export and import of specified goods.

On Deregulation/ Regulatory Review based on the given report by the Attorney General Chambers, Brunei is at the initial stage of forming laws and regulations.

One of the issues that was highlighted related to the transparency of regulatory regimes and the discrepancy government officials have in terms of approach, timeframe and other elements in the administrative procedure.

Other areas that were tabled during the session included services, investments, standards and conformance, customs procedures, intellectual property rights, government procurement, implementation of WTO obligations, dispute mediation and mobility of business people. -- Courtesy of Borneo Bulletin

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