Trade Digest
Vol. 2 Issue 8
22 April 2015
Thailand Signs Protocol 7 of the ASEAN
Goods in Transit Agreement
On 24 February 2015, Mr. Sommai Phasee,
Thailand’s Minister of Finance, signed Protocol 7 of
the ASEAN Framework Agreement on the
Facilitation of Goods in Transit (AFAFGIT) and its
technical annex on rules and customs procedures.
This ended the long-awaiting speculation on when
the Protocol would be ready for signing after years
of negotiations and revisions among ASEAN
members. Mr Sommai stated that signing Protocol
7 showcased Thailand’s steadfast intent in
honoring its commitments to becoming part of the
ASEAN Community by the end of 2015.
The CCA essentially allows only one customs
inspection for adjoining countries in the Greater
Mekong Sub-region (GMS) countries including
Thailand, instead of the usual two inspections in
the inbound and outbound countries. Currently,
Thailand has the Mukdahan Customs Border
practicing CCA inspection while other borders will
follow shortly. With these developments,
transporting goods in transit will be better
facilitated which ultimately saves time and
resources for all stakeholders.
The AFAFGIT is comprised of 9 Protocols in
total but Protocol 7 remains key in rendering the
effectiveness of the Agreement not only because it
allows the transit transportation to take place
among ASEAN countries but also because it
mandates the rules and customs procedures that
business operators have to follow in order to
engage in such transportation, enabling easier and
more efficient transportation of goods to more
than one ASEAN country.
In parallel to signing Protocol 7, Thailand
also issued many domestic regulations, one of
which is the Customs Notification on customs
transit in March 2015 as reported in previous
Trade Digest articles. Another such regulation is
the Customs Act (No 22) B.E. 2557 (2014) which
stipulates the Common Control Area (CCA) practice
for Thailand and its neighboring countries, in
accordance with the domestic Cross Border
Facilitation law and related international
agreements between Thailand and other countries.
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