ASIA: Further import details revealed on Korea-Australia FTA
Details of how the Koreans will benefit from the recently signed Korea-Australia Free-Trade Agreement (FTA) have been admitted by Australia’s Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade.
The department has been somewhat coy in detailing exactly how Australian producers will be adversely affected by the recent free trade deal between Australia and Korea although it was very vocal in explaining the benefits to Australian exporters.
“The text of the Korea-Australia Free Trade Agreement is confidential to both parties until the document has been signed. The text of the agreement will be released publicly once the agreement has been signed,” reads a statement supplied by the Department to Lloyd’s List Australia.
Further correspondence from the Department reads: “the text is presently undergoing legal verification and translation. Once this process is complete, it will be signed and released publicly. The Australian government is working with Korea to sign as soon as possible."
It has been confirmed by the Department that Australia has offered Korea duty-free access for 90% of tariff lines on the FTA coming into force.
Tariffs on some motor vehicles will be eliminated on entry into force, while the remainder will be phased out over three years.
Australian tariffs will be phased out over varying periods for other goods, including automotive parts, plastics, steel, paper items, clothing and footwear.
Australia’s tariff on most of these goods is currently set at 5%, the Department added.
Source: Lloyds List
Report’s blueprint for Tasmania freight
Extension of the Tasmanian Freight Equalisation Scheme to cover international exports and the development of Burnie as the state’s principal domestic container port are amongst key recommendations of year-long Tasmanian freight study.
The 19-member Freight Logistics Coordination Team (FLCT)’s final report, offers 26 recommendations across five key areas which chairman Philip Marcus Clark says focus on long-term, sustainable outcomes addressing broad issues rather than “one part of the system”.
The FLCT, which comprised senior industry, infrastructure and peak body representatives was allocated a $1.5m budget as part of a $20m Canberra assistance package for Tasmanian exporters after the 2011 loss of international container service direct calls and the closure of Agility Shipping’s Bass Strait service.
The report also suggests road investment be focused on the Burnie-Devonport to Hobart freight corridor; commercial operation of TasRail’s above-rail services within five years; continued market-testing of commercial interest in providing a direct international container service to Tasmania; the possible privatisation of and/or private investment in certain state-government-owned assets and infrastructure; and the establishment of an ongoing public-private freight advisory group, as well as an expert advisory panel to assist small-to-medium freight users to improve their freight and supply chain outcomes.
Tasmania’s infrastructure minister David O’Byrne said a number of the recommendations would be implemented immediately, including completion of a Tasmanian Freight Strategy and formation of permanent high-level advisory and assistance groups.
Findings of the FLCT will be fed into the current review of Bass Strait freight and passenger services by the Productivity Commission.
Australia signs up to global trade deal
Australia is one of 159 nations that have signed up to the World Trade Organization’s Bali trade reform package.
It is hoped that the implementation of the reforms will streamline trade through ports and through the customs processes of all the signatory states.
The trade facilitation decision (the first ever multilateral agreement
negotiated in the WTO) is said to simplify customs procedures by reducing costs and improving speed and efficiency.
Objectives of the agreement – which will be legally binding – are: to speed up customs procedures; make trade easier, faster and cheaper; provide clarity, efficiency and transparency; reduce bureaucracy and corruption, and use technological advances.
It also has provisions on goods in transit, an issue particularly of interest to landlocked countries seeking to trade through ports in neighbouring countries.
The historic trade agreement will create more than 21m jobs, according to Australian trade and investment minister Andrew Robb.
"Despite some suggestions, the ministerial meeting [on December 7] was not about north-south differences.
"The overwhelming majority of WTO members wanted a result, and we got there," said Mr Robb.
"After 13 years of talks, the Bali outcome offers us a real opportunity to re-energise the WTO and get back to its core business of delivering trade liberalisation.
"The agreements adopted reaffirm the global commitment to eliminate agricultural export subsidies, address genuine food security needs through non-trade distorting policies, and to maximise export opportunities under tariff rate quotas," Mr Robb said.
Sri Lanka bans terminal-handling fees and surcharges
Sri Lanka has banned container lines charging terminal handling fees and other surcharges, following a similar move by Bangladesh.
Sri Lankan shippers will pay an all-in freight rate from January, nearly six years after their counterparts in Bangladesh started to enjoy such a policy.
“To prevent monopoly pricing in the shipping trade, no shipping line will be permitted to levy terminal handling and other charges in addition to freight and specified international charges for container cargo,” president Mahinda Rajapaksa, who is also Sri Lanka’s finance minister, said in the 2014 budget speech.
Mr Rajapaksa said that the prohibition will take effect through amendments to the country’s Finance Act from the beginning of 2014.
