On 22-24 October 2019, the Department of Import and Export, Ministry of Industry and Commerce has organized training to trainers in implementing the system of certificates of origin of goods via electronic (Electronic Certificate of Origin Issuing System: e-CO) at the Aravan Riverside Hotel, Pakse City, Champasak Province. Furthermore, the event has published the ASEAN self-certify of the origin of goods for 8 provinces from central and southern of Laos. The Co-chair was Mr. Souliyon Philavong, Director General of the Department of Imports and Exports, Ministry of Industries and Commerce, with Mr. Sombath Senphansong, Head of Industry and Trade Division of Champasak. The training was participated by 69 participants and funded by the GIZ Related Project.
According to the Order in Improving Regulation and Coordination Mechanism for Business in Lao PDR, No. 02/PM, dated 01 February 2018, that has urged all parties to reform the process to be shorter procedures, faster services, and better facilitation in supporting doing businesses in Lao PDR. Therefore, the Department of Import and Export, Ministry of Industry and Commerce has developed e-CO system to facilitate entrepreneurs to reduce time, procedures and costs. In addition, the system can assist to improve better collecting data from the government.
The last updated e-CO system is the easiest way for entrepreneurs to obtain a Certificate of Origin (CO), where an entrepreneur can submit a CO application through the system and receive a document at the CO's Office within 01 business days. In the past, a completed document spent 2 business days in completing all processes and procedures. Thus, the updated e-CO systems can perform almost any task in issuing CO, such as filling in details, uploading documents and editing information through the system. In addition, the entrepreneurs can keep track of the status of their documents at all times and also provide useful information to both the authorities and the business, especially the export statistics. All data recorded in the system is well maintained and accessible at any time.
The self-sourcing certification under the ASEAN Pilot II program is an implementation of the entrepreneurs’ own origin certification and export based on rules and expirations of the program. This means that those who are eligible to issue their own Origin Certification can issue their own Invoice Declaration instead of the Form D Product Certificate issued by the CO. The purpose of verifying the origin of the goods itself is to facilitate the import and export of goods in the ASEAN countries as well as to promote the movement of goods in the region. Additionally, this activity can reduce the cost and time of entrepreneurs. Currently, the project is attended by 05 countries: Lao PDR, Indonesia, Philippines, Thailand, and Vietnam.
The training aims to strengthen the capacity building of trainees in the process of issuing CO through e-CO system and verifying their own origin of ASEAN products. After the trainees completed their training and become trainers, a trainer will contribute their knowledge and skills to their colleagues and entrepreneurs.
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