Haji Gapar, Chairman, ACCSQ

Heads of Delegation of ASEAN member countries

Ladies and Gentlemen

Good morning

First of all, let me wish all of you a very warm welcome to Singapore. SPRING is pleased to host the 22^nd ACCSQ meetings in Singapore.

The ACCSQ marks its 10^th anniversary this year. It has made good progress in achieving its objective of reducing technical barriers to trade. Its achievement milestones include:

• the signing of the ASEAN sectoral mutual recognition agreement for electrical and electronic equipment in April 2002;
• the two-year pilot implementation of the ASEAN common technical dossier and common technical requirements for the pharmaceutical sector; and
• the agreement to sign and set up a harmonised regulatory scheme for the cosmetic sector in September this year.

All of these bring ASEAN closer to its common vision of achieving economic integration of member countries. The idea of an ASEAN Free Trade Area (AFTA) was first mooted in January 1992. The aim is to integrate the ASEAN economies into a single production base and create a regional market of some 500 million people. To realise this vision, ASEAN members identified the critical prerequisites, one of which was to reduce and remove technical barriers to trade.

Our governments agreed to first work towards reducing tariff rates on a wide range of products traded within the region. Under the common effective preferential tariff scheme, ASEAN economic ministers agreed to bring tariff rates down to not more than 5%. For the ASEAN 6, comprising Brunei Darussalam, Indonesia, Malaysia, the Philippines, Singapore and Thailand, 2002 was set as the target year to achieve this tariff reduction. From an average tariff rate of 12.76% when the exercise first started in 1993, the average tariff rate has now been pared down to 2.39%.

For the other four ASEAN economies, the target years for achieving the tariff rate reduction were staggered. Vietnam is expected to realise it in 2006, Laos and Myanmar in 2008 and Cambodia in 2010. With tariff rates for ASEAN 6 significantly reduced, the next step is to reduce technical barriers to trade. One key area is to harmonise product standards and the related conformance activities of testing and certification. ACCSQ was initiated in 1992 to do just that. I am told that ACCSQ is one of the most active committees in ASEAN. Its achievements testify to that. I take this opportunity to congratulate the chairman and members of the ACCSQ for its achievements.

It is encouraging to note that six member countries have officially notified the ASEAN Secretariat of their intention to participate in the sectoral mutual recognition agreement (MRA) for electrical and electronic equipment. We encourage more members to participate and hope that all will do so by 2004. This sector has the highest trade volume, both in terms of trade within ASEAN and between ASEAN member states and other countries in Asia, North America and Europe.

An MRA on product registration approval for cosmetics will take effect in September when the agreement on the ASEAN harmonised cosmetic regulatory scheme is signed. Some headway has also been made to draw up MRAs for the pharmaceutical and prepared foodstuff sectors. The working groups on MRAs for these two sectors have started their discussions. I encourage these groups to move quickly to complete their work.

In the area of harmonisation of standards, work on aligning the national standards for 20 priority products with 59 international standards is nearing completion. These products were identified as priority goods as they are the most widely traded in the region. They include consumer products, such as radios, television sets, refrigerators, air conditioners and telephones. I am pleased to note that this initiative will be completed this year. This strategy helps not only to facilitate intra-ASEAN trade, but more importantly, to gain international market access for ASEAN products.

I understand that in addition to this, ACCSQ has embarked on the harmonisation of another 72 standards related to safety and 10 standards related to electromagnetic compatibility of products. It will be good for ACCSQ to complete this as soon as possible.

Let me take this opportunity to share with you a new area of work that SPRING initiated two months ago as a result of the SARs outbreak. When you arrived at Changi international airport, you must have walked by a thermal imager that was set up to screen travellers for fever. Such imagers are being used at Singapore air, land and sea checkpoints as well as in airports in HongKong, Beijing and Phnom Penh.

SPRING, in consultation with industry and users, has been actively testing various types and brands of thermal imagers and qualifying them. We worked with manufacturers, suppliers and users to develop the test methods. To formalise the experience gained, SPRING embarked on the development of a Singapore Technical Reference on Thermal Imagers. We intend to work towards making this technical reference the international standard on thermal imagers for temperature screening. I am pleased to inform you that the draft technical reference has just been released for public consultation

The development of the technical reference has deliberately been made an open process. When SPRING formed the Technical Committee in late May, we invited participation from ASEAN members and ASTM International. I would like to thank Malaysia for its participation. SPRING looks forward to the participation of other member countries. We will be sharing our experience to date with ACCSQ members in a meeting to be held later in the day.

I would also like to thank member countries that sent participants to our recent national conference on thermal imagers for fever screening. The conference provided an opportunity for medical doctors, research and development personnel, manufacturers, users and other stakeholders to share information about thermal imagers for fever screening.

The ACCSQ has worked hard to remove technical barriers to trade. I urge you to continue with the excellent work done and to explore new areas to help make us truly a common regional market of 500 million people.

On this note, I wish all of you a successful and fruitful meeting ahead.

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