Debated in Parliament on 3 Mar 2022.
Mr Leon Perera asked the Minister for Trade and Industry (a) whether the Ministry can provide status updates on the Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership (RCEP) in respect of the implementation of (i) tariff concessions and (ii) the Rules of Origin; and (b) when will further updates on the impact assessment of RCEP on Singapore be published.
The Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership (RCEP) Agreement has entered into force for 11 out of the 15 RCEP Parties. The Agreement entered into force on 1 January 2022 for 10 Parties, namely Australia, Brunei, Cambodia, China, Japan, Laos, New Zealand, Singapore, Thailand, and Viet Nam, and on 1 February 2022 for the Republic of Korea. The Agreement will enter into force for Malaysia on 18 March 2022.
On average, the RCEP Agreement will eliminate tariffs on about 92% of all goods traded amongst RCEP Parties. Not all products will enjoy tariff elimination immediately upon entry into force of the Agreement. Some of this will be done in a phased approach. The timeframe for this tariff elimination varies based on product and by RCEP Party. The details of tariff concessions provided by each RCEP Party can be found at: https://www.mti.gov.sg/Improving-Trade/Free-Trade-Agreements/RCEP.
Another benefit of the RCEP Agreement is that it provides a streamlined and common set of Rules of Origin for each product for all RCEP Parties, also known as Product Specific Rules. This allows businesses to save time and costs as they only need to meet a single rule of origin when exporting to the 15 RCEP countries. Companies will also be able to cumulate inputs from RCEP countries in order to enjoy preferential market access. These Product Specific Rules and cumulative rules of origin are implemented immediately upon the entry into force of the Agreement for the RCEP Party.
As RCEP has just entered into force, more time will be needed to analyse the impact of the RCEP Agreement on Singapore.
PAPERCUTS