Australia Expands Online FTA Portal

by Mary Swire, Tax-news.com, Hong Kong

02 May 2017

The Australian Government is now providing information on exporting to an additional nine overseas markets covered by free trade deals.

Its FTA Portal is a resource for exporters and importers looking to explore the benefits of Australia's free trade agreements (FTAs). The portal helps businesses to obtain accurate information about tariffs for their products under the given FTA, and on their eligibility for specific FTAs. It also offers import market data relating to their products, and general information relating to each of the agreements.

Trade Minister Steven Ciobo said that information is now available on Singapore, Thailand, Indonesia, Vietnam, the Philippines, Brunei, Cambodia, Myanmar, and Laos. Together these markets represented almost AUD75bn (USD56.5bn) in two-way trade for Australia in 2015-16.

The portal already covers Australia's FTAs with China, Japan, South Korea, Malaysia, and New Zealand. Ciobo said that the portal will soon encompass all of Australia's FTAs, with the US and Chile to be added later this year.

Ciobo added that the latest update to the portal also includes an interactive tool, which will help businesses determine whether a bilateral or plurilateral FTA offers the best access to a given export market.

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