Dubbed as the ASEAN Consultation to Solve Trade and Investment Issues or ACT, the facility is an Internet-based problem solving network where the private sector can channel their operational problems encountered in the implementation of CEPT.
Envisaged to form a network of government focal points, ACT is for use by business operators and other government agencies as a non-legal and non-binding mechanism to be able to expeditiously resolve operational problems of the regional business community.
Trade and Industry Officer-in-Charge Thomas G. Aquino said trade ministers across ASEAN as well as other regional trade blocs very much welcome the progress of the establishment and implementation of ACT.
"The trade facility, which aim is to support the creation of a pro-business environment within ASEAN, will allow our private sector to cut through red tape and achieve speedy resolution for their operational problems related to cross-border ASEAN trade and investment issues," Aquino said.
The launching of the facility is scheduled today, July 15.
The ACT facility directly links the national administrations of ASEAN member countries via their National AFTA Units (so-called National ACTs) through a shared online database overseen by the AFTA unit of the ASEAN Secretariat.
In the Philippines, DTI’s Bureau of International Trade Relations (BITR) serves as the National ACT.
Complaints can be lodged with the BITR.
The BITR will then vet the complaint and if considered worthy of follow-up, will pass the complaint to the National ACT of the ASEAN member country in which the infringement seems to have taken place (the so-called Lead Act).
Where the Lead Act agrees that further investigation is required, the complaint becomes an ACT case.
Clients can monitor the progress of a given case via the online ACT database.
A deadline for the resolution of the case is indicated by the database, which is also monitored by the AFTA unit of the ASEAN Secretariat until such time a solution has been found.
The establishment of the ACT facility is one of the commitments set under the Second Declaration of ASEAN Concord (Bali Concord II) on recommendations of the ASEAN’s High Level Task Force.
The ASEAN-European Union Program for Regional Integration Support or APRIS provides technical assistance and expertise to the implementation of the ACT, which was modeled after the EU SOLVIT mechanism.
The EU SOLVIT mechanism was established under the Single Market Action Plan of 1997 and Communication on Effective Problem Solving in the Internal Market.