[PHNOM PENH POST]
CAMBODIAN exporters ought to make further use of tariff-free entry to
the European Union, particularly given loosened regulations governing
rule of origin, EU officials said at a trade seminar yesterday.
Least
Developed Countries such as the Kingdom could export to the EU duty and
quota free, as long as the country manufactured 40 per cent of the
product’s value, officials said. Prior to January 2011, the bar was
higher, at 70 per cent.
“Using garments as an example, with the
old regulations, it was only possible to import raw material, but now
countries can import parts for the final product,” European Customs
administration officer Marie Louise Willemsen said.
The changes had been implemented in order to simplify the regulations and make them “more development-friendly,” she said.
As a Least Developed Country, Cambodia has benefited from the preferential scheme since March, 2001.
But
since the January 1 change in regulations, the Kingdom’s exports to the
EU had doubled on the same period last year, Delegation of the European
Commission ChargĂ© d’Affaires Rafael Dochao Moreno said.
“I would
like to see Cambod-ian exports to the EU diversify, as well as more
efforts by the Government of Cambodia towards trade facilitation to be
made,” Moreno said.
He added that the high cost of transiting goods via neighbouring countries remained a major impediment.
Another
obstacle to the advancement of trade between the Kingdom and the EU
were sanitation standards that had to be met, Willemsen said.
“With
the loosening of import regulations relating to fish, crustaceans and
molluscs, we will attempt to assist Cambod-ian authorities to achieve
the laboratory sanitation standards that are expected by the EU,” she
said.
Some foreign companies said the market access afford by the
Everything But Arms initiative had led them to set up Cambodia instead
of another country.
“We are a Japanese company, but operate here
[in Cambodia], as it is easier and cheaper to produce and transport
because of the larger labour force and these improved rules,” Kasuga
Tadashi, Director of footwear exporter Tiger Wing Company, said.
The
firm’s previous focus was the Japanese market, but intends to start
exporting to Europe next year due to the relaxed restrictions, he added.
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