Financial Express, India

Bimstec FTA needs to cross one more river

AMITI SEN & HUMA SIDDIQUI

2 February 2006

NEW DELHI, FEB 1: The proposed India-Bimstec (Bangladesh, India, Myanmar, Sri Lanka, Nepal and Bhutan) free trade agreement to be implemented from July 1 2006 has to cross one last hurdle.

An agreement has to be reached on a list of items which will enjoy preferential rules of origin (ROO).

All items in preferential ROO list will not have to subscribe to the stringent ROO norms that will be applied on other items traded under the FTA.

ROO refers to the criteria which determines whether a good originates from a member country that is part of the regional agreement and should get preferential tariff treatment.

India, too, has to finalise its list of items for preferential ROO. The expert committee on preferential ROO in India comprising officials from the government and industry representatives, which will meet later this week, will work on this issue.

Speaking to FE, industry sources said that a preferential ROO list is required as members feel that all products cannot satisfy the requirements of a twin ROO criteria which calls for not only substantial value addition to imported inputs but also makes physical changes (change in tariff heading) mandatory.

The list, however, cannot be too big for any country as giving concessions on ROO could lead to third country imports flowing into the markets of member countries on preferential terms.