History

The road of ASEAN-wide Self-Certification (AWSC) started since the 23rd AFTA Council in Bangkok on 13 August 2009, in Thailand. The meeting endorsed the “Work Plan Toward Operationalisation of Self-Certification”. Following the endorsement, the First Self-certification Pilot Project (SCPP1) started in November 2010 with three Participating Member States, namely Brunei Darussalam, Malaysia, and Singapore before being joined by Cambodia, Myanmar, and Thailand. Meanwhile, the Second Self-Certification Pilot Project (SCPP2) kicked off on 1 January 2014 with three initial Participating Member States of Indonesia, Lao PDR, the Philippines and later joined by Thailand and Viet Nam.  

The AWSC Scheme was initially agreed by the 26th AFTA Council Meeting to be implemented by 2015 before being extended to 2016 by 29th AFTA Council Meeting.  Noting that there were several issues remaining including the resolution of the remaining 7 key areas of differences between the 1st and 2nd Self-Certification Pilot Projects, the subsequent domestic processes which would include amendments to the ATIGA and its OCP, as well as the ratification of the amendments to ATIGA. The First Protocol to amend the ATIGA to allow ASEAN-wide Self-Certification (AWSC) was signed on the 22 January 2019, in Hanoi, Viet Nam. Following the full ratification of the Protocol by the ASEAN Member States on 21 August 2020, the AWSC scheme has been implemented since 20 September 2020 across the region.