Customs Broker Licensure Exam Review 2026: Tariff Laws - Day 02

Vocabulary flashcards reviewing ASEAN, trade agreements, ATIGA, CEPT, AHTN, BIMP-EAGA, RCEP, and related customs and tariff conventions for the Customs Broker Licensure Exam Review 2026.

Free Trade Agreement (FTA)

A negotiated arrangement to reduce trade barriers and increase trade of goods and services between participating countries.

Economic Partnership (EP) Agreement

An economic arrangement between Parties to eliminate barriers to the free movement of goods, services and investments.

Multilateral Trade Agreement (MTA)

Trade agreements between many nations at one time that level the playing field by treating all nations equally (e.g., GATT-WTO, The Doha round of trade agreements).

Regional Trade Agreement (RTA)

Trade agreements similar to multilateral trade agreements involving many participants, but limited only to participants in a specific geographical area or region (e.g., ATIGA / AFTA).

Bilateral Trade Agreement (BTA)

An agreement between two sides, where each side could be a country, a trade bloc, or an informal group of countries (e.g., PJEPA, ACFTA Agreement).

Major Components of an FTA and EP Agreement

Trade in Goods, Trade in Services, Investments, and Other Areas of Cooperation.

Trade in Goods Agreement

The primary agreement concerning the reduction of regional tariffs that contains a set of criteria to determine the country of origin of a good and guidelines to determine eligibility for preferential tariff treatment.

Founding Fathers of ASEAN

The Ministers of Indonesia, Malaysia, the Philippines, Singapore, and Thailand who established ASEAN on 08 August 1967 in Bangkok, Thailand, by signing the ASEAN Declaration (Bangkok Declaration).

11 Member States of ASEAN Integration Timeline

Founding Member States (08 August 1967: Indonesia, Malaysia, Philippines, Singapore, Thailand); Brunei Darussalam (07 January 1984); Viet Nam (28 July 1995); Lao PDR and Myanmar (23 July 1997); Cambodia (30 April 1999); East-Timor (26 October 2025).

H.E. DR. KAO KIM HOURN

The ASEAN Secretary-General from Cambodia, appointed by the ASEAN Summit based on alphabetical order for a period of 5 years starting January 01, 2023, based in Jakarta, Indonesia.

ASEAN Summit

Meetings where heads of government of each Member State meet to discuss and resolve regional issues and conduct meetings with countries outside the region; held twice a year starting in 2007.

47th ASEAN Summit

Held from October 26–28, 2025, in Kuala Lumpur, chaired by Malaysia under the theme 'Inclusivity and Sustainability', featuring East-Timor as the newest member.

ASEAN 2026 Philippine Chairship Theme

"NAVIGATING OUR FUTURE, TOGETHER"

Strategic Priorities of ASEAN 2026 Philippine Chairship

1. Peace and Security Anchors
2. Prosperity Corridors
3. People Empowerment

The ASEAN Community

Established following the resolution of ASEAN Leaders at the 9th ASEAN Summit in October 2003 to improve the lives of all people of Southeast Asia.

Three Pillars of the ASEAN Community

1. ASEAN Political-Security Community
2. ASEAN Economic Community
3. ASEAN Socio-Cultural Community

The ASEAN Charter

A legally binding agreement providing the legal status and institutional framework for ASEAN to achieve the ASEAN Economic Community; entered into force on 15 December 2008.

ASEAN Economic Community (AEC) Blueprint 2025

Strategic roadmap adopted by ASEAN Leaders at the 27th ASEAN Summit in November 2015 to transform ASEAN into a single market and production base fully integrated into the global economy.

ASEAN Community Vision 2045

Officially titled 'ASEAN 2045: Our Shared Future', a 20-year strategic roadmap anchored on four primary pillars: Politically Cohesive, Economically Integrated, Socially Responsible, and Rules-Based and People-Oriented.

ASEAN Trade Facilitation Framework (ATFF)

Framework adopted in 2016 expanding upon the WTO TFA (Customs Procedure + Transparency of Trade Regulations) to include Standards, Transport Facilitation, ECommerce, and regional initiatives like ASEAN Single Window, ACTS, ATR/NTR, and ASSIST.

Common Effective Preferential Tariff (CEPT) Scheme

The main mechanism for the realization of AFTA; an agreed preferential tariff applied to goods originating from and traded between ASEAN Member States, covering all products except unprocessed agricultural products (signed 28 January 1992 in Singapore).

ASEAN Free Trade Area (AFTA)

Free trade area agreed upon during the 4th ASEAN Summit in Singapore in 1992 by the ASEAN 6 to increase ASEAN's competitive edge, liberalize trade, and attract more foreign direct investment.

e-ASEAN Framework Agreement

Agreement signed during the 4th ASEAN Informal Summit (22–25 November 2000, Singapore) to enhance ICT sector competitiveness, promote public-private cooperation, and liberalize trade in ICT products, services, and investments.

ASEAN Integration System of Preferences (AISP) Scheme

Scheme under the Initiative for ASEAN Integration (IAI) starting 01 January 2002 where original ASEAN Member States voluntarily offer preferential tariffs lower than normal ATIGA rates to newer CLMV countries.

ASEAN Framework Agreement for the Integration of Priority Sectors

Signed by Leaders on 30 November 2004 in Vientiane, Lao PDR (amended 08 December 2006 in Cebu) to enable the progressive, expeditious, and systematic integration of 12 priority sectors.

12 Priority Sectors in ASEAN

(i) Agro-based products, (ii) Air travel, (iii) Automotives, (iv) e-ASEAN, (v) Electronics, (vi) Fisheries, (vii) Healthcare, (viii) Rubber-based products, (ix) Textiles and apparels, (x) Tourism, (xi) Wood-based products, (xii) Logistics.

ASEAN Trade in Goods Agreement (ATIGA)

Signed on 26 February 2009 at Cha-am, Thailand, and entered into force on 17 May 2010; enhances and consolidates all provisions of the CEPT-AFTA Scheme and relevant ASEAN economic agreements.

ASEAN Harmonized Tariff Nomenclature (AHTN)

An 8-digit commodity nomenclature based on the WCO HS created to establish uniformity of product classification in ASEAN, administered by the Protocol signed on 07 August 2003 in Manila.

ASEAN Plus Three (APT) Cooperation

Established in 1997 as a forum for cooperation between ASEAN and China, Japan, and South Korea, operating under the APT Cooperation Work Plan 2023–2027 based on ASEAN Centrality.

BIMP-EAGA

Brunei Darussalam–Indonesia–Malaysia–Philippines East ASEAN Growth Area; a subregional economic cooperation initiative launched in 1994 covering roughly 1.6 million square kilometers (>60% of total land area of participating countries).

Five Strategic Pillars of BIMP-EAGA

1. Connectivity
2. Agribusiness
3. Tourism
4. Environment
5. Sociocultural & Education

BIMP-EAGA Regional Development Advisor

Asian Development Bank (ADB)

Priorities of BIMP-EAGA Vision (BEV) 2035

1. Climate-Smart Agro-Industry & Fisheries
2. Sustainable Tourism
3. Digitalization & The Blue Economy

Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership (RCEP)

A free trade agreement signed on 15 November 2020 to broaden and deepen ASEAN's engagement with Australia, China, Japan, Korea, and New Zealand, updating coverage of existing ASEAN+1 FTAs.