The Customs
Department plans to completely overhaul its customs border checkpoints in
preparation for the launch of the Asean Economic Community in 2015.
Director-general Somchai Pulsawas said integration of the
Asean economies under the AEC is expected to result in a sharp increase in
cross-border trade.
Customs tariffs collected at the border checkpoints
currently account for 10% of total tariff collections or 10 billion baht a
year.
The most active checkpoint, accounting for half of total
border trade, is at Sadao in Songkhla province, along the Thai-Malaysian
border.
In any case, authorities project that total customs
revenues could fall by 10% from current levels by 2015 due to reductions in
import tariffs under current trade liberalisation commitments.
Customs revenue after 2015 is expected to decline even
more despite projections of increased intra-regional trade, as import tariffs
within the Asean bloc are due to be cut to no more than 5%.
The Customs Department operates 46 customs border
checkpoints, with plans to build new ones or improve existing offices at several
locations nationwide.
These include in Uttaradit along the Lao border, in Yala
along the Malaysian border and in Kanchanaburi to support Thai-Myanmar trade.
The department recently completed improvements to enlarge
existing facilities in Narathiwat and Songkhla provinces.
Asean members have also committed to easing customs
procedures under the AEC including the establishment of "single
inspection" points to facilitate customs clearance.
The single inspection process will first be used with
Asean countries along the Mekong river _ Cambodia, Laos, Myanmar, Vietnam and
Thailand _ where goods are inspected only once at the border of entry for
import.
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