Inquiry into access to Free Trade Agreements by small and medium sized enterprise

Monday, June 4, 2018

On Thursday, 15 February 2018 the Joint Standing Committee on Foreign Affairs, Defence and Trade resolved to inquire into and report on Access to free trade agreements by small and medium sized enterprises. 

Freight & Trade Alliance (FTA) has lodged a submission with Inquiry Secretariat emphasising the role of customs brokers and freight forwarders in increasing Free Trade Agreement utilisation. 

FTA identifies the number one problem for small business and Free Trade Agreement utilisation is that to apply a Free Trade Agreement you must understand tariff classification. 
 
This is because importers and exporters need to know the tariff class to assess the general rate, the rate under the Free Trade Agreement, find any product specific rule of origin and apply the change in tariff class rule. 
 
Customs brokers are the professionals that understand tariff classification. The quality of their service is assured with a rigorous licensing system overseen by the Department of Home Affairs and the National Customs Broker Licensing Advisory Committee (NCBLAC) which is a statutory body under the Customs Act 1901.
 
Free Trade Agreement utilisation will only be improved by increasing access of small business to customs professionals. 
 
This could be achieved by: 
 
1.    Funding Free Trade Agreement export sessions by SMEs with licensed customs brokers;
2.    Subsidising Customs Broker services for certain eligible SMEs;
3.    Creating more awareness of the role of Customs Brokers within the SME export community.

For more information and to view our full submission please click HERE.
 

Acknowledging the support of Austrade

Last year the Australian Peak Shippers Association (APSA) won a grant from Austrade to deliver North Asian Free Trade Agreement professional development actvivities to FTA & APSA members. Our project was titled "Links in the Chain", recognising the importance of logistics service providers in FTA utilisation on exports. FTA was supported in this project by Hunt & Hunt Lawyers & Crowe Howarth. The project was also endorsed and supported by Business Enterprise Centre Australia (BECA) who promoted the training to their members nationally.
 

We are pleased to report that: 
 

  • Over 719 FTA TPG enrolments have been received in our online training portal;
  • 261 participants attended our face to face events in Melbourne, Brisbane and Sydney;
  • Our sessions scored an average of 4/5 in participant survey forms across Content, Presenter & Venue, in QLD and NSW, and 4.5 in Victoria; and
  • Over 356 participants were registered for our webinar events. 
 

It has been a significant body of work for us as a small team but we are very proud of the results and the feedback from our members and the broader international trade community has been overwhelmingly positive.
 

To view the free training content please visit www.compliancenetfta.com.au 


We would like to thank Austrade for their ongoing support and look forward to further collaboration in the future.


Travis Brooks-Garrett– FTA / APS