How COVID-19 Stressed the Importance of Electronic COO?

Though electronic export documentation has been around for many years now, many exporters still fail to realize its usefulness. However, the traumatic era of the pandemic has encouraged a majority of them to acknowledge it. In fact, the governments and trade-supervising authorities of many countries have been issuing measures and suggestions, specifically aiming at online document preparation as well as sharing.

For example, a certificate of origin (COO) is one trade document that received approval for submission in electronic form. Interestingly, many importers and exporters adopted the same even before the pandemic outbreak.

The Case of AANZFTA COO

Among many certificates of origin associated with various free trade agreements (FTAs), AANZFTA certificate of origin was the first one to adopt the prescribed measures. The AANZFTA is an FTA between ASEAN countries, Australia and New Zealand. In April 2020, both Australia and New Zealand came up with a temporary proposal to share many trade documents, including COO, electronically. The various ASEAN countries like Brunei, Indonesia, Malaysia, Myanmar and others agreed to it.

For instance, Myanmar agreed to accept scanned copies of these documents in colour via emails. However, the exporters must submit the hard copies no later than one month of goods’ clearance. Also, the Malaysian authorities initiated electronic signing and stamping of COOs for its exporters. Similarly, many such measures came into being to aid exporters as well as importers.

How Did It Help?

Clearly, the measures listed above were of significant importance during the peak COVID-19 months. How?

• Firstly, the closure of physical office locations didn’t have a serious effect on trade document preparation processes.

• Secondly, the restricted capacity of courier companies couldn’t gravely affect the sharing of documents.

• Thirdly, it helped exporters, importers and other parties of trade supply chain to comply with the required quarantine and social distancing norms.

Needless to say, the absence of electronic mediums must have brought the entire trade cycle to a halt.

There’s More to It

The adoption of measures listed above once again made evident the advantages that electronic export documentation offers. Apart from providing support during the pandemic, the trend made exporters recognize that:

• It is possible to obtain TAFTA certificate of origin, JAEPA certificate of origin, KAFTA certificate of origin and other COOs electronically.

• The various chambers of commerce across Australia offer electronic systems to stamp the COOs online.

• The overall costs involved in electronic COO stamping is significantly lower than what one spends on the traditional manual process.

• The electronic process is absolutely efficient which means it consumes less time and eliminates the chances of shipping delays.

• Sharing documents with importers as well as other parties electronically is much more convenient and secure.

• It is much easier to keep a tap on the entire process through easy and real-time document status tracking.

To summarize, it is no more a hidden fact that switching from manual to electronic documentation can make things favourable even during the toughest times. So, it is high time that you prepare for the transition.