The Simplified Trade System (STS) reforms aim to deliver a more effective and sustainable cross-border trade environment that will ensure Australia remains a globally competitive trading nation into the future.
Australia must implement trade reforms to keep pace with its international competitors. As global trade volumes continue to grow, it is crucial we act now to ensure we have the appropriate regulations and systems in place to support Australian businesses to capitalise on the opportunities presented. The STS Implementation Taskforce (STS Taskforce) is working in partnership with the Australian Border Force (ABF) and the Department of Agriculture, Fisheries and Forestry (DAFF) to deliver the STS reforms, as well as consulting with other federal, state and territory agencies and international partners.
The STS reforms are designed to roll out progressive benefits for business and government. Taking an incremental approach reduces the risks associated with ‘big bang’ transformational change, giving businesses and government time to manage the transition. It also ensures government remains flexible and responsive as we continue to work closely with business, across government, and with international partners to draw on the best the world has to offer in terms of cross-border trade reform.
In 2022-23, two-way trade in goods across our border was worth $1 trillion, equivalent to 40% of Australia’s Gross Domestic Product. The border also safeguards Australians and our unique environment from border security and biosecurity risks.
The current trade environment is overseen by 32 Australian government agencies that are responsible for 145 ICT systems and over 200 cross-border trade regulations, many of which are outdated or misaligned. This complex system has impacts on business and on Australia’s ability to compete internationally. To resolve this the Australian trade system needs to be simplified, modernised, and digitised.
On average, Australia's compliance processes are more expensive and take longer to complete compared to our trading partners. Modernising our systems and processes could have significant economic benefits. With more than 142,000 importer businesses and over 47,000 exporter businesses (in 2022-23), simplifying Australia’s trade environment is a proactive and necessary step that will:
Global experience shows that regular, iterative improvements to the trade system, rather than a ‘big bang’ roll out, lowers risk, and delivers more regular benefits to business and government. A staged implementation also allows business and industry time to transition to the new processes and systems which also reduces implementation risk. The STS reforms are being developed in line with this approach.
The STS Taskforce is committed to co-design with business and has undertaken 2 previous rounds of public consultation. These consultation processes sought feedback on a range of potential trade reforms. The submissions received provided a range of views around the benefits to businesses. The submissions also raised the potential challenges and risks of implementing the reforms and how these might be mitigated.
As we design these regulatory, digital and data reforms, we welcome your input to shape the future of our cross-border trade environment. Whether you are a small, medium, or large business, industry association, or from academia we are keen to hear from you. We are also interested in understanding views from First Nations, gender diverse, and culturally and linguistically diverse businesses on how the government can make cross-border trade easier, simpler, and more inclusive.
Feedback will guide and deepen our areas of focus in developing reforms to deliver a simpler cross-border trade environment and identify benefits of potential reforms to businesses. It will also enable us to understand potential challenges and risks for businesses when implementing these reforms and how best to mitigate them, and shape future engagement and consultation activities.
We understand your time is valuable, so please respond to the questions most relevant to you. We welcome specific examples relevant to your business, as well as quantitative information that might help us to better understand the scale of the challenges and potential opportunities.
The policy frameworks are the foundations to develop and implement trade reforms across government. They set a consistent approach for the way government agencies interact to deliver benefits to business. The frameworks operate within existing legislation. There will be further consultation where legislative change is required.
Source: https://app.converlens.com/austrade/simplifiedtrade
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