Singapore ratifies ASEAN Trade in Services agreement

It provides guarantee of the widest preferential services market access into the ASEAN region.

Singapore has ratified the ASEAN Trade in Services Agreement (ATISA), the first of the ASEAN member states to do so.

The ATISA builds upon and enhances the existing ASEAN Framework Agreement on Services by reducing “beyond-the-border” barriers. It provides a legally binding guarantee of the widest preferential services market access into ASEAN markets to date, beyond ASEAN’s existing agreements.

Since Minister for Trade and Industry Chan Chun Sing first signed the ATISA in 2019, and Singapore has now completed its domestic procedures to ratify the agreement. Its rights and obligations under the agreement will commence immediately. Other ASEAN member states are continuing internal procedures to ratify ATISA within the year.

“Singapore’s ratification of the ATISA reflects our strong commitment to ASEAN and creates a more transparent, stable and predictable environment for trade in services in the region. The agreement will help strengthen services-related trading arrangements among AMS, enabling ASEAN businesses to enjoy increased market access and reduced discriminatory regulatory barriers,” Chan said.

The ATISA and framework agreement are said to benefit Singapore businesses and workers by reducing barriers and further promoting trade in services in the ASEAN region—worth more than US$844.6b as of 2019.

In 2019, Singapore’s services exports to the ASEAN region grew by 11.3% to $27.3b. This represents 10.7% of Singapore’s services exports, with the ASEAN region becoming Singapore’s third largest services export destination, ahead of both the United States and Mainland China.

The services sector accounts for more than 85% of resident employment in Singapore as of last year.