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10 ASEAN member states signed a declaration on September 19, 2026 to voluntarily apply the upgraded ASEAN Trade in Goods Agreement (ATIGA) ahead of its official June 1, 2027 effectivity
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ATIGA utilization jumped to 62.7% in 2025 from 51.7% in 2024 — an 11 percentage-point rise — showing stronger use of preferential tariffs by businesses
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The move comes as ASEAN’s economy grew 4.9% in 2025 and is projected to grow 4.5% in 2026, outpacing the 3% global growth projection
Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) member states are moving to apply the upgraded ASEAN Trade in Goods Agreement (ATIGA) early, ahead of its scheduled June 1, 2027 entry into force, in a bid to strengthen regional supply chains and give businesses faster access to trade facilitation benefits.
Ten of ASEAN’s 11 member states signed a declaration on September 19, 2026, during the 58th ASEAN Economic Ministers Meeting in Manila, allowing them to provisionally apply the agreement’s Second Protocol on a voluntary and reciprocal basis. Timor-Leste, the bloc’s newest member, has not yet joined this early rollout as it continues its broader integration into ASEAN.
The declaration states: “Member States may, on a voluntary and reciprocal basis, apply the Second Protocol provisionally among themselves pending its entry into force on 1 June 2027.”
The early adoption of the upgraded ATIGA will allow the bloc to more easily facilitate “the seamless movement of goods, enhancing transparency and predictability for businesses, especially micro, small and medium enterprises (MSMEs) across the region, and addressing trade in humanitarian crisis situations, thereby boosting intra-ASEAN trade and consolidating ASEAN as a single market and production base,” the economic ministers said in a statement.
The declaration also follows the decision of the Special ASEAN Economic Council Meeting on the Middle East Crisis held April 30, 2026 which emphasized “the need to deepen intra-ASEAN trade and called on Member States to explore the early ratification of the Second Protocol within this year.”
The push for early adoption comes as ATIGA utilization — the rate at which businesses actually use the agreement’s preferential tariffs — climbed to 62.7% in 2025, up from 51.7% in 2024, an 11 percentage-point increase.
To back this up, ASEAN is leaning on a set of trade facilitation tools, including the Electronic Form D (e-Form D), the ASEAN-wide Self-Certification scheme, the ASEAN Tariff Finder, and the ASSIST platform.
The fast-tracked adoption comes against a backdrop of continued regional economic resilience. ASEAN’s economy expanded 4.9% in 2025 and is projected to grow 4.5% in 2026 — above the 3% global growth projection. As the declaration noted, “Despite uncertainties arising from the Middle East crisis and global geo-economic uncertainties, ASEAN’s economy continues to demonstrate resilience, supported by sustained manufacturing activity, resilient exports and investment,” the bloc said.
READ: Faster cargo clearance, MSME opportunities in 2 upgraded ASEAN trade pacts
The ATIGA was signed in 2009 and updated for the first time in 2019. The second and latest amendment was undertaken in December 2025.
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