Joint media release

Australian Minister for Trade, Mark Vaile and the Minister for industry, Science and resources, Senator Nick Minchin

September 09, 1999

Exporters to Gain from APEC Electrical MRA

Trade Minister, Mark Vaile, and Industry, Science and Resources Minister, Nick Minchin, have announced APEC agreement on an electrical Mutual Recognition Arrangement (MRA) that will cut costs for Australian businesses exporting electrical goods such as computers, toasters, televisions, radios and power tools.

The APEC MRA on Conformity Assessment of Electrical and Electronic Equipment will eliminate the need for separate testing of exported products in each importing economy.

"In future, Australian exporters will be able to have their products tested only once in Australia to meet the requirements of all participating APEC economies.

"This will eliminate the need for duplicative testing in various export markets, and reduce the time and cost of complying with different conformity assessment procedures throughout the region", the Ministers said.

"The MRA is one of APEC's main achievements for business this year. It is the world's first truly multilateral MRA and does not need bilateral agreements to be implemented.

The MRA should benefit regional trade in electrical products worth approximately A$400 billion. Australian exports to other APEC economies already tops A$1 billion per year and are expected to grow significantly under the new MRA.

Australia will participate in the MRA from the outset. Australian exporters will benefit from expanded markets and lower costs without any relaxation of Australia's regulatory requirements.

APEC economies will be able to sign on to the MRA at several different levels as their technical and regulatory situations permit. This will ensure that the MRA has maximum flexibility to accommodate the differing needs of APEC economies.

The 21 member economies of the Asia Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) group are: Australia, Brunei, Canada, Chile, China, Chinese Taipei, Hong Kong, Indonesia, Japan, Malaysia, Mexico, New Zealand, PNG, Peru, Philippines, Russia, Singapore, South Korea, Thailand, the United States of America and Vietnam.