According to the World Trade Organization (WTO), 'the surge in Regional Trade Agreements (RTAs) has continued unabated since the early 1990s.' As of February 2010, approximately 462 RTAs (also known as free trade agreements or FTA) have been notified to the General Agreement on Tariffs & Trade (GATT)/WTO with 271 agreements now in force. The reason for this dramatic growth is quite simple — trade agreements are eliminating import taxes, lowering obstacles to trade, opening up access to markets, and strengthening trade rules. Now is the time for companies around the globe to take advantage for what these trade agreements have to offer, and to that, they need to invest in an automated solution instead of relying on manual processes for free trade agreement management.

For companies who want to make the leap from the time-consuming, manually intensive exercise that prevents most companies from fully leveraging free trade agreements, Integration Point has a solution available to easily manage the entire lifecycle of FTAs. With our end-to-end solution to FTA Management, companies get the most comprehensive solution for automating every step of FTA qualifications for any FTA program around the world.

The FTA lifecycle starts with making strategic sourcing decisions that lower landed cost, proceeds to determining eligibility, and ends with post-entry validation of FTA claims. (See below for graphical depiction of the FTA lifecycle.) To effectively manage the entire FTA lifecycle, companies need to have an integrated solution in place that automates every key phase of managing FTAs.

Integration Point Free Trade Agreement Management software is a complete offering designed to help companies not only leverage FTAs but also address many of the key supporting activities required to stay in compliance with any trade agreement.

As a web-based solution, Integration Point FTA Management software allows importers to significantly reduce the time needed to qualify products under a free trade agreement through the automation of the entire FTA lifecycle. From soliciting suppliers for a certificate of origin to determining product eligibility based on the rules of origin, from generating certificates of origin to verifying and validating if eligible products were claimed at the time of entry, Integration Point FTA Management covers it all.

In addition, FTA Management stores supplier provided supporting documentation, Bill of Material (BOM) analysis results, and generated Certificates of Origin in a central location to support paperless record keeping.

Importers and exporters have the option of using the entire FTA Management solution or only using those individual software applications that deliver key capabilities targeted at current needs. Starting with the Free Trade Agreement software, which is the core component of the FTA Management integrated solution, users can implement one application and then expand to include the entire suite when the need arises or budget is available.

The Integration Point FTA Management solution includes:

• Free Trade Agreement
• Global Trade Content
• Global Classification
• Entry Visibility

With the Integration Point Free Trade Agreement software in place, users can significantly reduce the time needed to qualify goods for FTAs by automating the supplier solicitation process, BOM analysis, and certificate generation.

The benefits of utilizing FTA software include:

• Manage FTAs in one integrated system
• Automate and manage supplier solicitation campaigns
• Allow suppliers to create certificates within the system
• Qualify Bills of Materials against multiple free trade agreements
• Generate accurate customer certificates of origin once product eligibility is met
• Manage documentation supporting FTA claims in a central place
• Access up-to-date rules of origin, preferential duty rates, and available free trade agreements

With the Free Trade Agreement application in place, users can then extend the solution to integrate with Integration Point Global Trade Content — a central repository of regulatory data from over 140 countries including other government agencies (OGAs).

By implementing FTA and Global Trade Content, companies can received up-to-date classification data, tariff preferences, duty rates, and free trade agreement rules of origin in real-time so that they are assured of using the most current information at all times when determining product eligibility.

The benefits of implementing Global Trade Content and free trade agreement software include:

• Access to up-to-date rules of origin for all free trade agreements
• Maintain and support multiple FTAs
• Utilize current tariff schedules to find the correct HS number and duty rates for each product
• Support strategic sourcing decisions using preferential duty rates and available free trade agreements

Integrating Global Classification from Integration Point with the Global Trade Content and Free Trade Agreement applications, allows companies to store, manage and share classification data required to support the free trade agreements in one central repository. By managing product data in one, shared location, Global Classification supports the effective management of FTAs in key areas such as:

1. Helping to ensure products are correctly classified
2. Assisting with the determination of sourcing locations and selecting the most optimal locations based on available FTAs, and classification and duty rates for the country of import
3. Providing all required data such as HS, Country of Origin (COO), and supplier for qualifying products under any FTA

The benefits of integrating FTA, Global Classification and Global Trade Content include:

• Utilize the global classification product as the centralized parts repository to share data across the supply chain
• Store product data such as HS, COO, plant location and supplier information
• Support FTA solicitation and analysis with current classification data
• Create a FTA post-entry auditing program using the classification data stored in Global Classification

Auditing entry data is critical to assuring the duty savings promised by FTAs are realized. With Integration Point Entry Visibility, companies can use entry data to validate FTA claims, determine if eligible products are declared by the entry filers, even third party Customs Broker(s), verify qualified products for specific FTAs, identify eligible products for reconciliation, and analyze imported products in search of additional duty saving opportunities.

Benefits of integration of Entry Visibility with free trade agreement software include:

• Verify Customs Broker(s) claimed FTA eligibility where applicable
• Confirm if Certificate of Origin is on file to support FTA claims
• Validate product, HS number, and Country of Origin on entry
• Support for reconciliation to claim duty savings

By leveraging the Integration Point FTA Management suite, companies can advantage of an integrated solution designed around managing every aspect of an FTA. Whether it is just managing solicitation and analysis, or expanding to include a shared parts repository, or post-entry auditing including reconciliation, Integration Point has a solution that fits your needs.

For more information on the integrated FTA Management solution or any of the solutions mentioned, please fill out our online form or send us email.

For more information on any of the solutions that assist with management of the FTA Lifecycle, click the links below:

Free Trade Agreement

Global Trade Content

Global Classification

Entry Visibility