Exporters will soon able to apply and receive their certificate of origin (CO) online, after the Ministry of Commerce last week struck a deal with Singapore-based Crimson logic to build the automated system.

Ken Ratha, spokesman at the MoC said yesterday that he expected the new system, designed to speed up and simplify exporter’s processes, to be in place by March 2015.

“When we can cut down on the time for meetings between businesses and officials, it means we can avoid unofficial payments,” he said.

Ratha declined to detail the cost to implement the new online system but said it was being supported with funding from the World Bank.

The CO identifies where a product has originated and is required by many export destinations. Once the new CO system is in place, Ratha said business registration, trademarks registration, and the management of intellectual property rights would be the next business processes to be automated online.