Facilitating trade in goods is an important institutional infrastructure for regional integration. Trade in goods covers a wide range of issues, including tariff liberalisation, non-tariff measures, rules of origin, Sanitary and Phyto-sanitary (SPS), Technical Barriers to Trade (TBT), and many more. 

At an early stage of ASEAN integration scheme in 1992, the Agreement on the Common Effective Preferential Tariff (CEPT) Scheme for the ASEAN Free Trade Area (AFTA) was signed in Singapore. it laid a corner stone for ASEAN to move towards achieving the goals of establishing ASEAN as a single market and production base characterised by free flow of goods, services, investment, skilled labour and free flow of capital envisaged in the ASEAN Charter and the Declaration on the ASEAN Economic Community (AEC) Blueprint. 

In 2010, ASEAN Economic Ministers agreed to sign the ASEAN Trade in Goods Agreement (ATIGA) in Thailand to provide a legal framework to realise free flow of goods in the region. The Agreement inherited core principles of the CEPT Agreement and incorporated, to the extent possible, modern features of the international trade-in-goods matters at that time. ATIGA is designed to further deepen the commitments among ASEAN Member States to contribute to greater free flow of goods in the region. It is envisioned that by 2025, ASEAN will achieve competitive, efficient, and seamless movement of goods within the region as a true ASEAN Economic Community.

On supporting ASEAN Member States in the implementation of the Trade in Goods under ATIGA, the Coordinating Committee on the implementation of the ATIGA (CCA), which superseded the Coordinating Committee on the Implementation of the CEPT Scheme for AFTA (CCCA) upon the entry-into-force of ATIGA in 2010 was established, among others, to:

1. oversee and monitor the implementation of the ATIGA, particularly in the areas of tariff liberalisation, rules of origin, non-tariff measures and trade facilitation;

2. coordinate and monitor the activities of working groups, committees and/or sub-committee established under the ATIGA and the progress of implementation in each area covered under the ATIGA;

3. coordinate and monitor other activities related to realization of free flow of goods in the ASEAN Economic Community (AEC); and

4. provide recommendations on possible improvements to the ATIGA with a view to ensuring the achievement of its objectives, smooth implementation, as well as to keep pace with the current trends and development in regional and international trade.

To carry out its work, the CCA is supported by two (2) subsidiary bodies, namely:

1. Sub-Committee on ATIGA Rules of Origin (SC-AROO), focuses on monitoring and reviewing the implementation of Rules of Origin; and 

2. The ASEAN Committee on Sanitary and Phytosanitary (AC-SPS), established to ensure effective implementation of the Sanitary and Phytosanitary Measures. 

As of 2020, ASEAN is virtually tariff-free, with tariffs on 98.6% of products fully eliminated under the ATIGA. As mandated by AEC 2025 Blueprint and provided in Article 95 of the ATIGA, the CCA is currently undertaking the ATIGA General Review before Member States undertake amendments of ATIGA text, which are expected to be completed by 2023.

Mandated by Article 13, CCA is also developing ASEAN Trade Repository (ATR) since 2016.  The ATR provides a single point of access to all trade-related information of ASEAN Member States. The information is linked to a series of interoperable National Trade Repositories (NTRs) that provide and maintain the national-level trade-related information and the actual contents. CCA is currently in the process of validation and listing Non-Tariff Measures (NTMs) onto the ATR.

To further support the private sector in the region, the ASEAN Solutions for Investments, Services, and Trade (ASSIST) has been developed and implemented. ASSIST is a non-binding and consultative mechanism for the expedited and effective solution of operational problems encountered by ASEAN-based Enterprises on cross-border issues related to the implementation of ASEAN economic agreement. It has now also been expanded to cover Trade in Services.