The ASEAN Economic Community Group
This is an open-ended element of the project given the vast array of economic activities projected under the ASEAN Economic Community (AEC). The initial selection is meant to lay the foundations concerning some of the fundamental basic tools and instruments involved in the AEC project. Particular attention will be given to some of the implicit disciplines and challenges of moving from a tariff free zone to a Non-Tariff Barriers (NTBs) free zone.
1. Conceptual Paper: FTA, Customs Union, Common Market, Economic Community - A Trade Economist Perspective
(Jacques Pelkmans, Ramon Clarete)
ASEAN sets out to create an ASEAN Economic Community (AEC). By using the classical tools of regional economic integration and free trade theory, this study seeks to explain where exactly the ASEAN Economic Community falls within the classical paradigms. Is it an FTA, Customs Union, etc? Or, as we expect, a sui-generis creature, the features of which should be spelt out? In the evaluative part of this paper will be an analysis of the ‘coherence’ of the AEC—its likely effect on the usual economic parameters of trade enhancement, growth, etc. and any policy recommendation associated with the aforementioned analysis.
Executive summary
Authors’ profiles: Jacques Pelkmans, Ramon Clarete
2. Conceptual Paper: NTBs, Regulation, Mutual Recognition and Harmonisation — The Comparative Legal Context and the Political-Legal Implications of a Single Market in Goods
(Stefano Inama, Edmund Sim)
This is both an analytical and speculative paper. Comparative experience suggests that simply eliminating Tariffs and Quotas and insisting on National Treatment do not make an economic community. The authors examine the AEC through a legal lens and set out with precision the set of legal obligations that the Members would have to put in place in order to realise the AEC. The authors examine, in the light of comparative experience, the extent to which NTBs and other non-discriminatory obstacles are likely to be, and the degree to which the ASEAN AEC would have to enrich its legal armory with other devices such as mutual recognition and the like in order to achieve its stated objectives. Subject to a stable text and finalised disciplines, this paper will provide a commentary on the various disciplines relating to goods and will be a 'handbook' of the ASEAN Free Trade Area (AFTA).
Executive summary
Authors’ profiles: Stefano Inama, Edmund Sim
3. Services: Legal Lessons from GATS and the EU – Relevant to the ASEAN Project
(Pierre Sauve, Dora Neo, Imola Streho)
Similarly, subject to a stable text and finalised disciplines, this will provide a commentary relating to services, but will use a greater comparative analysis, because of complexities of services liberalisation. What role does and should liberalisation of services play in the AEC? This study is intended to analyse any provision for services in the current AEC and, bringing to bear the experience of other services regimes, also provide a toolkit for future developments in this area.
Authors’ profiles: Pierre Sauve, Dora Neo, Imola Streho
4. Investment: Legal Lessons from NAFTA and the Universe of BITs Relevant to the ASEAN Project
(Jurgen Kurtz, Michael Ewing-Chow)
The terms of reference for this study are simple enough. The ASEAN does establish an investment regime. We want that examined critically by reference to the experience gained from NAFTA and the universe of Bilateral Investment Treaties.
Authors’ profiles: Jurgen Kurtz, Michael Ewing-Chow