Happy Holidays from the AEC Blog!

As we come to the last days of 2014, the ASEAN Economic Community blogs wishes you and your family a happy holiday season and a wonderful 2015!  I offer everyone my law firm’s holiday card below:

 Next year promises to be eventful for the AEC, as the end of the beginning for formation of the single production base and single market comes for ASEAN.  Also next year, Cambridge University Press will publish books co-authored by Stefano Inama of UNCTAD and myself:

The Foundation of the ASEAN Economic Community: An Institutional and Legal Profile

ASEAN has undertaken the complex task of creating a single economic entity for Southeast Asia by 2015 in the form of the ASEAN Economic Community (AEC), but without regulators or supranational institutions, its implementation has been an inconsistent process. Through comparisons with the EU and NAFTA, this book illustrates the shortcomings of the current system, enabling readers to understand both the potential of regional economic development in ASEAN and its foundational and institutional deficiencies. The authors' analysis of trade in goods and services, investment, and dispute resolution in the AEC indicates that without strong regional institutions, strong dispute resolution or a set of norms, full and effective implementation of the AEC is unlikely to result. The book offers clear solutions for the ASEAN institutions to help the AEC reach its full potential. Written by two leading practitioners, this insightful book will interest policymakers, students and researchers.

Rules of Origin in ASEAN: A Way Forward

Rules of Origin in ASEAN is the first in-depth exploration of the complex rules of origin in ASEAN's trade agreements. Written by two leading practitioners, they explain with clarity the existing ASEAN Rules of Origin (RoO) practices and their administration regimes in a comparative context and provide a recommendation for reform. The ASEAN RoOs can be simplified by focusing on value of materials and lowering the regional value content required to qualify as ASEAN-origin. The administration of ASEAN RoOs can be improved by expanding the use of self-certification, moving away from document-based verification to more modern post-entry audit and trade facilitation approaches. This is a timely and important topic which will be insightful to practitioners, policymakers and businesses in understanding how commerce and trade is conducted in Southeast Asia.

Please click on the above links to pre-order.

See you soon in 2015!