Towards Improved Regulatory Governance and Coherence in the ASEAN: Logistics Sector and Trade Facilitation

Outline

The ASEAN Economic Community (AEC) Blue print measures involve policy and regulatory changes in AMSs that lead to the harmonization of rules and regulations as well as standards, liberalization, and reduction in barriers, greater transparency and/or rationalization of process, etc. Thus, the drive to AEC 2015 has the corollary implication of policy and regulatory reform in AMSs.

The AEC Scorecard Phase III project objective is to push further the policy and regulatory impetus coming from the drive towards AEC 2015 and beyond. Specifically, it aims to contribute towards the building up of the sector -biased policy and regulatory reforms under AEC Blueprint into a more general regulatory reform agenda towards improving regulatory governance and coherence in the AMSs. To a large extent, this project hopes to continue and deepen the regulatory reform efforts that have been going on in the ASEAN Member States.

The AEC Scorecard Phase III project consists of three parts. Part One will examine the administration of the regulatory regime and the process of regulatory reform or changes in the logistics sector and trade facilitation. Part Two is estimation of expanded restrictiveness index using both border and behind the border restrictions in the logistics sector and trade facilitation, and the analysis of the impact of such restrictions on the economic performance of AMSs. It will determine the major policy and operational bottlenecks and inconsistencies to smooth logistics and trade facilitation. The last part of the project is Part Three. In this part, the result from Part One and Two will be the basis of recommendations lists to improved regulatory governance and coherence in logistics sector and trade facilitation in ASEAN.

The AEC Scorecard Phase III project is undertaken by team of ERIA researchers, one country study team for each of the ASEAN member countries, and a specialist-consultant. The final report of the project is expected to be finished and submitted to ASEAN Secretariat in early June 2013.