Since the passage of the ASEAN Charter in 2008, ASEAN has transformed itself from a loose economic cooperation, into a formal intergovernmental organization designed to create an “ASEAN Community” forged together in three pillar communities – the ASEAN Political-Security Community, ASEAN Economic Community, and tASEAN Socio-Cultural Community. Forty years of pre-Charter ASEAN practices, coupled with over ten years of post-Charter ASEAN practices thus far, has witnessed the conclusion of hundreds of legally binding regional treaties and similarly binding international instruments in all areas of economic, political-security, and socio-cultural concerns for Southeast Asia to achieve ASEAN’s rule of law-based development objective. Pre-Charter and post-Charter ASEAN Law is variably implemented under a hybrid governance system that depends heavily on ASEAN Member State national implementation alongside ASEAN’s evolving regional institutions. The result is not a model of deep integration as in the case of the European Union, but a particular paradigm of horizontal embeddedness of ASEAN Law – in all its norms and operational practices – contingent on the capacities and compliance of national government bureaucracies in Southeast Asia. This edited collection is a concise authoritative volume covering the practical, doctrinal, legal, and policy aspects of the new regime of ASEAN Law and its consequences for realizing rule of law-based development in Southeast Asia’s emerging single market and production base. Drawing together contributions from a range of key thinkers in the field, the editors present the legal and policy-making issues implicated in the practical implementation of Southeast Asia’s single market and its regime for the free movement of goods, services, foreign investment, and cross-border labor. The book also examines the nature of regional law-making under ASEAN before and after the commencement of regional integration in 2015, the nature of ASEAN’s economic regulators, as well as the evolving structure for enforcement and harmonization of “ASEAN Law” through the array of Southeast Asian national courts, arbitral tribunals, and incipient mechanisms for inter-State, intra-regional, and individual-State conflict management and dispute resolution. This book is highly relevant to students, scholars, and policy-makers with an interest in ASEAN Law and regional policy, and to Southeast Asian studies in general.

An interdisciplinary work on regional integration and the rule of law in ASEAN and the emergence of a soft regulatory regime.

The fast-growing last decade of strong economic growth of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) has played a critical role in Asia-Pacific regionalism and global trade. This book explores the concept of ASEAN law under the normative framework of the new regional economic order. It examines the roadmap of the new ASEAN Economic Community Blueprint 2025 by evaluating the impact of ASEAN trade agreements on domestic legislation on professional services, financial integration, investment disputes and digital trade. More importantly, it sheds light on the legal implications of ASEAN's agreements with China and India and the potential developments of mega-regional trade agreements such as the CPTPP and the RCEP. Hence, the legal analysis and case studies in the book offer a fresh view of Asia-Pacific integration and bridge the gap between academia and practice.

This book consists of updated and refreshed papers written by international law scholars and practitioners from the ASEAN region and published by the Journal of East Asia and International Law, comprehensively covering almost all contemporary international legal issues related to ASEAN. Legal analysis of the ASEAN integration as one community with one vision in this book provides readers with a better understanding of the current social climate and future developments of ASEAN. Each section within the book covers a highly topical issue on ASEAN cooperation and dispute resolution from an international law perspective. ASEAN is one of the biggest economic communities in the world and the ASEAN+3 covers nearly half of global GDP. Given the region’s global impact, this book is of interest to Asia watchers, academics and policymakers alike.

'This wonderful volume offers a timely and important look at competition policy where it is changing the most – developing countries pursuing regional agreements. It provides superb analytical discussions of the impact of regional competition policy integration, why developing states have pursued this strategy, and the extent to which it is meeting their needs. the editors have assembled a superb roster of experts, so it is not a surprise that the book recommendations are insightful, and deserving of attention from policy makers.' – Andrew Guzman, Berkeley Law School, US This book presents a detailed study of the interface between regional integration and competition policies of selected regional trade agreements (RTAs), and the potential of regional competition laws to help developing countries achieve their development goals. the book provides insights on the regional integration experiences in developing countries, their potential for development and the role of competition law and policy in the process. Moreover, the book emphasizes the development dimension both of regional competition policies and of competition law. This timely book delivers concrete proposals that will help to unleash the potential of regional integration and regional competition policies, and also help developing countries to fully enjoy the benefits deriving from a regional market. Bringing together analysis from well-known scholars in the developed world with practical insight from scholars in countries hoping to exploit the potential of competition law, this book will appeal to academics working in the field of competition law, practitioners, policy makers and officials from developing countries, as well as those in development organizations such as UNCTAD.

Groundbreaking comparative analysis of governance systems and institutional choices in different regional and international organizations.

With the completion of the ASEAN Charter, ASEAN needs to fully appreciate and work out the issues connected with its implementation. It is also important for ASEAN and its business sector to understand and implement the two newly completed key integration instruments (the ASEAN Trade in Goods Agreement and the ASEAN Comprehensive Investment Agreement 2009) and the business enhancing initiatives envisaged under them. Both areas of work have taken on added urgency in view of ASEAN's goal of putting in place an ASEAN Economic Community by 2015. This is the first book which examines both the above issues, the problems related to them and possible solutions. "Mr Tiwari is a legal authority on ASEAN. This book is an important contribution to ASEAN law." - Professor Tommy Koh, Ambassador-at- Large, Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Singapore. "The ASEAN Charter, and the economic integration of the ASEAN nations that the Charter will support, are essential to grow the competitiveness of the region. Mr Tiwari provides keen insights into the development of this emerging framework and of the challenges that remain." - Phillip Overmyer, Chief Executive, Singapore International Chamber of Commerce. "I have known Mr Tiwari as a legal authority and a friend for over twenty years. I would like to congratulate him for having chosen to share his knowledge on ASEAN law through this book. Knowledge of the ASEAN Charter and the instruments underpinning ASEAN integration would be of immense benefit to people in the business sector as ASEAN moves towards forming an ASEAN Economic Community by 2015." - Jennie Chua, Chairperson, Singapore International Chamber of Commerce.