Case study responses
It was said that ASEAN member countries tend to structure their government departments so that a distinction is made between advancing domestic trade and international trade, with international trade gaining priority. In many cases, this leads to effective efforts made to comply with international standards for product safety and consumer protection for exported goods but the same degree of compliance and protection is not provided for domestic consumers. This suggests that governments have the capacity to provide full protection for domestic consumers, but do not place the same priority on doing so as they do for exported goods.
Discussion and proposals
Coordination among government agencies is an issue confronting most, if not all, governments throughout the world. One way of dealing with this issue is to identify it as a priority and to adopt a whole-of-government approach to dealing with it. A particular department within government could be given lead agency responsibility for developing whole-of-government policies and strategies to deal with online commerce, including consumer protection. Other relevant agencies would need to be actively engaged in the process of developing the policies and strategies.
A working party could be formed, to identify existing policies, strategies and approaches and make preliminary assessments of their success and their shortcomings. The working party could then propose policies and strategies informed by best practice within ASEAN and other jurisdictions. A discussion paper could be circulated among key stakeholders for their input before a final paper is drafted. This process could involve coordinating responses between a number of agencies including those responsible for consumer protection, telecommunications, law enforcement, consumer complaints agencies, and business and consumer organisations.
This same broad approach could be taken at the ASEAN level, with a particular agency within a member nation responsible for providing leadership and administrative support to develop ASEAN-wide policies and strategies.
4. Information sharing and regulatory cooperation within ASEAN
Overview
A number of reports, including the UNCTAD Report, emphasise the need for information sharing, capacity building and regulatory cooperation. There is some level of information sharing through the ASEAN website; this could be further developed. There is also a degree of regulatory cooperation, for instance for issues relating to food.
Case study responses
Concerns expressed by participants about the inadequacy of information