Secretary-General of ASEAN
at the
Southeast Asian Conference on Consumer Protection 2006
Technical Cooperation for Consumer Protection
Bali, Indonesia, 5-7 November

The ASEAN Vision 2020 outlines the end-goal of economic integration as the achievement of the ASEAN Economic Community aiming to create a highly competitive single market in which there is a free flow of goods, services, investment and a freer flow of capital, equitable economic development and reduced poverty and socio-economic disparities in year 2020.

As such, ASEAN is a concert of Southeast Asian nations, outward looking, living in peace, stability and prosperity, bonded together in partnership in dynamic development and in a community of caring societies. This necessitates a people-centered approach and ASEAN must be mindful that consumers cannot be precluded in all measures taken to achieve economic integration.

Consumer protection issues have already begun to emerge with the promotion of the ASEAN Free Trade Area (AFTA) and consumer protection measures are already being developed in tandem with the proposed economic measures to achieve economic integration in ASEAN.

Consumer policy is an inherent part of the strategic objective of improving the quality of life and consumer issues should ideally be built into the legislation of Member Countries. However, legislation is not the only means to protect consumers, but good practices as well, such as good standards development practices, good manufacturing practices and enforcement measures relating to the control of practices that may be harmful to the consumers.

In recognising the need for consumer protection, the main technical issues of concern with regard to consumer protection, raised during this two-day conference, such as ensuring product safety and legible labeling requirements are already being addressed by ASEAN under standards and conformance cooperation. This includes the harmonisation of standards, technical regulations and mutual recognition arrangements on conformity assessment procedures in prioritised product categories which ensures transparency as well as to assist in achieving the end-goal of “One Standard, One Test, Accepted Everywhere”.

The ASEAN Policy Guideline on Standards and Conformance has also addressed the need for consumer protection by including a clause on post-market surveillance which will complement the ASEAN Sectoral Mutual Recognition Arrangements and technical regulations. It has also been recognised that the effectiveness of such a post-market surveillance system can only be further enhanced with alert systems.

In order to establish effective alert systems, as proposed by this conference, it is essential that Member Countries have proper mechanisms as only traceability allows the concerned authorities to react effectively to the notification of an alert. A significantly developed market surveillance system, as mentioned earlier, is a crucial component to achieve this objective. One such rapid alert system is at a preliminary stage of discussion for implementation under the Prepared Foodstuff Products Working Group, the success of which can be used as a model for further exploration in other products.

An effective and accessible cross-border consumer redress system and enforcement activities will also serve as an important component of the consumer protection plan in this region. A redress system, be it formal or informal, that is expeditious, fair, inexpensive and accessible should be established keeping in mind the needs of the low-income consumers.

Having said all this, effective consumer education and information programmes will ultimately be one of the most important factors in achieving the aims of consumer protection in this region. This will ensure that consumers are aware of their rights and also the available mechanisms for redress and other dispute-resolving procedures.

The ASEAN Secretariat is delighted to note that the proposed Plan of Action for Consumer Protection has addressed these features for an effective technical cooperation on Regional Consumer Protection and a common consumer protection mechanism in this region will no doubt help to promote stability in the single market.

The ASEAN Secretariat will further take note of the outcome of the fruitful discussions held in this conference and will convey the recommendations and proposals made to the relevant bodies under the auspice of ASEAN for their consideration.

With this, I thank you all for your participation and contribution at this conference aimed at achieving regional cooperation for consumer protection in ASEAN.

_________________________

*Delivered by Special Assistant Azmi Mat Akhir