The ten states now comprising the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) have collectively become a major part of the world economy, bringing together over 600 million people including a growing middle class. Yet they are highly diverse in socio-economic development, political structure...

The Australian Government is undertaking public consultations over possible improvements to the 2010 Australian Consumer Law (ACL) regime, including again the idea of adding a European-style general safety provision (GSP). To bolster the case for such reform, Part 2 of this paper analyses 2017-9...

Southeast Asia has long been known as a particularly dynamic part of the global economy. In 2007 the leaders of the ten member states of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations further agreed to accelerate the project to complete a single market or “ASEAN Economic Community” by the end of...

This is an updated collection of my own postings on the new East Asia Forum blog. Created primarily by political economists from the Australian National University in mid-2008, the blog is attracting a wide readership and regular contributions from experts interested in or based throughout the...

Consumer product safety is a major contemporary concern for developing, middle-income and developed economies. The Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN), through its Committee on Consumer Protection (ACCP), has recognised this as a priority topic for international collaboration, as...

This paper asks foundational questions about what ASEAN is, and whether or not it is capable of operating as an effective regional grouping or entity. The paper explores these questions through the lenses of various theoretical frameworks, including: new regionalism; whether the dynamics of...

This is the second paper in our trilogy focusing on persistent expansion in unsecured consumer lending in Japan, leading to increasing over-indebtedness and then major judicial and legislative responses particularly from 2006. The Japanese experience provides important lessons particularly in...

This paper, an edited and footnoted transcript of a presentation at a research Centre of Excellence at Hokkaido University, looks at the influence of “responsive regulation” theory on the large-scale “Australian Consumer Law” reforms enacted in 2010. It outlines some frameworks developed...

This paper offers a comparative critique of one of the few aspects of the new Australian Consumer Law (ACL) that had no counterpart in prior domestic or New Zealand law. ACL Part 3-3 Div 5 belatedly adds a new obligation on suppliers to notify regulators of certain consumer product related...