The last two decades have witnessed a tremendous increase in global trade and investments. This has been followed by a shift in the pattern of FDI inflow, which had gradually become more favorable to the developing countries. Consequently, this resulted in an increase in competition among...

Determining origin within the context of international trade is not simple. Rules of Origin (ROOs) would involve laws, regulations and administrative determinations to ascertain a products country of origin which are not costless to comply with. As such, the criteria used to define origin and...

This paper defines the elements that comprise a competitive setting and clarifies the objectives of competition policy. The role and primary task of competition policy are emphasized. A framework for competition policy and the basic elements to implement it are spelled out. The major areas of...

The Asia and Pacific region and Latin America and Caribbean region are two regions divided not only by vast geographic distance, but also by disparities in economics, politics, culture, and history. Most recently, a number of forums explored the possibility of closing such gaps and linking the...

Resulting from the collaborative efforts of the Economic Research Institute for ASEAN and East Asia (ERIA), the Universitas Pelita Harapan (UPH) and the World Trade Institute (WTI) at the University of Bern, this policy research initiative has sought to encourage comparative scholarship from...

With overlapping, multiple FTAs, such as the case of ASEAN and the various ASEAN+1 FTAs, complications could arise that run counter to the economic integration objectives of the East Asian Region. Forging the Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership (RCEP) among ASEAN and its FTA partners is...

The World Trade Organization (WTO) will stage its ninth Ministerial Conference (MC9) in Bali, Indonesia, on 3-6 December 2013. The meeting comes at a critical juncture for the multilateral trade body, long mired in the Doha Round stalemate. Beyond offering a critical first test at...

Striking a balance between trade facilitation and preventing trade deflection is the single most difficult challenge with regard to the issue of rules of origin (ROO). ASEAN ROO is already considered as among the simplest in the world and still, in practice, results fall short of expectations....

With globalization and advances in information and communication technology (ICT) leading to growing international production sharing, amidst the increasing trend in preferential trading arrangements (PTAs), rules of origin (ROO) has been beset with difficult recurring issues. First and foremost...

In moving toward the East Asian vision of a community, a rational, enabling regime of rules of origin (ROOs) that would encourage deeper economic integration and shared prosperity should be established. This means a set of ROOs that is trade facilitating even as it attempts to prevent trade...