Non-tariff measures database for ASEAN, East Asia launched

BANGKOK, 13 September 2019 – The Economic Research Institute for ASEAN and East Asia (ERIA) handed-over the Non-Tariff Measures (NTM) Database to ASEAN on 10 September at the sidelines of the 51^st of ASEAN Economic Ministers Meeting and Related Meetings.

The hand-over ceremony was attended by Deputy Prime Minister of Thailand Jurin Laksanawisit, Secretary-General of ASEAN Dato Lim Jock Hoi, President of ERIA Professor Hidetoshi Nishimura, as well as economic ministers from the ASEAN Member States and ASEAN Dialogue Partners.

In his remarks, Dato Lim Jock Hoi expressed appreciation to ERIA and the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD) for this initiative. He highlighted the importance of the NTMs database as it will support ASEAN exporters in understanding and complying with trade formalities and regulations that apply to products they trade in the region.

Dato Lim added that, “this effort can also help MSMEs improve their competitiveness by having direct access to reliable and fully validated NTMs, which in turn, would facilitate more regional firms, particularly MSMEs, to trade and integrate within regional and global value chains, expanding the benefits of the ASEAN Economic Community in promoting inclusive growth and sustainable development.”

The Secretary-General also underlined the potential contribution of the NTMs database in reducing the cost of doing business in ASEAN and in doubling intra-ASEAN trade by 2025.

In collaboration with UNCTAD, ERIA collected and classified NTMs in the ten ASEAN countries and the six East Asia countries (China, Japan, Korea, Australia, New Zealand, and India). The data collection covered all regulations from official documents including international conventions adopted by these countries. A total of 28,947 measures were classified, 6,699 regulations were coded and up to 11,347 product lines were covered.

The database can be found here