ASEAN officials divided on dispute settlement mechanism

ASEAN officials divided on dispute settlement mechanism

JAKARTA (JP): Senior officials from the Association of
Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) got off to a rocky start
yesterday at their two-day meeting convened to discuss a proposed
ASEAN trade dispute settlement mechanism.

Indonesian and Thai officials said yesterday that the
officials could not reach consensus on a number of matters. They
agreed to review the proposal with ASEAN's economic ministers on
Thursday.

Krirk-Krai Jirapaet, director general of business and economy
at the Thai Ministry of Commerce, said that Vietnam was the only
country that refused to initial the documents for the proposed
dispute settlement body.

"Vietnam's delegates said they had no mandate to sign. I don't
know why. Maybe it's a misunderstanding. Maybe they are still not
comfortable with it," Jirapaet told journalists during a break.

The two-day meeting is discussing preparations for the ASEAN
Free Trade Area Council's meeting here tomorrow and the meeting
of economic ministers on Thursday.

The closed meeting is also expected to review the development
of AFTA and discuss agriculture issues, a common time zone
proposal and the proposed ASEAN trade dispute settlement
mechanism.

Rahardjo Jamtomo, director general of the ASEAN department at
the Indonesian Ministry of Foreign Affairs, said all of the
delegations agreed on the idea but differed on the details of the
proposed settlement mechanism.

The protocol, first called for during the group's economic
meeting in Brunei last year, would seek to settle trade disputes
within ASEAN and under AFTA.

"The dispute settlement mechanism will facilitate all
agreements in ASEAN, including those on services, intellectual
property rights and AFTA," Rahardjo said.

He explained that the arrangement has been modeled along the
lines of the arbitration process used by the World Trade
Organization (WTO). It will include a period of consultation with
senior officials and possibly a panel of experts as well as a
mechanism for appealing to ministers of the group.

"The main difference with the WTO is that the process...will
be very quick so that it will not burden the disputing
countries," Rahardjo said.

He added that disputing parties may be allowed to participate
in settlement process, but that the panel of experts will be the
most involved.

Among the contentious issues are provisions related to
compensation and the extent to which ASEAN countries will be able
to use other means of settling disputes apart from the proposed
settlement dispute mechanism. (rid)