One step forward to regional economic integration? The case of ASEAN harmonized cosmetic regulatory scheme

• Main Author: Ahmad Apandi, Laila Suriya
• Format: Conference or Workshop Item
• Language: English
• Published: 2015
• Subjects: HC Economic History and Conditions
• Online Access: http://repo.uum.edu.my/17045/1/12.pdf; http://repo.uum.edu.my/17045/
• Institution: Universiti Utara Malaysia

One of the main challenges faced by ASEAN in building capacity for regional economic integration is lacking of harmonized regulatory at regional level.This particular challenge does not only hinder the development of ASEAN economic regionalism.It also affects the trade facilitation among ASEAN members.The difficulty of harmonizing ASEAN regulatory framework is due to policy diversity of ASEAN member states, notably the ones concerning standards and conformance.This paper seeks to address harmonization issues of standards and conformance in relation to ASEAN.It argues ASEAN should develop a harmonized regulatory framework at regional level as its attempts of trade liberalization.The paper therefore examines the attempts of ASEAN in pursuing regional economic integration by liberalizing cosmetics industry.In particular, it seeks to demonstrate the case of ASEAN Harmonized Cosmetic Regulatory Scheme as ASEAN’s one step forward to regional economic integration.