Challenges in legal and regulatory arrangements-
Southeast Asian countries have been taking a number of legal and regulatory measures to facilitate transport over land, by road and railway. Efforts to facilitate transport in the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) have greatly contributed to this process. Notable legal instruments developed during the last two decades include the Agreement on the Recognition of Domestic Driving Licences issued by ASEAN member countries in 1985, the Agreement on the Recognition of Commercial Vehicle Inspection Certificates for Goods Vehicles and Public Service Vehicles issued by ASEAN member countries in 1998, the ASEAN Framework Agreement for Goods in Transit in 1998 and the ASEAN Agreement on the Facilitation of Interstate Transport issued in 2009.
In addition, five of the ASEAN member states, namely, Cambodia, Lao PDR, Myanmar, Thailand, and Vietnam, together with China, also concluded the Agreement for Facilitation of Cross-border Transport of Goods and People in the Greater Mekong Subregion (GMS CBTA) in 1999.
These agreements provide the legal basis for opening of border crossings and domestic routes for cross-border and transit transport. They contain regulatory frameworks and measures on the management of these types of transport by various government authorities and transport operators. Their formulation marked a new an era of prioritising the establishment of arrangements to make the movement of goods and people easier and more efficient. This allowed Southeast Asian countries to take an impressive leap forward, having negotiated, signed and gradually ratified a set of multilateral agreements that cover most aspects of facilitation measures related to land transport. Once fully implemented, these instruments, coupled with other bilateral agreements, will make the movement of goods and people across borders much easier.
Southeast Asian countries have made considerable progress in infrastructure development by building new roads and improving existing roads. The agreements on transport facilitation showcase a growing awareness of countries in Asia-Pacific around operationalisation issues related to their subregional transport networks. These are important achievements. However, transport facilitation seems to be taking a longer time to operationalise the infrastructure between countries. Signing the agreements is only the first step in the legal formalities to bring these agreements into effect. All the agreements require further domestic ratification or approval formalities before they can come into force.
Ratification or approval processes differ from country to country or subregion and can be complex. For example, some countries need to amend existing domestic laws or regulations prior to ratification or approval. If corresponding laws or regulations do not exist, new laws or regulations must be prepared and enforced first. As a result, some agreements have not been fully ratified or approved and cannot be implemented in a timely fashion. A longer-than-expected process of ratification or approval by all negotiating states impedes further steps towards practical implementation, and frustrates stakeholders.
In some cases, this long time span translates into dramatic differences between the beginning and finalisation of negotiations, or the effective implementation of the instrument. On average, the subregional agreements took three to five years for negotiation and 5 to 10 years for ratification and approval. When the agreements come into force, their political, economic, social and technological backgrounds have changed, and sometimes they are no longer applicable to the changed circumstances. An obvious example is that most countries now use electronic customs systems for clearances but some agreements still use paper-based documents.
Transport over land borders is a new business for many Southeast Asian countries. In general, most countries lack the capacity to translate the agreements on paper into practical transport organisation and operations. At least three subregional agreements in Southeast Asia contain cross-border transport regimes. The regimes comprise a transport permit system, temporary import of vehicles, vehicle registration and inspection, vehicle insurance, permissible vehicle weight and dimensions, driving licence, driver’s visa, designated routes, an operating scheme, and control of dangerous goods. Such new regimes need favourable government procedures and private sector operation with the integrated use of provisions under different articles of the agreements. Both government authorities and the private sector need to fully prepare themselves for operation of such new regimes.
A related challenge is the complexity of the agreements. The implementation of the agreements in practical cross-border transport operations involves a number of government authorities. Typically, customs, immigration, quarantine, transport authorities, health control departments, agriculture departments and traffic police are all involved, and they have to face new types of transport operations. In the case of carriage of dangerous goods, the list of government authorities involved can be expanded to 15 to 30 in some countries.
To address the challenges, public and private organisations in ASEAN could consider a number of measures, such as promoting a better understanding of the ASEAN Economic Community (AEC) amongst government and private stakeholders and introducing external experience into Southeast Asia. Other options include developing concrete inter-agency implementation plans for the agreements at both subregional and national levels in cooperation with experienced international organisations, including of freight logistics and passenger logistics enterprises and small- and medium-sized enterprises, and treating logistics and transport facilitation as critical issues. Promoting the establishment of standardisation of vehicles, logistics and customs procedures and required documentation, and qualification of selected logistics service operators, along with further improvement of facilities at border checkpoints will also help address these challenges.
The formation of the AEC represents a tremendous opportunity for progress towards increased integration of ASEAN economies. At the same time, it imparts further urgency to strengthening transport connectivity, not only in terms of infrastructure but also in terms of transport facilitation.
A well-functioning AEC single market for goods and services will require efficient transport systems that can support the next level of development in Southeast Asian countries. Harmonised legal and regulatory regimes for transport can play a pivotal role in this direction, contributing to the full operationalisation of transport infrastructure networks in the subregion.
Yuwei Li is director of the transport division at the United Nations Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific (UNESCAP). He has worked for 19 years with UNESCAP. Li has over 20 years of experience in dealing with cross-border transport and inter-country transport cooperation at both international and national levels. Since 2010, he has been leading a team to support negotiations of subregional transport agreements, implement international transport conventions, develop cross-border transport models, formulate regional transport facilitation frameworks and harmonise cross-border transport formalities. He has undertaken and guided studies on various issues in cross-border transport arrangements and transport development in the Asia-Pacific region and other regions.
