WT/REG277/M/1  
 
10 August  2020 
(20-5485) Page: 1/3 
Committee on Regional Trade Agreements  
Ninety -sixth  Session    
 
 
FREE TRADE AGREEMENT BETWEEN JAPAN  AND MEMBER STATES OF THE ASSOCIATION 
OF SOUTHEAST ASIAN NATIONS (ASEAN)  
(GOODS ) 
NOTE ON THE MEETING OF  27 JULY 2020 
Chairm an: Ambassador H.E. Mr. Mārtiņš KREITUS (Latvia ) 
1.1.  The 9 6th Session of the Committee on Regional Trade Agreements (hereinafter  'CRTA' or the 
'Committee') was convened in Airgram WTO/AIR/RTA/ 21/Rev.1  dated 6 July 2020. 
1.2.  Under Agenda Item D.I of the Session, the CRTA considered the  Free Trade Agreement between 
Japan  and Member states of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN), (goods ), 
(hereinafter  "the Agreement").  
1.3.  The Chairman  noted that the Agreement on Trade in Goods had entered into force on 
1 December 2008 for Japan, the Lao People's Democratic Republ ic, Myanmar, Singapore and 
Viet Nam; 1 January 2009 for Brunei Darussalam;  1 February 2009 for Malaysia;  1 June 2009 for 
Thailand;  1 December 2009 for Cambodia;  1 March 201 0 for Indonesia;  and 1 July 2010 for the 
Philippines . There had been  three notificat ions of the Agreement, reflecting its staged entry into 
force for the Parties; these had taken  place on 23 November 2009, 26 July 2011 and 24 August 
2018. The Agreement had been  notified under Article XXIV:7(a) of the GATT 1994 as encompassing 
trade in goo ds, as well as elements in investment and trade in services (documents WT/REG277/N/1; 
2 and 3). The text of the Agreement was available, together with its Annexes, on the Parties' official 
websites. The Factual Presentation on the goods aspects (document  WT/REG277/1 dated 11 
December 2019 and questions and replies on this Agreement (document WT/REG277/2 dated 16 
March 2020) ha d been distributed . 
1.4.  The representative of Viet Nam thank ed the Committee for th e opportunity to present the 
important elements of the Agreement for consideration by WTO Members. He also thank ed the 
Secretariat for preparing the Factual Presentation as well as Canada, the European Union and Mexico 
for submitting their questions which had been  answered in document WT/REG277/2 , dated 16 March 
2020.  
1.5.  He recalled that, b ased on the Joint Declaration of the Leaders of ASEAN and Japan on the 
Comprehensive Economic Partnership in November 2002, and the Framework for Comprehensive 
Economic Partn ership in October 2003, the negotiation of the Agreement had been  launched in April 
2005. After eleven rounds of negotiation, the Agreement had been  signed by all the Parties between 
March and April 2008. The Agreement entered into force in December 2008, and, by July 2010, it 
took effect for all parties. By the time th e Agreement had entered into force for all Parties, bilateral 
Economic Partnership Agreements (EPAs) between Japan and seven  ASEAN Member States also had 
already entered into force, independe nt of the Agreement. In this connection, he pointed  out that 
the Agreement aim ed to deepen the strategic partnership between Japan and ASEAN by serving as 
an important building block for the economic integration and integrity of the region.  
1.6.  The representat ive of Japan  complemented the presentation by referring to the Parties' 
understanding that the Agreement had two main significances for strengthening economic ties 
between Japan and ASEAN.   WT/REG277/M/1  
 
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  1.7.  Firstly, it liberalize d and facilitate d trade in goods among the Parties and had established a free 
trade area consistent with Article 24 of the GATT.  According to Japan’s calculation s, based on trade 
statistics in 2005 and 2006, it would eliminate  tariffs on approximately 92% of two -way trade value 
within ten years.  Furthermore, the Agreement applie d accumulation in rules of origin for the area 
composed by Japan and ASEAN Member States. For example, a product manufactured in country X 
of ASEAN by using electronic parts originating in Japan would be considered as originating materials 
of the country X, when the product was exported to country Y of ASEAN. This accumulation rule 
contribute d to strengthen ing the region -wide production network in Japan and ASEAN.  
1.8.   Although it was difficult to separat ely evaluate the effects of th e Agreement from those of 
other bilateral EPAs between Japan and several ASEAN Member States, Japan’s trade statistics 
showed that the two -way trade value between Japan and ASEAN had expanded by approximately 
14.8% for ten yea rs after 2008, when the Agreement had entered into force, while that between 
Japan and the world in total had expanded by approximately 2.6%. Currently , ASEAN was Japan's  
second largest trad ing partner, and Japan was ASEAN's  fourth largest trad ing partner.  Thus, th e 
Agreement could  support the Parties'  2012 goal of doubling trade by 2022 which had been  envisioned 
in the ASEAN -Japan 10 -Year Strategic Economic Cooperation Roadmap.  
1.9.   Secondly, the Agreement promote d economic cooperation among the Parties for th eir mutual 
benefit.  In order to liberalize and facilitate trade and investment among the Parties, and to promote 
regional and sub -regional development, the Agreement had promoted economic cooperation 
activities, which include d capacity building and technic al assistance.  Japan was continuing  to identify 
areas that might need technical support and was promot ing economic cooperation activities under 
the purview of the Agreement while efficiently and effectively utilizing financial resource s under the 
Japan -ASEAN Integration Fund . 
1.10.   The Agreement also cover ed trade in service s and investment, thus was comprehensive in its 
range, although the Parties had  decided to further negotiate concrete provisions in these two areas 
after the Agreement had entered into force. The results of this negotiation had already resulted  in 
the First Protocol to Amend the Agreement, which was expected to enter into force on 1 August 
2020.  
1.11.   He concluded by thanking the Committee once again for the opportunity to present to 
Members the important elements of th e Agreement. The Parties were  fully convinced that th e 
Agreement ha d provided a foundation for further growth in trade and  investment as well as 
strengthening economic ties between Japan and ASEAN Member States. Implementation of the 
Agreement w ould contribute to further trade liberalization and strengthen ing the WTO's multilateral 
trading system.  
1.12.   The representative of Canada  thanked the Parties for the answer given to the questions raised 
by Canada and other Members of the WTO. Regarding Article 75 of the Agreement that fores aw that 
five years after the entry into force there would be a review, and noting that footnote 7 in the 
Secretariat's report indicated that the Parties had agreed on a date which  was different from that in 
Article 75 of the Agreement, he asked for additional information regarding the date that had been 
agreed for the review of the Agreement.  
1.13.   The represent ative of the European Union  thanked the Parties for the  responses they had 
provided to the European Union's  questions. He referred to the mention in the factual presentation 
of the signature of the First Protocol on trade in services, movement of natural p ersons and 
investment, in 2019, and asked the Parties when the Protocol would enter into force and when it 
would be notified to the WTO. He also asked about the Parties' experience of the implementation of 
the Agreement, and, referring to the periodical re view of the Agreement which should take place 
every five years, was interested to know, apart from the date of the review, whether the Parties had 
any intention to amend the text of the Agreement or add new provisions. In particular, he noted 
that the Agre ement did not contain any provision on government procurement, labour, electronic 
commerce, and only included general cooperation provisions on intellectual property rights, 
competition and environment. The European Union was therefore interested to know i f the Parties 
envisaged  broadening the scope of the Agreement by including provisions for example in the se fields. 
He thanked again the Parties for this transparency exercise that he considered particularly important.  WT/REG277/M/1  
 
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  1.14.   The representative of the United States  thanked  the Parties and the Secretariat for the 
transparency on th e Agreement. She noted the disproporti onate liberalization of agricultural tariffs 
between Japan and ASEAN members. With respect to ASEAN, the United States  asked  when the 
agreement between ASEAN and Hong Kong , China, which had been in force for a year, was going to  
be notified.   
1.15.   The represen tative of Viet Nam, thanked Canada, the European Union, and the United States 
for their interest and questions. The questions w ould be conveyed back to capital for preparing the 
respective answers in cooperation with Japan. He requested that the questions be submitted in 
writing in order not to miss any part of the questions.  
1.16.   The representative of Japan  also thanked Canada, the European Union, and the United States 
for their interest. in response to  several questions, he clarified that the First Protocol w ould enter 
into force on 1 August 2020 between Japan, Thailand, Singapore, Lao, Myanmar and Vietnam. It 
would enter into force with the other ASEAN member States once they ha d successfully completed 
their domestic procedures. The notification of the First Protocol was being coordinated with the 
ASEAN member States.  
1.17.   The Chairman  noted that the consideration of the Goods Aspects of the Free Trade Ag reement 
between the ASEAN Member States and Japan had allowed the Committee to clarify a number of 
questions an d could now conclude oral discussion of the RTA in accordance with paragraph 11 of the 
Transparency Mechanism. If delegations wished to ask follow up questions they were invited to 
forward submissions in writing to the Secretariat by 3 August 2020. Parties  were asked to submit 
replie s in writing by no later than 17 August 2020. In accordance with paragraph 13 of the 
Transparency Mechanism all written submissions, as well as minutes of this meeting would be 
circulated promptly, in all WTO official languages,  and would be made available on the WTO website.  
1.18.   The Committee took note  of the comments made.  
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