Tuesday, January 25, 2005
ASEAN FTA
Warwick Rothnie usefully points out that DFAT has called for submissions on what should or should not be in the negotiations for an FTA with ASEAN. Submissions are due by 4 February 2005, and can be emailed. Information is available on the DFAT site; the call for submissions is here.
I've not had the sense at any stage that DFAT is keen to negotiate an IP chapter like Chapter 17 of the US-Australia FTA. I think the IP chapter of our free trade agreement with Singapore (pdf) is more likely to represent the Australian approach. That Chapter is pitched at a really basic level. It is all of 3 pages long (compared to the 30 or so pages of the USAFTA). It contains some pretty fuzzy commitments to join various multilateral treaties and to cooperate on enforcement.
However, a detailed chapter is still a possibility, and may be pressed for by those who see Chapter 17 of the FTA as a Good Thing. So, if you are opposed to the extension of the US model into ASEAN, it is probably worth putting in a submission along those lines.
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