Evolution of ASEAN's New Protectionism

The 21st century suggests a somewhat vexing scenario of ‘new protectionism’, especially with the rise of protectionist non-tariff measures or NTMs. This largely refers to standard-like NTMs (sanitary and phytosanitary measures and technical barriers to trade, known as SPS and TBTs, respectively) with a dual purpose of non-trade policy objectives and (hidden/ concealed) protectionism. The Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) are found to be high users of standard-like NTMs relative to other traditional measures to regulate trade. This begs the question if there has been an intentional shift towards murky protectionism in the region. Grounded on a few criterion to establish potential protectionism, the paper forwards the plausibility of “hidden” barriers in the standard-like NTMs in ASEAN, by drawing upon related secondary data and specific illustrative cases of “harmful” (discriminatory) and burdensome NTMs in the region. From the narrative experiences of ASEAN, it is inferred that procedural obstacles directly associated with a reported standard-like NTM, instead of the NTM itself, largely account for the “hidden” barriers in ASEAN. The paper concludes that irrespective of the motivation for the barriers, whether unintentional or intentional with a protectionist agenda, procedural obstacles deserve attention in their own right.