Shanghai, 29 January 2015

Facilitation of Mobility of People

in ASEAN
Tan Tai Hiong (ASEAN Secretariat)
5th ADBI-OECD-ILO Roundtable
on Labour Migration in Asia
The views expressed in this presentation are the views of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views or
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policies of the Asian Development Bank Institute (ADBI), the Asian Development Bank (ADB), its Board of
Directors, or the governments they represent. ADBI does not guarantee the accuracy of the data included in
this paper and accepts no responsibility for any consequences of their use. Terminology used may not
necessarily be consistent with ADB official terms.

29 January 2015

Basic Information about ASEAN

Total Area = 4.4m km2
Total Population = 625m
Total GDP = US$ 2.4t

Lao PDR

(2013 Estimate as of Aug 2014)

Source: ASEANStats

Myanmar
Viet Nam
Thailand

Cambodia
Malaysia

Singapore

Philippines

Indonesia

Brunei Darussalam

29 January 2015

Establishment of ASEAN Community by 2015

12th ASEAN Summit (Cebu, 13 January 2007) called for

establishment of ASEAN Community by 2015 in all three
pillars of ASEAN Security Community, ASEAN Economic
Community and ASEAN Socio-Cultural Community

The ASEAN Economic Community (AEC) will establish

ASEAN as a single market and production base
comprising: (i) free flow of goods; (ii) free flow of
services; (iii) free flow of investment; (iv) freer flow of
capital; and (v) free flow of skilled labour.

AEC envisages for managed mobility or facilitated entry for the

movement of natural persons engaged in trade in goods,
services, and investments, according to the prevailing
regulations of the receiving country.

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Framework for Mobility of People in ASEAN

Mobility of people and works towards free flow of skilled
labour is a multi-sectoral initiatives in ASEAN.
ASEAN Social Cultural
Community
Labour

Visa
Work Permit
Migration

Immigration

ASEAN Political &

Security Community

Qualification
Protection
Social Welfare

Services
Trade

Foreign providers
Licensing/Registration
Types of suppliers

ASEAN Economic
Community

29 January 2015

Legal Framework for Mobility of People

ASEAN Political Security Community (APSC)

ASEAN Economic Community (AEC)

ASEAN Agreement on Movement of Natural Persons (MNP)

Mutual Recognition Arrangements (MRA)
ASEAN Qualifications Reference Framework*

ASEAN Socio-Cultural Community (ASCC)

ASEAN Framework Agreement on Visa Exemption

Cebu Declaration on the Protection and Promotion of the Rights of

Migrant Workers

Under Discussions

ASEAN Business Travel Card (ABTC)*

Note: Those marked with asterisks (*) are cross-sectoral in nature

29 January 2015

ASEAN Framework Agreement on Visa Exemption

Signed by ASEAN Foreign Ministers on 25 July 2006 in

Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia

It provides general principles and guidelines in establishing

and/or renewing bilateral agreements among ASEAN
Member States (AMS) on visa exemption for their citizens
traveling within the ASEAN

Where applicable, AMS shall exempt citizens of any other AMS

from visa requirement for a period of stay of up to 14 days, or
longer in accordance with their respective laws/regulations
and/or bilateral arrangements

Progress have been on-going.

Most AMS have abolished visa requirement for short-term visit

from citizens holding normal passport from most (if not all) AMS

29 January 2015

ASEAN Declaration on Migrant Workers

ASEAN Declaration on the Protection and Promotion of the

Rights of Migrant Workers was issued by ASEAN Leaders
on 13 January 2007 in Cebu, the Philippines

The Declaration mandates ASEAN Member States (AMS) to

promote fair and appropriate employment protection, payment
of wages, and adequate access to decent working and living
conditions for migrant workers

The ASEAN Committee on the Implementation of the

ASEAN Declaration on the Protection and Promotion of the
Rights of Migrant Workers (ACMW) is currently in the
process of drafting the ASEAN instrument on the
protection and promotion of migrant workers

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ASEAN Mutual Recognition Arrangements

Mutual Recognition Arrangement (MRA) enables service

providers registered/certified in a signatory country to be
equally recognised in other signatory countries

MRA does not warrant unrestricted free flow of foreign

professionals, relevant domestic regulations and market
demand still applies

Common objectives of ASEAN MRAs:

Facilitate mobility of services professionals

Exchange of information and expertise
Promote adoption of best practices on standards and
qualifications
Facilitate capacity building and technology transfer

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Concluded MRAs in ASEAN

ASEAN has concluded 8 MRAs signed by the ASEAN
Economic Ministers (AEM) and 1 MRA signed by ASEAN
Tourism Ministers
MRA

Signing

MRA on Engineering Services

Kuala Lumpur, 9 December 2005

MRA on Nursing Services

Cebu, 8 December 2006

MRA on Architectural Services

Framework Arrangement for the Mutual
Recognition of Surveying Qualifications

Singapore, 19 November 2007

MRA Framework on Accountancy Services

MRA on Medical Practitioners

Cha-am, 26 February 2009

MRA on Dental Practitioners

MRA on Tourism Professionals

Bangkok, 9 November 2012

MRA on Accountancy Services

Nay Pyi Taw, 13 November 2014

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Different Models of MRAs Signed by the AEM

MRAs on Engineering and Architecture provide recognition

of qualifications for registered ASEAN professionals.

MRAs on Accountancy Services and Surveying lay down

the broad principles and framework for the negotiations of
bilateral or multilateral MRAs.

New Development: A new MRA on Accountancy Services (no

longer in framework format and now provides for recognition of
registered accountants) has been signed ad-referendum by
November 2014.

MRAs on Nursing, Medical Practitioners, and Dental

Practitioners focus on exchange of information and best
practices.

Possible mechanism to facilitate temporary entry for activities

without patient contact is being explored.

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Implementation of ASEAN MRAs under the AEM

Legal notifications (ratification and notification of

participation/deferment of implementation)

National institutional set-up (Professional Regulatory

Authorities and Monitoring Committees, assessment of
registration systems)

Regional institutional set-up (chairmanship, organisational set

up, regional secretariat, ASEAN Register, websites, etc.)

Exchange and compilation of information on national licensing

and registration requirements, foreign practitioners, etc.

Registration of ASEAN professionals (registration-type MRAs)

Bilateral-multilateral discussions (for framework-type MRAs)

Outreach programs and roundtable discussions

Address other implementation issues

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MRA on Tourism Professionals

It facilitates the recognition of qualification of a Foreign

Tourism Professional through competency certificate in a
specific tourism job title specified in the Common ASEAN
Tourism Curriculum (CATC) issued by the Tourism
Professional Certification Board (TPCB) in an AMS.

ASEAN Common Competency Standards on Tourism

Professionals (ACCSTP) for 32 job titles have been completed
Eligibility to work country is subjected to prevailing domestic
laws and regulations of the host country

ASEAN targets to certify 6,000 professionals by 2015

ASEAN Tourism Professionals Registration System (ATPRS) is

being finalised
Agreement to establish the Regional Secretariat in Jakarta is
expected to be signed within first half of 2015

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Movement of Natural Persons (MNP)

ASEAN Agreement on Movement of Natural Persons (MNP)

was signed on 19 November 2012 in Phnom Penh,
Cambodia by ASEAN Economic Ministers (AEM)

Aims to facilitate the movement of natural persons

engaged in the conduct of trade: in goods, trade in
services and investment between ASEAN Member States

Consolidates all of existing commitments under the

ASEAN Framework Agreement on Services (AFAS) in
relations to Mode 4 (MNP).

AFAS was signed in December 1995 and had resulted in 9

packages of commitments, with 8 packages completed prior to
signing of the ASEAN Agreement on MNP

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ASEAN Qualifications Reference Framework (AQRF)

AQRF is a common reference framework that enables

comparison of qualifications across ASEAN Member States
while enhancing each countrys qualifications systems.

AQRF promotes mobility within ASEAN and specifically supports

the implementation of AEC Blueprint through recognition of
professional qualifications as well as the ASEAN Socio-Cultural
Community (ASCC) Blueprint which targets to establish
national skills frameworks as an incremental approach towards
an ASEAN skills recognition framework.

Consist of 8 levels of competency standard

Notion of competence include cognitive and functional

competences; with personal and ethical competence attributed
to NQF
Two (2) domains: Knowledge and Skills, Application and
Responsibility

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Referencing Process
1
2
3

6
Qualifications
A

Qualifications
B
2

4
5

4
5

6
5

Country A

AQRF

Country B

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Status of AQRF

Concept was first tabled in May 2010 at AANZFTA meeting

Task Force on AQRF was established in May 2012 by the
AANZFTA Joint Committee, with support from AANZFTA
Economic Cooperation Work Program (ECWP)

Chaired by Philippines with Vice Chair from Indonesia

AQRF was endorsed by 46th ASEAN Economic Ministers (AEM)

on 25 August 2014 in Nay Pyi Taw and 8th ASEAN Education
Ministers Meeting (ASED) on 11 September 2014 in
Vientiane. On-going ad referendum endorsement process by
ASEAN Labour Ministers.

Ongoing national consultations on implementation details:

Governance structure e.g. AQRF Board

Scope (all sectors & levels of education/training)
Monitoring and evaluation
Timeline for referencing process (by 2016 or at the latest by 2018)

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ASEAN Business Travel Card

A new initiative which is still under discussion

22nd and 23rd ASEAN Summit (April and October 2013)

provided the mandate to explore development of the Card

Aimed to ease the movement of business people and investors

Under discussions of the ASEAN Coordinating Committee

on Services (CCS) and the Directors-General of
Immigration Departments and Heads of Consular Affairs
Divisions of the Ministries of Foreign Affair (DGICM)

A joint task force to develop the ASEAN Business Travel Card is

being proposed

29 January 2015

Thank you

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