The ASEAN Committee on Consumer Protection launches the Guideline on Consumer Protection in E-Commerce

The ASEAN Committee on Consumer Protection (ACCP) in cooperation with the ASEAN Coordinating Committee on E-Commerce and Digital Economy (ACCED), launched the ASEAN Guidelines on Consumer Protection in E-Commerce (ASEAN E-Commerce Guidelines) in an effort to promote consumer protection practices and agenda within the context of E-commerce and the greater digital economy in ASEAN.

With the rapidly growing e-commerce market in ASEAN, the region’s policy and decision-makers need a soft law instrument to guide them in establishing, improving, and enforcing the consumer protection agenda.  This guideline not only contains general principles and good existing practices to be consisted by ASEAN Member States (AMS), but it also contains a comprehensive and principle-based framework to develop and refining regulatory responses and institutional mechanisms for consumer protection in e-commerce.  Furthermore, the guideline aims to direct AMS to modernise their respective legal frameworks and instruments so that deceptive, abusive, and unfair business practices in e-commerce can be effectively kept in check.

The guideline contains several key chapters covering topics such as the Overview of Consumer Protection and E-Commerce Development in ASEAN, Core Principles and Common Risks for Consumer Protection in E-commerce, Business Responsibilities, E-Commerce Platform Regulations and suggestions for wider engagements.

The development of the ASEAN E-Commerce Guidelines is part of the ASEAN Strategic Action Plan on Consumer Protection 2025 as well as a deliverable under the Implementation of the ASEAN Agreement on Electronic Commerce.  All in all, this is in line with Principle 8 of the ASEAN High-Level Principle on Consumer Protection (AHLP) where consumers in E-commerce are protected.

These Guidelines was prepared with support by the Deutsche Gesellschaft fuer Internationale Zusammenarbeit (GIZ) GmbH, through the “Consumer Protection in ASEAN” (PROTECT) project funded by the Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development (BMZ) of Germany.  

Visit the ACCP Website (www.aseanconsumer.org) for more information.

Download the Guidelines, here.