1. Plenary Session III: RCEP Impact on East Asia Investment Presented by Mr. Phairush Burapachaisri, Vice Chairman, the Board of Trade of Thailand Chairman, EABC Working Group for RCEP 1 st East Asia Investment Forum, 24 August 2015, Kuala Lumpur

2. 1. An Overview Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership (RCEP) Source: ASEAN Secretariat  FTA Negotiations among ASEAN+6  Launched on 20 Nov. 2012 by the Leaders of the 16 participating countries  Over 3 billion people  About US$17.23 trillion of combined GDP (2012)

3. 2. Scope of RCEP Negotiations  Trade in goods  Trade in services  Investment  Economic and technical co-operation  Intellectual property  Competition  Dispute settlement  Other issues 10 th Round of RCEP Negotiation to be held in Oct. 2015 in Korea. RCEP Summit to be held in Nov. 2015 in Malaysia.

4. 3. EABC Working Group for RCEP  EABC Working Group for RCEP was formed with the following main objectives: 1)Conduit for effective business input into the RCEP negotiations and seek to ensure that the negotiations address business needs and priorities, and 2)Seek to ensure RCEP negotiations stay on track to deliver the high level of ambition outlined by Leaders in their Joint Declaration and endorsed by Leaders in the Guiding Principles.

5. 4. Preliminary Recommendations for the RCEP  EABC Working Group for RCEP submitted the preliminary recommendations in 11 areas to the RCEP Trade Negotiation Committee meeting (TNC) held on 23 June 2014 in Singapore:- 1)Target Date 2)Scope of the RCEP Negotiation 3)Tariff Elimination 4)Rules of Origin (ROO) 5)Non-tariff Measures (NTMs) 6)Economic and Technical Cooperation (ECOTECH) 7)Trade Facilitation 8)Trade in Services 9)Investment 10)Intellectual Property Rights (IPR) 11)Emerging and New Issues (i.e. E-commerce, SMEs)

6. AreasPreliminary Recommendations 1)Target Date  Support the target date of RCEP negotiations by the end of 2015. 2) Scope of the RCEP Negotiations  Support the Guiding Principles endorsed by the Leaders, which encompasses the 8 areas. 3) Tariff Elimination  To deliver real value to business, it needs to go beyond existing ASEAN+1 FTAs.  An ambitious agreement for liberalizing trade in goods is needed.

7. AreasPreliminary Recommendations 4) Rules of Origin (ROO)  Harmonizing and Modernizing ASEAN+1 FTA ROO, with a view to creating and facilitating trade in the region. 5) Non-tariff measures (NTMs)  In the negotiation of trade in goods, RCEP should also aim to remove NTMs. 6) ECOTECH  ECOTECH programs can help bridge the gap between RCEP economies at different stages of development.  Technical assistance and capacity building in complex areas such as SPS and ROO for example, will help the implementation of RCEP.

8. AreasPreliminary Recommendations 7) Trade Facilitation (TF)  TF is a key element of RCEP for the business community.  Recommend the adoption of the “advance ruling mechanism” to make customs procedures more effective and business friendly.  Support the completion and rollout of single window systems across RCEP to help reduce transaction costs. 8) Trade in Services  It is important that RCEP achieves comprehensive high quality services commitments beyond GATS and ASEAN+1 FTAs given the significant economic contribution of services trade in the region.  Recommend a negative list approach to services trade liberalization and the inclusion of Most Favoured Nation, National Treatment and Market Access obligations.

9. AreasPreliminary Recommendations 9) Investment  Recommend that RCEP create a predictable and liberal investment environment by improving on commitments under existing ASEAN+1 FTAs.  Recommend a negative list approach, as well as providing Most Favoured Nation treatment and National Treatment.  Recommend that RCEP address expropriation, compensation and freedom of transfer of funds and the creation of a transparent dispute settlement mechanism to give investors greater certainty.

10. AreasPreliminary Recommendations 10) IPR  Recommend the IPR chapter should include transparent procedures for IP registration, effective enforcement of IP rights, improve access to IP information and improved quality of patent examination. 11) Emerging and New Issues (1)E-commerce  Recommend that RCEP should provide better disciplines on e-commerce in order to open up business opportunities especially for the SMEs.  It is important to maintain a highly efficient cross border e-commerce environment without sacrificing consumer protection or privacy. (2)SMEs:  Recommend that RCEP address the particular needs and development of SMEs.

11. 5. Conclusion  Schedule of RCEP Negotiations: The 9 th Round of RCEP Negotiation was taken place in Nay Pyi Taw during 3-7 Aug 2015. The 3 rd RCEP Ministerial Meeting to be held on 24 Aug. 2015 in K.L., Malaysia The 10 th Round of RCEP Negotiation to be held on Oct. 2015 in Korea. RCEP Summit to be held in Malaysia in Nov. 2015.  It is important to speedy the RCEP negotiations process, especially the core issues, to ensure concluding the RCEP by the end of 2015.  Business inputs into the RCEP negotiation is essential to be taken into consideration. This would realize the RCEP serving as a business-friendly FTA.