Composite National Legislation And Federation Of South East Asian Nations (FOSEAN)

Committee: The International Trade Conclave

Countries Proposing: China, Thailand, India, Singapore, Pakistan, Indonesia

The following nations have agreed to come together to form an independent economic unit, to consolidate and promote feelings of territorial solidarity between China and numerous South-East Asian Nations.

Name of the Bloc: Federation of South East Asian Nations (FOSEAN)

Cognizant of the need for and the advantage of adequate representation of Asia in the international economic community, the People’s Republic of China, Indonesia, Singapore, Thailand, Pakistan, and India have fostered a non-negotiable and binding trade agreement known as the Federation of South East Asian Nations (hereafter known as the FOSEAN).

The working of the FOSEAN will be as follows:

The bloc is governed by the premise that an absolutist conception of free trade is enormously idealistic. We, therefore, seek to strike a compromise between integrated capital markets and reasonable protectionist measures aimed at protecting domestic industries in their nascent stage. This compromise will be reached through

Restricting the magnitude of tariffs imposed by one member country on another to 8%.

Removing any tariffs and/or other protectionist economic mechanisms inter alia quotas, domestic subsidies etc. if the industry in question is deemed internationally competitive.

Seeking to provide any relevant subsidies when two or more member nations are engaging in extensive trade on the basis of comparative advantage. d. Utilizing collective bargaining power in order to foster better trading agreements with the international economic community and strengthen claims made by member-nations against other countries in such organizations as the WTO and all financial disputes in the PCA and the ICJ.

Given that all member-nations of the bloc are classified as market economies by the WTO, the market-economy-specific metric of MoD (Margin of Dumping) will be employed by the FOSEAN to prevent any conflict with regard to the statistical analysis involved in approaching a dumping allegation. a. Any disputes with regard to the calculation of the MoD (Margin of Dumping) will be appropriately dealt with by the FOSEAN Centre for Arbitration and Dispute Resolution (jurisdiction stated below). b. The member nations will provide active advocacy for China’s status as a market economy, taking into account the fact that this status has been already granted to China by the WTO, EU and all the FOSEAN nations. c. The FOSEAN will actively encourage bilateral co-operation between its member nations to ensure the peaceful and timely settlement of disputes with regard to statistical discrepancies in an anti-dumping case.

The formulation and membership of this agreement, in no way, shape or form, serves as a restriction to FOSEAN member- nations actively engaging in economic trade, extensive or otherwise, with non-FOSEAN countries. a. The FOSEAN countries also stand in support of retaliatory tariff policies levied in opposition to unfair economic means being employed by other countries. This fact being conceded, countries should remove such tariffs in the event of a de- escalation of tensions between the parties involved.

The agreement also recognizes the legality and continuity of existing trade agreements FOSEAN member-countries have with each other and with other members of the international economic community.

The bloc shall meet once a month to discuss, deliberate and debate upon relevant economic and financial matters – a. The meetings will be conducting once a month, and their location will be chosen on a monthly basis. b. The meetings will be presided over by the Head of the

Ministry of Commerce (or relevant equivalent) of the nation in which the aforementioned meeting is taking place and will be attended by the Ministers of Finance of the FOSEAN member-nations. c. Resolutions and agreements passed at these meetings will only be adequately implemented on the contingency of unanimity. In the event of a dissent from a member nation of the FOSEAN members are advised to reach a compromise and make adequate amends to the legislation in question. d. The meetings of the FOSEAN shall serve as an avenue for

the aforementioned member-nations to formulate new economic trade deals amongst each other. e. In the case of a dispute arising from an intra-FOSEAN trade deal, the matter shall be referred to the FOSEAN Centre for Arbitration and Dispute Resolution.

5. In order to reduce the cost of proving a dumping allegation, the countries in question shall: a. Work with bureaucracies of the FOSEAN member-nations to actively engage in the simplification of the procedural issues with regard to the lodging of dumping-related complaints by domestic companies to the Trade Commissions of the countries in question. b. To institute feedback mechanisms by means of an online portal so as to serve as a vent for the grievances domestic companies face at the hands of the foreign firms.

On the lodging of a complaint in compliance with the aforementioned description, the FOSEAN member nations are directed to use adequate means to tackle the situation.

Disputes between the FOSEAN member nations of the nature referred to in clauses 2 (a) and 4 (e) will be referred to the “FOSEAN Centre for Arbitration and Dispute Resolution”, the jurisdiction of which is as follows: a. There shall be a total of seven arbitrators bestowed with the task of deliberating on matters referred by the FOSEAN nations. b. There will compulsorily be one arbitrator from every member-nation. The seventh arbitrator will be a retired justice of the International Court of Justice – subject to the unanimous ratification of the FOSEAN. c. The arbitrators shall compulsorily have been Justices of the apex courts of the countries in question. d. They shall hold tenure for a period of two years but maybe subject to re-election on the basis of unanimous ratification by the member nations. e. In the case of a dispute between two FOSEAN member-nations, the case will be arbitrated by a panel of five arbitrators (excluding the two arbitrators from the parties to the conflict). f. The arbitrators on hearing the matter, shall be tasked with drawing up an opinion on the economic situation with a list of possible remedial measures. The opinion of the FOSEAN Centre for Arbitration and Dispute Resolution is not legally enforceable. g. Member nations shall make conscious attempts to abide by the remedial measures presented by the arbitrators of the FOSEAN Centre for Arbitration and Dispute Resolution and enforce the same on others.

The FOSEAN is a forum which places utmost importance to the territorial solidarity between its member nations. Keeping this in mind, in the event of an exit of a member-nation from the bloc, the remaining member nations are entitled to the imposition of punitive measures inter alia economic sanctions, trade embargoes, heavy tariffs etc. The magnitude of these measures will be left upon the discretion of the FOSEAN members.