ASEAN Needs Common Stand Consumer Protection

Kuta (Antara Bali) - ASEAN member states should adopt common stand on consumer protection in the region, Indonesian Deputy Trade Minister Bayu Krisnamurthi said.

"However, the common stand on consumer protection must pay constant respect for the standards of each ASEAN member state's products," he said after opening a meeting of the ASEAN Committee on Consumer Protection here Wednesday.

Bayu said each country in the Southeast Asian region had regulations and standards of their products and that other ASEAN member countries must respect  them.

Citing an example, he said Indonesia had now applied standards called Indonesian National Standard (SNI) to all products, and so had Malaysia and Singapore.

"Among the 10 ASEAN member states, only Myanmar and Cambodia have not yet adopted standards for their products. Brunei Darussalam began to apply such standards only in 2011," he said.

Bayu said the consumer protection was part of preparations to create an ASEAN Economic Community by 2015.(IGT/T007)