Specificity and Problems of the Settlement of Economic Disputes Between the ASEAN Member States

The Article discusses the features as well as it highlights the problems of the settlement of economic disputes between the Member States of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (hereinafter referred as “ASEAN”). Means and mechanisms of the settlement of economic disputes between Member countries of this Association, including advisory and consultative mechanisms have been researched; the key provisions on how to settle the ASEAN disputes in the legal and regulatory framework of this organization have also been analyzed; the ways of resolving disputes, focused on the legal mechanisms of enforcement have been considered; the specificities of the settlement of investment disputes in ASEAN have been highlighted; the principal barriers affecting to increase the role of the dispute settlement system in the researched integration association have been described. As part of this study, the following issues were highlighted: the excessive fragmentation of the relevant part of the legal and regulatory framework of the Association; the explicit identification of the priority of some mechanisms (political and legal means of the settlement of disputes) over other mechanisms (arbitration means of the settlement of disputes); raising the issue of the settlement of unresolved disputes in dependence on the ASEAN Summit; the absence of a permanent court in the framework of intergovernmental organizations of integration type; the excessive emphasis on the traditional means for the concrete region of political and legal settlement of the disputes arising. It was justified that these barriers increase the possibility of the scenario that does not carry the potential of positively strengthening the ASEAN dispute settlement system. The Article emphasizes the relevance of developing a single codified source of rules applicable to the settlement of disputes within ASEAN; the significance of including the material costs associated with the establishment of arbitration panels and the appellate instance of the settlement of disputes in the general list of expenses for ensuring the functioning of the ASEAN Secretariat; the consideration of the establishment of a permanent court within ASEAN, etc. © 2020, Springer Nature Switzerland AG.