ASEAN

The Association of South East Asian Nations (ASEAN) [19] was established in 1967 by five countries, namely Indonesia, Malaysia, Philippines, Singapore and Thailand. Brunei Darussalam joined in 1984, Vietnam in 1995, Laos and Myanmar in 1997, and Cambodia in 1999. The ASEAN region has a population of about 500 million. 

ASEAN member countries are establishing a common market in order to facilitate a free movement of goods within the borders of the association [20]. As a consequence, a product which is marketed in a less hot and humid ASEAN member state could easily be distributed to another country which is very hot and humid. Therefore, the hottest and most humid part of the common market determines the stability testing condition. 

The Philippines can be characterised as tropical islands with only minor fluctuations of temperatures and partial water vapour pressure during the day or year. Mean maximum temperatures normally do not exceed 31°C, and never drop below 23°C. Pd values can be found in the range of 25.0-33.0 hPa. All of the islands belong to Koppen Group Am just a small part of the northern island Luzon is characterised by Group Aw. 

The most loading place in the Philippines and probably in the whole ASEAN region identified so far is El Nido in the north of the island Palawan with mean temperatures between 25.9 and 31.0°C (average per year 28.0°C), and Pd values between 27.3 and 33.1 hPa (average per year 30.3 hPa). 

As an example of the graphical presentation of climatic parameters, the daily temperatures and partial vapour pressures per month for El Nido (mean values 1979-2001) are shown in Figs. 4.2 and 4.3. 

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Members of the Association of South-East Asian Nations (ASEAN), Malaysia included, have yet to formulate common rules for dmg regulation. Nonetheless, efforts have been made towards harmonization in terms of voluntary standards. Through the ASEAN Technical Cooperation Project in Pharmaceuticals, a number of reference substances and guidelines have been developed (17). Furthermore, agreements made for the ASEAN Free Trade Area have harmonized and reduced import tariffs on a number of goods, including pharmaceutical raw materials and finished products. 

Several countries (Cyprus, Estonia, Venezuela and Zimbabwe) have adopted the WHO GMP guidelines (25) as their statutory GMP standards. Australia has its own GMP guidelines. Malaysia uses the GMP guidelines of the ASEAN (26). The Netherlands has adopted the European Union guidelines on GMP inspection (27). The majority of the countries have also developed SOPs for their inspectors, as indicated in Table 7.1. Australia, Cuba, Cyprus, Malaysia, Uganda and Venezuela have not developed guidelines for GDP. 

ASEAN Regional Training Centre for QCL and WHO Collaborating Centre in the Regulatory Control of Pharmaceuticals. 

Association of South-East Asian Nations (ASEAN) and World Health Organization. ASEAN technical cooperation in pharmaceuticals a success story. 1997. 

Development of basic pharmaceutical reference substances now in use by the ASEAN group of countries, including Indonesia, Malaysia, Philippines, Singapore, and Thailand, and initiated by the WHO,... 

ARBEC. Bioteohnology and Natural Produots, ASEAN Review of... 

Despite many setbacks, the two sides signed a substantial Cessation of Hostilities Agreement (CoHA) on 9 December 2002, which did finally curb the violence. Soldiers from two Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) partners, the Philippines and Thailand, joined the GAM and TNI monitoring teams to investigate breaches of the peace by either side (Reid 2005 352-3) (see figure 5.1). 

Distrust remains along many of these borders, but since 1980 military confrontation appears a thing of the past. Recent territorial disputes between Malaysia and Indonesia, and Malaysia and Singapore were peacefully resolved by the International Court of Justice in The Hague (2002 and 2008 respectively). Stability breeds acceptance, and state nationalism does its work in turning even borderland peoples into citizens. But the international situation has also been helpful, of which the regional ASEAN was a key part. 

Despite these difficulties, Southeast Asian states have been busy members of the international community, both within the ASEAN context and in the myriad other international organisations that now regulate the trans-national order. In Southeast Asia as elsewhere the international context is vastly different from that in which older nationalisms made their violent way in the Western world. On the one hand the... 

World Health Organization Pharmaceutical Inspection Cooperation Scheme International Conference on Harmonization Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) Mercado Comun del Sur (MERCOSUR)... 

ASEAN was established in 1967 by Indonesia, Malaysia, Philippines, Singapore, and Thailand. Current members include also Brunei and Darussalam (joined in 1984), Vietnam (joined in 1995), Laos and Myanmar (joined in 1997), and Cambodia (joined in 1999). The aims and purposes of ASEAN involve cooperation in the economic, social, cultural, technical, educational, and other fields [54]. Among other cooperation schemes the ASEAN countries have also developed their own GMP guidelines, which were issued in 1984 [55]. 

J Kantasubrata, S Imamkhasani. Analysis of additives in fruit juice using HPLC. ASEAN Food J... 

Hutagalung, H.P., Setiapermana, D., Munawir, K., 1997. Organochlorine, oil and heavy metals in Siak Estuary, Riau, Indonesia. In Vigers, G., Ong, K.S., Pherson, Me., Milson, N., Watson, I., Tang, A. (Eds.), Proceeding of the Asean-Canada Technical Conference on Marine Science. Penang, Malaysia, pp. 21-29. 

The major concern for the region is the open burning of domestic wastes and forest fires in the tropical forest belt of Southeast Asia that resulted in severe hazes and the release of hazardous airborne chemicals, particularly PAHs. It became such a regional crisis that a Regional Haze Action Plan was instituted in 2001 to address the issue of transboundary haze (ASEAN, 2006). 

ASEAN, 2006. Regional haze action plan. Available at http //www.aseansec.org/9059.htm accessed on April 24, 2006. 

We sincerely thank the members of the Asia-Europe Environment Forum Steering Committee for their valuable input into the conceptualisation of the roundtable and identification of participants Mr Anders Granlund of Sida-SENSA Ms Natalie Pauwels of Environment Directorate-General of the European Commission (EC) Ms. Ella Antonio of Earth Council, Asia-Pacific Mr. Philippe Bergeron of the ASEAN Network for CDM Investment Promotion (ACE) Mr. Raman Letchumanan of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) Secretariat and Mr. David Stanners of the European Environment Agency (EEA). 

Stakeholders should create a communications strategy on chemicals in the Asian region. Case studies from Europe in which lessons have been learned on chemicals policy may be very useful to Asian stakeholders. It should be noted that some Northeast Asian countries have developed and implemented a national pollutant release and transfer register (PRTR) system, which is considered an important initial step towards risk-based chemicals management. Meanwhile, policy champions should be identified to push the chemicals agenda within ASEAN, especially among businesses and small and medium enterprises (SMEs). 

This need for attention was recognised by the United Nations Institute for Training and Research (UNITAR) and the International Labor Organization (ILO). They have co-operated closely to help improve capacities by having an ASEAN component in their Global GHS Capacity Building Program, 2005-2007. Under this ASEAN component, two studies were conducted, namely ... 

The degree of variation narrows a little at the sub-regional level since subregional mechanisms try to harmonise policies and programmes among their members. For instance, ASEAN has a very clear vision for its member-countries and Southeast Asia as laid out in ASEAN Vision 2020. It envisions a peaceful,... 

In the Hanoi Plan of Implementation, 1999-2004, ASEAN spelled out a concrete plan that would attain the vision. This plan was later sharpened and translated into key priority programmes that now form part of the Vientiane Action Program, 2004-2010. ASEAN s framework for its plan, policies and programmes has always been guided by the principles of community, integration and cooperation. 

In ASEAN, the Classification and Communication Systems are well in place. Except for a few gaps, the countries have established both the chemical and hazard classifications in relevant sectors as shown in Tables 2 and 3 below ... 

ASEAN has intricate processes with a structure that consists of four key components ... 

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