The Association of Southeast Asian Nations

Abstract

This article investigates how asean acquires its international legal personality and exercises its treaty-making capacity. It, first, traces the evolution of asean’s international legal personality and treaty-making practice in three successive periods in asean’s pre-Charter development from 1967 until 2007. It then examines the formal conferral of asean’s legal personality in 2007; analyses the content and implications of the 2011 Rules of Procedure for the Conclusion of International Agreements by asean; and examines asean’s treaty-making practice in the post-Charter era. It argues that asean had a limited international legal personality and treaty-making capacity even prior to the adoption of the asean Charter in 2007. While the Charter represents a critical juncture in asean’s legal evolution, asean’s exercise of its international legal personality and treaty-making capacity since then remains limited due to many institutional and procedural constraints.

Comparative Study of ASEAN Research Productivity

“…Even though the ASEAN has been established since 1967, the granting of a legal personality (legality of rights and obligations) only occurred in 2007 with the adoption of the ASEAN Charter (Phan, 2016). Currently, the ASEAN member countries consist of Brunei Darussalam, Cambodia, Indonesia, Laos, Malaysia, Myanmar, the Philippines, Singapore, Thailand, and Vietnam.…”