The ASEAN countries are to establish a single regulatory scheme for the region's valuable cosmetics industry from the start of 2008.
According to secretary general Ong Keng Yong: “The plan would establish common standards, lowering manufacturing costs and increasing trade in the goods traded within ASEAN, since the member countries needed to deregulate in order to compete for foreign direct investment. Good progress towards establishing the cosmetics regulatory scheme by 1 January 1 2008 has been been made to meet the implementation of the agreement on ASEAN harmonised cosmetic regulatory scheme which was signed in September 2003."
At their recent meeting in Kuala Lumpur, Southeast Asian economic ministers were under pressure to speed up the creation of a single trade bloc to combat the rise of China and India, which are drawing foreign investment away from the region.