The ASEAN ICT/Digital sector has been very mindful about the need to bridge the gaps in the level of development across the ASEAN Member States, by conducting and stocktaking studies across ASEAN Member States on specific policy issues and workshops to identify and distill best practices that ASEAN Member States can use as guidance to advance their respective national development in the areas of concern.

The policy areas studied and discussed are, among others, broadband infrastructure deployment, bridging the gaps of access to ICT among the population (digital divide), adoption of emerging technologies, radio frequency spectrum management, telecommunication services regulation, intra-ASEAN submarine cable connectivity resilience, network security, and critical information infrastructure protection.

Stakeholders Consultative Dialogues

With the ever increasing complexity of online platform and digital technology regulations, the ASEAN Digital sector regularly engage in consultative dialogues among ASEAN ICT regulators as well as with stakeholders such as external partners, the digital industry players and other private sector entities to ensure that the regulations do not stifle innovation and growth in the industry while achieving policy objectives such as protecting citizen’s privacy and security, ensuring market fairness, and providing equitable access.

The regular dialogues include annual consultative meetings with the ICT regulatory authorities of China and Japan, and the ASEAN Telecommunications Regulators Council (ATRC) Stakeholders Consultative Dialogue on Online Platform Regulation.

Establishment of Framework Agreements

The sector has also been developing regional framework agreements, taking reference of international best practices, that serve as common principles and/or approaches that AMS are committed to adhering with in developing their national policies and regulations. The frameworks agreements are aimed at promoting legal and regulatory compatibility across AMS to facilitate the integration of economy and society in the region towards an environment that is conducive to the growth of digital economy and society.

Amongst the framework agreements are the ASEAN Framework on Personal Data Protection (PDP) – adopted in 2016, ASEAN International Mobile Roaming (IMR) Framework – in 2018, and ASEAN Digital Data Governance (DDG) Framework – in 2018 – which was built upon the ASEAN PDP Framework. Among the key initiatives in the DDG Framework are the development of the ASEAN Cross-border Data Flow Mechanism and the ASEAN Data Management Framework which includes an ASEAN Data Classification Framework. The development of the data-related frameworks was driven by the growing demand for data collection, monetization and transfer by digital applications and solutions, including smart applications in the 4th Industrial Revolution (4IR).

Digital Talent Development

The Digital sector has also been organizing regular competition-based events to promote the development of digital talents and the growth of digitally-enabled innovation, especially amongst ASEAN youth and young professionals.

Amongst the annual competition-based events are the ASEAN Cyber-Kids Camp – since 2009, ASEAN ICT Innovation Award – since 2011, ASEAN Makers Hackathon – since 2017, and ASEAN-Japan Cyber SEA Game – since 2018.