In the past years, ASEAN has seen rapid growth in e-commerce activities. Many recent ASEAN studies found that e-commerce offers huge potentials for ASEAN to benefit. E-Conomy SEA 2018, a study by Google and Temasek estimates that the Southeast Asian internet economy has reached $72 billion in gross merchandise value (GMV) in 2018 across online travel, e-Commerce, online media, and ride hailing. Growing at 37% from the previous year, it had accelerated beyond the 32% compounded annual growth rate (CAGR) recorded between 2015 and 2018. The study also projected that the Southeast Asia’s internet economy in 2025 could exceed $240 billion by 2025.

Considering the potentials of e-commerce to businesses in ASEAN, ASEAN Coordinating Committee on Electronic Commerce (ACCEC) was established following the decision of Senior Economic Officials Meeting (SEOM) on 5-6 November 2016 to strengthen coordination mechanism on regional e-commerce efforts in ASEAN. The ACCEC comprises of government officials, mainly from agencies responsible for trade, alongside with representatives from agencies that have close roles in cross-border trade, such as customs, transport facilitation, consumer protection, standards and conformance, as well as micro, small, and medium enterprises.

In 2019, the ASEAN Economic Ministers (AEM) signed the ASEAN Agreement on Electronic Commerce, intended to facilitate the growth of e-commerce transactions in ASEAN and deepening cooperation among Member States to develop and intensify the use of e-commerce, as well as to create an environment of trust and confidence in the use of e-commerce.