Meanwhile, the Southeast Asia 2022 economic report by Google, Temasek & Bain shows that the total number of ASEAN Internet users has increased by about 20 million people from 440 million in 2021 to 460 million in 2022. The ASEAN Internet economy will grow by about 20% from 161 billion USD in 2021 to 194 billion USD in 2022.
It is estimated that the size of the ASEAN economy has nearly doubled in the 3-year period from 2019 to 2022. It can be said that with the potential of a dynamic development region, young population, easy access to technology, with the number of internet users growing rapidly, ASEAN has a lot of potential to significantly enhance digital commerce.
In the context of rapidly growing digital trade, to take advantage of digital trade, ASEAN needs to approach and solve policy and interoperability issues to enhance trade from a regional perspective.
Accordingly, ASEAN needs common standards in the field of digital trade. Conformity and harmonization of standards will help ASEAN businesses easily access regional and global markets, ensure the smoothness of trade and help businesses improve their reputation and brand when participating in the global market.
In this context, the ASEAN Digital Trade Standards Working Group (DTSCWG) was established, under the ASEAN Advisory Committee on Standards and Quality (ACCSQ). DTSCWG was established with the aim of promoting harmonization, standardization and conformity assessment of digital trade in ASEAN.
DTSCWG's responsibilities include: Harmonizing standards among ASEAN member countries based on international standards, guidelines and practices; Coordinating with relevant stakeholders and other specialized ASEAN bodies to cooperate on standards, technical regulations and conformity assessment procedures related to e-commerce/digital commerce; Engaging with FTA Partners, Dialogue Partners and other regional and international organizations related to Standards and Conformity (STRACAP) on e-commerce/digital commerce.