Healthcare and the road to asean integration | Bangkok Post: business

BY INVITATION

As Asean members prepare for regional integration under the Asean Economic Community (AEC) in 2015, stakeholders in Thailand's healthcare industry need to consider many issues in order to take full advantage of the opportunities.

The AEC aims to make Asean a single market and production base, with a free flow of goods, services, investment, skilled labour and freer flow of capital. This will pose major challenges, as well as increased opportunities, for Thai stakeholders. They will need to reposition themselves as effective and efficient operators within Asean as a whole and not simply within Thailand.

Harmonisation of pharmaceutical registration: Healthcare is one of 12 service industries to be liberalised under the AEC. The commitment to a single market and production base requires, among other things, tariff liberalisation, removal of non-tariff barriers, harmonisation of product standards and technical regulations, and mutual recognition of test reports and certification.