RCEP

The negotiations of the Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership between ASEAN and the six states with which ASEAN has existing FTAs (including China, Korean, Japan, India, Australia and New Zealand) were launched from May 9th, 2013. The negotiation progress was concluded in November 2019, except India - decided to opt out of RCEP. On November 15, 2020, 15 RCEP member countries (excluding India) signed the RCEP. As of November 2, 2021, 06 ASEAN countries (Brunei, Cambodia, Singapore, Thailand, Laos, Vietnam) and 04 partner countries: China, Japan, Australia and New Zealand, have deposited their instruments of approval/ratification of the RCEP Agreement with the Secretary-General of ASEAN. Thus, the RCEP Agreement officially came into force on January 1, 2022 for these countries. Then, RCEP entered into force for the Republic of Korea on 1 February 2022 and for Malaysia on 18 March 2022, and for Indonesia on January 2, 2023.