“POWER OF ASEAN SECRETARIAT TO INTERPRET THE ASEAN CHARTER”

Main Article Content

Pattawee Sookhakich, Nattapat Limsiritong

Abstract

This article shows the overview of Article 51 of the ASEAN Charter and Rule of Procedure for the Interpretation of the ASEAN Charter (ROP 2012) to explain the power of the ASEAN Secretariat to interpret the ASEAN Charter.  The analysis focuses on the main research question of why Article 51 of the ASEAN Charter and Rule 2(1) of ROP 2012 would not fit into the ASEAN principle as ASEAN declared itself as a rule-based intergovernmental organization.  By applying a descriptive method, this article shall be considered with three factors such as (1) Interpreter, (2) Legal binding decision, and (3) Result of application of the decision.  It has found that the interpretation power of the ASEAN Secretariat under Article 51 of the ASEAN Charter and Rule 2(1) of ROP 2012 is impossibly used into the current practice of ASEAN because (1) the ASEAN Secretariat is designed for an administrative body, not a decision-making body, (2) there is no legal binding for ASEAN Secretariat’s decision, and (3) application of ASEAN Secretariat’s decision would lead to the unresolved dispute.  Therefore the author suggests ASEAN to revise Article 51 of the ASEAN Charter and Rule 2(1) of ROP 2012 by adding the Charter interpretation supporting unit for the ASEAN Secretariat, the legal binding status of interpretation, and the majority based dispute settlement mechanism with the penalty action in case of decision obeying.

Article Details

Section
Articles