OPEN WINDOWS, CLOSED DOORS
MUTUAL RECOGNITION ARRANGEMENTS ON PROFESSIONAL SERVICES IN THE ASEAN REGION
Dovelyn Rannveig Mendoza, Maria Vincenza Desiderio, Guntur Sugiyarto, and Brian Salant
© 2016 Asian Development Bank
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Cataloging-In-Publication Data
Asian Development Bank.
Open windows, closed doors: Mutual recognition arrangements on professional services in the ASEAN region.
Mandaluyong City, Philippines: Asian Development Bank, 2016.
1. Skill mobility. 2. Migrant workers. 3. Association of Southeast Asian Nations. 4. Economic community. 5. Migration Policy Institute.
I. Asian Development Bank.
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Acknowledgments
This report was made possible with the generous support of the Asian Development Bank’s Japan Fund for Poverty Reduction. The authors gratefully acknowledge the thoughtful comments of Migration Policy Institute’s’ Demetrios G. Papademetriou; the editorial contributions of MPI’s Lauren Shaw; and the invaluable research assistance of Joel Hernandez, Caitlin Katsiaficas, Taylor Elwood, and Chenyu Liang at MPI; and Eric Suan, Katrina Navallo, Anna Rosario Malindog-Uy, and Marsmath Baris, Jr., at ADB. Joe Mark Ganaban assisted in typesetting.
They are also extremely grateful to Supang Chantanavich, Aris Ananta, Paryono, Sothea Oum, Sengxay Phousinghoa, Siti Rosina Attaullah, Ye Swe Htoon, Fernando Aldaba, Shandre Thangavelu, Nguyen Thi Thai Lan, and Jeanne Batalova, for providing their expertise and for directly assisting in preparing and administering the surveys and conducting the focus group discussions and meetings that significantly inform that findings of this report.
The authors give special thanks to Rana Hasan, Ong Keng Yong, Tan Sri Munir Majid, Yoko Ishikura, Hiroshi Kato, Ichiro Tambo, Akira Murata, Teresita Manzala, Jose Cueto, Megawati Santoso, Leandro Conti, Estelita Aguirre, Eddy Krismeidi Soemawilaga, Lesleyanne Hawthorne, and Richard Bedford for providing their significant time and expertise and important referrals. They also thank Imelda Nicolas, former Secretary of the Commission on Filipinos Overseas, Government of the Philippines.
Finally, they are deeply indebted to Bambang Susantono, ADB Vice President, and Michael Fix, MPI President, for their integral guidance and support in preparing this report.
Executive Summary
Between 2003 and 2014, the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN)1 signed Mutual Recognition Arrangements (MRAs) in the tourism sector and in six regulated occupations: accountancy, architecture, dentistry, engineering, medicine, and nursing. A further arrangement, in the surveying field, is being developed but is still in the framework stage. By jointly setting standardized rules for mutual recognition and renouncing, in part or in full, their national discretion to assess foreign qualifications, ASEAN Member States have potentially made it easier for professionals to have their qualifications recognized across the region. If fully implemented, the MRAs would also directly support the ASEAN goal of facilitating skill mobility.
Although these MRAs share nearly identical objectives, they diverge significantly in terms of institutional structures, requirements, and procedures. Not all MRAs are created equal. Globally, they come in various shapes and forms with some more open to foreign professionals, others more restrictive. ASEAN MRAs can be categorized into three different frameworks, with varying levels of openness to foreign professionals.