Movement of Natural Persons (MNP), otherwise known as “Mode 4”, is one of the four ways through which services can be supplied across national borders. MNP refers to supply of services through individual persons who travel from another country on a temporary basis, that is, without the intent to work and migrate permanently. Mode 4 is an integral part of every Package of Commitments made under the AFAS, until the ASEAN Economic Ministers (AEM) signed a stand-alone ASEAN Agreement on MNP in November 2012.
ASEAN has undertaken a number of initiatives to facilitate mobility of people related to cross-border provision of services. It started with Mutual Recognition Arrangements (MRAs), followed by the ASEAN Agreement on MNP, and more recent initiative on ASEAN Qualifications Reference Framework (AQRF)
ASEAN Agreement on Movement of Natural Persons
The ASEAN Agreement on Movement of Natural Persons (MNP)31 was signed by ASEAN Economic Ministers (AEM) on 19 November 2012 in Phnom Penh, Cambodia. It is intended as a legal framework to work towards elimination of substantially all restrictions in the temporary cross-border movement of natural persons involved in the provision of trade in goods, trade in services and investment. It is also intended to be the mechanism to further liberalise and facilitate movement of natural persons towards free flow of skilled labour in ASEAN through close cooperation among related ASEAN bodies in the areas, including trade in goods, trade in services, investment, immigration, and labour.
The objectives of MNP Agreement are to:
• Provide rights and obligations in relation to the MNP as set out in ASEAN Framework Agreement on Services (AFAS).
• Facilitate the movement of natural persons engaged in the conduct of trade: in goods, trade in services and investment.
• Establish streamlined and transparent procedures for immigration applications.
• Protect the integrity of Member States’ borders and protect the domestic labour force and permanent employment in the territories of Member States.
It needs to be noted that MNP only deals with the temporary movement of natural persons to other countries to provide services. It does not cover cross-border entry by natural persons for the purpose of permanent employment nor permanent migration (such as for permanent residency or citizenship). MNP only covers those types of service suppliers inscribed in the Schedule of Commitment and therefore not all types of persons (such as unskilled labour) are covered by the MNP Agreement.
The scope of MNP Agreement applies to Business Visitors (BV), Intra-Corporate Transferees (ICT), and Contractual Service Suppliers (CSS) as defined in the Agreement. The Schedules of Commitments32 of ASEAN Member States in this MNP Agreement is annexed to this Agreement and were endorsed by the Ministers during the 9th ASEAN Economic Community (AEC) Council held on 10 April 2013 in Brunei Darussalam.
Upon entry into force of this agreement, Mode 4 commitments made by Member States under the previous AFAS packages, including those signed by the AEM, ASEAN Finance Ministers (AFMM), and ASEAN Transport Ministers (ATM), will be superseded by the Schedule of Commitments of Member States under this MNP Agreement, and will be subject to review within one year after its entry into force
Mutual Recognition Arrangement
Mutual Recognition Arrangements (MRAs) is an important initiative in ASEAN integration on trade in services. The MRAs facilitate trade in services by mutual recognition of authorisation, licensing, or certification of professional service suppliers obtained in one ASEAN Member State by other ASEAN Member States. The goal of the MRA is to facilitate the flow of foreign professionals taking into account relevant domestic regulations and market demand conditions.
At the 7th ASEAN Summit held on 5 November 2001 in Bandar Seri Begawan, Brunei Darussalam, ASEAN Heads of States/Governments mandated the start of negotiations on MRAs to facilitate the flow of professional services under AFAS. The ASEAN Coordinating Committee on Services (CCS) established an Ad-hoc Expert Group on MRAs under its Business Services Sectoral Working Group in July 2003 to begin negotiations on MRAs in services. Subsequently, the Healthcare Sectoral Working Group was established in March 2004, which undertook negotiations on MRAs in the healthcare sector under its regular agenda.
MRAs in 7 (seven) professional services have been concluded and signed by the ASEAN Economic Ministers (AEM):
• MRA on Engineering Services (9 December 2005 in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia); • MRA on Nursing Services (8 December 2006 in Cebu, the Philippines);
• MRA on Architectural Services (19 November 2007 in Singapore);
• Framework Arrangement for the Mutual Recognition of Surveying Qualifications (19 November 2007 in Singapore);
• MRA on Medical Practitioners (26 February 2009 in Cha-am, Thailand);
• MRA on Dental Practitioners (26 February 2009 in Cha-am, Thailand); and
• MRA Framework on Accountancy Services (26 February 2009 in Cha-am, Thailand), subsequently amended as MRA on Accountancy Services (13 November 2014, Nay Pyi Taw, Myanmar).
In addition, there is also an ASEAN Mutual Recognition Arrangement on Tourism Professionals signed by the ASEAN Tourism Ministers on 9 November 2012 in Bangkok, Thailand. These MRAs are currently in various stages of implementation and follow-up initiatives.
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