An agreement of December 15, 1995, provides a basis for the countries of the Association of South East Asian Nations (ASEAN - Brunei, Indonesia, Malaysia, the Philippines, Singapore, Thailand and Vietnam) to harmonize their intellectual property laws and "if feasible" to set up a single patent office for the entire region possibly by the end of the century. The objective is to "strengthen ... cooperation in the field of intellectual property through an open and outward looking attitude with a view to contributing to the promotion and growth of regional and global trade liberalization".

Specific recognition is given to the obligations that the member states have accepted under the GATT-TRIPS agreement. As initial steps, the countries will set up a common database of intellectual property rights in their countries, seek to establish cooperation between their judicial and enforcement authorities and carry out a comparative study of procedures and the implementation of the GATT-TRIPS agreement. An initial two-year action program was agreed upon at a meeting in April, 1996. However, Indonesia was not represented at the April meeting and has expressed doubts as to whether the objectives agreed to in December can be realized within the proposed time frame.