Credit : Bernama Business's X
KUALA LUMPUR, November 4, 2026 – The ASEAN Digital Economy Framework Agreement (DEFA) could cut the cost of regional expansion and make cross-border partnerships easier for Southeast Asia’s digital publishers, content creators and small businesses, experts told Bernama.
DEFA, ASEAN’s flagship region-wide digital economy pact, is due to be signed at the ASEAN Summit in Manila later this month, Bernama reported.
“The walls get lower”
Good News from Southeast Asia (Seasia) founder Akhyari Hananto said the agreement could reduce barriers involving cross-border payments, data transfers, electronic signatures and digital identification, making regional collaboration easier.
However, he said differences in national regulations, taxation, content rules and platform registration requirements would remain, so ASEAN would not immediately function as a single digital market.
“So I would put it this way: the walls get lower. They do not disappear. For small players who cannot hire lawyers in ten countries, though, lower walls already help a lot,” he told Bernama.
Akhyari said digital publishers and content creators, whose interests are often overshadowed by e-commerce and financial technology (fintech), could benefit in particular, adding that the agreement’s biggest promise lies in regional creative collaboration.
He said wider recognition of electronic contracts and signatures could make it easier for Malaysian and regional newsrooms to produce work together, hire freelance writers from Vietnam or collaborate with Thai content creators. Clearer rules on cross-border data could also help publishers that rely on analytics, cloud services and advertising platforms based outside their home countries.
Call for simple guidance
Akhyari noted, however, that many smaller digital businesses are still unfamiliar with trade agreements, based on his experience running training and mentoring programmes with organisations and universities.
“So if ASEAN really means ‘inclusive,’ there has to be a second step. Simple guidance, in local languages, through communities, campuses, associations, people who can explain it in plain terms,” he said.
He said DEFA’s success over the next three to five years should be measured by lower cross-border operating costs, higher regional earnings for smaller businesses and a surge in partnerships among ASEAN companies.
“Basically, if in three years a small publisher or creator can say ‘yeah, regional work is easier now’ and can explain why, then it is working,” he said.
Like AFTA for digital trade
Malaysia University of Science and Technology (MUST) economist Professor Emeritus Dr Barjoyai Bardai said DEFA could speed up regional digital integration by cutting compliance red tape and lowering market entry costs, although gaps in domestic regulations and digital maturity remain major hurdles.
He told Bernama that DEFA could do for digital commerce what the ASEAN Free Trade Area (AFTA) did for the movement of goods, by harmonising the regulatory, tax and data governance hurdles that currently push up operating costs across the region.
“For instance, a Malaysian software company expanding into five ASEAN markets may need separate legal reviews, compliance systems and regulatory filings in each country. This duplicates costs that could otherwise be invested in innovation and growth,” he said.
Citing studies on the burden of differing rules, he said regulatory fragmentation could raise market entry costs by 10 to 20 per cent. A more harmonised framework for digital trade, data flows and payments could reduce these barriers and give businesses more certainty, he said.
“The result would be a more integrated ASEAN digital marketplace capable of competing with China, the European Union and the United States in selected digital sectors,” Barjoyai said.
He cautioned that implementation faces major obstacles, including differences in digital infrastructure, skills and business readiness across ASEAN, as well as lingering sovereignty concerns over cross-border data flows and digital governance.
“The success of DEFA will depend not merely on signing the agreement but on creating practical implementation mechanisms and dispute resolution frameworks,” he said.
Source : Bernama
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