Ius Constituendum ASEAN Digital Justice Protocol as Legal Instrument for Cross-Border Dispute Resolution Ensuring Consumer Protection

Abstract

The rapid expansion of the digital economy across Southeast Asia, projected to reach USD 1 trillion by 2030, has generated an unprecedented surge in cross-border electronic transactions that far outpaces the region's existing legal infrastructure for dispute resolution. The 2019 ASEAN Agreement on Electronic Commerce, while representing a significant milestone, remains a soft law instrument whose implementation is entirely contingent upon the political will of individual member states, and no binding ASEAN legal instrument currently exists to determine jurisdiction in cross-border e-commerce disputes. This structural vacuum generates a persistent legal deadlock that disproportionately disadvantages consumers, particularly Indonesian consumers confronting global digital merchants operating beyond effective national reach. This study aims to examine the urgency of establishing the ASEAN Digital Justice Protocol as a binding regional legal instrument and to construct a forward-looking protocol design integrating AI assisted dispute resolution mechanisms, recognised ipso jure across all ASEAN member states, to guarantee equal access to justice for consumers throughout the region. Employing a normative juridical method with policy and futuristic approaches, this research conducts a comparative analysis of existing ASEAN frameworks, the European Union's ODR regulatory model, and international instruments including the UNCITRAL Technical Notes on Online Dispute Resolution 2016. Findings reveal that dispute resolution commitments within ASEAN's current digital agreements remain fundamentally voluntary, effectively converting binding obligations into negotiable promises and perpetuating systemic legal uncertainty for cross-border consumers. This research constructs the ASEAN Digital Justice Protocol as a novel regional legal pact incorporating binding AI-assisted adjudication, automatic cross-border recognition and enforcement of decisions, and equitable access guarantees for consumers in digitally underserved member states. The protocol is positioned as an urgent ius constituendum, indispensable to building a just, certain, and inclusive digital trade ecosystem across the ASEAN region.