Submission to the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade's Southeast Asia Free Trade Agreements Modernisation Review.
24 December 2025
PWDA welcomed the opportunity to provide comment to the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade's (DFAT) Southeast Asia Free Trade Agreements Modernisation Review (the Review).
This Review provides an opportunity for Australia to activate its IDEAR Strategy commitment and further its role as a leader in disability-inclusive trade. This is particularly important in agreements with developing countries in Southeast Asia. Very few developing countries have disability-related provisions in their free trade agreements, even though 80% of people with disability live in developing countries.
Our call
The IDEAR Strategy commits not only to advancing disability-inclusive trade, but to following the disability community's call of 'nothing without us', which reflects Australia's co-design obligations under Article 4(3) of the UN Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (CRPD). 'Nothing without us' is a call 'to be listened to, to participate and to contribute at all stages of policy and program development and across all sectors'.9
Recommendations
PWDA recommends that Australia considers including the following types of provisions in its free trade agreements in Southeast Asia and other regions:
- Accessible information: Provisions that commit Governments to provide information in accessible formats, including compliance with web accessibility standards. For example, Article 5 of the European Union - United Kingdom Agreement, which requires Parties to ensure information about the terms and conditions of employment are made available in formats accessible for people with disability.
- Accessible transport: Ensuring that transport is accessible for people with disability. For example, the European Union - United Kingdom Agreement requires Parties to ensure that non-discriminatory measures are taken to protect the interests of consumers in air transport, including ensuring access to information and assistance for people with disability.
- Intellectual property: Facilitate the reproduction of published works in accessible formats through exceptions to intellectual property protections. For example, the Australia - United Kingdom Free Trade Agreement states that each party must 'endeavour to achieve an appropriate balance in its copyright and related rights system…by means of limitations or exceptions …giving due consideration to legitimate purposes such as …facilitating access to published works for people with disability.'
- CRPD reference: Ensuring that free trade agreements expressly reference the CRPD and other core human rights treaties in their preambles.
- Assistive technology: Ensuring that assistive technology, mobility aids and other essential disability supports are exempt from 'custom duty, brokerage fees and other border taxes and formalities' and considering whether to relax patent protections on those products.13
- Small and medium-sized enterprises (SME): support and concessions for SMEs owned or led by people with disability.
