The Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) is a geo-political and economic organization of 10 countries located in Southeast Asia: Brunei Darussalam, Cambodia, Indonesia, Lao PDR, Malaysia, Myanmar, the Philippines, Singapore, Thailand, and Vietnam. (ASEAN official website)

In 2002, through the 6th Health Ministers Meeting, ASEAN governments committed to a vision and a “Regional Action Plan on Healthy ASEAN Lifestyles”. Identifying tobacco control as one of the priority policy areas, the Action Plan calls upon member nations to implement a Programme of Work on promoting healthy ASEAN lifestyles. For tobacco control this includes developing and implementing a national action plan, consistent with the World Health Organization Framework Convention on Tobacco Control (WHO-FCTC) on issues such as smuggling, taxation, product advertising, distribution, sale, and agricultural production.