After five decades of evolution and development, to answer the growing challenges after its inception in 1967, ASEAN has undertaken a number of institutional reforms. In 2007, ASEAN made a milestone with the signing of the ASEAN Charter that gave it a legal personality and transformed it from a loose association to a rules-based organization that is oriented to the interests of its people. The entry into force of the Charter provided an institutional framework for ASEAN and brought out the establishment of new organs; one of them is the Committee of Permanent Representatives to ASEAN (CPR), initially the ASEAN Standing Committee (ASC). Through an elaborate process, the CPR was established in 2009, each member state appointed a Permanent Representative to ASEAN with the rank of Ambassador based in Jakarta. The CPR is expected to help strengthen and accelerate ASEAN’s own community building process. Despite being a relatively new organ in the ASEAN structure, evidently the CPR’s role and functions have evolved after ten years of its existence. This research aims to find out if the CPR has been effective in carrying out its role and functions as outlined by two documents, namely the ASEAN Charter and the Term of References (TOR) for the CPR.

Keywords: ASEAN, CPR, Institutional Framework
Bibliography: (90) (1946 up to 2018)