About RT4D
The Regional Trade for Development (RT4D) initiative is funded by both the Governments of Australia and New Zealand. It assists ASEAN Member States (AMS) in meeting their commitments and realising the advantages offered by the Agreement establishing the ASEAN-Australia-New Zealand Free Trade Area, or AANZFTA, and the Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership, or RCEP.
Through the AANZFTA Implementation Support Program (AISP) and the RCEP Implementation Support Program (RISP), RT4D provides tailored support to enhance the capabilities of ASEAN Member States by strengthening skills, building networks, facilitating policy options and ensuring that trade benefits everyone, including Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises (MSMEs), women and people with disabilities.
The Governments of Australia and New Zealand have committed up to AUD 53.3 million to fund RT4D from 2020-21 to 2027-28.
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Project Summary
The AANZFTA Implementation Support Program (AISP), implemented RT4D Facility, aims to support AMS to realise the full benefits of AANZFTA through the provision of capacity-building support and access to technical expertise.
The following project is approved under AISP.
Project Name: Development of ASEAN Guidelines on AI-Generated and Digital Trademarks
Project Objective: The project will bridge critical implementation gaps in AI and digital trademark management across ASEAN by providing practical tools, institutional capacity-building support, and regional harmonisation mechanisms, including legal provisions mapping and stakeholder consultations. The project will improve trademark examination practices in the digital era to reduce trade and investment barriers and promote effective IP creation, utilisation, protection, and enforcement across AMS with varying development levels and capacities.
To achieve this overarching goal, the project will implement a series of activities with the following specific objectives:
- Activity 1 – Inception Phase: Developing Project Workplan
- Activity 2 – Contextual Study: Regulatory and Situational Mapping
- Activity 3 – AI & Digital Trademark Examination Toolkit Development
- Activity 4 – Developing and disseminating the ASEAN Guidelines
- Activity 5 – Online Public and Private Stakeholder Consultations
- Activity 6 – Online and In-Country Training Workshops to Implement the Guidelines
- Activity 7 – Project Reporting
The Opportunity
The Regional Trade for Development Facility (RT4D) is seeking a consulting firm/consortium (hereafter referred to as the Consultant) to implement the project “Development of ASEAN Guidelines on AI-Generated and Digital Trademarks” by providing both technical and event organisation support. RT4D will manage the project in close consultation with the ASEAN Secretariat, FTA Subsidiary Body and Project Proponent.
Closing Date for Queries: 10 December 2025
Queries
Terms of Reference
Project Financial Template
The Consultant must field a multidisciplinary team with proven expertise in IP/trademark law, digital technologies, policy analysis, and ASEAN stakeholder engagement. The team should demonstrate strong project management skills and experience conducting legal research, analysing examination practices, and producing structured technical outputs such as contextual studies, toolkits, and guidelines. Demonstrated capability to deliver inclusive consultations, apply GEDSI and MEL principles, and produce accessible, high-quality materials is essential. Strong writing, documentation, and facilitation skills, along with experience working across AMS with varied institutional capacities, are required.
It is therefore recommended that the team’s capabilities include, but are not limited to, the following:
- Project Team Leader: With advanced expertise in trademark law, AI-generated marks, digital platforms, and regional IP harmonisation. Proven ability to lead complex, multi-stakeholder projects; oversee research and drafting of the contextual study, toolkits, and Guidelines; ensure quality assurance; and coordinate with RT4D, ASEC, IPC, and the Project Proponent. The person is also responsible for the overall design, delivery, and quality assurance of all capacity building and training workshops (regional and in-country), ensuring they effectively explain the Guidelines and toolkit.
- ASEAN Digital Policy and Regulatory Specialist: Expertise in mapping national IP frameworks, analysing procedural practices, and aligning recommendations with ASEAN cooperation mechanisms. Experience conducting legal and procedural research across AMS and integrating findings into practical examiner guidance.
- Trademark Examination Toolkit Development Specialist: Demonstrated experience designing examination tools, checklists, model office actions, and decision-flow diagrams. Ability to translate complex legal analysis into clear, operational materials for IP examiners. Experience developing hypothetical scenarios and compiling real-world case studies. Prepares technical training materials that demonstrate the application of the Guidelines and toolkit to real cases and supports AMS readiness assessments.
- GEDSI Specialist: Experience embedding gender, disability, and LDEs considerations across research, consultations, toolkit development, guideline drafting, training design, and reporting. Ability to assess how current frameworks affect women-led MSMEs, entrepreneurs with disabilities, and LDE stakeholders, and ensure all outputs meet accessibility and plain-language requirements. Organizes and moderates inclusive consultation sessions with MSMEs, women entrepreneurs, and PWD-led enterprises, ensuring multi-round feedback is integrated into revised outputs.
- Monitoring, Evaluation and Learning (MEL) Specialist: Skilled in collecting and analysing stakeholder feedback from consultation and training activities; integrating data into revisions of project outputs; and ensuring compliance with RT4D MEL indicators, including GEDSI-disaggregated reporting.
Please note that only shortlisted candidates will be contacted.
Apply by 21 December 2025
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