In order to further institutionalize ASEAN and to give it legal status, the Leaders agreed at the 11^th ASEAN Summit in December 2005, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, on the drafting and implementation of an ASEAN Charter to establish an effective Association that is rules-based and people-centered. They established the Eminent Persons Group (EPG) on the ASEAN Charter to propose a vision and direction for ASEAN integration under the Charter.

            At the 12^th ASEAN Summit in 2006, the leaders tasked a High Level Task Force (HLTF) to draft the ASEAN Charter. The final document comprises 13 chapters and 55 articles.

            The ASEAN Charter was adopted at the 13^th ASEAN Summit in Singapore in 2007, and came into force on 15 December 2008 during Thailand’s chairmanship of ASEAN.