Database
on Basic Documents of Japan-ASEAN Relations
Department of
Advanced Social and International Studies,
Agreement on Trade
in Goods of the Framework Agreement on Comprehensive Economic Co-operation
between the Association of Southeast Asian Nations and the People’s Republic of China
The Governments of
Brunei Darussalam, the Kingdom of Cambodia, the Republic of Indonesia, the Lao
People's Democratic Republic ("Lao PDR"), Malaysia, the Union of
Myanmar, the Republic of the Philippines, the Republic of Singapore, the
Kingdom of Thailand and the Socialist Republic of Viet Nam, Member States of
the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (collectively, “ASEAN” or “ASEAN Member States”, or individually, “ASEAN Member State”), and the People’s Republic of China (“China”);
RECALLING the
Framework Agreement on Comprehensive Economic Co-operation (“the Framework Agreement”) between ASEAN and China (collectively, “the Parties”, or individually referring to an ASEAN Member State or to China as
a “Party”) signed by the
Heads of Government/State of ASEAN Member States and China in Phnom Penh,
Cambodia on the 4th day of November 2002 and the Protocol to Amend the
Framework Agreement on Comprehensive Economic Co-operation on the Early Harvest
Programme signed by the Economic Ministers of the
Parties in
RECALLING further
Articles 2(a), 3(1) and 8(1) of the Framework Agreement, which reflect the
Parties’ commitment to establish the ASEAN-China Free
Trade Area (ACFTA) covering trade in goods by 2010 for ASEAN 6 and China and by
2015 for the newer ASEAN Member States;
REAFFIRMING the
Parties’ commitment to establish the ASEAN-China Free
Trade Area within the specified timeframes, while allowing flexibility to the
Parties to address their sensitive areas as provided in the Framework
Agreement,
Have agreed as
follows:
ARTICLE 1
Definitions
For the purposes
of this Agreement, the following definitions shall apply unless the context
otherwise requires:
(a) “WTO” means the World
Trade Organization;
(b) “the GATT 1994” means the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade 1994, including
Annex I (Notes and Supplementary Provisions);
(c) “ASEAN 6” refers to
(d) “newer ASEAN Member States” refers to
(e) “applied MFN tariff rates” shall include in-quota rates, and shall:
(i)
in the case of
(ii)
in the case of ASEAN Member States (which are
non-WTO members as of 1 July 2003), refer to the rates as applied to
(f)
“non-tariff measures” shall include non-tariff barriers;
(g) “AEM” means ASEAN
Economic Ministers;
(h) “MOFCOM” means Ministry of Commerce of
(i)
“SEOM” means ASEAN
Senior Economic Officials Meeting.
ARTICLE 2
National Treatment
on Internal Taxation and Regulation
Each Party shall
accord national treatment to the products of all the other Parties covered by
this Agreement and the Framework Agreement in accordance with Article III of
the GATT 1994. To this end, the provisions of Article III of the GATT 1994
shall, mutatis mutandis, be incorporated into and form an integral part of this
Agreement.
ARTICLE 3
Tariff Reduction
and Elimination
1.
The tariff reduction or elimination programme
of the Parties shall require the applied MFN tariff rates on listed tariff
lines to be gradually reduced and where applicable, eliminated, in accordance
with this Article.
2.
The tariff lines which are subject to the tariff reduction or
elimination programme ubder
this Agreement shall include all tariff lines not covered by the Early Harvest Programme under Article 6 of the Framework Agreement, and
such tariff lines shall be categorised for tariff
reduction and elimination as follows:
(a)
Normal Track: Tariff lines placed in the Normal Track by each Party on
its own accord shall have their respective applied MFN tariff rates gradually
reduced and eliminated in accordance with the modalities set out in Annex 1 of
this Agreement with the objective of achieving the targets prescribed in the
thresholds therein.
(b)
Sensitive Track: Tariff lines placed in the Sensitive Track by each
Party on its own accord shall have their respective applied MFN tariff rates
reduced or eliminated in accordance with the modalities set out in Annex 2 of
this Agreement.
3.
Subject to Annex 1 and Annex 2 of this Agreement, all commitments
undertaken by each Party under this Article shall be applied to all the other
Parties.
ARTICLE 4
Transparency
Article X of the
GATT 1994 shall, mutatis mutandis, be incorporated into and form an integral
part of this Agreement.
ARTICLE 5
Rules of Origin
The Rules of
Origin and the Operational Certification Procedures applicable to the products
covered under this Agreement and the Early Harvest Programme
of the Framework Agreement are set out in Annex 3 of this Agreement.
ARTICLE 6
Modification of
Concessions
1.
Any Party to this Agreement may, by negotiation and agreement with any
Party to which it has made a concession under this Agreement, modify or
withdraw such concession made under this Agreement.
2.
In such negotiations and agreement, which may include provision for
compensatory adjustment with respect to other products, the Parties concerned
shall maintain a general level of reciprocal and mutually advantageous
concessions not less favourable to trade than that
provided for in this Agreement prior to such negotiations and agreement.
ARTICLE 7
WTO Disciplines
1.
Subject to the provisions of this Agreement and any future agreements as
may be agreed pursuant to reviews of this Agreement by the Parties under
Article 17 of this Agreement, the Parties[1] hereby
agree and reaffirm their commitments to abide by the provisions of the WTO
disciplines on, among others, non-tariff measures, technical barriers to trade,
sanitary and phytosanitary measures, subsidies and
countervailing measures, anti-dumping measures and intellectual property rights.
2.
The provisions of the WTO Multilateral Agreements on Trade in Goods,
which are not specifically mentioned in or modified by this Agreement, shall
apply, mutatis mutandis, to this Agreement unless the context otherwise
requires.
ARTICLE 8
Quantitative
Restrictions and Non-Tariff Barriers
1.
Each Party undertakes not to maintain any quantitative restrictions at
any time unless otherwise permitted under the WTO disciplines.[2]
2.
The Parties shall identify non-tariff barriers (other than quantitative
restrictions) for elimination as soon as possible after the entry into force of
this Agreement. The time frame for elimination of these non-tariff barriers
shall be mutually agreed upon by all Parties.
3. The Parties shall make information on
their respective quantitative restrictions available and accessible upon
implementation of this Agreement.
ARTICLE 9
Safeguard Measures
1.
Each Party, which is a WTO member, retains its rights and obligations
under Article XIX of the GATT 1994 and the WTO Agreement on Safeguards.
2.
With regard to ACFTA safeguard measures, a Party shall have the right to
initiate such a measure on a product within the transition period for that
product. The transition period for a product shall begin from the date of entry
into force of this Agreement and end five years from the date of completion of
tariff elimination/reduction for that product.
3.
A Party shall be free to take ACFTA safeguard measures if as an effect
of the obligations incurred by that Party, including tariff concessions under
the Early Harvest Programme of the Framework
Agreement or this Agreement, or, if as a result of unforeseen developments and of
the effects of the obligations incurred by that Party, including tariff
concessions under the Early Harvest Programme of the
Framework Agreement or this Agreement, imports of any particular product from
the other Parties increase in such quantities, absolute or relative to domestic
production, and under such conditions so as to cause or threaten to cause
serious injury to the domestic industry of the importing Party that produces
like or directly competitive products.
4.
If an ACFTA safeguard measure is taken, a Party taking such a measure
may increase the tariff rate applicable to the product concerned to the WTO MFN
tariff rate applied to such product at the time when the measure is taken.
5.
Any ACFTA safeguard measure may be maintained for an initial period of
up to 3 years and may be extended for a period not exceeding 1 year.
Notwithstanding the duration of an ACFTA safeguard measure on a product, such measure shall terminate at the end of the
transition period for that product.
6.
In applying ACFTA safeguard measures, the Parties shall adopt the rules
for the application of safeguard measures as provided under the WTO Agreement
on Safeguards, with the exception of the quantitative restriction measures set
out in Article 5, and Articles 9, 13 and 14 of the WTO Agreement on Safeguards.
As such, all other provisions of the WTO Agreement on Safeguards shall, mutatis
mutandis, be incorporated into and form an integral part of this Agreement.
7.
An ACFTA safeguard measure shall not be applied against a product
originating in a Party, so long as its share of imports of the product
concerned in the importing Party does not exceed 3% of the total imports from
the Parties.
8.
In seeking compensation under Article 8 of the WTO Agreement on
Safeguards for an ACFTA safeguard measure, the Parties shall seek the good
offices of the body referred to in paragraph 12 to determine the substantially
equivalent level of concessions prior to any suspension of equivalent
concessions. Any proceedings arising from such good offices shall be completed
within 90 days from the date on which the ACFTA safeguard measure was applied.
9.
On a Party’s termination of an ACFTA safeguard measure on
a product, the tariff rate for that product shall be the rate that, according
to that Party’s tariff reduction and elimination schedule,
as provided in Annex 1 and Annex 2 of this Agreement, would have been in effect
commencing on 1 January of the year in which the safeguard measure is
terminated.
10. All
official communications and documentations exchanged among the Parties and to
the body referred to in paragraph 12 relating to any ACFTA safeguard measures
shall be in writing and shall be in the English language.
11. When
applying ACFTA safeguard measures, a Party shall not have simultaneous recourse
to the WTO safeguard measures referred to in paragraph 1.
12. For
the purpose of this Article, any reference to “Council for Trade in Goods” or the “Committee on Safeguards” in the incorporated provisions of the WTO
Agreement on Safeguards shall, pending the establishment of a permanent body
under paragraph 1 of Article 16, refer to the AEM-MOFCOM, or the SEOM-MOFCOM,
as appropriate, which shall be replaced by the permanent body once it is
established.
ARTICLE 10
Acceleration of
Commitments
Nothing in this
Agreement shall preclude the Parties from negotiating and entering into
arrangements to accelerate the implementation of commitments made under this
Agreement, provided that such arrangements are mutually agreed to and
implemented by all the Parties.
ARTICLE 11
Measures to
Safeguard the Balance of Payments
Where a Party is
in serious balance of payments and external financial difficulties or threat
thereof, it may, in accordance with the GATT 1994 and the Understanding on
Balance-of-Payments Provisions of the GATT 1994, adopt restrictive import
measures.
ARTICLE 12
General Exceptions
Subject to the
requirement that such measures are not applied in a manner which would
constitute a means of arbitrary or unjustifiable discrimination between the
Parties where the same conditions prevail, or a disguised restriction on
international trade, nothing in this Agreement shall be construed to prevent
the adoption or enforcement by a Party of measures:
(a) necessary to protect public morals;
(b) necessary to protect human, animal or plant life or health;
(c) relating to the importations or exportations of gold or
silver;
(d)
necessary to secure compliance with laws or regulations which are not
inconsistent with the provisions of this Agreement, including those relating to
customs enforcement, the enforcement of monopolies operated under paragraph 4 of
Article II and Article XVII of the GATT 1994, the protection of patents, trade
marks and copyrights, and the prevention of deceptive practices;
(e) relating to the products of prison labour;
(f)
imposed for the protection of national treasures of artistic, historic
or archaeological value;
(g) relating to the conservation of exhaustible natural
resources if such measures are made effective in conjunction with restrictions
on domestic production or consumption;
(h)
undertaken in pursuance of obligations under any intergovernmental
commodity agreement which conforms to criteria submitted to the WTO and not
disapproved by it or which is itself so submitted and not so disapproved;
(i)
involving restrictions on exports of domestic materials necessary to
ensure essential quantities of such materials to a domestic processing industry
during periods when the domestic price of such materials is held below the
world price as part of a governmental stabilization plan; Provided that such
restrictions shall not operate to increase the exports of or the protection
afforded to such domestic industry, and shall not depart from the provisions of
this Agreement relating to non-discrimination;
(j)
essential to the acquisition or distribution of products in general or
local short supply; Provided that any such measures shall be consistent with
the principle that all Parties are entitled to an equitable share of the
international supply of such products, and that any such measures, which are
inconsistent with the other provisions of this Agreement shall be discontinued
as soon as the conditions giving rise to them have ceased to exist.
ARTICLE 13
Security
Exceptions
Nothing in this
Agreement shall be construed:
(a) to require any Party to furnish any information the
disclosure of which it considers contrary to its essential security interests;
(b) to prevent any Party from taking any action which it
considers necessary for the protection of its essential security interests,
including but not limited to:
(i)
action relating to fissionable materials or the
materials from which they are derived;
(ii)
action relating to the traffic in arms, ammunition and implements of war
and to such traffic in other goods and materials as is carried on directly or
indirectly for the purpose of supplying a military establishment;
(iii) action taken so as to protect critical communications
infrastructure from deliberate attempts intended to disable or degrade such
infrastructure;
(iv) action taken in time of war or other emergency in domestic
or international relations; or
(c) to prevent any Party from taking any action in pursuance of
its obligations under the United Nations Charter for the maintenance of
international peace and security.
ARTICLE 14
Recognition of
Each of the ten
ASEAN Member States agrees to recognise China as a
full market economy and shall not apply, from the date of the signature of this
Agreement, Sections 15 and 16 of the Protocol of Accession of the People’s Republic of China to the WTO and Paragraph
242 of the Report of the Working Party on the Accession of China to WTO in
relation to the trade between China and each of the ten ASEAN Member States.
ARTICLE 15
State, Regional
and Local Government
In fulfilling its
obligations and commitments under this Agreement, each Party shall ensure their
observance by regional and local governments and authorities in its territory
as well as their observance by non-governmental bodies (in the exercise of
powers delegated by central, state, regional or local governments or
authorities) within its territory.
ARTICLE 16
Institutional
Arrangements
1.
Pending the establishment of a permanent body, the AEM-MOFCOM, supported
and assisted by the SEOM-MOFCOM, shall oversee, supervise, coordinate and
review the implementation of this Agreement.
2.
The ASEAN Secretariat shall monitor and report to the SEOM-MOFCOM on the
implementation of this Agreement. All Parties shall cooperate with the ASEAN
Secretariat in the performance of its duties.
3.
Each Party shall designate a contact point to facilitate communications
between the Parties on any matter covered by this Agreement. On the request of
a Party, the contact point of the requested Party shall identify the office or
official responsible for the matter and assist in facilitating communication
with the requesting Party.
ARTICLE 17
Review
1.
The AEM-MOFCOM or their designated representatives shall meet within a
year of the date of entry into force of this Agreement and then biennially or
otherwise as appropriate to review this Agreement for the purpose of considering
further measures to liberalise trade in goods as well
as develop disciplines and negotiate agreements on matters referred to in
Article 7 of this Agreement or any other relevant matters as may be agreed.
2.
The Parties shall, taking into account their respective experience in
the implementation of this Agreement, review the Sensitive Track in 2008 with a
view to improving the market access condition of sensitive products, including
the further possible reduction of the number of products in the Sensitive Track
and the conditions governing the reciprocal tariff rate treatment of products
placed by a Party in the Sensitive Track.
ARTICLE 18
Annexes and Future
Instruments
This Agreement
shall include:
(a)
the Annexes and the contents therein which shall form an
integral part of this Agreement: and
(b)
all future legal instruments agreed pursuant to
this Agreement.
ARTICLE 19
Amendments
This Agreement may
be amended by the mutual written consent of the Parties.
ARTICLE 20
Miscellaneous
Provisions
Except as
otherwise provided in this Agreement, this Agreement or any action taken under
it shall not affect or nullify the rights and obligations of a Party under
existing agreements to which it is a party.
ARTICLE 21
Dispute Settlement
The Agreement on
Dispute Settlement Mechanism between ASEAN and
ARTICLE 22
Depositary
For the ASEAN
Member States, this Agreement shall be deposited with the Secretary-General of
ASEAN, who shall promptly furnish a certified copy thereof, to each
ARTICLE 23
Entry Into Force
1.
This Agreement shall enter into force on 1 January 2005.
2.
The Parties undertake to complete their internal procedures for the
entry into force of this Agreement prior to 1 January 2005.
3.
Where a Party is unable to complete its internal procedures for the
entry into force of this Agreement by 1 January 2005, the rights and
obligations of that Party under this Agreement shall commence on the date of
the completion of such internal procedures.
4.
A Party shall upon the completion of its internal procedures for the
entry into force of this Agreement notify all the other Parties in writing.
IN WITNESS
WHEREOF, the undersigned being duly authorised by
their respective Governments, have signed this Agreement on Trade in Goods of
the Framework Agreement on Comprehensive Economic Co-operation between the
Association of Southeast Asian Nations and the People’s Republic of
DONE at,
Vientiane, Lao PDR this Twenty Ninth Day of November in the Year Two Thousand
and Four, in duplicate copies in the English Language.
For
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PEHIN DATO ABDUL
RAHMAN TAIB
Minister of
Industry and Primary Resources
For the
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CHAM PRASIDH
Senior Minister
and Minister of Commerce
For the
¾¾¾¾¾¾¾¾¾¾¾¾¾¾¾¾¾
MARI ELKA PANGESTU
Minister of Trade
For the Lao People’s Democratic Republic
¾¾¾¾¾¾¾¾¾¾¾¾¾¾¾¾¾
SOULIVONG DARAVONG
Minister of
Commerce
For
¾¾¾¾¾¾¾¾¾¾¾¾¾¾¾¾¾
RAFIDAH AZIZ
Minister of
International Trade and Industry
For the Union of
¾¾¾¾¾¾¾¾¾¾¾¾¾¾¾¾¾
SOE THA
Minister of
National Planning and Economic Development
For the Republic
of the
¾¾¾¾¾¾¾¾¾¾¾¾¾¾¾¾¾
CESAR V. PURISIMA
Secretary of Trade
and Industry
For the
¾¾¾¾¾¾¾¾¾¾¾¾¾¾¾¾¾
LIM HNG KIANG
Minister for Trade
and Industry
For the
¾¾¾¾¾¾¾¾¾¾¾¾¾¾¾¾¾
WATANA MUANGSOOK
Minister of
Commerce
For the
¾¾¾¾¾¾¾¾¾¾¾¾¾¾¾¾¾
TRUONG DINH TUYEN
Minister of Trade
For the People’s Republic of
¾¾¾¾¾¾¾¾¾¾¾¾¾¾¾¾¾
BO XILAI
Minister of
Commerce
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[1] Non-WTO
members of ASEAN shall abide by the WTO provisions in accordance with their
accession commitments to the WTO.
[2] Non-WTO
members of ASEAN shall phase out their quantitative restrictions 3 years [