4. Each Party shall apply the advance rulings on imports into its territory, from the date of issuance of the opinion, or on a later date indicated in the same except that the advance ruling was modified or revoked pursuant to paragraph 6.
5. Each Party shall provide to any person requesting an advance ruling the same treatment including the same interpretation and application of provisions of chapter IV (rules of origin) regarding a determination of origin which has provided to any other person to whom it issued an advance ruling when facts and circumstances are identical in all substantial aspects.
6. The advance ruling may be modified or revoked by the competent authority in the following cases:
a) Where it is based on an error:
i) In fact;
ii) In the tariff classification of the good or of the materials; or
iii) Compliance with the regional value content;
b) If it is not in accordance with an agreed interpretation between the parties or a modification with respect to article 3-12 or Chapter IV (rules of origin);
c) Where a change in the circumstances or facts that substantiate; or
d) In order to comply with a judicial or administrative decision.
7. Each Party shall provide that any modification or revocation of an advance ruling takes effect on the date on which it is issued or on a later date that there is established. and shall not be applied to importations of a good made before those dates, unless the person to whom it was issued has not acted in accordance with its terms and conditions.
8. Notwithstanding paragraph 7, the party that issued the advance ruling shall postpone the effective date of such modification or revocation for a period not exceeding 90 days where the person to which the advance ruling was issued in good faith has relied on that ruling.
9. Each Party shall provide that when considering the regional value content of a good for which it has issued an advance ruling, its competent authority evaluate whether:
a) The exporter or producer has complied with the terms and conditions of the advance ruling;
b) The exporter or producer operations are consistent with the material facts and circumstances underlying this Opinion; and
c) The supporting calculations and data used in the application of the method for calculating value or allocating substantial cost were correct in all aspects.
10. Each Party shall provide that where its competent authority determines that has not been complied with any of the requirements established in paragraph 9, the competent authority may revoke or modify the advance ruling as the circumstances warrant.
11. Each Party shall provide that where its competent authority determines that the advance ruling was based on incorrect information shall not penalize the person to whom it issued if it proves that it acted with reasonable care and good faith in stating the facts and circumstances on which the advance ruling.
12. Each Party shall provide that where it issues an advance ruling to a person that has omitted or falsely signified substantial facts or circumstances on which the advance ruling is based or has not acted in accordance with the terms and conditions of the competent authority to issue the advance ruling may apply such measures as the circumstances warrant.
13. The validity of an advance ruling shall be subject to the obligation of the holder of the same to inform the competent authority of any substantial change in the circumstances or facts on which it relied to issue the ruling.
14. Each Party shall maintain the confidentiality of the information collected in the process of issuing advance rulings in accordance with its legislation.
Article 7-11. Committee on Customs Procedures
1. The parties establish a committee on customs procedures comprising representatives of each, which shall meet at least twice a year and at the request of either party.
2. The Committee shall:
a) Endeavour to agree on:
i) The interpretation, implementation and administration of this chapter;
ii) Tariff classification and valuation matters relating to determinations of origin;
iii) The procedures for issuing the request, revocation, modification, adoption and implementation of advance rulings;
(IV) Modifications to the certificate of origin or declaration referred to in article 7-02; and
v) Any other matter referred by a party; and
b) Considering proposals for administrative or operational modifications in customs matters that may affect the flow of trade between the parties.
3. The Parties shall establish and implement through their respective laws and regulations, criteria concerning interpretation, implementation and administration, are agreed by the Committee.
Chapter VIII. Safeguards
Article 8-01. Definitions
For the purposes of this chapter, the following definitions shall apply:
threat of serious injury: the clear imminence of serious injury, for which purpose all relevant factors of an objective and quantifiable nature having a bearing on the situation of a domestic industry shall be taken into consideration, with special attention to those indicated in Article 8-10. The determination of the existence of a threat of serious injury shall be based on facts and not on presumptions, conjectures or remote possibilities;
investigating authority: "investigating authority" as defined in Chapter IX (Unfair International Trade Practices);
directly competitive good: that which, not being identical or similar to that being compared, is essentially equivalent for commercial purposes, because it is devoted to the same use and is interchangeable with it;
similar good: that which, although it does not coincide in all its characteristics with the good with which it is compared, has similar characteristics and composition, which allows it to fulfill the same functions and be commercially interchangeable with the one being compared;
serious injury: a general and significant impairment to a domestic industry;
bilateral measures: safeguard measures pursuant to Articles 8-03, 8-04 and other applicable provisions of this Chapter;
global measures: emergency measures on the importation of goods under Article XIX of GATT 1994 and the WTO Agreement on Safeguards;
tariff elimination period: the period of tariff elimination applicable to each good, as provided in the Tariff Elimination Program; and
domestic industry: all producers of the like or directly competitive products operating within the territory of a Party.
Article 8-02. Safeguards Regime
The parties may apply to imports of goods, made under this Treaty, a safeguards regime whose application shall be based on clear criteria, objectives, strict and temporality defined. the safeguards regime bilateral measures envisaged or global.
Section A. Bilateral Measures
Article 8-03. Conditions of Application
If as a result of the implementation of the programme of tariff relief, the importation of one of the parties by one or more goods originating in quantities and under such conditions that alone be a substantial cause of serious injury or threat of serious injury to the domestic industry of like or directly competitive goods, the importing Party may take bilateral measures, which shall be applied in accordance with the following rules:
a) Where this is strictly necessary to counteract the threat of serious injury or serious injury caused by imports from the other party of one or more goods originating in a Party may take bilateral measures within the period of tariff relief;
b) Bilateral measures shall be only temporary and tariff rate. the tariffs to be determined in no case may not exceed the level that is lower among the most-favoured-nation tariff for good that at the time the measure is taken bilateral and the most favoured nation tariff rate for that good on the day preceding the date of entry into force of the programme of tariff relief;
c) Bilateral measures shall be applied for a period of up to one year and may be extended once for a period equal and running, provided that it is demonstrated that the conditions for;
d) In justified cases, it may maintain the validity of a bilateral action by a third year applied when the party that determines that:
i) The domestic industry concerned has undertaken adjustment competitive; and
ii) Calls for a one-year extension.
In such cases, it is essential that increased tariff in the first year of application of the Bilateral measure is substantially reduces to initiate the second year of extension; and
e) Upon the termination of the bilateral action rate or the tariff rate shall be subject to the good that the measure bilateral on that date in accordance with the schedule of tariff relief.
Article 8-04. Compensation for Bilateral Measures
1. The party intending to apply a bilateral granted to the other party mutually agreed compensation in the form of additional tariff concessions, whose effects on trade of the exporting country equivalent to the impact of the measure adopted bilateral.
2. The Parties shall agree on the terms of the compensation referred to in paragraph 1 at the stage of prior consultations under Article 8-14.
3. If the parties are unable to agree on compensation the party intending to take a bilateral measure is authorized to do so, the exporting party may impose trade tariff action having effects equivalent to those of the bilateral action taken.
Section B. Comprehensive Measures
Article 8-05. Rights Under the WTO
The parties maintain their rights and obligations under article XIX of GATT 1994 and the WTO Agreement on Safeguards, except those regarding compensation or retaliation and exclusion of a comprehensive measure, as incompatible with the provisions of this section, in relation to any measure that adopts a party.
Article 8-06. Criteria for the Adoption of a Comprehensive Measure
1. Where a Party decides to take a comprehensive measure may only apply to the other party where imports of a good, individually account for a substantial share of total imports and contribute importantly to the serious injury or threat of serious injury to the domestic industry of the importing Party.
2. For purposes of paragraph 1 shall take into account the following criteria:
a) Normally shall not be considered to be substantial imports of a good of the other Party, whichever is not included within the major suppliers, whose joint exports represent 80 per cent of total imports of the like or directly competitive good in the importing country; and
b) Normally shall not be considered as imports from the other party contribute importantly to the serious injury or threat of serious harm if its growth rate during the period in which the injurious surge, is substantially lower than the growth rate of total imports of the like or directly competitive good the party intending to adopt the measure, from all sources over the same period.
Article 8-07. Compensation for Comprehensive Measures
1. The party intending to apply a global measure granted to the other party mutually agreed compensation in the form of additional concessions, whose effects on trade of the exporting country equivalent to the impact of the global measure taken.
2. The Parties shall agree on the terms of the compensation referred to in paragraph 1 at the stage of prior consultations under Article 8-14.
3. If the parties are unable to agree on compensation the party intending to adopt the global measure shall be entitled to do so, the exporting party may impose measures having equivalent to the trade effects of the global measure taken.
Section C. Procedure
Article 8-08. Adoption Procedure
The party intending to take a bilateral or global in accordance with this Chapter, shall comply with the procedure laid down in this section.
Article 8-09. Research
1. In determining the origin of the application of a safeguard measure, the investigating authority of the importing Party shall carry out an investigation, which may be initiated ex officio or at the request of a party.
2. An investigation shall not be initiated that may lead to the adoption of a bilateral measure, if the investigating authority has determined that the request is supported by domestic producers whose collective output constitutes at least 35 per cent of the total production of the like or directly competitive good.
3. The investigation shall be to:
a) Assess the volume of imports and conditions of the good concerned;
b) To verify the existence of serious injury or threat of serious injury to the domestic industry; and
c) To verify the existence of a direct causal link between increased imports of the good and serious injury or threat of serious injury to the domestic industry.
4. The application of safeguard measures shall be in accordance with the provisions of the legislation of each party.
Article 8-10. Determination of Serious Injury or Threat of Serious Harm
For the purposes of verifying the existence of serious injury or threat of serious harm, the investigating authority shall evaluate the objective and quantifiable nature having a bearing on the domestic industry concerned, in particular the rate and the amount of increase in imports of the good concerned in absolute and relative terms; the share of the domestic market taken over by increased imports; changes in the level of domestic prices, sales, production, productivity utilisation, capacity, employment gains and losses.
Article 8-11. Effect of other Factors
Where factors other than an increased imports of originating a good or good of the other party, as the case may be, that simultaneously prejudicial to the domestic industry, the serious injury or threat of serious injury caused by those factors shall not be attributed to the concerned imports.
Article 8-12. Publication and Notification
The parties shall publish the decisions referred to in this chapter, in accordance with the annex to this article and shall notify in writing to the exporting Party on the day following its publication.
Article 8-13. Content of the Notification
To initiate an investigation, the investigating authority shall make the notification referred to in article 8-12, which shall contain the information to support and sufficient to justify the initiation of the same, including:
a) The name and address available to domestic producers of like or directly competitive goods of representative national production; participation in the domestic production of those goods and the reasons for which are considered to be representative of the sector;
b) The clear and comprehensive description of goods subject to the investigation, in the tariff items which are classified and the current tariff treatment, as well as the identification of the like or directly competitive goods;
c) The import data for each of the three years prior to the initiation of the investigation which constitute the basis for good that is imported in such increased quantities, either in absolute terms or relative to the domestic production of the like or directly competitive goods;
d) The data on total domestic production of the like or directly competitive goods, corresponding to the three years prior to the initiation of the proceeding;
e) The data show that imports are causing serious injury or threat of serious injury to the domestic industry concerned, an enumeration and description of the cause of serious injury or threat of serious harm, and a summary of the basis for the claim that the increased imports of such goods, in absolute terms or relative to the domestic production of the like or directly competitive goods, is the same;
f) Where the criteria and objective information demonstrating that it satisfies the conditions for the implementation of a comprehensive measure to the other Party under this chapter; and
g) The duration of the measure to be taken.
Article 8-14. Prior Consultations
1. The Party to initiate proceedings under this chapter, it shall notify in writing to the other party under the terms of Articles 8-12 and 8-13 and it shall at the same time, prior consultations pursuant to this chapter.
2. The importing Party shall provide adequate opportunity for prior consultations are held. the period of prior consultations shall begin on the day following the receipt by the exporting Party; the notice containing the request for such consultations.
3. The prior period consultations shall be 30 days unless the parties agree otherwise.
4. Safeguard measures shall only be taken upon completion of the period prior consultations.
Article 8-15. Confidential Information
1. The consultation procedure does not require a party to disclose that information is provided on a confidential basis, whose disclosure would infringe their laws governing the matter or prejudice legitimate commercial interests.
2. Without prejudice to the foregoing, the importing Party that intends to apply a measure shall provide a summary of the non-confidential information that is confidential.
Article 8-16. Observations of the Exporting Party
During the period prior consultations the exporting Party shall make comments it deems appropriate, in particular, on the origin of invoke the safeguard and safeguard measures.
Article 8-17. Extension
If the importing Party determines that the reasons that led to the application of the safeguard measure and the exporting Party shall notify its intention to renew at least 60 days before the expiry of its validity. the procedure for extension shall be conducted in accordance with the provisions laid down in this chapter to the adoption of safeguard measures.
Chapter IX. International Unfair Trade Practices
Article 9-01. Definitions
For the purposes of this chapter, the following definitions shall apply:
WTO agreements: the Agreement on Implementation of Article VI of the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade 1994 and the WTO Agreement on Subsidies and Countervailing Measures;
competent authority: the authority identified by each Party in Annex 1 to this Article;
investigating authority: the authority identified by each Party in Annex 2 to this Article;
injury: material injury to a domestic industry, threat of material injury to a domestic industry, or material retardation of the establishment of such an industry;
FOB: "FOB" as defined in Chapter VI (Rules of Origin);
interested parties: the producers, importers and exporters of the good subject to investigation, as well as domestic or foreign persons having a direct interest in the investigation in question and includes the government of the Party whose good is subject to an investigation. This interest shall be expressed in writing;
serious prejudice: "serious prejudice" as defined in the WTO Agreement on Subsidies and Countervailing Measures;
decision to initiate the investigation: the decision of the competent authority formally declaring the initiation of the investigation;
preliminary determination: the determination of the competent authority deciding whether or not to impose a provisional countervailing duty; and
final determination: the determination of the competent authority that decides whether or not to impose definitive countervailing duties.
Article 9-02. General Provisions
The parties reject any unfair practice of international trade (unfair practice), contrary to the provisions of this chapter.
Article 9-03. Export Subsidies
1. From the entry Entry into Force of this Treaty, the parties may increase grants the above 7 per cent of the FOB value of exports.
2. From the date of tariffs on agricultural products originating reach zero tariff relief under the programme, and in any case no later than 1 July 2007, the parties may maintain export subsidies on agricultural products in the reciprocal trade.
3. Notwithstanding the above, from the Entry into Force of this Treaty, the parties may maintain in their reciprocal trade export subsidies on agricultural products included in article 5 of the decree of export promotion 37-91 Number of Nicaragua and subject to aranceles-cuota according to the schedule of tariff relief.
Article 9-04. Rights and Obligations of the Parties Concerned
Each Party shall ensure that interested parties in the administrative investigation have the same rights and obligations, which shall be respected and observed, both in the course of the proceeding and the administrative authorities and contentious coming from final decisions.
Article 9-05. Countervailing Duties
The importing Party, in accordance with their national legislation, this Treaty and the WTO agreements, may establish and implement countervailing duties, when the investigating authority, through an objective examination based on positive evidence:
a) To determine the existence of imports:
i) In terms of dumping; or
ii) Goods that have been export subsidies;
b) Verify the existence of:
i) Harm; or
ii) Serious injury; and
c) Finds that the damage or injury as the case may be, are the direct result of importations of identical or similar goods of the other party under conditions of dumping or subsidization.
Article 9-06. Copies
The parties concerned in the investigation, to its costs, shall transmit to the other parties a copy of the public version of each of the reports and records to submit evidence to the investigating authority in the course of the investigation.
Article 9-07. Publication
1. The parties shall publish the decisions referred to in this chapter, in accordance with the annex to this article.
2. The resolutions to be published shall be the following:
a) The initiation of the investigation, preliminary and final;
b) Decisions declaring the completion of investigation:
i) In respect of commitments with the exporting party or with the exporters, as appropriate; and
ii) In respect of the commitments resulting from conciliation hearings.