(d) timetables for subsequent actions, to the extent available.
Article 25.6: Regulatory Impact Assessment
1. Each Party shall endeavour to encourage its regulatory authorities, in accordance with its law, to conduct regulatory impact assessments when developing proposed regulations that exceed a certain level of economic impact or meet other criteria established by the Party, to assist it in developing regulations that best achieve the objectives pursued by that Party.
2. Recognizing that differences in the Parties’ institutional, social, cultural, legal and developmental circumstances may result in specific regulatory approaches, each Party shall endeavour to ensure that its regulatory impact assessment, among other things:
(a) assesses the need for a proposed regulation, that includes a description of the nature and significance of the problem intended to be addressed by the regulation;
(b) identifies and examines feasible alternatives to the proposed regulation, including the alternative of not regulating and, to the extent possible and consistent with its law, the corresponding costs and benefits of the proposed regulation, recognizing that some costs and benefits of regulating are difficult to quantify;
(c) provides an explanation of the reasons for concluding that the alternative selected achieves the policy objectives in an efficient manner, including, if appropriate, reference to its costs and benefits and its potential for managing risks; and
(d) relies on the best reasonably available information within the boundaries of the authorities, mandates, capacities, and resources of the particular regulatory authority.
3. When conducting regulatory impact assessments, a Party’s regulatory authorities should take into consideration the potential impact of the proposed regulation on small and medium-sized enterprises.
Article 25.7: Public Consultations and Transparency
1. When preparing a regulation, each Party shall endeavour to:
(a) publish online the proposed regulation to allow any person to assess whether and how its interests might be significantly affected;
(b) publish online the regulatory impact assessment associated with the proposed regulation; and
(c) offer reasonable opportunities for any person, on a non-discriminatory basis, to provide input on the proposed regulation.
2. If a proposed regulation is expected to have a significant impact on international trade, the Party should normally provide a comment period of at least 60 days from the date on which the regulation is published.
3. A Party shall take into account input received on the proposed regulation under paragraph 1 and shall endeavour to make publicly available a summary of the results of consultations, except to the extent necessary to protect confidential information or withhold personal data or inappropriate content.
Article 25.8: Use of Plain Language
Each Party shall endeavour to ensure that any regulation it proposes or adopts is plainly written, concise, organized, and easy to understand, recognizing that some regulations address technical issues requiring specialized knowledge to understand and apply them.
Article 25.9: Public Access
Consistent with its law, each Party shall ensure that its relevant regulatory authorities provide public access to any regulation it adopts or maintains and, to the extent possible, make this information available on a government website, except with respect to any standards that have been incorporated by reference into a regulation.
Article 25.10: Review of Regulations Currently in Effect
1. Each Party shall endeavour to review its regulations at intervals it deems appropriate, to determine whether they should be modified or repealed to make its regulatory regime more effective in achieving its policy objectives.
2. Each Party shall endeavour to publish, to the extent possible, the official plans and results of reviews referred to in paragraph 1, and to make this information publicly available, preferably online.
Article 25.11: Cooperation
1. The Parties shall endeavour to cooperate to implement this Chapter and maximize the benefits arising from it. The Parties’ cooperation activities should take into
consideration each Party’s needs, and may include:
(a) information exchange, dialogues or meetings with the other Party;
(b) information exchange, dialogues or meetings with interested persons, including the small and medium-sized enterprises of the other Party, and international organizations;
(c) training programs, seminars and other assistance initiatives;
(d) strengthening cooperation and other relevant activities with the regulatory authorities of the other Party; and
(e) other cooperation activities that the Parties may decide.
2. To the extent appropriate and consistent with its law, when developing regulations, each Party should encourage its relevant regulatory authorities to cooperate and consider regulations of the other Party, as well as relevant developments in international, regional and other forums.
Article 25.12: Report of Implementation and Review
1. For the purposes of transparency, and to serve as a basis for cooperation activities, each Party shall submit a report on the implementation of this Chapter (“implementation report”) within three years of the date of entry into force of this Agreement, and at least once every three years thereafter, unless the Parties decide otherwise. Each Party shall circulate this report to the other Party through the contact point designated under
Article 25.13.
2. In its first implementation report, each Party shall describe the actions it has taken to implement this Chapter since the date of entry into force of this Agreement and the actions it plans to take in the future to implement this Chapter, including those that:
(a) encourage its regulatory authorities to conduct regulatory impact assessments in accordance with Article 25.6;
(b) ensure that any regulations it adopts or maintains are accessible, in accordance with Article 25.9;
(c) review regulations in effect, in accordance with Article 25.10; and
(d) make publicly available the list of regulations that are intended to be issued or amended during the next 12 months, in accordance with Article 25.5.
3. In its subsequent implementation reports, each Party shall describe the actions it has taken to implement this Chapter since the submission of its previous reports, and the actions that it plans to take in the future to implement this Chapter.
Article 25.13: Contact Point
1. Each Party shall designate and notify a contact point for matters arising under this Chapter. A Party shall promptly notify the other Party of any changes to its contact point.
2. Each contact point shall be responsible for:
(a) providing information relating to the implementation of this Chapter, at the request of the other Party, through the contact point of the other Party;
(b) consulting and coordinating with the Party’s regulatory authorities, as appropriate, on matters arising under this Chapter;
(c) facilitating cooperation activities that may be undertaken by the Parties under Article 25.11; and
(d) circulating the implementation report submitted by the Party in accordance with Article 25.12.
Article 25.14: Relationship to Other Chapters
In the event of inconsistency between this Chapter and another Chapter of this Agreement, the other Chapter shall prevail to the extent of the inconsistency.
Article 25.15: Dispute Settlement
A Party shall not have recourse to dispute settlement under Chapter 27 (Dispute Settlement) for a matter arising under this Chapter.
Annex 25-A
Additional Provisions Concerning the Scope of “Regulation” and “Regulatory Authority”
1. The following measures are not regulations for the purposes of this Chapter:
(a) for the Parties: general statements of policy or guidance that do not prescribe legally enforceable requirements;
(b) for Canada:
(i) a measure concerning:
(A) a military, foreign affairs, or national security function of the Government of Canada;
(B) public sector management, personnel, pensions, public property, loans, grants, benefits, or contracts;
(C) departmental organization, procedure, or practice;
(D) taxation, financial services or anti-money laundering measures; or
(E) federal, provincial, territorial relations and agreements and relations with Aboriginal Peoples; or
(ii) a measure that does not constitute a regulation under the Statutory Instruments Act;
(c) for Ecuador:
(i) presidential decrees; and
(ii) a measure concerning:
(A) a military or foreign affairs function of the Government of Ecuador;
(B) public sector management, personnel, public property, budgetary execution, loans, grants, benefits, or contracts;
(C) public sector organization, procedure, or practice;
(D) financial services or anti-money laundering measures;
(E) taxation measures; or
(F) monetary and exchange rate policies.
2. For Canada, the Governor in Council is not a regulatory authority for the purposes of this Chapter.
Chapter 26. ADMINISTRATIVE AND INSTITUTIONAL PROVISIONS
Article 26.1: Establishment of the Joint Committee
The Parties hereby establish the Canada – Ecuador Joint Committee (“Joint Committee”), composed of government representatives of the Parties. The Joint Committee shall be co-chaired by government representatives of each Party at the level of Ministers or their designees.
Article 26.2: Functions of the Joint Committee
1. The Joint Committee shall:
(a) supervise the implementation of this Agreement;
(b) review the general functioning of this Agreement;
(c) consider any proposal to amend or modify this Agreement;
(d) supervise the work of the subsidiary bodies established under this Agreement;
(e) seek to prevent or resolve any problems, differences, or disputes that may arise regarding the interpretation or application of this Agreement, without prejudice to Chapter 27 (Dispute Settlement); and
(f) consider any matter of interest relating to an area covered by this Agreement.
2. The Joint Committee may:
(a) establish, merge, or dissolve subsidiary bodies and determine their composition, functions, and duties, to improve the functioning of this Agreement;
(b) delegate responsibilities to the Agreement Coordinators designated under Article 26.6;
(c) seek the advice of a non-governmental person or entity;
(d) consider matters raised by a subsidiary body;
(e) adopt, subject to completion of applicable legal procedures by each Party, a modification to this Agreement of:
(i) the Schedules to Annex 2-B (Tariff Commitments), by accelerating or improving tariff commitments;
(ii) the product specific rules of origin established in Annex 3-A (Product Specific Rules of Origin);
(iii) the procuring entities listed in Annex 11-A (Government Procurement);
(f) adopt interpretative decisions concerning this Agreement binding on panels established under Chapter 27 (Dispute Settlement) and on tribunals established under Section D of Chapter 15 (Investment – Investor-State Dispute Settlement);
(g) provide views on an issue of interpretation or application of this Agreement for the purposes of Article 27.20 (Dispute Settlement – Referral of matters from Judicial or Administrative Proceedings);
(h) evaluate the outcomes of the application of this Agreement; and
(i) take any other action as the Parties may decide.
Article 26.3: Decision-Making
The Joint Committee and subsidiary bodies shall take decisions and make recommendations by consensus.
Article 26.4: Rules of Procedure of the Joint Committee
1. The Joint Committee shall meet within one year of the date of entry into force of this Agreement and thereafter as the Parties may decide, or at the request in writing of a Party.
2. Unless the Parties decide otherwise, meetings of the Joint Committee shall be held in person alternately in the territory of each Party, or virtually by any means available.
3. Each Party shall treat confidential information exchanged in relation to a meeting of the Joint Committee or a subsidiary body established under this Agreement on the same basis as the Party providing the information.
4. The Joint Committee may establish additional rules of procedure. Subsidiary bodies may establish their own rules of procedure.
Article 26.5: Subsidiary Bodies and Contact Points
1. The following provisions establish, or commit the Parties to establish, subsidiary bodies under this Agreement:
(a) Article 2.13 (National Treatment and Market Access for Goods – Committee on Trade in Goods) and Article 2.19 (National Treatment and Market Access for Goods – Sub-Committee on Agriculture);
(b) Article 4.17 (Origin Procedures – Committee on Rules of Origin and Origin Procedures);
(c) Article 5.20 (Customs and Trade Facilitation – Committee on Trade Facilitation);
(d) Article 6.14 (Sanitary and Phytosanitary Measures – Committee on Sanitary and Phytosanitary Measures);
(e) Article 7.12 (Technical Barriers to Trade – Committee on Technical Barriers to Trade);
(f) Article 11.23 (Government Procurement – Committee on Government Procurement);
(g) Article 15.41 (Investment – Committee on Investment);
(h) Article 18.22 (Financial Services – Financial Services Committee);
(i) Article 22.7 (Trade and Gender Equality – Committee on Trade and Gender Equality);
(j) Article 23.5 (Small and Medium-Sized Enterprises – Committee on SMEs); and
(k) Article 24.5 (Trade and Indigenous Peoples – Trade and Indigenous Peoples Committee).
2. The following provisions establish, or commit the Parties to establish, contact points under this Agreement:
(a) Article 5.18 (Customs and Trade Facilitation – Customs Cooperation);
(b) Article 6.16 (Sanitary and Phytosanitary Measures – Competent Authorities and Contact Points);
(c) Article 7.13 (Technical Barriers to Trade – Contact Points);
(d) Article 10.9 (State-Owned Enterprises and Designated Monopolies – Contact Point);
(e) Article 12.18 (Environment – Institutional Provisions and Contact Points);
(f) Article 17.8 (Development and Administration of Measures – Transparency);
(g) Article 19.6 (Temporary Movement of Business Persons – Contact Points);
(h) Article 20.25 (Telecommunication – Technical Cooperation);
(i) Article 22.8 (Trade and Gender Equality – Contact Points);
(j) Article 23.5 (Small and Medium-Sized Enterprises – Committee on SMEs);
(k) Article 24.6 (Trade and Indigenous Peoples – Contact Points);
(l) Article 25.13 (Good Regulatory Practices – Contact Point).
Article 26.6: Agreement Coordinators
1. Each Party shall designate an Agreement Coordinator and notify the other Party in writing no later than 60 days after the date of entry into force of this Agreement.
2. Each Party shall promptly notify the other Party, in writing, of any changes to its Agreement Coordinator.
3. The Agreement Coordinators shall:
(a) monitor the work of the subsidiary bodies established under this Agreement, referred to in Article 26.5;
(b) coordinate preparations for Joint Committee meetings;
(c) follow up on any decisions taken by the Joint Committee, as appropriate;
(d) respond to information requests, as required, pursuant to Article 14.3 (Transparency, Anti-Corruption and Responsible Business Conduct – Notification and Provision of Information);
(e) receive all notifications and information provided pursuant to this Agreement and, as necessary, facilitate communications between the Parties on any matter covered by this Agreement; and
(f) consider any other matter that may affect the operation of this Agreement as mandated by the Joint Committee.
4. The Agreement Coordinators shall meet and communicate as often as required. Meetings may be in person or held virtually.
5. A Party may request in writing at any time that a special meeting of the Agreement Coordinators be held. The Agreement Coordinators shall endeavour to meet within 30 days after a Party receives a request to meet by the other Party.
Article: 26.7 Bilateral cooperation
1. Recognizing the importance of bilateral dialogue and cooperation on issues related to this Agreement, the Parties may, subject to the availability of resources, undertake cooperation or technical assistance on issues of common interest, as set out in Annex 26-A.
2. The Parties may engage in cooperation on any other issues under this Agreement, following a decision of the Joint Committee.
Annex 26-A Cooperation
Section A: Cultural cooperation
1. The Parties may cooperate in the arts, heritage, and cultural industry sectors with a view to identify priorities and specific needs, and to support the development of their respective cultural industries, including in the application of digital and other new technologies.
2. The Parties may, to the extent possible, engage in cooperation activities and technical assistance aimed at: