Title
TRADE INTEGRATION AGREEMENT BETWEEN THE REPUBLIC OF PERU AND THE UNITED MEXICAN STATES
Preamble
PREAMBLE
The Republic of Peru (Peru) and the United Mexican States (Mexico) resolved to:
REAFFIRM the special ties of friendship and cooperation between their nations;
STRENGTHEN regional economic integration, which is one of the essential instruments for Latin American countries to advance in their economic and social development, promoting a better quality of life for their peoples;
DEVELOP their respective rights and obligations under the World Trade Organization (WTO) agreements and the 1980 Treaty of Montevideo;
ESTABLISH clear and mutually beneficial rules in their commercial exchange that will favor the necessary conditions for the growth and diversification of trade flows, ina manner compatible with existing potentialities;
PROVIDE economic agents with a predictable legal and commercial framework for the development of trade and investment, in order to encourage their active participation in economic and trade relations between the two countries;
AVOID distortions in their reciprocal trade;
PROMOTE trade in the innovative sectors of our economies; and
CREATE a larger and more secure market for trade in goods and services between the Parties;
HAVE AGREED as follows:
Body
Chapter I. INITIAL PROVISIONS
Article 1.1. Establishment of the Free Trade Zone
The Parties establish a free trade area in accordance with the provisions of Article XXIV of GATT 1994 and Article V of GATS.
Article 1.2. Objectives
1. The objectives of this Agreement, specifically developed through its principles and rules, including those of national treatment, most-favored-nation treatment and transparency, are as follows:
a) stimulate the expansion and diversification of trade between the Parties;
b) eliminate barriers to trade and facilitate the movement of goods and services between the Parties;
c) promote conditions of fair competition in trade between the Parties;
d) improve investment opportunities in the territories of the Parties;
e) to establish guidelines for further cooperation between the Parties, as well as at the regional and multilateral levels to expand and enhance the benefits of this Agreement; and
f) create effective procedures for the implementation and enforcement of this Agreement, for its joint administration and for the settlement of disputes.
2. The Parties shall interpret and apply the provisions of this Agreement in light of the objectives set forth in paragraph 1 and in accordance with the applicable rules of international law.
Article 1.3. Relationship to other Treaties and International Agreements
1. The Parties confirm the rights and obligations in force between them under the WTO Agreement and other treaties or agreements to which they are party.
2. In case of incompatibility between the provisions of the treaties and agreements referred to in paragraph 1 and the provisions of this Agreement, the latter shall prevail to the extent of the incompatibility.
Article 1.4. Enforcement of the Agreement
Each Party shall ensure, in accordance with its domestic regulations, compliance with the provisions of this Agreement throughout its territory at the federal or national, state or regional, and municipal or local levels, respectively, except as otherwise provided in this Agreement. (1)
Article 1.5. Succession of Treaties
Any reference made to other treaties or international agreements to which the Parties to this Agreement are parties shall be understood to be made to the treaties or agreements that succeed them.
Chapter II. GENERAL DEFINITIONS
Article 2.1. General Definitions
For the purposes of this Agreement, unless otherwise provided, the following definitions shall apply:
WTO Agreement: the Marrakesh Agreement Establishing the World Trade Organization, dated April 15, 1994;
GATS: the General Agreement on Trade in Services of the World Trade Organization;
ALADI: Latin American Integration Association;
customs duty: any tax, duty or import tax and any charge of any kind applied in connection with the importation of goods, including any form of surcharge or additional charge on imports, except:
a) any charge equivalent to an internal tax established pursuant to paragraph 2 of Article IIl of the GATT 1994, with respect to like, directly competitive or substitute goods of the Party, or with respect to goods from which the imported good has been manufactured or produced in whole or in part;
b) antidumping or countervailing duty that applies in accordance with a Party's domestic law;
c) any duties or other charges related to the importation, proportionate to the cost of services rendered; and
d) any premium offered, paid or collected on imported goods, derived from any bidding system, with respect to the administration of quantitative import restrictions or tariff-rate quotas or tariff preference quotas;
Commission: the Administrative Commission established in accordance with Article 17.1 (Administrative Commission);
days: calendar days; business: any entity organized or organized under applicable law, whether or not
for profit and whether privately or governmentally owned, including corporations, trusts, partnerships, sole proprietorships, joint ventures or other associations;
enterprise of a Party means an enterprise incorporated or organized under the legislation of a Party;
State enterprise: an enterprise that is owned or controlled by a Party through ownership rights;
existing: in effect on the date of entry into force of this Agreement;
GATT 1994: the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade 1994 of the World Trade Organization;
measure: any law, regulation, procedure, provision, requirement or practice;
good of a Party: a domestic good as defined in the GATT 1994 of the World Trade Organization, or such good as the Parties may agree, and includes a good originating in that Party. A good of a Party may incorporate materials from other countries;
originating good or originating material: a good or material that complies with the rules set out in Chapter IV (Rules of Origin and Origin-Related Procedures);
national: a natural person who has the nationality of a Party in accordance with its applicable legislation;
Party: the United Mexican States, the Republic of Peru and any State with respect to which this Agreement has entered into force;
heading: the first 4 digits of the Harmonized System tariff classification code; person: a natural person or a company;
person of a Party: a national or company of a Party;
Harmonized System: the Harmonized Commodity Description and Coding System, as defined in the International Convention on the Harmonized Commodity Description and Coding System (done at Brussels on June 14, 1938), including the corresponding chapters, headings, subheadings and numerical codes, as well as the legal notes in force and including amendments, in the form in which the Parties have adopted and applied it in their respective domestic legislation;
subheading: the first 6 digits of the Harmonized System tariff classification code;
territory: the territory of each Party as defined in the Annex to Article 2.1; and
Treaty of Montevideo 1980: the treaty establishing the Latin American Integration Association.
Annex to Article 2.1. Country-Specific Definitions
For purposes of this Agreement, unless otherwise specified, shall mean:
territory:
a) with respect to Mexico:
i) the states of the Federation and the Federal District;
ii) islands, including reefs and cays in adjacent seas;
iii) the islands of Guadalupe and Revillagigedo, located in the Pacific Ocean;
iv) the continental shelf and the submarine sockets of islands, cays and reefs;
v) the waters of the territorial seas, to the extent and under the terms established by international law, and inland maritime waters;
vi) the space located on the national territory, with the extension and modalities established by international law itself; and
vii) any area beyond the territorial seas of Mexico within which Mexico may exercise rights over the seabed and subsoil and the natural resources contained therein, in accordance with international law, including the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea, as well as its domestic law; and
b) with respect to Peru: The continental territory, islands, maritime spaces and the air space that covers them, under sovereignty or sovereign rights and jurisdiction of Peru in accordance with its national legislation and international law.
Chapter III. MARKET ACCESS
Article 3.1. Scope of Application
Except as otherwise provided in this Agreement, this Chapter applies to trade in goods between the Parties.
Section A. Definitions
Article 3.2. Definitions
For the purposes of this Chapter, the following definitions shall apply:
Customs Valuation Agreement: Agreement on Implementation of Article VII of the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade 1994;
import license or permit: is the document issued by the relevant administrative body, as a condition precedent to importation into the territory of the importing Party, issued under an administrative procedure used for import licensing regimes, which requires the submission of an application or other documents (other than those generally required for customs clearance purposes);
printed advertising materials: those goods classified in Chapter 49 of the Harmonized System including brochures, printed matter, loose sheets, trade catalogs, trade association yearbooks, tourist promotion materials and posters, used to promote, publish or advertise a good or service, with the intent to advertise a good or service, and to be distributed free of charge;
goods temporarily admitted for sporting purposes: sporting equipment for use in sporting competitions, events or training in the territory of the Party to which they are admitted;
remanufactured goods: industrial goods, assembled in the territory of a Party which:
a) are composed complete or partially of recovered goods; and
b) have a similar life expectancy and enjoy a factory warranty similar to that of new merchandise;
commercial samples of negligible value: commercial samples valued, individually or in the aggregate shipped, at not more than one United States dollar or the equivalent amount in the currency of another Party, or that are marked, broken, perforated or treated in a manner that disqualifies them for sale or for any use other than as samples;
advertising films and recordings: visual media or recorded audio materials consisting essentially of images and/or sound showing the nature or operation of goods or services offered for sale or hire by a person established or resident in the territory of a Party, provided that such materials are suitable for exhibition to potential customers, but not for dissemination to the general public, and are imported in packages each containing not more than one copy of each film or recording and are not part of a larger consignment;
performance requirement: the requirement of:
a) export a certain volume or percentage of goods or services;
b) replace imported goods or services with goods or services of the Party granting the exemption from customs duties or import license;
c) that a person benefiting from a customs duty exemption or import license purchases other goods or services in the territory of the Party granting the customs duty exemption or import license, or grants a preference to goods produced in the territory of that Party;
d) that a person benefiting from a customs duty exemption or import license produces goods or services in the territory of the Party granting the customs duty exemption or import license, with a certain level or percentage of domestic content; or
e) relate in any way the volume or value of imports to the volume or value of exports or to the amount of foreign exchange inflows;
but does not include a requirement that an imported good be:
a) subsequently exported;
b) used as material in the production of other merchandise that is subsequently exported;
c) replaced by an identical or similar good used as a material in the production of another good that is subsequently exported; or
d) replaced by an identical or similar good that is subsequently exported.
consular requirements or transactions: requirements that goods of one Party destined for export to the territory of another Party must first be submitted to the supervision of the consul of the importing Party in the territory of the exporting Party for the purpose of obtaining consular invoices or consular visas for commercial invoices, certificates of origin, manifests, shipper's export declarations or any other customs documents required for or in connection with importation.
Section B. National Treatment
Article 3.3. National Treatment
1. Each Party shall accord national treatment to goods of the other Party in accordance with Article Ill of the GATT 1994, including its interpretative notes. For this purpose, Article Ill of the GATT 1994 and its interpretative notes are incorporated into and made an integral part of this Agreement.
2. The national treatment provisions of paragraph 1 mean, with respect to a state, region or other level of government, treatment no less favorable than the most favorable treatment accorded by such state, region or other level of government to any like, directly competitive or substitute goods, as the case may be, of the Party of which such state, region or other level of government is a member.
3. Paragraphs 1 and 2 shall not apply to the measures set forth in the Annex to Articles 3.3 and 3.6.
Section C. Tariff Elimination
Article 3.4. Elimination of Customs Duties
1. Except as otherwise provided in this Agreement, neither Party may increase any existing customs duties, or adopt any new customs duties, on originating goods subject to the Tariff Elimination Program.
2. With respect to goods excluded from the Tariff Elimination Program, any Party may maintain or adopt measures in accordance with its rights and obligations under the WTO Agreement and this Agreement.
3. Except as otherwise provided in this Agreement, each Party shall eliminate its customs duties on originating goods as_ set out in the Tariff Elimination Program contained in the Annex to Article 3.4-A.
4. The Parties shall consult, at the request of either Party, to consider the possibility of improving the tariff terms and conditions of market access for originating goods provided for in the Annex to Article 3.4-A. When the Parties approve an agreement to this effect, it shall prevail over any tariff or allowance category set out in its Annex to Article 3.4-A. These agreements shall be adopted by decisions of the Commission.
5. Except as provided in the Annex to Article 3.4-B, the Parties may deny preferential tariff treatment under this Agreement to used goods. For purposes of this paragraph, used goods include those goods identified as such in headings or subheadings of the Harmonized System and those rebuilt, repaired, recovered, remanufactured, or any other similar goods that, after having been used, have been subjected to a process to restore their original characteristics or specifications, or to restore their functionality when new.
6. A Party may: a) increase a customs duty on an originating good to a level no higher than that set out in its Schedule to the Annex to Article 3.4-A, following a unilateral reduction of such customs duty; or b) maintain or increase a customs duty on an originating good, when authorized by any dispute settlement provision of the WTO Agreement. Article 3.5: Customs Valuation In the application of customs valuation, the Parties shall be governed by the provisions of the Customs Valuation Agreement. To this effect, said Agreement is incorporated into this Agreement and is an integral part thereof.
Section D. Non-Tariff Measures
Article 3.6. Import and Export Restrictions
1. Except as otherwise provided in this Agreement, neither Party may adopt or maintain a non-tariff measure that prohibits or restricts the importation of any good of the other Party or the exportation or sale for export of any good destined for the territory of the other Party, except as provided in Article XI of the GATT 1994, including its interpretative notes.
For this purpose, Article Xl of GATT 1994 and its interpretative notes are incorporated into this Agreement and form an integral part thereof.
2. The Parties understand that the rights and obligations of the GATT 1994 embodied in paragraph 1 prohibit a Party from adopting or maintaining:
a) export and import price requirements, except as permitted for the enforcement of antidumping and countervailing duty provisions and undertakings;
b) granting import licenses conditional on compliance with a performance requirement; or
c) voluntary export restrictions except as permitted under Article VI of GATT 1994, as implemented by Article 18 of the Agreement on Subsidies and Countervailing Measures and Article 8.1 of the Agreement on Implementation of Article VI of the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade 1994.
3. Paragraphs 1 and 2 shall not apply to the measures set forth in the Annex to Articles 3.3 and 3.6.
Article 3.7. Import Licenses or Permits
1. The Agreement on Import Licensing Procedures is incorporated into and forms an integral part of this Agreement. No Party shall maintain or adopt a measure that is inconsistent with that Agreement.
2. Unless otherwise provided in this Agreement, import licenses or permits shall be granted and issued within a maximum period of 20 working days, counted from the date the importing Party receives the request in accordance with the national legislation that regulates them.
Article 3.8. Administrative Burdens and Formalities
1. Each Party shall ensure, in accordance with paragraph 1 of Article VIII of the GATT 1994 and its interpretative notes, that all fees and charges of whatever nature (other than customs duties, charges equivalent to an internal tax or other domestic charges applied in accordance with paragraph 2 of Article Ill of the GATT 1994, and anti-dumping and countervailing duties), imposed on or in connection with importation or exportation, shall be limited to the approximate cost of services rendered and shall not represent an indirect protection to domestic goods ora tax on imports or exports for fiscal purposes.
2. No Party shall require consular transactions or requirements, including related fees and charges, in connection with the importation of any good of another Party.
3. Each Party shall make available and maintain, through the Internet, the fees or charges imposed in connection with the importation or exportation.
Article 3.9. Export Taxes
1. Except as provided in the Annex to Article 3.9, neither Party shall adopt or maintain any tax, levy or charge on the exportation of goods destined for the territory of the other Party, unless such taxes, levies or charges are adopted or maintained on such goods when destined for domestic consumption.
2. The Parties may hold consultations in connection with the application of the provisions of this Article, aimed at the application of measures that seek to avoid undesirable effects on the implementation of a domestic food aid program.
Section E. Special Customs Procedures
Article 3.10. Exemption from Customs Duties
1. No Party shall adopt a new exemption from customs duties, or extend the application of an existing exemption from customs duties with respect to existing beneficiaries, or extend it to new beneficiaries, where the exemption is conditioned, explicitly or implicitly, on compliance with a performance requirement.
2. No Party shall condition, explicitly or implicitly, the continuation of any existing customs duty exemption on compliance with a performance requirement.
Article 3.11. Temporary Admission or Importation of Goods
1. Each Party shall authorize the importation or temporary admission free of customs duties of the following goods, which are admitted to the territory of the other Party, irrespective of their origin:
a) professional equipment, including press or television equipment, computer software, and broadcasting and cinematographic equipment, necessary for the exercise of the business, trade or profession of the person who qualifies for temporary entry under the legislation of the importing Party;
b) goods intended for exhibition or demonstration, including their component parts, auxiliary apparatus and accessories;
c) commercial samples, films and advertising recordings; and d) goods imported or admitted for sporting purposes.
2. No Party shall condition the importation or temporary admission free of duty of a good referred to in paragraph 1 on conditions other than that the good:
a) is imported or admitted by the customs authority at the request of a national or resident of the other Party;
b) is used solely by or under the personal supervision of a national or resident of the other Party in the exercise of that person's business, trade, professional or sporting activity;
c) is not subject to sale or lease while it remains in its territory;
d) be accompanied by a bond, if required by the importing Party, in an amount not to exceed the charges that would otherwise be due for entry or final importation, refundable upon departure of the goods;
e) is susceptible to identification when exported;