15. Each Party shall provide that:
(a) its judicial authorities have the authority to require the plaintiff to provide any reasonably available evidence in order to satisfy themselves with a sufficient degree of certainty that the plaintiff's right is being infringed or that such infringement is imminent, and to order the plaintiff to provide a reasonable security or equivalent assurance set at a level sufficient to protect the defendant and to prevent abuse, and so as not to unreasonably deter recourse to such procedures.
(b) in the event that its judicial or other authorities appoint experts, technical or otherwise, that must be paid by the plaintiff, such costs should be closely related, inter alia, to the quantity of work to be performed and should not unreasonably deter recourse to such relief.
Special Requirements Related to Border Measures Concerning the Enforcement of Intellectual Property Rights
16. Each Party shall provide that any right holder initiating procedures for suspension by the Party's customs authorities of the release of suspected counterfeit trademark or pirated copyright goods (16-16) into free circulation shall be required to provide adequate evidence to satisfy the competent authorities that, under the law of the importing country, there is prima facie an infringement of the right holder's intellectual property right and to supply sufficient information that may reasonably be expected to be within the right holder's knowledge to make the suspected goods reasonably recognizable to the customs authorities.
17. Each Party shall provide that its competent authorities shall have the authority to require an applicant to provide a reasonable security or equivalent assurance sufficient to protect the defendant and the competent authorities and to prevent abuse. Each Party shall provide that the security or assurance shall not unreasonably deter recourse to these procedures.
18. Where its competent authorities have made a determination that goods are counterfeit or pirated, the Party shall grant its competent authorities the authority to inform the right holder of the names and addresses of the consignor, the importer, and the consignee, and of the quantity of the goods in question.
19. Each Party shall provide that its competent authorities may initiate border measures ex officio, without the need for a formal complaint from a private party or right holder. Such measures shall apply to shipments of pirated and counterfeit goods imported into or exported out of a Party's territory, including shipments consigned to a local party. For transshipped goods that are not consigned to a local party, each Party shall, upon request, endeavor to examine such goods. For products transshipped through the territory of a Party destined for the territory of the other Party, the former shall cooperate to provide all available information to the latter Party to enable effective enforcement against shipments of counterfeit or pirated goods. Each Party shall ensure that it has the authority to undertake such cooperation in response to a request by the other Party on counterfeit or pirated goods en route to that other Party.
20. Each Party shall provide that goods that its competent authorities have determined to be pirated or counterfeit shall be destroyed, except in exceptional cases. In regard to counterfeit trademark goods, the simple removal of the trademark unlawfully affixed shall not be sufficient to permit the release of the goods into the channels of commerce. In no event shall the competent authorities be authorized to permit the export of counterfeit or pirated goods.
Criminal Procedures and Remedies for the Enforcement of Intellectual Property Rights
21. Each Party shall provide criminal procedures and penalties to be applied at least in cases of willful trademark counterfeiting or copyright or related rights piracy on a commercial scale. Willful copyright or related rights piracy on a commercial scale includes (i) significant willful infringements of copyright or related rights that have no direct or indirect motivation of financial gain, as well as (ii) willful infringements for purposes of commercial advantage or financial gain.
(a) Specifically, each Party shall provide:
(i) remedies that include imprisonment as well as monetary fines sufficiently high to deter future acts of infringement consistent with a policy of removing the monetary incentive of the infringer. Also, each Party shall encourage its judicial authorities to impose such fines at levels sufficient to provide a deterrent to future infringements;
(ii) that its judicial authorities have the authority to order the seizure of suspected counterfeit or pirated goods, any related materials and implements that have been used in the commission of the offense, any assets traceable to the infringing activity, and documentary evidence relevant to the offense that fall within the scope of such order. Items that are subject to seizure pursuant to such order need not be individually identified so long as they fall within general categories specified in the order;
(iii) that its judicial authorities shall, except in exceptional cases, order the forfeiture and destruction of all counterfeit or pirated goods, and, at least with respect to willful copyright or related rights piracy, materials and implements that have been used in the creation of the infringing goods. Each Party shall further provide that such forfeiture and destruction shall occur without compensation of any kind to the defendant; and
(iv) that its authorities may initiate legal action ex officio, without the need for a formal complaint by a private party or right holder.
(b) Each Party may provide procedures for right holders to initiate private criminal actions. However, these procedures shall not be unduly burdensome or costly for right holders. Each Party shall ensure that non-private criminal actions are the ptimary means by which it ensures the effective enforcement of its criminal law against willful copyright or related rights piracy. In addition, each Party shall ensure that its competent authorities bring criminal actions, as necessary, to act as a deterrent to further infringements.
Limitations on Liability for Service Providers
22. Each Party shall provide, consistent with the framework set forth in Article 16.9:
(a) legal incentives for service providers to cooperate with copyright (16-17) owners in deterring the unauthorized storage and transmission of copyrighted materials; and
(b) limitations in its law regarding the scope of remedies available against service providers for copyright infringements that they do not control, initiate, or direct, and that take place through systems or networks controlled or operated by them or on their behalf, as set forth in this subparagraph. (16-18)
(i) These limitations shall preclude monetary relief and provide reasonable restrictions on court-ordered relief to compel or restrain certain actions for the following functions and shall be confined to those functions: (16-19)
(A) transmitting, routing or providing connections for material without modification of its content, or the intermediate and transient storage of such material in the course thereof;
(b) caching carried out through an automatic process;
(C) storage at the direction of a user of material residing on a system or network controlled or operated by or for the service provider; and
(D) referring or linking users to an online location by using information location tools, including hyperlinks and directories.
(ii) These limitations shall apply only where the service provider does not initiate the chain of transmission of the material, and does not select the material or its recipients (except to the extent that a function described in clause (i)(D) in itself entails some form of selection).
(iii) Qualification by a service provider for the limitations as to each function in clauses (i)(A) through (i)(D) shall be considered separately from qualification for the limitations as to each other function, in accordance with the conditions for qualification set forth in subparagraphs (iv) - (vii).
(iv) With respect to functions referred to in clause (i)(B), the limitations shall be conditioned on the service provider:
(A) permitting access to cached material in significant part only to users of its system or network who have met conditions on user access to that material;
(B) complying with rules concerning the refreshing, reloading, or other updating of the cached material when specified by the person making the material available online in accordance with a generally accepted industry standard data communications protocol for the system or network through which that person makes the material available;
(C) not interfering with technology consistent with industry standards accepted in the territory of each Party used at the originating site to obtain information about the use of the material, and not modifying its content in transmission to subsequent users; and
(D) expeditiously removing or disabling access, on receipt of an effective notification of claimed infringement, to cached material that has been removed or access to which has been disabled at the originating site.
(v) With respect to functions referred to in clauses (i)(C) and (i)(D), the limitations shall be conditioned on the service provider:
(A) not receiving a financial benefit directly attributable to the infringing activity, in circumstances where it has the right and ability to control such activity;
(B) expeditiously removing or disabling access to the material residing on its system or network on obtaining actual knowledge of the infringement or becoming aware of facts or circumstances from which the infringement was apparent, such as through effective notifications of claimed infringement in accordance with subparagraph (ix) and
(C) publicly designating a representative to receive such notifications.
(vi) Eligibility for the limitations in this subparagraph shall be conditioned on the service provider:
(A) adopting and reasonably implementing a policy that provides for termination in appropriate circumstances of the accounts of repeat infringers; and
(B) accommodating and not interfering with standard technical measures accepted in the territory of each Party that protect and identify copyrighted material, that are developed through an open, voluntary process by a broad consensus of copyright owners and service providers, that are available on reasonable and nondiscriminatory terms, and that do not impose substantial costs on service providers or substantial burdens on their systems or networks.
(vii) Eligibility for the limitations in this subparagraph may not be conditioned on the service provider monitoring its service, or affirmatively seeking facts indicating infringing activity, except to the extent consistent with such technical measures.
(viii) If the service provider qualifies for the limitations with respect to the functions referred to in clause (i)(A), court-ordered relief to compel or restrain certain actions shall be limited to terminating specified accounts, or to taking reasonable steps to block access to a specific, non-domestic online location. If the service provider qualifies for the limitations with respect to any other function in clause (i), court-ordered relief to compel or restrain certain actions shall be limited to removing or disabling access to the infringing material, terminating specified accounts, and other remedies that a court may find necessary provided that such other remedies are the least burdensome to the service provider among comparably effective forms of relief. Each Party shall provide that any such relief shall be issued with due regard for the relative burden to the service provider and harm to the copyright owner, the technical feasibility and effectiveness of the remedy, and whether less burdensome, comparably effective enforcement methods are available. Except for orders ensuring the preservation of evidence, or other orders having no material adverse effect on the operation of the service provider-s communications network, each Party shall provide that such relief shall be available only where the service provider has received notice of the court order proceedings referred to in this subparagraph and an opportunity to appear before the judicial authority.
(ix) For purposes of the notice and take down process for the functions referred to in clauses (i)(C) and (D), each Party shall establish appropriate procedures for effective notifications of claimed infringement, and effective counter-notifications by those whose material is removed or disabled through mistake or misidentification. Each Party shall also provide for monetary remedies against any person who makes a knowing material misrepresentation in a notification or counter-notification that causes injury to any interested party as a result of a service provider relying on the misrepresentation.
(x) If the service provider removes or disables access to material in good faith based on claimed or apparent infringement, each Party shall provide that the service provider shall be exempted from liability for any resulting claims, provided that, in the case of material residing on its system or network, it takes reasonable steps promptly to notify the person making the material available on its system or network that it has done so and, if such person makes an effective counter-notification and is subject to jurisdiction in an infringement suit, to restore the material online unless the person giving the original effective notification seeks judicial relief within a reasonable time.
(xi) Each Party shall establish an administrative or judicial procedure enabling copyright owners who have given effective notification of claimed infringement to obtain expeditiously from a service provider information in its possession identifying the alleged infringer.
(xii) For purposes of the functions referred to in clause (i)(A), service provider means a provider of transmission, routing or connections for digital online communications without modification of their content between or among points specified by the user of material of the user-s choosing, and for purposes of the functions referred to in clauses (i)(B) through (i)(D) service provider means a provider or operator of facilities for online services or network access.
Article 16.10. TRANSITIONAL PROVISIONS
1. Each Party shall implement the obligations of this Chapter within the following periods:
(a) Each Party shall ratify or accede to the UPOV Convention and give effect to the obligations in paragraph 4 of Article 16.4 within six months of the date of entry into force of this Agreement or December 31, 2004, whichever date is earlier;
(b) each Party shall ratify or accede to the agreements listed in paragraph 2(a) of Article 16. 1(except for the UPOV Convention) and give effect to Articles 16.4 and 16.5 (except for paragraph 4 of Article 16.4) within one year of the date of entry into force of this Agreement; and
(c) each Party shall implement each of the other obligations of this Chapter within six months of the date of entry into force of this Agreement.
2. Except as otherwise provided in this Chapter, the date of entry into force in paragraph 6(b) of Article 16.1 means the date of the expiry of the six-month period commencing on the date this Agreement enters into force.
Chapter 17. LABOR
Article 17.1. STATEMENT OF SHARED COMMITMENT
1. The Parties reaffirm their obligations as members of the International Labor Organization ("ILO") and their commitments under the ILO Declaration on Fundamental Principles and Rights at Work and its Follow-up. (17-1) Each Party shall strive to ensure that such labor principles and the internationally recognized labor rights set forth in Article 17.7 are recognized and protected by domestic law.
2. Recognizing the right of each Party to establish its own domestic labor standards, and to adopt or modify accordingly its labor laws and regulations, each Party shall strive to ensure that its laws provide for labor standards consistent with the internationally recognized labor rights set forth in Article 17.7 and shall strive to improve those standards in that light.
Article 17.2. APPLICATION AND ENFORCEMENT OF LABOR LAWS
1. (a) A Party shall not fail to effectively enforce its labor laws, through a sustained or recurring course of action or inaction, in a manner affecting trade between the Parties, after the date of entry into force of this Agreement.
(b) The Parties recognize that each Party retains the right to exercise discretion with respect to investigatory, prosecutorial, regulatory, and compliance matters and to make decisions regarding the allocation of resources to enforcement with respect to other labor matters determined to have higher priorities. Accordingly, the Parties understand that a Party is in compliance with subparagraph (a) where a course of action or inaction reflects a reasonable exercise of such discretion, or results from a bona fide decision regarding the allocation of resources.
2. The Parties recognize that it is inappropriate to encourage trade or investment by weakening or reducing the protections afforded in domestic labor laws. Accordingly, each Party shall strive to ensure that it does not waive or otherwise derogate from, or offer to waive or otherwise derogate from, such laws in a manner that weakens or reduces adherence to the internationally recognized labor rights referred to in Article 17.7 as an encouragement for trade with the other Party, or as an encouragement for the establishment, acquisition, expansion, or retention of an investment in its territory.
Article 17.3. PROCEDURAL GUARANTEES AND PUBLIC AWARENESS
1. Each Party shall ensure that persons with a legally recognized interest under its law in a particular matter have appropriate access to administrative, quasi-judicial, judicial, or labor tribunals for the enforcement of the Party's labor laws.
2. Each Party shall ensure that its administrative, quasi-judicial, judicial, or labor tribunal proceedings for the enforcement of its labor laws are fair, equitable and transparent.
3. Each Party shall provide that the parties to such proceedings may seek remedies to ensure the enforcement of rights under domestic labor laws.
4. Each Party shall promote public awareness of its labor laws.
Article 17.4. INSTITUTIONAL ARRANGEMENTS
1. The functions of the Joint Committee established under Chapter 20 (Administration and Dispute Settlement) shall include discussion of matters related to the operation of this Chapter, including the Labor Cooperation Mechanism established under Article 17.5, and the pursuit of the labor objectives of this Agreement. The Joint Committee may establish a Subcommittee on Labor Affairs consisting of officials of the labor ministry and other appropriate agencies or ministries of each Party to meet at such times as they deem appropriate to discuss matters related to the implementation of this Chapter. Each meeting of the Subcommittee shall include a public session, unless the Parties agree otherwise.
2. Each Party shall designate an office within its labor ministry that shall serve as a contact point with the other Party, and with the public, for purposes of implementing this Chapter.
3. Each Party may convene a national labor advisory committee, comprising members of its public, including representatives of its labor and business organizations and other persons, to advise it on the implementation of this Chapter.
4. Each formal decision of the Parties concerning implementation of this Chapter shall be made public, unless the Parties decide otherwise.
5. Each Party's contact point designated under paragraph 2 shall provide for the submission, receipt, and consideration of public communications on matters related to provisions of this Chapter, and shall make such communications available to the other Party and, as appropriate, to the public. Each Party shall review such communications, as appropriate, in accordance with domestic procedures. The Parties, when they consider it appropriate, shall jointly prepare reports on matters related to the implementation of this Chapter, and shall make such reports public.
Article 17.5. LABOR COOPERATION
Recognizing that cooperation provides enhanced opportunities to promote respect for core labor standards embodied in the ILO Declaration on Fundamental Principles and Rights at Work and its Follow-Up and compliance with ILO Convention 182 Concerning the Prohibition and Immediate Action for the Elimination of the Worst Forms of Child Labor, and to further advance other common commitments, the Parties establish a Labor Cooperation Mechanism, as set out in Annex 17A to this Chapter.
Article 17.6. LABOR CONSULTATIONS
1. A Party may request consultations with the other Party regarding any matter arising under this Chapter. Unless the Parties agree otherwise, consultations shall commence within 30 days of a Party's delivery of a request for consultations to the other Party's contact point designated pursuant to Article 17.4.2.
2. The Parties shall make every attempt to arrive at a mutually satisfactory resolution of the matter and may seek advice or assistance from any person or body they deem appropriate.
3. If the consultations fail to resolve the matter, either Party may request that the Subcommittee on Labor Affairs be convened. The Subcommittee shall convene within 30 days of a Party's delivery of a request to convene the Subcommittee to the other Party's contact point designated pursuant to Article 17.4.2, (17-2) unless the Parties otherwise agree. The Subcommittee shall endeavor to resolve the matter expeditiously, including, where appropriate, by consulting governmental or outside experts and having recourse to such procedures as good offices, conciliation, or mediation.
4. If a Party considers that the other Party has failed to carry out its obligations under Article 17.2.1(a), the Party may request consultations pursuant to Article 20.4.2(a) (Additional Dispute Settlement Procedures) or under paragraph 1 of this Article.
(a) If a Party requests consultations pursuant to Article 20.4.2(a) at a time when the Parties are engaged in consultations on the same matter under paragraph 1 of this Article or the Subcommittee is endeavoring to resolve the matter under paragraph 3, the Parties shall discontinue their efforts to resolve the matter under this Article. Once consultations have begun under Article 20.4.2(a), no consultations on the same matter may be entered into under this Article.
(b) If a Party requests consultations pursuant to Article 20.4.2(a) more than 60 days after the commencement of consultations under paragraph 1, the Parties may agree at any time to refer the matter to the Joint Committee pursuant to Article 20.4.2(a).
5. Articles 20.3 (Consultations) and 20.4 (Additional Dispute Settlement Procedures) shall not apply to a matter arising under any provision of this Chapter other than Article 17.2.1(a).
Article 17.7. DEFINITIONS
For purposes of this Chapter:
1. labor laws means a Party's statutes or regulations, or provisions thereof, that are directly related to the following internationally recognized labor rights:
(a) the right of association;
(b) the right to organize and bargain collectively;
(c) a prohibition on the use of any form of forced or compulsory labor;
(d) labor protections for children and young people, including a minimum age for the employment of children and the prohibition and elimination of the worst forms of child labor; and
(e) acceptable conditions of work with respect to minimum wages, hours of work, and occupational safety and health; and
2. (a) for Singapore, minimum wages means wage guidelines issued by the National Wages Council (“NWC”) and gazetted under the Employment Act; and
(b) for the United States, statutes or regulations means acts of the U.S. Congress or regulations promulgated pursuant to an act of the U.S. Congress that are enforceable, in the first instance, by action of the federal government.
Annex 17A. UNITED STATES - SINGAPORE LABOR COOPERATION MECHANISM
1. Establishment of a Labor Cooperation Mechanism. Recognizing that cooperation provides enhanced opportunities to improve labor standards, and to further advance common commitments, including the June 1998 ILO Declaration on Fundamental Principles and Rights at Work and its Follow-up, the Parties establish a Labor Cooperation Mechanism.
2. (a) Organization and Principal Functions. The contact points established under Article 17.4.2 shall serve as the contact points for the Labor Cooperation Mechanism.
(b) Officials of the labor ministries and other appropriate agencies and ministries shall cooperate through the Labor Cooperation Mechanism to:
(i) establish priorities for cooperative activities on labor matters;
(ii) develop specific cooperative activities in accord with such priorities;
(iii) exchange information regarding labor law and practice in each Party;
(iv) exchange information on ways to improve labor law and practice, including best labor practices;
(v) advance understanding of, respect for, and effective implementation of the principles reflected in the ILO Declaration on Fundamental Principles and Rights at Work and its Follow-up; and
(vi) develop recommendations for their respective governments for consideration by the Joint Committee.
3. Cooperative Activities. Cooperative activities to be undertaken by the Labor Cooperation Mechanism may include the following subjects:
(a) fundamental rights and their effective application: legislation, practice, and implementation related to the core elements of the ILO Declaration on Fundamental Rights at Work (freedom of association and the effective recognition of the right to collective bargaining, elimination of all forms of forced or compulsory labor, abolition of child labor including the worst forms of child labor in compliance with ILO Convention No. 182, and elimination of employment discrimination);
(b) labor-management relations: forms of cooperation and dispute resolution among workers, management and governments;
(c) working conditions: occupational safety and health; prevention of and compensation for work-related injuries and illness; and employment conditions;
(d) unemployment assistance programs and other social safety net programs;
(e) human resource development and life long learning;
(f) labor statistics; and
(g) such other matters as the Parties may agree.
4. Implementation of Cooperative Activities.
(a) Cooperative activities agreed upon under paragraph 3 may be implemented through:
(i) exchanges of delegations, professionals, and specialists, including study visits and other technical exchanges;
(ii) exchange of information, standards, regulations and procedures, and best ptactices, including publications and monographs;
(iii) organization of joint conferences, seminars, workshops, meetings, training sessions, and outreach and education programs;
(iv) development of collaborative projects or demonstrations;
(v) joint research projects, studies, and reports, including through engagement of independent experts with recognized expertise; and
(vi) other forms of technical exchange or cooperation that may be decided.
(b) In identifying areas for cooperation and carrying out cooperative activities, the Parties shall consider views of their respective worker and employer representatives.
Chapter 18. ENVIRONMENT
Article 18.1. LEVELS OF PROTECTION
Recognizing the right of each Party to establish its own levels of domestic environmental protection and environmental development policies and priorities, and to adopt or modify accordingly its environmental laws, each Party shall ensure that its laws provide for high levels of environmental protection and shall strive to continue to improve those laws.
Article 18.2. APPLICATION AND ENFORCEMENT OF ENVIRONMENTAL LAWS
1. (a) A Party shall not fail to effectively enforce its environmental laws, through a sustained or recurring course of action or inaction, in a manner affecting trade between the Parties, after the date of entry into force of this Agreement.
(b) The Parties recognize that each Party retains the right to exercise discretion with respect to investigatory, prosecutorial, regulatory, and compliance matters and to make decisions regarding the allocation of resources to enforcement with respect to other environmental matters determined to have higher priorities. Accordingly, the Parties understand that a Party is in compliance with subparagraph (a) where a course of action or inaction reflects a reasonable exercise of such discretion, or results from a bona fide decision regarding the allocation of resources.
2. The Parties recognize that it is inappropriate to encourage trade or investment by weakening or reducing the protections afforded in domestic environmental laws. Accordingly, each Party shall strive to ensure that it does not waive or otherwise derogate from, or offer to waive or otherwise derogate from, such laws in a manner that weakens or reduces the protections afforded in those laws as an encouragement for trade with the other Party, or as an encouragement for the establishment, acquisition, expansion, or retention of an investment in its territory.
Article 18.3. PROCEDURAL MATTERS
1. Each Party shall ensure that judicial, quasi-judicial, or administrative proceedings are available under its law to sanction or remedy violations of its environmental laws.
(a) Such proceedings shall be fair, open, and equitable, and to this end shall comply with the due process of law, and be open to the public (except where the administration of justice otherwise requires).
(b) Each Party shall provide appropriate and effective remedies or sanctions for a violation of its environmental laws that:
(i) take into consideration the nature and gravity of the violation, any economic benefit the violator has derived from the violation, the economic condition of the violator, and other relevant factors; and
(ii) may include remedies or sanctions such as: compliance agreements, penalties, fines, imprisonment, injunctions, the closure of facilities, and the cost of containing or cleaning up pollution.
2. Each Party shall ensure that interested persons may request the Party's competent authorities to investigate alleged violations of its environmental laws and that the competent authorities give such requests due consideration in accordance with its law.
3. Each Party shall ensure that persons with a legally recognized interest under its law in a particular matter have appropriate access to judicial, quasi-judicial, or administrative proceedings for the enforcement of the Party's environmental laws.
4. Each Party shall provide persons appropriate and effective rights of access to remedies, in accordance with its laws, which may include rights such as:
(a) to sue another person under that Party's jurisdiction for damages;
(b) to seek sanctions or remedies such as monetary penalties, emergency closures, or orders to mitigate the consequences of violations of its environmental laws;
(c) to request the competent authorities to take appropriate action to enforce that Party's environmental laws in order to protect the environment or to avoid environmental harm; or
(d) to seek injunctions where a person suffers, or may suffer, loss, damage or injury as a result of conduct by another person subject to that Party's jurisdiction contrary to that Party's environmental laws, or from tortious conduct that harms human health or the environment.
Article 18.4. INSTITUTIONAL ARRANGEMENTS
1. In addition to discussions of issues or activities related to the operation of this Chapter that may take place in the Joint Committee established under Article 20.1 (Joint Committee), the Parties shall, at the request of either Party, form a subcommittee consisting of government officials to meet at other times, as they deem appropriate, to discuss matters related to the operation of this Chapter. These meetings shall normally include a session where members of the subcommittee have an opportunity to meet with the public to discuss matters related to the operation of this Chapter. The Parties, when they consider appropriate, shall jointly prepare reports on matters related to the implementation of this Chapter, and shall make such reports public, except as otherwise provided in this Agreement.
2. Each formal decision of the Parties concerning implementation of this Chapter shall be made public, unless the Parties decide otherwise.
Article 18.5. OPPORTUNITIES FOR PUBLIC PARTICIPATION
1. To ensure the availability of opportunities for public participation in the discussion of matters related to the operation of this Chapter, and to facilitate the sharing of best practices and the development of innovative approaches to issues of interest to the public with regard to such matters, each Party shall develop or maintain procedures for dialogue with its public concerning the implementation of this Chapter, including:
(a) the identification of matters to discuss at the meetings of the Joint Committee or the subcommittee described in Article 18.4; and