7. If a Party suspects that circumvention has occurred, on its request the other Party shall facilitate the gathering of the facts necessary for the requesting Party to determine whether circumvention has occurred. If a Party determines that circumvention has occurred, on its request the other Party shall facilitate the requesting Partyâs establishment of any additional facts necessary to take enforcement action and to prevent circumvention. This paragraph applies to circumvention or suspected circumvention with regard to importation, exportation, processing or manipulation in a free trade zone, or transshipment. (5-2)
8. If a Party requests the other Party to examine transshipped textile or apparel goods, its officials shall endeavor to examine such goods. (5-3)
9. When a Party makes a request under paragraph 7 with respect to a particular shipment, it shall, to the extent possible, notify the other Party of: the importer, the exporter, the country of origin, the dates on which the shipment was entered, the port or ports of entry, and the cargo description or Harmonized System subheading of the goods.
Article 5.5. ENFORCEMENT
1. In furtherance of Article 5.2.1, each Party shall vigorously investigate claims of violations of laws relating to circumvention and, where appropriate, bring enforcement action to address any such violations.
2. If Singapore discovers conduct by an enterprise that it suspects is a violation of either Party's laws relating to circumvention, and the conduct has not been noted in a report under Article 5.3.4, Singapore shall note the conduct in a report provided to the United States not later than 14 days after the discovery. If Singapore suspects that the conduct noted in a report under either the first sentence of this paragraph or Article 5.3.4 involves intentional circumvention, it shall immediately investigate and report the results of the investigation to the United States within 14 days of the conclusion of the investigation. In that case, Singapore shall also immediately initiate a detailed review of all textile and apparel goods that the enterprise has produced for exportation to the United States or exported to the United States during the six months preceding the date that Singapore discovered the conduct. Singapore shall prepare a report describing the results of that review and shall transmit that report to the United States no later than 60 days after it provides the report called for under the first sentence of this paragraph or under Article 5.3.4. The Parties may agree, in light of the facts of a particular review, to extend this 60-day period.
3. A report describing the results of a review of textile and apparel goods conducted pursuant to paragraph 2 shall include the following:
(a) the name and address of the enterprise investigated;
(b) the nature of the suspected violation (for example, failure to maintain adequate production records, or making false statements relating to country of origin or production);
(c) a brief description of the evidence of a violation;
(d) any penalty imposed or other action taken;
(e) the identification numbers of the visas or export licenses corresponding to the goods and of all visas or export licenses that Singapore has issued to the enterprise during the 12 months before the date on which the conduct was discovered. If no visa or export license numbers are available, the report shall include the invoice number and date of export for each exportation of goods to the United States;
(f) the product category, description, and quantity of the goods included in the exportations to the United States; and
(g) purchase orders, bills of lading, contracts, payment records, invoices, and other records indicating the origin of the goods included in the exportations to the United States, and information identifying the importer of those goods in the United States, if Singapore possesses such information.
4. If Singapore finds that an enterprise has engaged in intentional circumvention, it shall take effective enforcement action, which shall include denying permission for an appropriate period for textile or apparel goods that the enterprise produces or exports to be exported to the United States.
5. (a) If a Party finds that an enterprise in its territory or operating under the Outward Processing Arrangement:
(i) has failed to maintain or produce records in accordance with the Partyâs laws adopted or maintained in accordance with this Chapter, (5-4) or
(ii) has engaged in conduct inconsistent with the Partyâs law that was intended to or did in fact result in circumvention,
and if the Party requires a visa or export license to accompany exportations of textile or apparel goods to the territory of the other Party, then beginning on the date of the finding, the Party shall not issue, for a period at least as long as the applicable period described in paragraph 6, such a visa or export license to the enterprise.
(b) If the United States finds that an enterprise of Singapore has engaged in intentional circumvention, then beginning on the date of the finding it may deny entry into the United States, during a period no longer than the applicable period described in paragraph 6, of textile or apparel goods that the enterprise has produced or exported.
6. (a) With respect to a first finding under paragraph 5(a) or a first finding under paragraph 5(b), the applicable period is six months.
(b) With respect to a second finding under paragraph 5(a) or a second finding under paragraph 5(b), the applicable period is two years.
(c) With respect to any further finding under paragraph 5(a) or 5(b), the applicable period shall be two years, except that where measures a Party imposed with respect to the enterprise as a result of an earlier finding under paragraph 5(a) or 5(b) are still in effect, the applicable period shall be extended by the period remaining before those measures expire.
Article 5.6. INFORMATION SHARING
1. Within three months after the date this Chapter takes effect, Singapore shall notify the United States in writing of the names of all registered enterprises. Thereafter, Singapore shall provide the names of any newly registered, de-registered, or re-registered enterprises in written, quarterly updates to the United States.
2. At the time Singapore notifies the United States of a registered enterprise, it shall supply profile information to the United States regarding the enterprise, and shall update the information annually. This information shall include:
(a) name of the enterprise;
(b) address of the enterprise and locations of its facilities in Singapore, and, for an enterprise operating under the Outward Processing Arrangement, location of its facilities, whether in Singapore or outside of Singapore, involved in the production of textile or apparel goods claimed to be originating goods or marked as products of Singapore or export of such goods to the United States;
(c) telephone number, fax number, and e-mail address;
(d) statement of whether the enterprise is owned by Singapore persons, non- Singapore persons, or both;
(e) names of:
(i) the directors and their respective positions within the enterprise, and
(ii) the owners, in the case of an enterprise that is not incorporated;
(f) number of workers, skill sets (occupations), wages, hours of work, and minimum age for employment;
(g) number and type of machines the enterprise uses to produce textile or apparel goods;
(h) production capacity of the enterprise and identification of textile or apparel goods the enterprise produces; and
(i) names of customers in the United States.
Article 5.7. CONFIDENTIALITY
1. Except as otherwise provided in this Chapter, each Party shall maintain the confidentiality of non-publicly available information, including business confidential information, that the other Party provides to it in accordance with this Chapter and has designated as confidential, unless the Party that provided the information gives permission for the information to be publicly disclosed.
2. A Party shall not disclose to a non-Party for law enforcement purposes or in connection with judicial proceedings information relating to intentional circumvention that the other Party has provided to the Party pursuant to Article 5.3, 5.4, 5.5 or 5.6, unless the other Party consents to the disclosure.
3. (a) Subject to subparagraph (b), nothing in this Chapter shall prevent a Party from making public the name of an enterprise that the Party has found to have engaged in intentional circumvention or that has failed to demonstrate its production of or capability to produce textile or apparel goods as provided under this Chapter.
(b) Ifa Party makes public the name of an enterprise as described in sub-paragraph (a) and the finding underlying the disclosure is based on information provided by the other Party pursuant to Article 5.3, 5.4, 5.5 or 5.6, the Party making the disclosure shall not disclose the information provided by the other Party or the fact that it based its finding on information provided by the other Party, unless the other Party consents to the disclosure of such information or such fact.
4. If a Party considers that the other Party has not maintained the confidentiality of information as required under this Article, it may make a written request to the other Party for consultations. The Parties shall consult within 30 days after the request is delivered with a view to agreeing on appropriate steps to ensure compliance with this Article.
Article 5.8. CONSULTATIONS AND RELATED MATTERS
1. A Party may request consultations with the other Party under this Article, with a view to seeking a mutually satisfactory solution, if it believes that:
(a) the other Party is not complying with the terms of this Agreement relating to textile and apparel goods;
(b) circumvention relating to trade between the Parties is occurring; or
(c) the other Party is failing to effectively enforce its laws regarding circumvention.
Unless the Parties agree otherwise, they shall commence consultations within 30 days of a Partyâs receipt of a written request by the other Party and conclude consultations within 90 days of the Partyâs receipt of the written request.
2. If the Parties are unable to reach a mutually satisfactory solution under paragraph 1 and the United States has presented to Singapore clear evidence that circumvention has occurred, the United States may reduce the quantity of textile and apparel goods that may be imported into its territory from Singapore by an amount not to exceed three times the quantity of goods involved in the circumvention. In addition, the United States may revoke any preferential tariff treatment provided pursuant to this Agreement to the goods involved in the circumvention, and deny such treatment, for a period not to exceed four years, to any textile or apparel goods produced by an enterprise found to have engaged in such circumvention, including any successor of the enterprise and any other entity owned or operated by a principal of the enterprise, if such entity, of which that person is a principal, produces textile or apparel goods. (5-5)
Article 5.9. BILATERAL TEXTILE AND APPAREL SAFEGUARD ACTIONS
1. Subject to paragraphs 2 through 7 and during the transition period only, if, as a result of the reduction or elimination of a customs duty provided for in this Agreement, a textile or apparel good benefiting from preferential tariff treatment under this Agreement is being imported into the territory of a Party in such increased quantities, in absolute terms or relative to the domestic market for that good, and under such conditions that imports of such good from the other Party constitute a substantial cause of serious damage or actual threat thereof, to a domestic industry producing a like or directly competitive good, the importing Party may, to the extent and for such time as may be necessary to prevent or remedy the serious damage and to facilitate adjustment by the domestic industry:
(a) suspend the further reduction of any rate of duty provided for under this Agreement on the good; or
(b) increase the rate of duty on the good to a level not to exceed the lesser of:
(i) the most-favored-nation (âMFNâ) applied rate of duty in effect at the time the action is taken, and
(ii) the MEN applied rate of duty in effect on the date of entry into force of this Agreement.
2. In determining serious damage, or actual threat thereof, the Party:
(a) shall examine the effect of increased imports on the particular industry, as reflected in changes in such relevant economic variables as output, productivity, utilization of capacity, inventories, market share, exports, wages, employment, domestic prices, profits, and investment, none of which is necessarily decisive; and
(b) shall not consider changes in technology or consumer preference as factors supporting a determination of serious damage or actual threat thereof.
3. A Party shall deliver without delay written notice of its intent to take action under this Article to the other Party, and shall enter into consultations with that Party.
4. The following conditions and limitations apply to any action taken under paragraph 1:
(a) no action may be maintained for a period exceeding two years, except that the period may be extended by up to two years if the competent authorities of the Party applying the action determine, in conformity with the procedures set out in this Article, that the action continues to be necessary to prevent or remedy serious damage and to facilitate adjustment by the domestic industry, and that there is evidence that the industry is adjusting;
(b) no action may be taken by a Party against any particular good of the other Party more than once during the transition period; and
(c) on termination of the action, the rate of duty shall be the rate that would have been in effect but for the action.
5. The Party taking an action under paragraph 1 shall provide to the Party against whose good the action is taken mutually agreed trade liberalizing compensation in the form of concessions having substantially equivalent trade effects or equivalent to the value of the additional duties expected to result from the emergency action. Such concessions shall be limited to textile and apparel goods, unless the Parties otherwise agree. If the Parties concerned are unable to agree on compensation within 30 days in the consultations under paragraph 3, the exporting Party may take action with respect to textile and apparel goods of the other Party that has trade effects substantially equivalent to the action taken under paragraph 1. The Party taking such action shall apply the action only for the minimum period necessary to achieve the substantially equivalent effects. However, the right to take such action shall not be exercised for the first 24 months that the action pursuant to paragraph 1 is in effect, provided that the action pursuant to paragraph 1 has been applied as a result of an absolute increase in imports and that such emergency action conforms to the provisions of this Article.
6. Nothing in this Article shall be construed to affect a Partyâs rights and obligations under Chapter 7, except that an action under this Article shall be considered a âsafeguard measureâ for purposes of Article 7.2.7 (Conditions and Limitations). Nothing in Chapter 7 shall be construed to affect a Party's rights and obligations under this Article.
7. Nothing in this Article shall be construed to limit the ability of a Party to restrain imports of textile and apparel goods in a manner consistent with the WTO Agreement on Textiles and Clothing or the WTO Agreement on Safeguards.
8. For purposes of this Article:
(a) substantial cause means a cause that is important and not less than any other cause;
(b) transition period means the 10-year period following entry into force of the terms of this Agreement relating to textile and apparel goods under Article 5.10.
Article 5.10. EFFECTIVE DATE
The terms of this Agreement regarding textile and apparel goods shall take effect on the date on which:
(a) the Parties have consulted with regard to their adoption or maintenance of laws necessary to implement this Chapter and have agreed that such laws are in place, and
(b) the Parties have exchanged written notifications that their respective internal requirements for this Chapter to take effect have been fulfilled,
or on such other date as the Parties may agree.
Article 5.11. DEFINITIONS
For purposes of this Chapter:
1. circumvention means providing a false declaration or false information for the purpose of, or with the effect of, violating or evading existing customs, country of origin labeling, or trade laws of the respective Party relating to imports of textile and apparel goods, if such action results in the avoidance of tariffs, quotas, embargoes, prohibitions, restrictions, trade remedies, including antidumping or countervailing duties, or safeguard measures, or in obtaining preferential tariff treatment. Examples of circumvention include illegal transshipment; rerouting; fraud; false declarations concerning country of origin, fiber content, quantities, description, or classification; falsification of documents; and smuggling;
2. free trade zone means any area, designated under Singaporeâs Free Trade Zone Act or any successor act, used to store, assemble, mix, or otherwise manipulate any goods or to carry out such manufacture, in accordance with such act;
3. host Party means the Party in whose territory a site visit requested under Article 5.4.2 is conducted;
4. Outward Processing Arrangement means the arrangement whereby a registered Singapore textile or apparel goods producer is permitted to process outside Singapore subsidiary or minor processes of its textile or apparel goods without affecting the Singapore country of origin status of the textile or apparel goods;
5. preferential tariff treatment means the customs duty rate that is applicable to an originating good pursuant to Chapter 2;
6. registered enterprise means an enterprise that is a producer or exporter of textile or apparel goods and that is registered by Singapore under the system described in Article 5.3.2;
7. requesting Party means the Party seeking to conduct a site visit under Article 5.4.2;
8. textile or apparel good means a product listed in the Annex to the WTO Agreement on Textiles and Clothing; and
9. transshipment or transshipped means the removal of a good from the conveyance on which it was brought into the territory of a Party and the placement of such good on the same or another conveyance for the purpose of taking it out of the territory of the Party, including when such good undergoes processing or manipulation in a free trade zone.
Chapter 6. TECHNICAL BARRIERS TO TRADE
Article 6.1. SCOPE
This Chapter applies to technical regulations, standards, and conformity assessment procedures as defined in the WTO TBT Agreement.
Article 6.2. ENHANCED COOPERATION AND CHAPTER 6 COORDINATOR
1. With a view to facilitating trade in goods between them, the Parties should to the maximum extent possible seek to enhance their cooperation with each other in the area of technical regulations, standards, and conformity assessment procedures and to deepen the mutual understanding and awareness of each otherâs systems, including through:
(a) exchanging information on technical regulations, standards and conformity assessment procedures;
(b) holding consultations to address and resolve any matters that may arise from the application of specific technical regulations, standards and conformity assessment procedures;
(c) promoting the use of international standards by each Party in its technical regulations, standards and conformity assessment procedures; and
(d) facilitating and promoting mechanisms relating to technical regulations, standards and conformity assessment procedures that would enhance and promote trade between the Parties, including mechanisms established at APEC and other plurilateral fora.
2. In order to facilitate the cooperation described in paragraph 1, each Party shall designate a Chapter 6 Coordinator, which shall:
(a) be responsible for coordinating with interested parties in the Partyâs territory in all matters pertaining to enhanced cooperation under this Chapter, including with respect to proposals for enhanced cooperation and responses to such proposals; and
(b) normally carry out its functions through agreed communication channels and meet with the other Party's Chapter 6 Coordinator as and when they agree is necessary for the efficient and effective discharge of their functions.
Article 6.3. CONFORMITY ASSESSMENT AND OTHER AREAS OF MUTUAL INTEREST
1. Each Party shall take steps to implement Phase I and Phase II of the APEC Mutual Recognition Arrangement for Conformity Assessment of Telecommunications Equipment with respect to the other Party.
2. The Parties should to the maximum extent possible also work towards enhancing the momentum of cooperation in line with their respective bilateral, regional and plurilateral agreements, including the APEC work program on Standards and Conformance. To achieve this objective the Parties should to the maximum extent possible examine the feasibility of cooperating with each other on conformity assessment procedures and other areas of mutual interest, including agreements where the relevant authorities from both Parties are willing to do so.
3. Each Party should to the maximum extent possible consider progress made on achieving the objectives of this Chapter during meetings of the Joint Committee established under Article 20.1 Joint Committee).
4. The Parties establish the Medical Products Working Group referred to in Article 20.1.2(b) (Joint Committee), as set out in Annex 6A to this Chapter.
Article 6.4. DEFINITIONS
For purposes of this Chapter:
1. WTO TBT Agreement Means the WTO Agreement on Technical Barriers to Trade; and
2. APEC means the Asia Pacific Economic Cooperation Forum.
Chapter 7. SAFEGUARDS
Article 7.1. APPLICATION OF A BILATERAL SAFEGUARD MEASURE
Subject to Articles 7.2 through 7.5, if as a result of the reduction or elimination of a customs duty under this Agreement, an originating good of the other Party is being imported into the territory of a Party in such increased quantities, in absolute terms or relative to domestic production, and under such conditions that the imports of such originating good from the other Party constitute a substantial cause of serious injury or threat thereof, to a domestic industry producing a like or directly competitive good, such Party may:
(a) suspend the further reduction of any rate of customs duty provided for under this Agreement for the good;
(b) increase the rate of customs duty on the good to a level not to exceed the lesser of
(i) the most-favored-nation (MFN) applied rate of duty on the good in effect at the time the action is taken, and
(ii) the MFN applied rate of duty on the good in effect on the day immediately preceding the date of entry into force of this Agreement; or
(c) in the case of a customs duty applied to a good on a seasonal basis, increase the rate of duty to a level not to exceed the lesser of the MFN applied rate of duty that was in effect on the good for the immediately preceding corresponding season or the date of entry into force of this Agreement.
Article 7.2. CONDITIONS AND LIMITATIONS
The following conditions and limitations shall apply with regard to a measure described in Article 7.1:
1. A Party shall notify the other Party in writing upon initiation of an investigation described in paragraph 2 and shall consult with the other Party as far in advance of taking any such measure as practicable, with a view to reviewing the information arising from the investigation, exchanging views on the measure and reaching an agreement on compensation as set out in Article 7.4. If a Party takes a provisional measure pursuant to Article 7.3, the Party shall also notify the other Party prior to taking such measure, and shall initiate consultations with the other Party immediately after such measure is taken.
2. A Party shall take a measure only following an investigation by that Party's competent authorities in accordance with Articles 3 and 4.2(c) of the WTO Agreement on Safeguards; and to this end, Articles 3 and 4.2(c) of the WTO Agreement on Safeguards are incorporated into and made a part of this Agreement, mutatis mutandis.
3. In the investigation described in paragraph 2, a Party shall comply with the requirements of Article 4.2(a) and (b) of the WTO Agreement on Safeguards; and to this end, Article 4.2(a) and (b) are incorporated into and made a part of this Agreement, mutatis mutandis.
4. Negative injury determinations shall not be subject to modification, except pursuant to reviews by judicial or administrative tribunals, to the extent provided under domestic legislation.
5. The investigation shall in all cases be completed within one year following its date of institution.
6. No measure may be maintained:
(a) except to the extent and for such time as may be necessary to prevent or remedy serious injury and to facilitate adjustment;
(b) for a period exceeding two years; except that the period may be extended by up to two years if the competent authorities determine, in conformity with the procedures set out in paragraphs 1 through 5, that the measure continues to be necessary to prevent or remedy serious injury and to facilitate adjustment and that there is evidence that the industry is adjusting; or
(c) beyond the expiration of the transition period, except with the consent of the Party against whose originating good the measure is taken.
7. No measure may be applied against the same originating good on which a measure has been taken or that has been subject to any other safeguard measure (7-1) since the date of entry into force of the Agreement.
8. Where the expected duration of the measure is over one year, the importing Party shall progressively liberalize it at regular intervals during the period of application.
9. Upon the termination of the measure, the rate of customs duty shall be the rate which would have been in effect but for the measure.
Article 7.3. PROVISIONAL MEASURES
In critical circumstances where delay would cause damage which it would be difficult to repair, a Party may take a measure described in Article 7.1(a), (b) or (c) on a provisional basis pursuant to a preliminary determination that there is clear evidence that imports from the other Party have increased as the result of the reduction or elimination of a customs duty under this Agreement, and such imports constitute a substantial cause of serious injury, or threat thereof, to the domestic industry. The duration of such provisional measure shall not exceed 200 days, during which time the requirements of Articles 7.2.2 and 7.2.3 shall be met. Any tariff increases shall be promptly refunded if the investigation described in Article 7.2.2 does not result in a finding that the requirements of Article 7.1 are met. The duration of any provisional measure shall be counted as part of the period described in Article 7.2.6(b).
Article 7.4. COMPENSATION
The Party applying a measure described in Article 7.1 shall provide to the other Party mutually agreed trade liberalizing compensation in the form of concessions having substantially equivalent trade effects or equivalent to the value of the additional duties expected to result from the measure. If the Parties are unable to agree on compensation within 30 days in the consultations under Article 7.2, the Party against whose originating good the measure is applied may take action with respect to originating goods of the other Party that has trade effects substantially equivalent to the measure described in Article 7.1. The Party taking such action shall apply the action only for the minimum period necessary to achieve the substantially equivalent effects, and in any event, only while the measure under Article 7.1 is being applied.
Article 7.5. GLOBAL SAFEGUARD MEASURES
Each Party retains its rights and obligations under Article XIX of GATT 1994 and the WTO Agreement on Safeguards. This Agreement does not confer any additional rights or obligations on the Parties with regard to global safeguard measures, except that a Party taking a global safeguard measure may exclude imports of an originating good from the other Party if such imports are not a substantial cause of serious injury or threat thereof.
Article 7.6. DEFINITIONS
For purposes of this Chapter:
1. domestic industry means the producers as a whole of the like or directly competitive product operating in the territory of a Party, or those whose collective output of the like or directly competitive products constitutes a major proportion of the total domestic production of those products;
2. global safeguard measure means a measure applied under Article XIX of GATT 1994 and the WTO Agreement on Safeguards;
3. serious injury means a significant overall impairment in the position of a domestic industry;
4. substantial cause means a cause which is important and not less than any other cause;
5. threat of serious injury means serious injury that, on the basis of facts and not merely on allegation, conjecture or remote possibility, is clearly imminent; and
6. transition period means the ten-year period following entry into force of this Agreement.