1. For the purposes of the fulfilment, in whole or in part, of its standards or criteria for the authorisation, licensing, or certification of service suppliers, and subject to the requirements of paragraph 3, a Party may recognise, or encourage its relevant competent bodies to recognise, the education or experience obtained, requirements met or licences or certifications granted in the other Party. Such recognition, which may be achieved through harmonisation or otherwise, may be based upon an agreement or arrangement between the Parties or their relevant competent bodies, or may be accorded autonomously.
2. A Party that is a party to an agreement or arrangement of the type referred to in paragraph 1, whether existing or future, shall afford adequate opportunity for the other Party to negotiate its accession to such an agreement or arrangement or to negotiate comparable ones with it. Where a Party accords recognition autonomously, it shall afford adequate opportunity for the other Party to demonstrate that education, experience, licences or certifications obtained or requirements met in that other Party's territory should be recognised.
3. A Party shall not accord recognition in a manner which would constitute a means of discrimination between countries in the application of its standards or criteria for the authorisation, licensing, or certification of service suppliers, or a disguised restriction on trade in services.
Article 67. Recognition Co-operation
1. The Parties shall ensure that their relevant competent authorities commence negotiations on areas for mutual recognition of the equivalence of each Party's:
(a) accounting work experience and qualifications;
(b) auditing work experience and qualifications; and
(c) accounting and auditing standards, as soon as possible.
2. The Parties shall commence negotiation on a Mutual Recognition Arrangement ("MRA") for qualifications or experience obtained, requirements met, or licenses or certifications for architects following the entry into force of this Agreement, with a view to reaching such an MRA as soon as possible, and exploring the possibilities for expanding the MRA to other architectural and engineering areas.
Article 68. Joint Committee on Recognition Co-operation
1. For the purposes of effective implementation of Article 67 (Recognition Co-operation), a Joint Committee on Recognition Co-operation (the "Committee"), including a working group on accounting and auditing, shall be established. The functions of the Committee shall be:
(a) reviewing and discussing the issues concerning the effective implementation of Article 67 (Recognition Co-operation);
(b) identifying and recommending areas for and ways of furthering co-operation between the Parties; and
(c) discussing other issues relating to the implementation of Article 67 (Recognition Co-operation).
2. The Committee, including the working group on accounting and auditing, shall meet on the request of either Party or the FTA Joint Committee established under Article 111 (Implementation and Review) at mutually acceptable time and venue.
Article 69. Monopolies and Exclusive Service Suppliers
1. Each Party shall ensure that any monopoly supplier of a service in its territory does not, in the supply of the monopoly service in the relevant market, act in a manner inconsistent with that Party's specific commitments.
2. Where a Party's monopoly supplier competes, either directly or through an affiliated company, in the supply of a service outside the scope of its monopoly rights and which is subject to that Party's specific commitments, the Party shall ensure that such a supplier does not abuse its monopoly position to act in its territory in a manner inconsistent with such commitments.
3. If a Party has reason to believe that a monopoly supplier of a service of the other Party is acting in a manner inconsistent with paragraph 1 or 2, it may request the other Party establishing, maintaining or authorising such supplier to provide specific information concerning the relevant operations.
4. This Article shall also apply to cases of exclusive service suppliers, where a Party, formally or in effect:
(a) authorises or establishes a small number of service suppliers; and
(b) substantially prevents competition among those suppliers in its territory.
Article 70. Business Practices
1. The Parties recognise that certain business practices of service suppliers, other than those falling under Article 69 (Monopolies and Exclusive Service Suppliers), may restrain competition and thereby restrict trade in services.
2. A Party shall, at the request of the other Party, enter into consultations with a view to eliminating practices referred to in paragraph 1. The Party addressed shall accord full and sympathetic consideration to such a request and shall co-operate through the supply of publicly available non-confidential information of relevance to the matter in question. The Party addressed shall also provide other information available to the requesting Party, subject to its domestic laws and to the conclusion of satisfactory agreement concerning the safeguarding of its confidentiality by the requesting Party.
Article 71. Safeguard Measures
The Parties note the multilateral negotiations pursuant to Article X of the GATS on the question of emergency safeguard measures based on the principle of non-discrimination. Upon the conclusion of such multilateral negotiations, the Parties shall conduct a review for the purpose of discussing appropriate amendments to this Agreement so as to incorporate the results of such multilateral negotiations.
Article 72. Payments and Transfers
1. Except under the circumstances envisaged in Article 107 (Restrictions to Safeguard the Balance-of-Payments), a Party shall not apply restrictions on international transfers and payments for current transactions relating to its specific commitments.
2. Nothing in this Agreement shall affect the rights and obligations of the Parties as members of the International Monetary Fund under the Articles of Agreement of the International Monetary Fund (the "Articles of Agreement"), including the use of exchange actions which are in conformity with the Articles of Agreement, provided that a Party shall not impose restrictions on any capital transactions inconsistently with its specific commitments regarding such transactions, except under Article 107 (Restrictions to Safeguard the Balance-of-Payments) or at the request of the International Monetary Fund.
Article 73. Transparency
Article III of the GATS is, mutatis mutandis, incorporated into and shall form an integral part of this Agreement.
Article 74. Disclosure of Confidential Information
Nothing in this Chapter shall require any Party to provide confidential information, the disclosure of which would impede law enforcement, or otherwise be contrary to the public interest, or which would prejudice legitimate commercial interests of particular enterprises, public or private.
Article 75. Denial of Benefits
A Party may deny the benefits of this Agreement:
(a) to the supply of a service, if it establishes that the service is supplied from or in the territory of a non-Party;
(b) in the case of the supply of a maritime transport service, if it establishes that the service is supplied:
(i) by a vessel registered under the laws of a non-Party; and
(ii) by a person of a non-Party which operates and/or uses the vessel in whole or in part.
(c) to a service supplier that is a juridical person, if it establishes that it is not a service supplier of the other Party.
Article 76. Miscellaneous Provisions
The GATS Annexes, namely: the Annex on Movement of Natural Persons Supplying Services; the Annex on Air Transport Services; the Annex on Financial Services; and the Annex on Telecommunications, shall be incorporated, mutatis mutandis, into and form an integral part of this Agreement.
Chapter 9. Movement of Natural Persons
Article 77. Definitions
For the purposes of this Chapter:
(a) business visitor means a natural person of either Party who is:
(i) a service seller being a natural person who is a sales representative of a service supplier of that Party and is seeking temporary entry into the territory of the other Party for the purpose of negotiating the sale of services for that service supplier, where such representative will not be engaged in making direct sales to the general public or in supplying services directly; or
(ii) (A) an investor of a Party, being a natural person of a Party who is making or has made an investment in the territory of the other Party; or
(B) a duly authorised representative of an investor of a Party (including a juridical person of a Party that is making or has made an investment in the territory of the other Party), seeking temporary entry into the territory of the other Party to establish, expand, monitor, or dispose of an investment of that investor; or
(iii) a goods seller, being a natural person who is seeking temporary entry to the territory of the other Party to negotiate the sale of goods where such negotiations do not involve direct sales to the general public;
(b) contractual service supplier means a natural person of a Party who:
(i) is an employee of a service supplier or an enterprise of a Party, whether a company, partnership or firm, who enters the territory of the other Party temporarily in order to perform a service pursuant to a contract between his employer and a service consumer in the territory of the other Party;
(ii) is employed by a company, partnership or firm of the Party, which has no commercial presence in the territory of the other Party where the service is to be provided;
(iii) receives his or her remuneration from that employer; and
(iv) satisfies any other requirements under the domestic laws and regulations of the other Party to provide such services in the territory of that Party;
(c) executive means a natural person within an organisation who primarily directs the management of the organisation, exercises wide latitude in decision making, and receives only general supervision or direction from higher level executives, the board of directors or stockholders of the business. An executive would not directly perform tasks related to the actual provision of the service or the operation of an investment;
(d) immigration formality means a visa, permit, pass, or other document or electronic authority granting a natural person of one Party the right to enter, reside or work in the territory of the other Party;
(e) immigration measure means any law, regulation, policy or procedure affecting the entry and sojourn of foreign nationals;
(f) intra-corporate transferee means an executive, a manager, or a specialist as defined respectively in sub-paragraphs (c), (g) and (h) of this Article, who is an employee of a service supplier or investor of a Party with a commercial presence, as defined in Chapter 8 (Trade in Services), in the territory of the other Party;
(g) manager means a natural person within an organisation who primarily directs the organisation or a department or sub-division of the organisation, supervises and controls the work of other supervisory, professional or managerial employees, has the authority to hire and fire or take other personnel actions (such as promotion or leave authorisation), and exercises discretionary authority over day-to-day operations. For greater clarity, this does not include employees who primarily perform tasks necessary for the provision of the service;
(h) specialist means a natural person within an organisation who possesses knowledge at an advanced level of technical expertise, and who possesses proprietary knowledge of the organisation's service, research equipment, techniques or management; and
(i) temporary entry means entry by a business visitor, an intra-corporate transferee, or a contractual service supplier, as the case may be, without the intent to establish permanent residence and for the purpose of engaging in activities which are clearly related to their respective business purposes. Additionally, in the case of a business visitor, the salaries of and any related payments to such a visitor should be paid entirely by the service supplier or juridical person which employs that visitor in the visitor's home country.
Article 78. Objectives
The objective of this Chapter, which reflects the preferential trading relationship between the Parties and their mutual desire to facilitate temporary entry of natural persons, is to establish transparent criteria and streamlined procedures for temporary entry, while recognising the need to ensure border security and to protect the domestic labour force in the territories of the Parties.
Article 79. Scope
1. This Chapter applies to measures affecting the movement of natural persons of a Party into the territory of the other Party, where such persons are:
(a) business visitors;
(b) contractual services suppliers; or
(c) intra-corporate transferees.
2. Nothing in this Chapter, Chapter 8 (Trade in Services) or Chapter 10 (Investment) shall apply to measures pertaining to citizenship, nationality, residence or employment on a permanent basis.
3. Nothing contained in this Chapter, Chapter 8 (Trade in Services) or Chapter 10 (Investment) shall prevent a Party from applying measures to regulate the entry or temporary stay of natural persons of the other Party in its territory, including measures necessary to protect the integrity of its territory and to ensure the orderly movement of natural persons across its borders, provided such measures are not applied in a manner so as to nullify or impair the benefits accruing to the other Party under this Agreement (15).
Article 80. Expeditious Application Procedures
Each Party shall process expeditiously applications for immigration formalities from natural persons of the other Party, including further immigration formality requests or extensions thereof, so as to avoid unduly impairing or delaying trade in goods or services or conduct of investment activities under this Agreement. Each Party shall notify applicants for temporary entry, either directly or through their authorised representative or their prospective employer of the outcome of their applications, including the period of stay and other conditions.
Article 81. General Principles for Grant of Temporary Entry
1. The Parties may make commitments in respect of temporary entry of natural persons, as defined in Article 59 (Definitions).
2. Such commitments and the conditions governing them shall be inscribed in Annex 6 (Commitments on Temporary Entry of Natural Persons).
3. Where a Party makes a commitment under paragraphs 1 and 2, that Party shall grant temporary entry to the extent provided for in that commitment, provided that such natural persons are otherwise qualified under all applicable immigration measures.
4. In respect of the commitments on temporary entry in Annex 6 (Commitments on Temporary Entry of Natural Persons), unless otherwise specified therein, neither Party may:
(a) require labour certification tests, or other procedures of similar effect;
(b) impose or maintain any numerical restriction relating to temporary entry; or
(c) require labour market testing, economic needs testing or other procedures of similar effects as a condition for temporary entry.
5. Each Party shall limit any fees for processing applications for temporary entry of natural persons to the approximate cost of services rendered.
6. The temporary entry granted by virtue of this Chapter does not replace the requirements needed to carry out a profession or activity according to the specific laws and regulations in force in the territory of the Party authorising the temporary entry.
Article 82. Transparency
Each Party shall, upon modifying or amending an immigration measure that affects the temporary entry of natural persons, ensure that such modifications or amendments are promptly published and made available through electronic means or otherwise, in such a manner as will enable natural persons of the other Party to become acquainted with them.
Article 83. Contact Points
Each Party shall designate a contact point to facilitate communication and the effective implementation of this Chapter, and respond to inquiries from the other Party regarding regulations affecting the movement of natural persons between the Parties or on any matter covered by this Chapter, and shall provide details of this contact point to the other Party. The Parties shall notify each other promptly of any amendment to the details of their contact point. The contact point should identify and recommend areas for and ways of furthering co-operation in promoting increased movement of natural persons between the Parties.
Chapter 10. Investment
Article 84. Investment
1. Upon the conclusion of the investment agreement between ASEAN and China pursuant to Article 5 of the Framework Agreement on Comprehensive Economic Co-operation between ASEAN and the People's Republic of China (the "ASEAN-China Investment Agreement"), the provisions of that agreement shall, mutatis mutandis, be incorporated into and form an integral part of this Agreement unless the context otherwise requires.
2. Recognising that negotiations on the ASEAN-China Investment Agreement are ongoing, the Parties agree to co-operate to facilitate the early conclusion of that agreement.
3. For greater certainty, any rights, obligations, restrictions or exceptions contained in the ASEAN-China Investment Agreement that do not relate to either Party shall accordingly be inapplicable under this Agreement. Notwithstanding Article 112 (Relation to Other Agreements), in the event of any inconsistency between the ASEAN-China Investment Agreement and this Agreement, the provisions of this Agreement shall prevail.
4. At any time after the entry into force of this Agreement, upon request by either Party, the Parties shall consult with a view to further encouraging or facilitating the flow of investments between the Parties.
Chapter 11. Economic Co-operation
Article 85. Objectives
1. The objectives of this Chapter are:
(a) to further strengthen bilateral co-operation in view of recent regional and international strategic developments;
(b) to reaffirm existing arrangements already in place for bilateral co-operation; and
(c) to explore new areas of collaboration between the Parties.
2. The areas of co-operation may include, but are not limited to:
(a) Trade and Investment Promotion
(b) Participation in China's Regional Development
(c) Tourism Co-operation
(d) Human Resource Development
(e) Facilitation of "Go Global" Efforts of Chinese Enterprises
Article 86. Trade and Investment Promotion
1. Recognising that strong trade and investment flows are important for the development of their respective economies, the Parties shall explore strengthening co-operation in trade and investment promotion.
2. To achieve the above, the Parties shall encourage and facilitate activities which include the following:
(a) policy dialogue to promote and expand trade and investment between the Parties;
(b) exchanging views on important economic and trade issues, and holding consultations to solve common problems relating to bilateral trade and investment;
(c) jointly identifying priority sectors with strong co-operation potential based on the Parties' complementary strengths, and exploring ways of collaboration in the identified sectors;
(d) supporting exchanges and dialogues between the business communities of the Parties; and
(e) reinforcing economic co-operation between the Parties, including in third countries.
3. The Parties shall guide and co-ordinate co-operation in trade and investment promotion through the existing mechanisms of the national-level JCBC, the Investment Promotion Committee (the "IPC"), the MOFCOM–MTI Dialogue and provincial-level business councils. The Parties shall continually strengthen the Government-to-Government mechanisms, and explore new means of co-operation toward this end.
4. The Parties note that the participation of semi-official and non-official organisations in the area of trade and investment promotion has positive effect on bilateral economic co-operation. The Parties agree to support these organisations, where possible, to foster trade and investment promotion activities.
5. The Parties note the importance of accelerating and promoting broader exchanges and co-operation between the business communities of the Parties and shall encourage business promotion activities so as to foster exchanges and networking among their respective enterprises.
Article 87. Participation In China's Regional Development
1. Recognising that participation in China's regional development is a key pillar in bilateral relations, which is exemplified by the flagship Suzhou Industrial Park project, the Parties shall continue to work closely to broaden and deepen co-operation in this area.
2. Noting that the flagship Sino-Singapore Tianjin Eco-city project is another key step forward in bilateral co-operation in regional development, both Parties agree to work closely with a view to developing the city as a model for sustainable development and enhance co-operation in areas including environmental protection and resource and energy conservation.
3. The Parties reaffirm the role of the bilateral provincial business councils as the important mechanism of their co-operation to support China's regional development initiatives. The Parties agree to strengthen their existing collaboration as well as explore new areas of co-operation through the councils.
4. The Parties shall also work with the respective business chambers in China and Singapore to encourage participation in regional trade fairs in China.
5. The Parties agree in-principle that any business collaboration should be commercially led and the governments should play a facilitative role.
Article 88. Tourism Co-operation
1. Recognising that strong tourism and people-to-people flows are important for the development of their respective economies, the Parties shall explore strengthening co-operation in tourism promotion and exchanges through fora such as the China National Tourism Administration–Singapore Tourism Board High-Level Bilateral Meeting and regular dialogues.
2. The Parties shall continue to further co-operation in the field of tourism. The Parties also note the importance of expanding and deepening tourism cooperation, in particular, to increase edu-tourism and student exchanges.
3. The Parties shall co-operate in good faith to promote tourism by exploring ways and initiatives to introduce greater convenience to travellers. This would further enhance the mutual understanding and friendly exchanges between the peoples of the Parties.
Article 89. Human Resource Development
1. Recognising that human resource development ("HRD") is a key pillar in bilateral relations, the Parties note that HRD is a two-way exchange.
2. In line with the Memorandum of Understanding between the Government of the People's Republic of China and the Government of the Republic of Singapore on the China-Singapore Human Resource Partnership for the 21st Century under the Joint Council for Bilateral Co-operation signed in September 2005, the Parties shall strengthen and explore new ways of cooperation in this area, based on the following principles:
(a) to increase exchanges so as to allow officials to learn about the developments taking place in each other's countries and the evolving best practices;
(b) to expand the forms and fields of exchanges to take into account each other's evolving needs; and
(c) to explore co-operation in jointly extending technical assistance to third countries.
Article 90. Facilitation of "go Global" Efforts of Chinese Enterprises
1. Recognising that facilitating the "Go Global" efforts of Chinese enterprises is a key pillar of bilateral co-operation, the Parties shall intensify their collaboration in this area.
2. The Parties shall explore more ways to facilitate business exchanges and promote awareness amongst Chinese companies on the advantages of using Singapore as an effective regional platform as well as explore collaborative opportunities in third country markets.
3. The Parties agree that any business collaboration should be commercially led and the role that governments can play is to raise awareness of such opportunities and provide platforms such as business seminars and networking sessions to facilitate exchanges.
4. The Parties shall constantly explore new avenues of collaboration through platforms such as the MOFCOM–MTI Dialogue, the IPC and the JCBC.
Chapter 12. Dispute Settlement
Article 91. Definitions
Unless otherwise provided, for the purposes of this Chapter:
(a) complaining Party means the Party that requests consultations under Article 94 (Consultations); and
(b) Party complained against means the Party to which the request for consultations is made under Article 94 (Consultations).
Article 92. Scope and Coverage
1. This Chapter shall apply to disputes arising under this Agreement which shall also include the Annexes and the contents therein.
2. Any special or additional rules and procedures on dispute settlement for application to this Chapter may be made with the consent of the Parties.
3. Unless otherwise provided for in this Agreement, or as the Parties may otherwise agree, this Chapter shall apply with respect to the avoidance or settlement of disputes between the Parties concerning their respective rights and obligations under this Agreement.
4. This Chapter may be invoked in respect of measures affecting the observance of this Agreement taken by central, regional or local governments or authorities within the territory of a Party.
5. Subject to paragraph 6, nothing in this Chapter shall prejudice any right of the Parties to have recourse to dispute settlement procedures available under any other treaty to which they are parties.