Except in relation to the nonconforming measures listed in its Schedule to Annex III, each Party shall ensure that all measures of general application to which this Chapter applies are administered in a reasonable, objective and impartial manner.
Article 11.14. Self-Regulatory Entities
Where a Party requires a financial institution or cross-border financial service supplier of another Party to be a member of, participate in, or have access to a self-regulatory entity the purpose of providing a financial service in or into the territory of that Party, the Party shall ensure that such self-regulatory entity complies with the obligations in Articles 11.3 and 11.4.
Article 11.15. Payment and Clearing Systems
Each Party shall grant, on terms and conditions that accord national treatment, to financial institutions of the other Party established in its territory, access to payment and clearing systems administered by public entities and to official financing and refinancing facilities available in the ordinary course of business. This paragraph is not intended to grant access to the facilities of the Party's lender of last resort.
Article 11.16. Recognition
1. A Party may recognize prudential measures of a non-Party in the application of the measures covered by this Chapter. Such recognition may be:
(a) unilaterally granted;
(b) by harmonization or other means; (c) based on an agreement or arrangement with a non-Party.
2. A Party granting recognition of prudential measures under paragraph 1 shall provide adequate opportunity for the other Party to demonstrate that circumstances exist in which there are or will be equivalent regulation, supervision and enforcement of regulation, and, if appropriate, that there are or be procedures relating to the exchange of information between the Parties.
3. Where a Party grants recognition of prudential measures in accordance with subparagraph l(c) and the circumstances set out in paragraph 2 exist, the Party shall provide adequate opportunity for the other Party to negotiate accession to the convention or agreement, or to negotiate a co-patentable convention or agreement.
Article 11.17. Financial Services Committee
1, The Parties establish the Financial Services Committee (hereinafter "the Committee"), composed of representatives of each Party. The principal representative of each Party shall be an official of the Party's authority responsible for financial services set out in Annex 11.17 (Financial Services Committee).
2. The functions of the Committee shall include:
(a) supervise the implementation of this Chapter and its subsequent development;
(b) consider matters related to financial services referred to it by a Party; and
(c) perform such other functions as may be assigned by the Commission or agreed by this Committee, within the scope of its competencies and in accordance the legislation of each Party.
3. The Committee shall meet when the Parties so decide, on the date and according to the agenda previously agreed, to evaluate the operation of this Agreement with respect to financial services. The Committee shall report to the Commission on the results of each meeting.
4. The meetings may be held in person or by any technological means. When they are held in person, they shall be held at least in the of each Party, and it shall be responsibility of the host Party to organize and chair the meeting.
5. Unless otherwise agreed by the Parties, the Committee shall have a permanent character and shall elaborate its working rules.
Article 11.18. Consultations
1. A Party may request consultations with the other Party with respect to any matter related. to this Agreement affecting financial services. The other Party shall give due consideration to the request. The Parties shall inform the Committee of the results of the consultations.
2. Consultations under this Article shall include officials of the authorities set forth in Annex 11.17.
3. Nothing in this article shall be construed to require regulatory authorities participating in consultations pursuant to paragraph 1 to disclose information or act in a manner that would interfere with specific regulatory, supervisory, administrative or enforcement matters.
4. Nothing in this Article shall be construed to require a Party to derogate from its relevant legislation relating to the exchange of information between financial intermediaries or the requirements of an agreement or arrangement between the Parties' financial authorities.
Article 11.19. Settlement of Disputes
1. Chapter 24 (Settlement of Disputes) shall apply, in the terms modified by this article, to the settlement of disputes arising from the application of this Chapter.
2. Where a Party claims that a dispute arises under this Chapter, Article 24.8 (Selection of Panel) shall apply, except:
(a) where the disputing Parties so agree, the panel shall be composed entirely of panelists who meet the qualifications set forth in paragraph 3;
(b) in any other case:
(i) each disputing Party may select panelists who meet the qualifications set forth in paragraph 3 or in Article 24.7 (Qualifications of Panelists); and.
(ii) if the Party complained against invokes Article 11.11 (Exceptions), the chairperson of the panel shall meet the qualifications set out in paragraph 3, unless the disputing Parties agree.
3. Financial services panelists should:
(a) have specialized knowledge or experience in financial law or the practice of financial services, which may include the regulation of financial institutions;
(b) be selected strictly on the basis of objectivity, reliability and sound judgment;
(c) be independent and not be bound by or take instructions from any Party; and
(d) comply with the Code of Conduct to be established by the Commission.
4. Notwithstanding Article 24.15 (Non-Compliance - Suspension of Benefits), where a panel finds that a measure is inconsistent with this Agreement and the measure under dispute affects:
(a) only to the financial services sector, the complaining Party may suspend benefits only in the financial services sector;
(b) only to a sector other than the financial services sector, the complaining Party may not suspend benefits in the financial services sector; or
(c) to the financial services sector and any other sector, the complaining Party may suspend benefits in the financial services sector that have an effect equivalent to the effect of the measure on the Party's financial services sector.
Annex 11.6. Cross-Border Trade
Costa Rica
Banking and other financial services (excluding insurance)
1. Paragraph 1 of Article 11.6 applies to the cross-border supply of or trade in financial services, as defined in subparagraph (a) of the definition of cross-border supply of financial services in Article 11.1 (6), with respect to:
(a) provision and transfer of financial information, financial data processing and related software referred to in subparagraph (a) above (o) of the definition of financial service; and
(b) advisory services and other auxiliary services, excluding intermediation related to banking and other financial services referred to in subparagraph (p) of the definition of financial service (7).
Services to be provided in relation to the following
2. Paragraph 1 of Article 11.6 applies to the cross-border supply of or trade financial services, as defined in subparagraph (a) of the definition of cross-border supply of financial services in Article 11.1 with respect to:
(a) insurance against risks related to:
(i) space launch and space transportation (including satellite), international maritime transportation and international commercial aviation, covering any or all of the following: the goods being transported, the vehicle transporting the goods, and the liability that may arise therefrom; and
(ii) goods in international transit, covering any or all of the following: the goods being transported, the vehicle transporting the goods and liability that may arise therefrom (8);
(b) reinsurance and retrocession;
(c) services needed to support global accounts (9);
(d) services auxiliary to insurance as referred to in subparagraph (d) of the definition of financial services in Article 11.1 (10);
(e) insurance intermediation activities, such as brokerage and agency as referred to in subparagraph c) of the definition of financial services in Article 11.1 (11); and
(f) unprovided follow up lines (surplus lines) (12).
3. Paragraph 2 applies only if an Ecuadorian entity is not insuring a risk in Costa Rica by itself or through an agent.
Ecuador
Banking services and other financial services (excluding insurance)
1. Paragraph 1 of Article 11.6. applies to the cross-border supply of trade in financial services, as defined in subparagraph (a) of the definition of cross-border supply of financial services in Article 11.1, with respect to:
(a) provision and transfer of financial information, financial data processing, and software referred to in subparagraph (0) of the definition of financial service, subject to prior authorization by the supervisory authority, when required; and
(b) advisory and other auxiliary financial services, excluding intermediation, with respect to banking and other financial services referred to in subparagraph (p) of the definition of financial service.
Insurance services and insurance-related services
1. Paragraph 1 of Article 11.6 applies to the cross-border supply of or trade in financial services, as defined in subparagraph (a) of the definition of cross-border supply of financial services in Article 11.1, with respect to:
(a) insurance against risks related to:
(i) international maritime transport, international commercial aviation and space launch and transport (including satellites), covering any or all of the following: the goods being transported, the vehicle transporting the goods and the civil liability that may arise therefrom, and
(ii) goods in international transit, covering any or all of the following elements: the goods being transported, the vehicle transporting the goods and the liability that may arise from the goods; (13)
(b) reinsurance and retrocession;
(c) consulting, actuarial services, risk assessment and adjustment of insurance claims included in subparagraphs (a) and (b), provided are authorized by the supervisory authority;
(d) insurance intermediation activities, such as brokerage and agencies as referred to in subparagraph (c) of the definition of financial services in Article 11.1, included. in (a) and (b); and,
(e) unprovided lines of insurance (surplus lines) (14).
Annex 11.17. Financial Services Committee
Financial Services Authorities
1. For the purposes of transparency, the financial services autoi ities responsible for financial services are:
(a) for Costa Rica, the Consejo Nacional de Supervisién del Sistema Financiero and the Ministerio de Comercio Exterior for banking and other financial and insurance services, or their successors; and
(b) The Board of Financial Policy and Regulation; and the Ministry Production, Foreign Trade, Investment and Fisheries, or its successor.
Chapter 12. Telecommunications Services
Article 12.1. Definitions
For the purposes of this Chapter:
leased circuits (1) means telecommunications facilities between two or more designated points that are intended for the dedicated use or availability to a particular customer or to other users chosen by that customer;
company means a company as defined in Article 1.6 (Definitions of General Application) and includes a branch of a company;
essential facilities means facilities of a public telecommunications network or service which:
(a) are exclusively or predominantly supplied by a single or limited number of suppliers; and
(b) it is not economically or technically feasible to replace them in order to provide a service;
interconnection means a link between providers of public telecommunications services for the purpose of enabling users of one provider to communicate with users of another provider and to access services provided by another provider;
reference interconnection offer: means an interconnection offer offered by a major supplier and registered with and/or approved by a telecommunications regulatory body, which sufficiently details the terms, rates, and technical, economic and legal conditions for interconnection such that public telecommunications service providers wishing to accept it may obtain interconnection with the major supplier on that basis;
cost-oriented means cost-based, and may include a reasonable profit, and may involve different costing methodologies for different facilities or services;
telecommunications regulatory body means the body of a Party responsible for the regulation of telecommunications;
Major supplier means a supplier of public telecommunications services that has the ability to materially affect (taking into consideration pricing and supply) the terms of participation in the relevant market for public telecommunications services, as a result of:
(a) control essential facilities; or
(b) to make use of its position in the market;
public telecommunications network means telecommunications infrastructure used to provide public telecommunications services between and among defined network termination points;
public telecommunications services or publicly available telecommunications services means any telecommunications service that a Party requires, either explicitly or in fact, to be offered to the general public in accordance with its law. Such services may include, but are not limited to, telephony and data transmission that typically incorporate customer-supplied information between two or more points without any end-to-end change in the form or content of the customer's information;
telecommunications means the transmission and reception of signals by any electromagnetic means;
enabling title means the authorizations, licenses, concessions, permits, registrations or any other type of enabling title, which a Party may require to supply public telecommunications services;
user: means an end user or a provider of public telecommunications services; and end user means an end consumer of or a subscriber to a public telecommunications
service, including a service provider other than the public telecommunications service provider.
Article 12.2. Scope (2)
1. This Chapter applies to:
(a) measures adopted or maintained by a Party relating to access to and use of public telecommunications networks and services;
(b) measures adopted or maintained by a Party relating to the obligations of suppliers of public telecommunications networks and services (3); and
(c) other measures adopted or maintained by a Party relating to public telecommunications networks and services.
2. Except to ensure that an enterprise operating a broadcasting station or cable system has continued access to and use of public telecommunications services, this Chapter shall not apply to any measures adopted or maintained by a Party relating to the broadcasting or cable distribution of radio or television programming.
3. Nothing in this Chapter shall be constmed to :
(a) oblige a Party, or oblige a Party to require any enterprise, to establish, construct, acquire, lease, operate or supply telecommunications networks or services not offered to the general public;
(b) oblige a Party to require any enterprise exclusively engaged in the broadcasting or cable distribution of radio or television programming to make its broadcasting or cable distribution facilities available as a public telecommunications network; or
(c) prevent a Party from prohibiting persons operating private networks from using their private networks to provide public telecommunications networks or services to third parties.
Article 12.3. Access to and Use of Public Telecommunications Networks and Services (4)
1. Each Party shall ensure that service suppliers of the other Party have access to and may make use of public telecommunications networks or services, including leased circuits, offered in its territory or on a cross-border basis, on reasonable and non-discriminatory terms and conditions, including as specified in paragraphs 2 through 6.
2. Each Party shall ensure that service suppliers of the other Party are permitted:
(a) purchase or lease and connect a terminal or other equipment that interfaces with a public telecommunications network;
(b) to provide services to individual or multiple end users through owned or leased circuits;
(c) connect owned or leased circuits with public telecommunications networks and services or with circuits leased or owned by another company;
(d) perform switching, signaling, processing and function conversion functions; and (e) use operating protocols of your choice in the provision of any service.
3. Each Party shall ensure that service suppliers of the other Party may use public telecommunications services to transmit information in its territory or across its borders, including for intracorporate communications, and to access information contained in databases or otherwise stored in machine-readable form in the territory of either Party.
4. Notwithstanding paragraph 3, a Party may take measures that are necessary to ensure the security and confidentiality of messages, or to protect the privacy of personal data of end- users of public telecommunications services, provided that such measures are not applied in a manner that would constitute a means of arbitrary or unjustifiable discrimination or a disguised restriction on trade in services.
5. Each Party shall ensure that no conditions are imposed on access to and use of public telecommunications networks and services, other than those necessary to:
(a) safeguarding the public service responsibilities of providers public telecommunications networks or services, in particular their ability to make their networks and services available to the general public; or
(b) protect the technical integrity of public telecommunications networks or services.
6. Provided that the conditions for access to and use of public telecommunications networks and services meet the criteria set forth in paragraph 5, such conditions may include:
(a) requirements to use specific technical interfaces, including interface , for interconnection with such networks or services;
(b) requirements, when necessary, for the interoperability of such networks and services;
(c) the approval of terminal equipment or other equipment interfacing with the network and technical requirements related to the connection of such equipment to these networks;
(d) procedures for granting licenses or notifications that, if adopted or maintained, are transparent and that applications submitted are processed in accordance with the laws or regulations of each Party; and
(e) restrictions on connecting owned or leased circuits to public telecommunications networks or services or to circuits leased or owned by another company.
Article 12.4. Interconnection
1. (a) Each Party shall ensure that suppliers of public telecommunications services in its territory provide, directly, or indirectly within the same , interconnection to suppliers of public telecommunications services of the other Party at any economically and technically feasible point;
(b) in compliance with subparagraph (a), each Party shall ensure that suppliers of public telecommunications services in its territory take reasonable steps to protect the confidentiality of commercially sensitive information of, or relating to, suppliers and end-users of public telecommunications services obtained as a result of interconnection agreements, and only use such information to provide these services;
(c) each Party shall provide to its telecommunications regulatory body the authority to require suppliers of public telecommunications services to register their interconnection contracts.
Interconnection obligations relating to major suppliers of public telecommunication services
2. Each Party shall ensure that a major supplier in its territory provides interconnection to the networks, facilities and equipment of suppliers of public telecommunications services of the other Party:
(a) at any economically and technically feasible point in your network;
(b) under non-discriminatory terms, conditions (including technical standards and specifications), and rates;
(c) of a quality no less favorable than that supplied by the major supplier to its own similar services, to similar services of unaffiliated service suppliers, or their subsidiaries or other affiliates;
(d) in a timely manner, on terms, conditions (including technical standards and specifications) and cost-oriented tariffs that are transparent, reasonable, taking into account economic feasibility and sufficiently unbundled, so that providers need not pay for network components or facilities that they do not require for the service to be provided; and
(e) upon request, at points in addition to the network termination points offered to most users, subject to charges reflecting the cost constructing the necessary additional facilities.