(b) its technical regulations and conformity assessment procedures adopted to address urgent problems of safety, health, environmental protection or national security arising or threatening to arise.
4. Each Party shall transmit electronically to the other Party's enquiry point its proposed technical regulations and conformity assessment procedures that are in accordance with the technical content of the relevant international standards and that may have an effect on trade.
5. The transmission of technical regulations and conformity assessment procedures made pursuant to paragraphs 3 and 4 shall include an electronic link to, or a copy of, the full text of the notified document.
6. Further to subparagraph 3(a) and paragraph 4, each Party shall allow a period of at least 60 days following transmission of proposed technical regulations and conformity assessment procedures for the public and the other Party to provide written comments. A Party shall give positive consideration to a reasonable request for extending the comment period.
7. Each Party shall publish or otherwise make publicly available, in print or electronically, its responses or a summary of its responses, to significant comments it receives, no later than the date it publishes the final technical regulation or conformity assessment procedure.
8. Each Party shall, upon request of the other Party, provide information regarding the objectives of, and rationale for, a technical regulation or conformity assessment procedure, that the Party has adopted or is proposing to adopt.
9. A Party shall give positive consideration to a reasonable request from the other Party, received prior to the end of the comment period following the transmission of a proposed technical regulation, to establish or extend the period of time between the adoption of the technical regulation and the day upon which it is applicable, except where such delay would be ineffective in fulfilling the legitimate objectives pursued.
10. Each Party shall ensure that its adopted technical regulations and conformity assessment procedures are published on official websites that are freely and publicly accessible.
11. Where a Party detains at a port of entry a good imported from the territory of the other Party on the ground that the good has failed to comply with a technical regulation, it shall immediately notify the importer of the reasons for the detention of the good.
12. Each Party shall implement this Article as soon as is practicable and under no circumstances later than two years from the date of entry into force of this Agreement.
Article 609. Country Coordinators on Technical Barriers to Trade
1. The Country Coordinators designated in Annex 609.1 shall work jointly to facilitate the implementation of this Chapter and the cooperation between the Parties on matters pertaining to this Chapter.
2. The Country Coordinators' functions include:
(a) monitoring the implementation and administration of this Chapter;
(b) promptly addressing any issue that a Party raises, under this Chapter or the TBT Agreement, related to the development, adoption or application of standards, technical regulations, or conformity assessment procedures;
(c) enhancing joint cooperation by the Parties in the development and improvement of standards, technical regulations, conformity assessment procedures and metrology;
(d) exchanging information on standards, technical regulations, and conformity assessment procedures;
(e) on a Party's written request, consulting on any matter arising under this Chapter;
(f) reviewing this Chapter in light of any developments under the TBT Committee or under the TBT Agreement, and, if necessary, developing recommendations for amendments to this Chapter;
(g) reporting to the Commission on the implementation of this Chapter as appropriate;
(h) establishing, if necessary to achieve the objectives of this Chapter, issue- or sector-specific ad hoc working groups;
(i) taking any other steps that the Parties consider will assist them in implementing this Chapter and the TBT Agreement and in facilitating trade between the Parties.
3. Consultations under subparagraph 2(e) shall constitute consultations under Article 2104 (Dispute Settlement - Consultations) and shall be governed by the procedures set out in that Article.
4. The Country Coordinator of each Party shall:
(a) be responsible for ensuring that the relevant institutions and persons in its territory participate, as appropriate, in the activities related to this Chapter and for coordinating such participation;
(b) elaborate their own work rules and shall meet at least once a year unless the Parties otherwise agree; and
(c) carry out their work through communication channels agreed to by the Parties, which may include electronic mail, videoconferencing or other means.
Article 610. Information Exchange
1. Where a Party makes a reasonable enquiry pursuant to the provisions of Articles 10.1 and 10.3 of the TBT Agreement, the other Party shall answer, in print or electronically, ordinarily within 30 days from the date of receipt of the enquiry, but may extend the period of time for answering by giving notice to the enquiring Party prior to the end of the 30 day period.
2. With respect to information exchanges referred to in paragraph 1, the Parties shall apply recommendations 3 and 4 of Section IV (Procedure for information exchanges) set out in Decisions and Recommendations adopted by the Committee since 1 January 1995, G/TBT/1/Rev. 8, 23 May, 2002, issued by the TBT Committee.
Article 611. Definitions
For the purposes of this Chapter, the terms and definitions of Annex 1 of the WTO Agreement on Technical Barriers to Trade shall apply, and:
national government body means a central government body as defined in Annex 1 of the WTO Agreement on Technical Barriers to Trade;
TBT Agreement means the WTO Agreement on Technical Barriers to Trade; and
TBT Committee means the WTO Committee on Technical Barriers to Trade.
Chapter Seven. Emergency Action and Trade Remedies
Section A. Emergency Action
Article 701. Article XIX of the GATT 1994 and the Agreement on Safeguards
1. Each Party retains its rights and obligations under Article XIX of the GATT 1994 and the Agreement on Safeguards, which shall exclusively govern global safeguard actions, including the resolution of any disputes in respect thereof.
2. This Agreement does not confer any additional rights or obligations on the Parties with regard to actions taken pursuant to Article XIX of the GATT 1994 and the Agreement on Safeguards, except that a Party taking a global safeguard measure may exclude imports of an originating good of the other Party if the competent investigating authority of that Party concludes that such imports are not a substantial cause of serious injury or threat thereof.
3. A Party may not apply or maintain with respect to the same good at the same time:
(a) an emergency action; and
(b) a measure pursuant to Article XIX of the GATT 1994 and the Agreement on Safeguards.
Article 702. Imposition of an Emergency Action
1. A Party may apply an emergency action described in paragraph 2:
(a) during the transition period only; and
(b) if as a result of the reduction or elimination of a duty pursuant to this Agreement an originating good is being imported into the Party's territory in such increased quantities, in absolute terms or relative to domestic production, and under such conditions as to constitute a substantial cause of serious injury, or threat thereof, to a domestic industry producing a like or directly competitive good.
2. If the conditions set out in paragraph 1 and Articles 703 and 704 are met, a Party may to the extent necessary to prevent or remedy serious injury, or threat thereof, and facilitate adjustment:
(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-favoured-nation (MFN) applied tariff rate in effect at the time the emergency action is taken, and
(ii) the base tariff rate as provided in the schedule to Annex 203.
Article 703. Notification and Consultation
1. A Party shall, in writing, promptly notify the other Party on and request consultations (1) in connection with:
(a) initiating an emergency action proceeding;
(b) making a finding of serious injury or threat thereof under the conditions set out in paragraph 1 of Article 702; and
(c) applying an emergency action.
2. A Party shall, without delay, provide to the other Party a copy of the public version of any notice or any report by a competent investigating authority, issued in connection with matters notified pursuant to paragraph 1.
3. Upon request of a Party pursuant to paragraph 1, the Parties shall enter into consultations in order to review the notification under paragraph 1 or any document issued in connection with the emergency action proceeding.
4. Any emergency action shall be initiated no later than one year after the date of institution of the proceeding.
Article 704. Standards for an Emergency Action
1. No Party may maintain an emergency action:
(a) for a period exceeding three years; or
(b) beyond the expiration of the transition period.
2. No Party may apply an emergency action against a good originating in the territory of the other Party more than once.
3. On the termination of any emergency action, the rate of duty shall be the rate that, according to Annex 203 for the staged elimination of the tariff, would have been in effect but for the action.
4. In order to facilitate adjustment in a situation where the expected duration of an emergency action is over one year, the Party applying a measure under Article 702 shall progressively liberalize it at regular intervals during the period of application.
5. A Party taking an emergency action under Article 702 shall provide to the exporting 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 action. If the Parties are unable to agree on compensation, the Party against whose goods the action is taken may take tariff action having trade effects substantially equivalent to the emergency action taken under Article 702. The Party taking the tariff action shall apply the action only for the minimum period necessary to achieve the substantially equivalent effects and in any event, only while the emergency action under Article 702 is being applied.
Article 705. Investigation Procedures and Transparency Requirements
1. Each Party shall ensure the consistent, impartial and reasonable administration of its laws, regulations, decisions and rulings governing all emergency action proceedings.
2. Each Party shall entrust determinations of serious injury, or threat thereof, in an emergency action proceeding to a competent investigating authority. Such determinations shall be subject to review by judicial or administrative tribunals, to the extent provided by domestic law. Negative injury determinations shall not be subject to modification, except by such review. Each Party shall provide its competent investigating authority with the necessary resources to enable it to fulfil its duties.
3. Each Party shall adopt or maintain equitable, timely, transparent and effective procedures for emergency action proceedings, in accordance with the requirements set out in paragraph 4 and 5 of this Article.
4. A Party shall apply an emergency action only following an investigation by the Party's competent authority in accordance with Articles 3, 4.2(b) and 4.2(c) of the Agreement on Safeguards. To this end, Articles 3, 4.2(b) and 4.2(c) of the Agreement on Safeguards are incorporated into and made part of this Agreement, mutatis mutandis.
5. In the investigation described in paragraph 3, a Party shall comply with the requirements of Article 4.2(a) of the Agreement on Safeguards. To this end, Article 4.2(a) of the Agreement on Safeguards is incorporated into and made part of this Agreement, mutatis mutandis.
Section B. Antidumping and Countervailing Measures
Article 706. Antidumping and Countervailing Measures
1. Each Party retains its rights and obligations under the WTO Agreement, which shall exclusively govern the application of antidumping and countervailing measures.
2. The WTO shall have exclusive jurisdiction in respect of the matters referred to in paragraph 1 and no provision of this Agreement, including the provisions of Chapter Twenty-One (Dispute Settlement), shall be construed as imposing any rights or obligations on the Parties with respect to antidumping or countervailing measures.
Article 707. Definitions
For purposes of this Chapter:
Agreement on Safeguards means the WTO Agreement on Safeguards;
competent investigating authority means:
(a) in the case of Canada, the Canadian International Trade Tribunal, or its successor; and
(b) in the case of Colombia, the Subdirección de Prácticas Comerciales of the Ministerio de Comercio, Industria y Turismo, or its successor;
domestic industry means with respect to an imported good, the producers as a whole of the like or directly competitive good operating in the territory of a Party or those whose collective production of the like or directly competitive good constitutes a major proportion of the total domestic production of such good;
emergency action means any emergency action described in Article 702;
serious injury means a significant overall impairment of a domestic industry;
substantial cause means a cause that is important and not less important than any other cause;
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
transition period means the ten year period beginning on the entry into force of this Agreement, except where the tariff elimination for the good against which the action is taken occurs over a longer period of time, in which case the transition period shall be the period of the staged tariff elimination for that good.
Chapter Eight. Investment
Section A. Investment
Article 801. Scope and Coverage
1. This Chapter shall apply to measures adopted or maintained by a Party relating to:
(a) investors of the other Party;
(b) covered investments; and
(c) with respect to Articles 807, 815 and 816, all investments in the territory of the Party.
2. For greater certainty, the provisions of this Chapter do not bind a Party in relation to any act or fact that took place or any situation that ceased to exist before the date of entry into force of this Agreement.
3. Consistent with Articles 1305 (Competition Policy, Monopolies and State Enterprises – Designated Monopolies) and 1306 (Competition Policy, Monopolies and State Enterprises State Enterprises) the Parties confirm their understanding that nothing in this Chapter shall be construed to prevent a Party from designating a monopoly, or from maintaining or establishing a state enterprise.
Article 802. Relation to other Chapters
1. In the event of any inconsistency between this Chapter and another Chapter, the other Chapter shall prevail to the extent of the inconsistency.
2. A requirement by a Party that a service supplier of the other Party post a bond or other form of financial security as a condition of the cross-border supply of a service into its territory does not of itself make this Chapter applicable to measures adopted or maintained by the Party relating to the cross-border supply of the service. This Chapter applies to measures adopted or maintained by the Party relating to the posted bond or financial security, to the extent that such bond or financial security is a covered investment.
3. This Chapter shall not apply to measures adopted or maintained by a Party to the extent that they are covered by Chapter Eleven (Financial Services).
4. Articles 904 (Cross-Border Trade in Services – Market Access) and 907 (Cross-Border Trade in Services – Domestic Regulation) are hereby incorporated into and made a part of this Chapter and apply to measures adopted or maintained by a Party affecting the supply of a service in its territory by a covered investment. (1)
Article 803. National Treatment
1. Each Party shall accord to investors of the other Party treatment no less favourable than that it accords, in like circumstances, to its own investors with respect to the establishment, acquisition, expansion, management, conduct, operation and sale or other disposition of investments in its territory.
2. Each Party shall accord to covered investments treatment no less favourable than that it accords, in like circumstances, to investments of its own investors with respect to the establishment, acquisition, expansion, management, conduct, operation and sale or other disposition of investments in its territory.
3. The treatment accorded by a Party under paragraphs 1 and 2 means, with respect to a sub-national government, treatment no less favourable than the most favourable treatment accorded, in like circumstances, by that sub-national government to investors, and to investments of investors, of the Party of which it forms a part.
Article 804. Most-favoured-nation Treatment
1. Each Party shall accord to investors of the other Party treatment no less favourable than that it accords, in like circumstances, to investors of a non-Party with respect to the establishment, acquisition, expansion, management, conduct, operation and sale or other disposition of investments in its territory.
2. Each Party shall accord to covered investments treatment no less favourable than that it accords, in like circumstances, to investments of investors of a non-Party with respect to the establishment, acquisition, expansion, management, conduct, operation and sale or other disposition of investments in its territory.
3. For greater clarity, treatment "with respect to establishment, acquisition, expansion, management, conduct, operation, and sale or other disposition of investments" referred to in paragraphs 1 and 2 does not encompass dispute resolution mechanisms, such as those in Section B of this Chapter, that are provided for in international treaties or trade agreements.
4. For greater certainty, the treatment accorded by a Party under this Article means, with respect to a sub-national government, treatment accorded, in like circumstances, by that sub-national government to investors, and to investments of investors, of a non-Party.
Article 805. Minimum Standard of Treatment
1. Each Party shall accord to covered investments treatment in accordance with the customary international law minimum standard of treatment of aliens, including fair and equitable treatment and full protection and security. (2) The concepts of "fair and equitable treatment" and "full protection and security" do not require treatment in addition to or beyond that which is required by the customary international law minimum standard of treatment of aliens.
2. The obligation in paragraph 1 to provide "fair and equitable treatment" includes the obligation not to deny justice in criminal, civil, or administrative adjudicatory proceedings in accordance with the principle of due process.
3. A determination that there has been a breach of another provision of this Agreement, or of a separate international agreement, does not establish that there has been a breach of this Article.
Article 806. Compensation for Losses
1. Notwithstanding subparagraph 3(b) of Article 809, each Party shall accord to investors of the other Party, and to covered investments, non-discriminatory treatment with respect to measures it adopts or maintains relating to losses suffered by investments in its territory owing to armed conflict or civil strife.
2. Paragraph 1 shall not apply to existing measures relating to subsidies or grants that would be inconsistent with Article 803, but for subparagraph 3(b) of Article 809.
Article 807. Performance Requirements
1. Neither Party may impose or enforce any of the following requirements, or enforce any commitment or undertaking, in connection with the establishment, acquisition, expansion, management, conduct or operation of an investment of an investor of the other Party or of a non-Party in its territory to: (3)
(a) export a given level or percentage of goods or services;
(b) achieve a given level or percentage of domestic content;
(c) purchase, use or accord a preference to goods produced in its territory, or to purchase goods from persons in its territory;
(d) relate in any way the volume or value of imports to the volume or value of exports or to the amount of foreign exchange inflows associated with such investment;
(e) restrict sales of goods or services in its territory that such investment produces or supplies by relating such sales in any way to the volume or value of its exports or foreign exchange earnings;
(f) transfer technology, a production process or other proprietary knowledge to a person in its territory; (4) or
(g) supply exclusively from the territory of the Party the goods that such investment produces or the services it supplies to a specific regional market or to the world market.
2. A measure that requires an investment to use a technology to meet generally applicable health, safety or environmental requirements shall not be construed to be inconsistent with subparagraph 1(f). For greater certainty, Articles 803 and 804 apply to the measure.
3. Neither Party may condition the receipt or continued receipt of an advantage, in connection with an investment in its territory of an investor of the other Party or of a non-Party, on compliance with any of the following requirements:
(a) to achieve a given level or percentage of domestic content;
(b) to purchase, use or accord a preference to goods produced in its territory, or to purchase goods from producers in its territory;
(c) to relate in any way the volume or value of imports to the volume or value of exports or to the amount of foreign exchange inflows associated with such investment; or
(d) to restrict sales of goods or services in its territory that such investment produces or supplies by relating such sales in any way to the volume or value of its exports or foreign exchange earnings.
4. (a) Nothing in paragraph 3 shall be construed to prevent a Party from conditioning the receipt or continued receipt of an advantage, in connection with an investment in its territory of an investor of the other Party or of a non-Party, on compliance with a requirement to locate production, supply a service, train or employ workers, construct or expand particular facilities, or carry out research and development, in its territory.
(b) Subparagraph 1(f) does not apply when the requirement is imposed or the commitment or undertaking is enforced by a court, administrative tribunal or competition authority to remedy an alleged violation of competition laws or to act in a manner not inconsistent with other provisions of this Agreement (5)
(c) For greater certainty, the Parties confirm their understanding that the exceptions in paragraph 3 of Article 2201 (Exceptions - General Exceptions) apply to performance requirements under this Article, including the exceptions concerning the protection of human animal or plant life or health, and the conservation of living or nonliving exhaustible natural resources.
5. Paragraphs 1 and 3 do not apply to any commitment, undertaking, or requirement other than those set out in those paragraphs.
6. This Article does not preclude enforcement of any commitment, undertaking, or requirement between private parties.
7. The provisions of:
(a) subparagraphs 1(a), (b) and (c), and 3(a) and (b), do not apply to qualification requirements for goods or services with respect to export promotion and foreign aid programs;
(b) subparagraphs 1(b), (c), (f) and (g), and 3(a) and (b), do not apply to procurement by a Party or a state enterprise; and
(c) subparagraphs 3(a) and (b) do not apply to requirements imposed by an importing Party relating to the content of goods necessary to qualify for preferential tariffs or preferential quotas.