Title
Free Trade Agreement between the Republic of Korea and the Republic of Colombia
Preamble
The Government of the Republic of Korea (Korea) and the Government of the Republic of Colombia (Colombia), hereinafter referred to as "the Parties":
Strengthening the special bonds of friendship and cooperation between them;
Convinced that a free trade area will create an expanded and secure market for goods and services in their territories and a stable and predictable environment for investment, thus enhancing the competitiveness of their firms in global markets;
Considering the importance of creating opportunities for economic development in light of the differences between the Parties in the level of economic and social development;
Desiring to raise living standards, promote economic growth and stability, create new employment opportunities, and improve the general welfare in their territories by liberalizing and expanding trade and investment between their territories;
Seeking to establish clear and mutually advantageous rules governing their trade and investment and to reduce or eliminate the barriers to trade and investment between their territories;
Resolved to contribute to the harmonious development and expansion of world trade by removing obstacles to trade through the creation of a free trade area and to avoid creating new barriers to trade or investment between their territories that could reduce the benefits of this Agreement;
Recognizing that this Agreement should be implemented with a view to promoting sustainable development in a manner consistent with environmental protection and conservation; and
Building on their respective rights and obligations under the Marrakesh Agreement Establishing the World Trade Organization and other multilateral, regional, and bilateral agreements and arrangements to which they are both parties;
HAVE AGREED as follows:
Body
Chapter One. Initial Provisions and General Definitions
Article 1.1. Establishment of a Free Trade Area
Consistent with Article XXIV of the GATT 1994 and Article V of the GATS, the Parties hereby establish a free trade area in accordance with the provisions of this Agreement.
Article 1.2. Relation to other Agreements
1. The Parties affirm their existing rights and obligations with respect to each other under the WTO Agreement and other agreements to which both Parties are party.
2. In the event of any inconsistency between this Agreement and other agreements to which both Parties are party, this Agreement shall prevail to the extent of the inconsistency, except as otherwise provided in this Agreement.
Article 1.3. Definitions
For purposes of this Agreement, unless otherwise specified:
AD Agreement means the Agreement on Implementation of Article VI of the GATT 1994, contained in Annex 1A to the WTO Agreement;
central level of government means:
(a) for Korea, the central level of government; and
(b) for Colombia, the national level of government (1);
covered investment means, with respect to a Party, an investment, as defined in Article 8.28 (Definitions), in its territory of an investor of the other Party that is in existence as of the date of entry into force of this Agreement or established, acquired, or expanded thereafter;
customs duty includes any duty or charge of any kind imposed on or in connection with the importation of a product of the other Party, including any form of surtax or surcharge imposed on or in connection with such importation, but does not include any:
(a) charge equivalent to an internal tax imposed consistently with Article III:2 of the GATT 1994, or any equivalent provision of a successor agreement to which both Parties are party;
(b) antidumping, countervailing, or safeguard duty that is applied in accordance with a Party's law and consistently with Chapter 7 (Trade Remedies);
(c) fee or other charge in connection with importation commensurate with the cost of services rendered;
(d) premium offered or collected on an imported good arising out of any tendering system in respect of the administration of quantitative import restrictions or tariff rate quotas; and
(e) duty imposed pursuant to any agricultural safeguard measure taken under the Agreement on Agriculture, contained in Annex 1A to the WTO Agreement. Customs Valuation Agreement means the Agreement on Implementation of Article VII of the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade 1994, contained in Annex 1A to the WTO Agreement;
days means calendar days;
enterprise means any entity constituted or organized under applicable law, whether or not for profit, and whether privately or governmentally owned or controlled, including any corporation, trust, partnership, sole proprietorship, joint venture, association or similar organization;
enterprise of a Party means an enterprise constituted or organized under a Party's law;
existing means in effect on the date of entry into force of this Agreement;
financial institution means any financial intermediary or other enterprise that is authorized to do business and regulated or supervised as a financial institution under the law of the Party in whose territory it is located;
freely usable currency means "freely usable currency" as determined by the International Monetary Fund under its Articles of Agreement;
GATS means the General Agreement on Trade in Services, contained in Annex 1B to the WTO Agreement;
GATT 1994 means the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade 1994, contained in Annex 1A to the WTO Agreement;
goods of a Party means domestic products as these are understood in the GATT 1994 or such goods as the Parties may agree, and includes originating goods of that Party;
government procurement means the process by which a government obtains the use of or acquires goods or services, or any combination thereof, for governmental purposes and not with a view to commercial sale or resale or use in the production or supply of goods or services for commercial sale or resale;
Harmonized System (HS) means the Harmonized Commodity Description and Coding System, including its General Rules of Interpretation, Section Notes, and Chapter Notes, as adopted and implemented by the Parties in their respective tariff laws;
Import Licensing Agreement means the Agreement on Import Licensing Procedures, contained in Annex 1A to the WTO Agreement;
Joint Commission means the Joint Commission established under Article 19.1 (Joint Commission);
measure includes any law, regulation, procedure, requirement, or practice; national means:
(a) for Korea, a Korean national within the meaning of the Nationality Act; and
(b) for Colombia, Colombians by birth or naturalization, in accordance with Article 96 of the Colombian Constitution (Constitución Política de Colombia);
originating means qualifying under the rules of origin set out in Chapter 3 (Rules of Origin and Origin Procedures);
person means a natural person or an enterprise;
person of a Party means a national or an enterprise of a Party;
preferential tariff treatment means the duty rate applicable under this Agreement to an originating good;
Safeguards Agreement means the Agreement on Safeguards, contained in Annex 1A to the WTO Agreement;
sanitary or phytosanitary measure means any measure referred to in paragraph 1 of Annex A to the SPS Agreement;
SCM Agreement means the Agreement on Subsidies and Countervailing Measures, contained in Annex 1A to the WTO Agreement;
SPS Agreement means the Agreement on the Application of Sanitary and Phytosanitory Measure, contained in Annex 1A to the WTO Agreement;
state enterprise means an enterprise that is owned, or controlled through ownership interests, by a Party; (2)
TBT Agreement means the Agreement on Technical Barriers to Trade, contained in Annex 1A to the WTO Agreement;
territory means:
(a) for Korea, the land, maritime, and air space over which Korea exercises sovereignty, and those maritime areas, including the seabed and subsoil adjacent to and beyond the outer limit of the territorial seas over which it may exercise sovereign rights or jurisdiction in accordance with its law and international law; and
(b) for Colombia, its land territory, both continental and insular, its airspace and maritime and sub-maritime areas and other elements over which it exercises sovereignty, sovereign rights or jurisdiction in accordance with its Colombian Constitution (Constitución Política de Colombia), its law, and international law including applicable international treaties;
TRIPS Agreement means the Agreement on Trade-Related Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights, contained in Annex 1C to the WTO Agreement; (3)
WTO means the World Trade Organization; and
WTO Agreement means the Marrakesh Agreement Establishing the World Trade Organization, done on April 15, 1994.
Chapter Two. National Treatment and Market Access for Goods
Article 2.1. Scope
Except as otherwise provided in this Agreement, this Chapter shall apply to trade in goods of a Party.
Section A. National Treatment
Article 2.2. National Treatment
1. Each Party shall accord national treatment to the goods of the other Party in accordance with Article III of the GATT 1994, including its interpretative notes, and to this end Article III of the GATT 1994 and its interpretative notes are incorporated into and made part of this Agreement, mutatis mutandis.
2. For greater certainty, the treatment to be accorded by a Party under paragraph 1 means, with respect to a sub-central level of government or authority, treatment no less favorable than the most favorable treatment that a sub-central level of government or authority accords to any like, directly competitive, or substitutable goods, as the case may be, of the Party.
3. Paragraphs 1 and 2 shall not apply to the measures set out in Annex 2.2.
Section B. Elimination of Customs Duties
Article 2.3. Elimination of Customs Duties
1. Except as otherwise provided in this Agreement, neither Party shall increase any existing customs duty, or adopt any new customs duty, on an originating good.
2. Except as otherwise provided in this Agreement, each Party shall progressively eliminate its customs duties on originating goods, in accordance with its Schedule to Annex 2-A.
3. If at any moment after the date of entry into force of this Agreement a Party reduces its applied most favored nation (hereinafter referred to as "MFN") customs duty, such customs duty shall apply only if it is lower than the customs duty calculated in accordance with its Schedule to Annex 2-A.
4. On request of either Party, the Parties shall consult to consider accelerating the elimination of customs duties set out in their Schedules to Annex 2-A. An agreement by the Parties to accelerate the elimination of a customs duty on a good shall supersede any duty rate or staging category determined pursuant to their Schedules to Annex 2-A for that good when approved by each Party in accordance with its applicable legal procedures.
5. For greater certainty, a Party may:
(a) raise a customs duty to the level established in its Schedule to Annex 2-A following a unilateral reduction; or
(b) maintain or increase a customs duty as authorized by the Dispute Settlement Body of the WTO.
6. Either Party may adopt or maintain import measures to allocate in-quota imports made pursuant to a tariff rate quota set out in Appendix 2-A-1, provided that such measures do not have trade restrictive effects on imports additional to those caused by the imposition of the tariff rate quota.
Section C. Special Regimes
Article 2.4. Waiver of Customs Duties
1. Neither Party shall adopt any new waiver of customs duties, or expand with respect to existing recipients or extend to any new recipient the application of an existing waiver of customs duties, where the waiver is conditioned, explicitly or implicitly, on the fulfillment of a performance requirement.
2. Neither Party shall, explicitly or implicitly, condition on the fulfillment of a performance requirement the continuation of any existing waiver of customs duties.
Article 2.5. Temporary Admission of Goods
1. Each Party shall grant duty-free temporary admission for the following goods, regardless of their origin:
(a) professional equipment, including equipment for the press or television, software, and broadcasting and cinematographic equipment, necessary for carrying out the business activity, trade, or profession of a person who qualifies for temporary entry pursuant to the laws of the importing Party;
(b) goods intended for display or demonstration;
(c) commercial samples and advertising films and recordings; and
(d) goods admitted for sports purposes.
2. Each Party shall, at the request of the person concerned and for reasons its customs authority considers valid, extend the time limit for temporary admission beyond the period initially fixed.
3. Neither Party shall condition the duty-free temporary admission of a good referred to in paragraph 1, other than to require that the good:
(a) be used solely by or under the personal supervision of a national or resident of the other Party in the exercise of business, trade, profession, or sport activities of that person;
(b) not be sold or leased while in its territory;
(c) be accompanied by a security in an amount no greater than the charges that would otherwise be owed on entry or final importation, releasable on exportation of the good;
(d) be capable of identification when exported;
(e) be exported on or before the departure of the person referenced in subparagraph (a), or within such other period related to the purpose of the temporary admission as the Party may establish, or within one year, unless extended;
(f) be admitted in no greater quantity than is reasonable for its intended use; and
(g) be otherwise admissible into the Party's territory under its law.
4. If any condition that a Party imposes under paragraph 3 has not been fulfilled, the Party may apply the customs duty and any other charge that would normally be owed on the good plus any other charges or penalties provided for under its law.
5. Each Party shall adopt and maintain procedures providing for the expeditious release of goods admitted under this Article. To the extent possible, such procedures shall provide that, when such a good accompanies a national or resident of the other Party who is seeking temporary entry, the good shall be released simultaneously with the entry of that national or resident.
6. Each Party shall permit a good temporarily admitted under this Article to be exported through a customs port other than that through which it was admitted.
7. Each Party shall provide that its customs authority or other competent authority relieves the importer or another person responsible for a good admitted under this Article of any liability for failure to export the good on presentation of satisfactory proof to the customs authority of the importing Party that the good has been destroyed within the original period fixed for temporary admission or any lawful extension.
8. Neither Party shall:
(a) prevent a vehicle or container used in international traffic that enters its territory from the territory of the other Party from exiting its territory on any route that is reasonably related to the economic and prompt departure of such vehicle or container;
(b) require any security or impose any penalty or charge solely by reason of any difference between the port of entry and the port of departure of a container;
(c) condition the release of any obligation, including any security, that it imposes in respect of the entry of a container into its territory on its exit through any particular port of departure; and
(d) require that the carrier bringing a container from the territory of the other Party into its territory be the same carrier that takes the container to the territory of the other Party.
Article 2.6. Goods Re-entered after Repair or Alteration
1. Neither Party shall apply a customs duty to a good, regardless of its origin, that reenters its territory after that good has been temporarily exported from its territory to the territory of the other Party for repair or alteration, regardless of whether such repair or alteration:
(a) could be performed in the territory of the Party from which the good was exported for repair or alteration; or
(b) has increased the value of the good.
2. Neither Party shall apply a customs duty to a good, regardless of its origin, admitted temporarily from the territory of the other Party for repair or alteration.
3. For purposes of this Article, "repair or alteration" does not include an operation or process that:
(a) destroys the essential characteristics of a good or creates a new or commercially different good; or
(b) transforms an unfinished good into a finished good.
Article 2.7. Duty-free Entry of Commercial Samples of Negligible Value and Printed Advertising Materials
Each Party shall grant duty-free entry to commercial samples of negligible value, and to printed advertising materials, imported from the territory of the other Party, regardless of their origin, but may require that:
(a) such samples be imported solely for the solicitation of orders for goods, or services provided from the territory, of the other Party or a non-Party; or
(b) such advertising materials be imported in packets that each contains no more than one copy of each such material and that neither such materials nor the packets form part of a larger consignment.
Section C. Non-Tariff Measures
Article 2.8. Import and Export Restrictions
1. Except as otherwise provided in this Agreement, neither Party shall adopt or maintain any prohibition or restriction on the importation of any good of the other Party or on the exportation or sale for export of any good destined for the territory of the other Party, except in accordance with Article XI of the GATT 1994 and its interpretative notes, and to this end Article XI of the GATT 1994 and its interpretive notes are incorporated into and made a part of this Agreement, mutatis mutandis.
2. Paragraph 1 shall not apply to the measures set out in Annex 2.2.
3. The Parties understand that the GATT 1994 rights and obligations incorporated by paragraph 1 prohibit, in any circumstances in which any other form of restriction is prohibited, a Party from adopting or maintaining:
(a) export and import price requirements, except as permitted in enforcement of countervailing and anti-dumping duty orders and undertakings;
(b) import licensing conditioned on the fulfillment of a performance requirement; or
(c) voluntary export restraints inconsistent with Article VI of the GATT 1994, as implemented under Article 18 of the SCM Agreement and Article 8.1 of the AD Agreement.
4. Neither Party shall, as a condition for engaging in importation or for the import of a good, require a person of the other Party to establish or maintain a contractual or other relationship with a distributor in its territory.
5. Nothing in paragraph 4, prevents a Party from requiring the designation of an agent for the purpose of facilitating communications between the regulatory authorities of the Party and a person of the other Party.
6. For purposes of paragraph 4, distributor means a person of a Party who is responsible for the commercial distribution, agency, concession, or representation in the territory of that Party of goods of the other Party.
Article 2.9. Import Licensing
1. Neither Party shall adopt or maintain a measure that is inconsistent with the Import Licensing Agreement.
2. (a) Promptly after this Agreement enters into force, each Party shall notify the other Party of its existing import licensing procedures, if any. The notification shall:
(i) include the information specified in Article 5 of the Import Licensing Agreement; and
(ii) be without prejudice as to whether the import licensing procedure is consistent with this Agreement.
(b) Before applying any new or modified import licensing procedure, a Party shall publish the new procedure or modification on an official government Internet site or in a single official journal. To the extent possible, the Party shall do so at least 20 days before the new procedure or modification takes effect.
3. Neither Party shall apply an import licensing procedure to a good of the other Party unless it has provided notification in accordance with paragraph 2.
Article 2.10. Administrative Fees and Formalities
1. Each Party shall ensure that all fees and charges imposed in connection with importation and exportation shall be consistent with their obligations under Article VIII:1 of the GATT 1994 and its interpretive notes, which are hereby incorporated into and made a part of this Agreement, mutatis mutandis.
2. Neither Party shall require consular transactions, including related fees and charges, in connection with the importation of any good of the other Party.
3. Each Party shall make available and maintain through the Internet a current list of the fees and charges it imposes in connection with importation or exportation.
Article 2.11. Export Duties, Taxes, or other Charges
Except as otherwise provided in Annex 2.11, neither Party may adopt or maintain any duty, tax, or other charge on the export of any good to the territory of the other Party, unless the duty, tax, or charge is also adopted or maintained on the good when destined for domestic consumption.