(c) of a quality no less favorable than that supplied to its own similar services, to similar services of unaffiliated service providers or their subsidiaries or other affiliates;
(d) in a timely manner, on terms, conditions (including technical standards and specifications) and cost-oriented rates that:
(i) transparent and reasonable, taking into account economic feasibility; and
(ii) are sufficiently unbundled so that the provider need not pay for network components or facilities that are not required for the services 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 of constructing the necessary additional facilities.
Article 18.4. REGULATORY AGENCY
1. Each Party shall ensure that its regulatory body is separate from and not accountable to any supplier of public telecommunications networks or services and value- added services.
2. Each Party shall ensure that the decisions and procedures of its regulatory body are impartial with respect to all market participants.
Article 18.5. PROCEDURES RELATING TO LICENSES OR CONCESSIONS
Where a Party requires a Supplier to hold a license or concession to provide public telecommunications networks or services, the Party shall make such license or concession publicly available:
(a) all applicable criteria and procedures for the granting of the license or authorization; and
(b) the period established by the Party, to grant the license or concession, once the application is considered complete.
If the request is denied, the Party shall communicate to the applicant the reasons for its decision in accordance with its procedures.
Article 18.6. ALLOCATION AND USE OF SCARCE RESOURCES
1. Each Party shall administer its procedures for the allocation and use of scarce resources, including frequencies, numbers and rights-of-way, in an objective, timely, transparent and non-discriminatory manner.
2. A Party's measures relating to spectrum allocation and assignment and frequency management shall not be considered inconsistent with Article 15.4 (Market Access). Accordingly, each Party retains the right to maintain, establish and apply spectrum and frequency management policies that may limit the number of suppliers of public telecommunications services. Likewise, each Party retains the right to allocate frequency bands taking into account present and future needs.
Article 18.7. UNIVERSAL SERVICE
1. Each Party has the right to define the kind of universal service obligations it wishes to adopt or maintain.
2. Each Party shall administer any universal service obligation it adopts or maintains in a transparent, non-discriminatory, competitively and technologically neutral manner and shall ensure that the universal service obligation is no more burdensome than necessary for the type of universal services defined by the Party.
Article 18.8. TRANSPARENCY
1. In addition to other Provisions of this Chapter, such as Articles 22.1 (Publication) and 22.2 (Notification and Provision of Information), relating to the publication of information, each Party shall make information available to the public:
(a) the relevant procedures of its regulatory body, including those related to interconnection and licensing;
(b) all licensing criteria, the terms and conditions for licenses, and the timeframes required to make a decision on a license application;
(c) the current status of the assigned frequency bands, without requiring detailed identification of the frequencies assigned for specific government use;
(d) its measures relating to public telecommunications networks or services and, where applicable, value-added services, including:
(i) rates and other terms and conditions of service; (ii) technical interface specifications;
(iii) conditions for connecting terminals or other equipment to the public telecommunications network; and
(iv) notification, permit, registration or licensing requirements, if applicable;
(e) information on the bodies responsible for the development, modification and adoption of measures related to standards.
Article 18.9. COMPLIANCE
Each Party shall maintain appropriate procedures and an Authority to enforce the Party's domestic measures relating to the obligations set forth in Articles 18.2 Such procedures shall include the power to impose appropriate sanctions, which may include fines, corrective orders or the modification, suspension or revocation of licenses.
Article 18.10. ABSTENTION
The Parties recognize the importance of relying on market forces to achieve a wide range of alternatives in the supply of telecommunications services. To this end, each Party may refrain from applying a regulation to a telecommunications service where:
(a) compliance with such regulation is not necessary to prevent unjustified or discriminatory practices;
(b) compliance with such regulation is not necessary for the protection of consumers; or
(c) is compatible with the public interest, including the promotion and strengthening of competition among suppliers of public telecommunications networks or services.
Article 18.11. SETTLEMENT OF DISPUTES ON TELECOMMUNICATIONS
Appeals to Regulatory Agencies
1. In addition to Article 22.3 (Administrative Procedures) and Article 22.4 (Review and Challenge), each Party shall ensure that:
(a) a supplier of public telecommunications networks or services or value- added services of the other Party may have timely recourse to its regulatory body to resolve disputes concerning measures of the Party that telate to matters covered in Articles 18.2 and 18.3, and that, in accordance with the Party's domestic law, are within the jurisdiction of the regulatory body; and
(b) suppliers of public telecommunications networks or services of the other Party requesting interconnection with dominant or major suppliers in the territory of the Party may appeal, within a publicly specified reasonable period of time after the supplier requests interconnection to its regulatory body, to resolve disputes regarding the appropriate terms, conditions and rates for interconnection with such dominant or major suppliers.
Reconsideration
2. Each Party shall ensure that any supplier of public telecommunications networks or services or value-added services adversely affected by a determination or decision of its regulatory body may request reconsideration of the determination or decision by such body.
Judicial Review
3. Any enterprise that is aggrieved or whose interests have been adversely affected by a determination or decision of the Party's telecommunications regulatory body may obtain a judicial review of such determination or decision by an independent judicial authority. The filing of the application of judicial review, by itself, does not constitute noncompliance with such resolution or decision, unless it is suspended by the competent judicial body. (1)
Article 18.12. INTERNATIONAL STANDARDS AND ORGANIZATIONS
The Parties recognize the importance of international standards for the global compatibility and interoperability of telecommunication networks or services and undertake to promote these standards through the work of relevant international bodies, including the International Telecommunication Union and the International Organization for Standardization.
Article 18.13. RELATIONSHIP WITH OTHER CHAPTERS
In the event of any inconsistency between this Chapter and another Chapter of this Agreement, this Chapter shall prevail to the extent of the inconsistency.
Article 18.14. DEFINITIONS
For the purposes of this Chapter:
leased circuits 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;
intra-company communications means telecommunications by which a company communicates internally, with or among its subsidiaries, branches and, subject to a Party's laws and regulations, affiliates, but does not include commercial or non-commercial services provided to companies that are not related subsidiaries, branches or affiliates, or that are offered to customers or potential customers; for such purposes, the terms "subsidiaries", "branches" and, where appropriate, "affiliates" shall be interpreted in accordance with each Party's definition in its law;
network element means a facility or equipment used in the provision of a public telecommunications service, including features, functions and capabilities that are provided through such facilities or equipment;
corporation means any entity organized or organized under applicable law, whether or not for profit and whether privately or governmentally owned, including any partnership, trust, joint venture, sole proprietorship, joint venture or other association and includes a branch of a corporation;
essential facilities means of a public telecommunications network or service that:
(a) are supplied exclusively or predominantly by a single supplier or a limited number of suppliers; and
(b) it is not economically or technically feasible to replace them in order to provide a service;
interconnection means the linking of telecommunications service providers for the purpose of enabling users of one provider to communicate with users of another provider and to access services provided by another provider;
non-discriminatory means treatment no less favorable than that accorded to any other user of like public telecommunications networks or services in similar circumstances;
regulatory agency means the national agency responsible for telecommunications regulation;
cost-oriented means cost-based, which includes reasonable profitability, and may involve different costing methodologies for different facilities or services;
telecommunications service supplier: means a person of a Party that secks to provide or supplies a telecommunications service, including a supplier of public telecommunications networks or services;
dominant or major supplier (2) means a supplier of public telecommunications services that has the ability to significantly affect the conditions of participation from the point of view of price and supply in the relevant market for public telecommunications networks or services as a result of:
(a) control of essential facilities; or
(b) the use of its position in the market;
network termination point means the final demarcation of the public telecommunications network at the user's premises;
public telecommunications network means the public telecommunications infrastructure that enables telecommunications between two or more defined points of a network;
value-added services means those services that add value to public telecommunications services by enhancing functionality; including those that:
(a) act on the format, content, code, protocol or similar aspects of a client's transmitted information;
(b) provide the customer with additional, different or restructured information; or (c) involve customer interaction with stored information;
public telecommunications service means any telecommunications service, which a Party requires, either explicitly or in fact, to be offered to the general public and which generally involves transmission in real time. Such services may include, inter alia, telephony and data transmission typically involving user-supplied information between two or more points without any end-to-end change in the form or content of the user's information. Public telecommunications services include public telecommunications transport service.
telecommunications means the transmission and reception of signals by an electromagnetic medium;
user means an end user or a provider of public telecommunications services; and
end user means an end consumer or a subscriber of a public telecommunications service, including a service provider that is not a provider of public telecommunications services.
Chapter 19. ELECTRONIC COMMERCE
Article 19.1. SCOPE
1. The Parties confirm that this Agreement, including Chapter 2 (National Treatment and Market Access for Goods), Chapter 12 (Government Procurement), Chapter 14 (Investment), Chapter 15 (Cross-Border Trade in Services), Chapter 16 (Financial Services), Chapter 18 (Telecommunications), and Chapter 24 (Exceptions) apply to electronic commerce. In particular, the Parties recognize the importance of Article 18.2 (Access to and Use of Public Telecommunications Networks and Services).
2. Nothing in this Chapter imposes any obligation on a Party to allow products to be delivered electronically except as provided for in other Chapters of this Agreement.
3. For greater certainty, the Parties' non-conforming measures, as set forth in their Schedule of Annexes I, II or II, apply to electronic commerce.
Article 19.2. GENERAL PROVISIONS
1. The Parties recognize the economic growth and opportunities generated by electronic commerce and the applicability of WTO rules to electronic commerce.
2. Each Party shall endeavor to adopt measures to facilitate electronic commerce that address issues relevant to the electronic environment.
3. The Parties recognize the importance of avoiding unnecessary barriers to electronic commerce. Taking into account domestic policy objectives, each Party shall endeavor to avoid measures that:
(a) unduly hinder electronic commerce; or
(b) have the effect of treating electronic commerce in a more restricted manner than commerce conducted by other means.
Article 19.3. CUSTOMS DUTIES ON DIGITAL GOODS DELIVERED ELECTRONICALLY
1. No Party shall apply customs duties, tariffs, fees or charges on digital products delivered electronically.
2. For greater certainty, paragraph 1 does not prevent a Party from imposing an internal tax or other internal charges that are not prohibited by this Agreement on electronically delivered digital products.
Article 19.4. CONSUMER PROTECTION
1. The Parties recognize the importance of maintaining and adopting transparent and effective measures to protect consumers from fraudulent, deceptive and misleading commercial practices in electronic commerce.
2. The Parties recognize the importance of cooperation between the respective national consumer protection authorities in activities related to cross-border electronic commerce, in order to improve consumer welfare.
Article 19.5. ADMINISTRATION OF PAPERLESS COMMERCE
1. The Parties shall use their best efforts to make trade administration documents available to the public in electronic form.
2. The Parties shall make their best efforts to accept trade administration documents electronically, delivered as the legal equivalent of their paper version.
Article 19.6. PROTECTION OF PERSONAL INFORMATION ONLINE
Each Party may adopt or maintain measures to ensure the protection of users of electronic commerce. In developing standards for the protection of personal data, each Party shall take into account international standards and the criteria of relevant international organizations on the matter.
Article 19.7. COOPERATION
1. The Parties shall endeavor to establish mechanisms for cooperation on issues related to electronic commerce, which shall address the following matters, among others:
(a) the recognition of electronic signature certificates (1) issued to the public and the facilitation of cross-border certification services;
(b) protection of personal data;
(c) the responsibility of the suppliers or service providers with respect to the transmission or storage of the information;
(d) the processing of unsolicited commercial electronic messages;
(e) the security of electronic transactions and the promotion of confidence in electronic commerce in accordance with the policies of the Parties;
(f) consumer protection in the field of electronic commerce; and
(g) any other matter relevant to the development of electronic commerce.
2. The Parties will endeavor to share information and experiences on legislation and regulations related to electronic commerce and will cooperate to help micro, small and medium-sized enterprises (MSMEs) overcome the obstacles they face in the use of electronic commerce.
3. The Parties, recognizing the global nature of electronic commerce, undertake to participate actively in regional and multilateral fora and to promote the development of electronic commerce and exchange perspectives as necessary, within the framework of such fora on issues relating to electronic commerce, taking into account their interests.
Article 19.8. RELATIONSHIP WITH OTHER CHAPTERS
In the event of any inconsistency between this Chapter and another Chapter of the Agreement, the other Chapter shall prevail.
Article 19.9. DEFINITIONS
For the purposes of this Chapter:
electronic commerce means commerce conducted through telecommunications alone or in conjunction with other information and communications technologies;
personal data means any information about an identified or identifiable natural or legal person; and
delivered electronically means delivered through telecommunications means, alone or in combination with other information and communications technologies;
digital product means computer software, text, video, images, sound recordings and other products that are digitally encoded.
Chapter 20. TEMPORARY ENTRY OF BUSINESS PEOPLE
Article 20.1. GENERAL PRINCIPLES
1. In addition to the provisions of Chapter 1 (Initial Provisions and General Definitions), this Chapter reflects the preferential trade relationship that exists between the Parties, the mutual objective of facilitating the temporary entry of business persons, in accordance with the principle of reciprocity, and of establishing transparent criteria and procedures to that effect. It also reflects the need to ensure border security and to protect the national labor force and permanent employment in their respective territories.
2. This Chapter shall not apply to measures affecting natural persons of a Party seeking access to the labor market of the other Party, nor to measures relating to citizenship, nationality, permanent residence, or employment on a permanent basis.
Article 20.2. GENERAL OBLIGATIONS
1. Each Party shall apply the measures relating to the provisions of this Chapter in accordance with Article 20.1 and, in particular, shall apply them expeditiously to avoid undue delay or impairment of trade in goods and services between the Parties, or of investment activities covered by this Agreement.
2. The Parties shall endeavor to develop and adopt common criteria, definitions and interpretations for the application of this Chapter.
Article 20.3. TEMPORARY ENTRY AUTHORIZATION
1. In accordance with the provisions of this Chapter, including those contained in Annex 20-A, each Party shall authorize temporary entry for business persons who comply with existing immigration measures applicable to temporary entry, such as those relating to public health and safety and national security.
2. A Party may deny temporary entry to a business person when his temporary entry would adversely affect his business:
(a) the settlement of any labor dispute in progress at the place where she is or will be employed; or
(b) employment of any person involved in such a conflict.
3. The authorization of temporary entry under this Chapter does not replace the requirements for the exercise of a profession or activity of a foreigner, nor does it replace the requirements for the exercise of a profession or activity of a foreigner, in accordance with the specific regulations in force in the territory of the Party authorizing temporary entry.
Article 20.4. PROVISION OF INFORMATION
1. In addition to the provisions of Article 20.10, and recognizing the importance to the Parties of transparency of information on temporary entry, each Party shall make available, after the date of entry into force of this Agreement, through electronic means or otherwise, information on its measures relating to this Chapter as well as explanatory material on the requirements for temporary entry, in such a manner as to enable business persons of the other Party to become acquainted with them.
2. Each Party shall collect, maintain and make available to the other Party, upon request, information regarding the granting of temporary entry authorizations, in accordance with this Chapter, to business persons of the other Party who have been issued immigration documentation. This compilation shall include information for each category authorized.
Article 20.5. WORKING GROUP
1. The Parties establish a Working Group on the Temporary Entry of Business Persons, which shall meet as necessary to consider matters related to this Chapter. Such Working Group shall be composed of representatives of each Party, including migration officials, trade officials and their contact points.
2. The Working Group should consider:
(a) implementation and administration of this Chapter;
(b) the development and adoption of common criteria of interpretation for the implementation of this Chapter;
(c) the development and implementation of measures to further facilitate the temporary entry of business persons on a reciprocal basis; and
(d) any other measure of mutual interest.
Article 20.6. POINTS OF CONTACT
The Parties designate the Contact Points that shall exchange information in accordance with Article 20.4, and shall receive and analyze the information referred to in Article 20.5. The Points of Contact are:
(a) for the Republic of Colombia:
Visa and Immigration Group of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs; and
The Foreign Investment and Services Directorate of the Ministry of Commerce, Industry and Tourism;
(b) for the Republic of Panama:
National Migration Service through the International Trade Negotiations Office of the Ministry of Commerce and Industries,
or their successors.