(e) all those that contribute to the adequate implementation of this Chapter.
5. Each Party may request its labor and business organizations, as well as its non- governmental organizations related to labor issues, or other organizations it deems appropriate, to give their opinion on the Program of Cooperative Activities, and may incorporate them in the implementation of said Program.
Article 10.5. INSTITUTIONAL PROVISIONS
1. The Parties establish a Joint Labor Affairs Committee, composed of high-level officials from the competent labor authorities of the Parties.
2. The Committee shall be responsible for:
(a) develop and implement the Program of Cooperation Activities and its execution schedule, in accordance with the areas and modalities previously defined, and those that may be subsequently agreed upon;
(b) review and evaluate the results of the cooperative activities and the operability of this Chapter, and make recommendations as appropriate;
(c) serve as a forum for dialogue on labor issues of common interest;
(d) issue recommendations in relation to the consultations submitted to its consideration on the interpretation and application of this Chapter;
(e) inform the Commission established in Article 23.1 (Free Trade Commission) of the results of its work and decisions for its information; and
(f) to perform any other function entrusted to it by the Parties.
3. The Parties by mutual agreement shall invite labor experts to advise and provide specific input to the Committee.
4. The decisions of the Committee shall be adopted by consensus.
5. The Committee shall meet within six months of the entry into force of this Agreement. Thereafter, the meetings shall be held once a year, unless otherwise agreed by the Parties, to follow up on the fulfillment of its functions, as indicated in paragraph 2.
Article 10.6. NATIONAL POINT OF CONTACT
1. For the purposes of this Chapter, the Parties designate the following National Contact Points:
(a) Republic of Colombia: Ministry of Labor;
(b) Republic of Panama: Ministry of Labor and Labor Development;
or their successors.
2. The National Contact Point of a Party shall serve as a liaison for consultations and requests in labor matters made by the other Party, and for the exchange of the corresponding information.
Article 10.7. CONSULTATIONS
1. The Parties undertake to follow the principles of dialogue, good faith, cooperation and consensus on any matter related to this Chapter.
2. If any question arises as to the application and interpretation of this Chapter, a Party may request consultations with the other Party by sending a written request to the Contact Point that the other Party has designated in accordance with Article 10.6.
3. Following written communication to the National Contact Point, if the Parties are unable to resolve the matter, the matter may be dealt with in the Joint Committee referred to in Article
4. At all times, the Parties shall endeavor to reach a mutually satisfactory solution.
Article 10.8. DEFINITIONS
For the purposes of this Chapter:
national labor law means laws, regulations or provisions of the Parties, which are directly related to the following internationally recognized rights:
(a)right of association;
(b) right to organize and bargain collectively;
(c) elimination of all forms of forced or compulsory labor;
(d) minimum age for the employment of children and adolescents, and the prohibition and elimination of the worst forms of child labor; or
(e) elimination of discrimination in respect of employment and occupation, including equal remuneration.
Chapter 11. COOPERATION AND TRADE CAPACITY BUILDING
Article 11.1. OBJECTIVES
The Parties shall strengthen their cooperation for the purpose of:
(a) create new opportunities for trade and investment through trade and institutional capacity building;
(b) strengthen and build upon existing cooperative relationships in areas to which the Parties agree, such as energy and technical and scientific cooperation, among others; and
(c) to promote, in accordance with the purposes contemplated in this Agreement,
the signing of inter-institutional agreements between governmental institutions, research centers, universities, public and private companies and other organizations of the respective countries, which allow the development of specific topics of interest to the Parties.
Article 11.2. SCOPE
1. The Parties establish the guidelines for trade cooperation, in order to expand and increase the benefits of this Agreement.
2. In order to contribute to the achievement of the objectives and principles of this Agreement, the Parties reaffirm the importance of all forms of cooperation, with emphasis on strengthening trade and institutional capacities.
3. Cooperation may be extended to other areas to be agreed between the Parties, as well as to cooperation needs that have been identified in other Chapters of this Agreement.
4. The Parties shall contribute to the achievement of the objectives of this Agreement by identifying and developing innovative cooperation activities, projects and programs capable of adding value to their relations.
5. Cooperation projects and activities will be formulated and carried out, taking into consideration:
(a) the economic, environmental, geographic, social and cultural situation of the Parties, as well as their legal systems;
(b) national priorities agreed upon by the Parties;
(c) the advisability of not duplicating existing cooperation actions, seeking their complementarity and articulation; and
(d) existing cooperation mechanisms.
Article 11.3. COOPERATION IN STRENGTHENING TRADE CAPACITIES
1. The objective of economic cooperation shall be to facilitate trade and investment between the Parties and to promote the relations of their economic agents, with special emphasis on small and medium-sized enterprises.
2. In order to fulfill the objective indicated in paragraph 1, the Parties shall encourage and facilitate, as appropriate, especially the following activities:
(a) exchange information;
(b) develop projects aimed at strengthening the commercial and institutional capacity of the Parties;
(c) facilitate and support business visits and trade missions in accordance with the competence of the agencies involved;
(d) support dialogue and exchange of experiences and best practices among the different agencies involved in trade promotion issues; and
(e) to promote business development > with special emphasis on small and medium-sized enterprises. small and medium-sized enterprises.
Article 11.4. POINTS OF CONTACT
1. The Contact Points shall be responsible for channeling all those projects and/or activities related to trade capacity building. For the specific activities, programs and/or projects mentioned in other Chapters of this Agreement, the contact points defined therein shall be maintained.
2. In relation to the applications submitted in the respective country, the Contact Point will have the following functions:
(a) receive and verify the relationship of the applications received with this Agreement;
(b) forward the request to the Contact Point of the other Party;
(c) follow up on the request; and (d) transmit the response to the interested party.
3 In relation to requests submitted by the other Party, the Contact Point shall have the following functions:
(a) channel the request to the appropriate authority;
(b) follow up on the request; and
(c) transmit the response to the other Party.
4. The Parties' Points of Contact are:
(a) for the Republic of Colombia:
Sectorial Planning Office
Ministry of Commerce, Industry and Tourism Calle 28 # 13A - 15, floor 5 Bogota D.C., Republic of Colombia Tel: (571) 6067676
Fax: (571) 6067519
email: athorsberg@mincit.gov.co; and
(b) for the Republic of Panama:
Directorate of Treaty Administration and Trade Defense of the Office of International Trade Negotiations
Ministry of Commerce and Industry
Plaza Edison, Ricardo J. Alfaro Ave., El Paical, Second Floor Panama, Republic of Panama
Tel: (507) 560-0610
Fax: (507) 560-0618
email: apineda@mici.gob.pa dinatradec@mici.gob.pa;
or their successors.
Article 11.5. APPEALS
With a view to contributing to the fulfillment of the cooperation objectives established in this Agreement, the Parties undertake, within the limits of their own capabilities, to allocate resources for the appropriate development of the jointly identified cooperation actions. These resources may be provided, among others, by international agencies or third countries.
Article 11.6. SETTLEMENT OF DISPUTES
No Party shall have recourse to the dispute settlement mechanism established in Chapter 21 of this Agreement to resolve matters arising out of the application or interpretation of this Chapter.
Chapter 12. PUBLIC PROCUREMENT
Article 12.1. SCOPE
Application of the Chapter
1. This Chapter applies to measures adopted or maintained by a Party relating to government procurement by the procuring entities listed by each Party in Sections A through C of Annex 12-A to this Chapter:
(a) by any contractual means, including purchase, lease or rental, financial or otherwise, with or without option to purchase, and public works concession contracts;
(b) whose value estimated in accordance with paragraph 5 is equal to or greater than the corresponding threshold value specified in each Party's Annexes to this Chapter; and subject to the conditions of the Annexes to this Chapter of each Party.
2. This Chapter does not apply to:
(a) (a) the acquisition or lease of land, existing real estate or other real property or rights thereon;
(b) (b) non-contractual arrangements or any form of assistance provided by a Party, including its state-owned enterprises, including grants, loans, capital transfers, tax incentives, subsidies, guarantees or cooperative agreements;
(c) (c) the provision by the government of goods or services to an individual or sub- national government;
(d) (d) purchases made for the specific purpose of providing assistance abroad;
(e) (e) purchases financed by grants, loans or other forms of international assistance, if the provision of such assistance is subject to conditions incompatible with this Chapter;
(f) (f) the procurement or acquisition of fiscal agency services or depository services, settlement and administration services for regulated financial institutions, or services related to the sale, redemption and placement of public debt, including loans, government bonds, notes and other securities. This Chapter does not apply to the procurement of banking, financial or specialized services related to the:
(i) acquisition of public debt, or
(ii) public debt management;
(g) hiring of officials, public servants and related measures; or
(h) procurement by a State entity or enterprise from another State entity or enterprise of the same Party.
3. Nothing in this Chapter shall prevent a Party from developing new policies, procedures or means of procurement, provided that they are consistent with this Chapter.
4. When a procuring entity awards a contract that is not covered by this Chapter, the goods and services that are part of that contract shall not be covered by this Chapter.
Valuation
5. To calculate the value of a procurement for the purpose of determining whether it is a procurement covered by this Chapter, the procuring entity:
(a) shall not split a procurement into separate procurements or select or use a particular valuation method to calculate the value of the procurement with the intent to exclude it in whole or in part from the application of this Chapter;
(b) shall include the total estimated maximum value of the procurement for its entire duration, regardless of whether it is awarded to one or several suppliers, taking into account all forms of remuneration, including:
(i) premiums, fees, commissions and interest and other income streams, when applicable according to the type of contract;
(ii) where the procurement provides for the possibility of including option clauses, the value of the procurement including optional purchases; and
(c) base its calculations of the maximum total value of the procurement on the total duration of the procurement, when the procurement is in several parts, with contracts awarded simultaneously or successively to one or more suppliers.
Article 12.2. SAFETY AND GENERAL EXCEPTIONS
1. Nothing in this Chapter shall prevent a Party from taking action or refraining from disclosing information when it considers it necessary to protect its essential security interests in connection with procurement in any of the following cases:
(a) of arms, ammunition or war material;
(b) indispensable for national security; or
(c) acquisition for national defense purposes.
2. Provided that a measure is not applied in a manner that would constitute a means of arbitrary or unjustifiable discrimination between the Parties, if the same conditions prevail ora disguised restriction on trade between the Parties, nothing in this Chapter shall prevent a Party from adopting or maintaining a measure:
(a) necessary to protect morals, public order or national security;
(b) necessary to protect human, animal or plant life and health;
(c) necessary to protect intellectual property; or
(d) related to goods or services of disabled persons, charitable institutions or persons under prison labor regime.
3. The Parties understand that paragraph 2(b) includes environmental measures necessary to protect human, animal or plant life or health.
Article 12.3. GENERAL PRINCIPLES
National Treatment and Non-Discrimination
1. With respect to measures relating to government procurement covered by this Chapter, each Party shall accord immediately and unconditionally to goods and services of the other Party, and to suppliers of the other Party offering such goods or services, treatment no less favorable than the most favorable treatment accorded by that Party to its own goods, services and suppliers.
2. With respect to any measure relating to government procurement covered by this Chapter, a Party may not:
(a) giving a locally established supplier less favorable treatment than another locally established supplier because of the degree of foreign affiliation or ownership of each; or
(b) discriminate against a locally established supplier on the basis that the goods or services offered by that supplier for a particular procurement are goods or services of the other Party.
Conduct of Contracting
3. A procuring entity shall conduct procurement covered by this Chapter in a transparent and impartial manner that:
(a) is compatible with this Chapter;
(b) avoid conflicts of interest; and
(c) prevent corrupt practices.
Bidding Procedures
4. Procuring entities shall use competitive or selective bidding procedures, except in the circumstances set forth in Article 12.9.
Rules of Origin
5. With respect to the procurement of goods covered by this Chapter, each Party shall apply the rules of origin that it applies to such goods in the normal course of trade.
Compensation
6. No Party, including its procuring entities, shall seek, contemplate, impose or require any compensation at any stage of a procurement covered by this Chapter.
Non-Specific Measures of Public Procurement
7. Paragraphs 1 and 2 shall not apply to:
(a) customs duties and charges of any kind imposed on or in connection with importation; the method of collection of such duties and charges;
(b) other regulatory provision or import formality; or
(c) nor to measures affecting trade in services, other than measures governing government procurement covered by this Chapter.
Article 12.4. PUBLICATION OF PROCUREMENT INFORMATION
1. Each Part:
(a) publish in a timely manner all laws, regulations, judicial decisions, administrative decisions of general application and procedures related to procurement covered by this Chapter, as well as any amendments thereto, in an officially designated electronic or printed medium that is widely disseminated and easily accessible to the public; and
(b) upon request of the other Party, provide an explanation of the measures set out in subparagraph (a).
2. Article 22.1 (Transparency) does not apply to measures required to be published under paragraph 1(a).