1. Each Party shall establish or maintain its own publicly accessible website containing information regarding this Agreement, including:
(a) the text of this Agreement, including all Annexes, tariff schedules and product specific rules of origin;
(b) a summary of this Agreement; and
(c) information designed for SMEs that contains:
(i) a description of the provisions in this Agreement that the Party considers to be relevant to SMEs; and
(ii) any additional information that the Party considers useful for SMEs interested in benefitting from the opportunities provided by this Agreement.
2. Each Party shall include in its website provided for in paragraph 1 links to:
(a) the equivalent website of the other Party; and
(b) the websites of its own government agencies and other appropriate entities that provide information the Party considers useful to any person interested in trading, investing or doing business in that Party's territory.
3. Subject to each Party's laws and regulations, the information described in paragraph 2(b) may include:
(a) customs regulations and procedures;
(b) regulations and procedures concerning intellectual property rights;
(c) technical regulations, standards, conformity assessment procedures, and sanitary and phytosanitary measures relating to importation and exportation;
(d) foreign investment regulations;
(e) government procurement regulations and procedures;
(f) business registration procedures;
(g) trade promotion programmes;
(h) competitiveness programmes;
(i) SME financing programmes;
(j) information related to the temporary entry of business persons;
(k) employment regulations; and
(l) taxation information.
4. Each Party shall regularly review the information and links on its website referred to in paragraphs 1 and 2 to ensure that the information and links are up-to-date and accurate.
Article 19.3. Cooperation Activities
1. The Parties recognise the importance of cooperation activities between the Parties to support the objectives of this Chapter. The Parties also recognise the importance of involving the private sector in the development of such activities.
2. Cooperation activities may include:
(a) assessing the effects of globalisation on SMEs and, in particular, examining issues related to SMEs' access to financing and to support for innovation;
(b) working towards promoting a favourable environment for the development of SMEs by encouraging relevant private and governmental agencies to build on the capacities of SMEs;
(c) promoting the participation of SMEs in electronic commerce in order to take advantage of the opportunities resulting from this Agreement and facilitating SMEs' access to new markets;
(d) promoting the establishment of international networks between incubators, accelerators and export assistance centres for SME exporters of the Parties;
(e) promoting trade promotion networks, business fora, business cooperation instruments, and any other relevant information for SME exporters and importers;
(f) encouraging the development of venture capital markets for start-ups and high-growth businesses, including the establishment of regional seed capital funds or any other equivalent financial support scheme;
(g) promoting seminars, workshops or other activities to inform SMEs of the benefits available to them under this Agreement;
(h) exploring opportunities for capacity building to assist the Parties in developing and enhancing SMEs export counselling, assistance and training programmes;
(i) facilitating the exchange of information on entrepreneurship education programmes, including for women, and youth; and
(j) exploring opportunities for the development of joint programmes to assist SMEs to participate and integrate effectively into the global supply chain, including if possible, the development of business clusters and linkages between SMEs and larger enterprises of the Parties.
Article 19.4. Contact Points
1. Each Party shall designate and notify the other Party its contact point in matters arising under this Chapter 60 days after the entry into force of this Agreement. Each Party shall promptly notify the other Party of any change to its contact point.
2. If appropriate, the contact points shall facilitate the coordination of meetings between government representatives of each Party to address any matter covered by this Chapter.
Article 19.5. Administration of this Chapter
1. Matters relating to administration of this Chapter shall be considered by the Parties through the Other Issues Committee established under Article 22.5(c) (Establishment of Cross-Cutting Committees).
2. The Other Issues Committee shall have the following additional functions under this Chapter:
(a) discussing with a view to identifying ways to assist SMEs of the Parties to take advantage of the commercial opportunities under this Agreement;
(b) exchanging and discussing each Party's experiences and best practices in supporting and assisting SME exporters with respect to, among other things, training programmes, trade education, trade finance, trade missions, trade facilitation, electronic commerce, identifying commercial partners between the Parties and establishing good business credentials;
(c) recommending additional information that a Party may include on the website referred to in Article 19.2;
(d) encouraging Cross-Cutting Committees established under this Agreement to consider SME-related considerations and activities in their work;
(e) exchanging information to assist in monitoring the implementation of this Agreement as it relates to SMEs;
(f) collaborating, as agreed, with appropriate experts and international donor organisations in carrying out their programmes and activities; and
(g) considering any other matter pertaining to SMEs as the Parties may decide, including any issues raised by SMEs regarding their ability to benefit from this Agreement.
Article 19.6. Relation with other Chapters
The Parties acknowledge that in addition to the provisions established in this Chapter, there are other provisions in this Agreement that may contribute to further enhance the participation of SMEs in trade and investment opportunities derived from this Agreement.
Article 19.7. Non-Application of Dispute Settlement
A Party shall not have recourse to dispute settlement under Chapter 23 (Dispute Settlement) for any matter arising under this Chapter.
Chapter 20. GOOD REGULATORY PRACTICES
Article 20.1. Definitions
For the purposes of this Chapter:
covered regulatory measures means the regulatory measures determined by each Party to be covered by this Chapter in accordance with Article 20.3; and
regulatory measures means those measures of general application related to any matter covered by this Agreement adopted by regulatory authorities with which compliance is mandatory.
Article 20.2. General Provisions
1. For the purposes of this Chapter, good regulatory practices refers to the use of best practices in the process of planning, designing, issuing, implementing and reviewing regulatory measures in order to facilitate the achievement of domestic policy objectives, and to the efforts by governments to enhance regulatory cooperation with the aim of achieving those objectives, as well as to promote international trade and investment, economic growth and employment.
2. The Parties affirm the importance of:
(a) maintaining and enhancing the benefits of integration promoted by this Agreement through good regulatory practices, facilitating increased trade in goods and services, as well as investment between the Parties;
(b) each Party's sovereign right to identify its regulatory priorities and to establish and implement regulatory measures to address these priorities, in the areas and levels of government that the Party considers appropriate;
(c) the role that regulation plays in achieving public policy objectives;
(d) taking into account input from interested persons in the development of regulatory measures; and
(e) developing measures to foster regulatory cooperation and capacity building between the Parties.
3. The Parties acknowledge that:
(a) regulatory cooperation, both formal and informal, can improve the alignment of domestic regulation between key trading partners to remove potential barriers caused by regulatory differences and to support trade; and
(b) bodies who develop or implement regulations have a key role to play in regulatory cooperation and should consider the range of regulatory cooperation activities available to increase the alignment of domestic regulation internationally and between key trading partners.
Article 20.3. Scope of Application
Each Party shall, no later than two years after the date of entry into force of this Agreement, determine and make publicly available the scope of its covered regulatory measures, in accordance with its laws and regulations. In determining the scope of covered regulatory measures, each Party should aim to achieve significant coverage.
Article 20.4. Establishment of Coordination and Review Processes or Mechanisms
1. The Parties recognise that good regulatory practices can be encouraged through domestic mechanisms that facilitate interagency coordination associated with processes for the elaboration and review of covered regulatory measures. Accordingly, each Party shall endeavour to ensure the existence of mechanisms or processes that facilitate the effective interagency coordination and review of proposed covered regulatory measures. For this purpose, each Party should consider establishing and maintaining a national or central coordinating body or mechanism.
2. The Parties recognise that while the mechanisms or processes referred to in paragraph 1 may vary between Parties depending on their respective circumstances, including differences in levels of development and political and institutional structures, these should, in general, be contained in documents that include a description of them and that may be made available to the public. These mechanisms or processes should have, as overarching characteristics, the ability to:
(a) review the proposed covered regulatory measures in order to determine whether good regulatory practices have been considered in their preparation, which may include, but are not limited to those set out in Article 20.5, and make recommendations based on that review;
(b) strengthen consultation and coordination among domestic authorities so as to identify potential overlap and duplication and to prevent the creation of inconsistent requirements across authorities;
(c) make recommendations for systemic regulatory improvements; and
(d) publicly report on covered regulatory measures that have been reviewed and any proposals for systemic regulatory improvement, as well as any updates on changes to the processes and mechanisms referred to in paragraph 1.
Article 20.5. Implementation of Core Good Regulatory Practices
1. Each Party should encourage its competent regulatory authorities, in accordance with its laws and regulations, to conduct regulatory impact assessments when developing proposed covered regulatory measures that exceed a threshold of economic impact, or when appropriate, other criteria as established by the Party, to assist them in designing regulatory measures that best achieve the objective pursued by that Party. Regulatory impact assessments may encompass a range of procedures to determine possible impacts.
2. Recognising that differences in the Parties' institutional, social, cultural, legal and developmental circumstances may result in specific regulatory approaches, the regulatory impact assessment procedure should, among other things:
(a) assess the need for a proposed regulatory measure, including a description of the nature and significance of the problem;
(b) examine feasible alternatives, including, to the extent possible and consistent with their laws and regulations, the corresponding costs and benefits, recognising that some costs and benefits are difficult to quantify and monetise;
(c) explain the reasons for concluding that the selected alternative achieves the policy objectives in an efficient manner, including, if appropriate, reference to the costs and benefits and the potential for managing risks; and
(d) rely on the best reasonably obtainable existing information, including relevant scientific, technical, economic or other information, within the boundaries of the authorities, mandates, capacities and resources of the particular regulatory authority.
3. When conducting regulatory impact assessments, the regulatory authorities may take into consideration the potential impact of the proposed regulation on SMEs.
4. To the extent appropriate and consistent with its laws and regulations, each Party should encourage its relevant regulatory authorities to consider regulatory measures of the other Party, as well as relevant developments in international, regional and other fora when developing covered regulatory measures.
5. Each Party should ensure, that new covered regulatory measures are plainly written, concise, organised and easy to understand, recognising that some measures involve technical issues, for which specialised knowledge might be required to understand and apply them.
6. Subject to its laws and regulations, each Party should ensure that relevant regulatory authorities provide public access to information on new covered regulatory measures and, if possible, make this information available online.
7. Each Party should review its covered regulatory measures, at intervals it deems appropriate, to determine whether they should be modified, streamlined, expanded or repealed so as to make the regulatory regime of the Party more effective in achieving its policy objectives.
8. Each Party should, in a manner it deems appropriate and consistent with its laws and regulations, provide public notice, on an annual basis, of any covered regulatory measure that it reasonably expects its regulatory authorities to issue within the following twelve-month period.
Article 20.6. Contact Points
1. Each Party shall designate and notify the other Party its contact point in matters arising under this Chapter 60 days after the entry into force of this Agreement. Each Party shall promptly notify the other Party of any change to its contact point.
2. Each contact point shall be responsible for:
(a) providing information relating to the implementation of this Chapter, at the request of the other Party;
(b) consulting and coordinating with its respective regulatory authorities, as appropriate, on matters arising under this Chapter;
(c) circulating the report of implementation submitted by each Party in accordance with Article 20.8; and
(d) facilitating the regulatory cooperation activities that may be undertaken in accordance with Article 20.7.
Article 20.7. Cooperation
1. The Parties shall cooperate in order to implement this Chapter and maximise the benefits arising from it. Cooperation activities shall take into consideration each Party's needs, and may include:
(a) information exchanges, dialogues or meetings;
(b) information exchanges, dialogues or meetings with interested persons, including SMEs, of the other Party, and international organisations;
(c) training programmes, seminars and other assistance initiatives;
(d) strengthening cooperation and other relevant activities between regulatory authorities; and
(e) other activities that Parties may agree.
2. The Parties recognise that cooperation between Parties on regulatory matters can be enhanced through, among other things, ensuring that each Party's regulatory measures are available online.
3. The Parties may undertake regulatory cooperation activities on a voluntary basis.
Article 20.8. Report of Implementation and Review
1. For the purposes of transparency, and to serve as a basis for cooperation and capacity building activities, each Party shall submit a report of implementation of this Chapter within three years of the date of entry into force of this Agreement and at least once every three years thereafter. Each Party shall circulate its report through the contact points designated pursuant to Article 20.6.
2. In its initial report, each Party shall describe the actions it has taken since the date of entry into force of this Agreement and the actions it plans to take to implement this Chapter, including those to:
(a) establish a body or mechanism to facilitate effective interagency coordination and review of proposed covered regulatory measures, in accordance with Article 20.4;
(b) encourage its regulatory authorities to conduct regulatory impact assessments in accordance with Articles 20.5.1 and 20.5.2;
(c) ensure that new covered regulatory measures are accessible, in accordance with Articles 20.5.5 and 20.5.6;
(d) review existing covered regulatory measures, in accordance with Article 20.5.7; and
(e) make known to the public the annual notice of covered regulatory measures that are intended to be issued or amended during the next 12 months, in accordance with Article 20.5.8.
3. In subsequent reports, each Party shall describe the actions it has taken since the previous reports, and those that it plans to adopt for the implementation of this Chapter.
4. At least once every three years after the date of entry into force of this Agreement, the Parties shall review developments in good regulatory practices and the Parties' experiences in implementing this Chapter, including the implementation reports submitted under paragraph 1, with a view towards considering whether to make recommendations to the Free Trade Commission forimproving the provisions of this Chapter so as to further enhance the benefits of this Agreement. During this review, the Parties may discuss or raise questions on specific aspects of the report of a Party. Likewise, the Parties may identify opportunities for future assistance or cooperation activities.
Article 20.9. Relation to other Chapters
In the event of any inconsistency between this Chapter and another Chapter of this Agreement, the other Chapter shall prevail to the extent of the inconsistency.
Article 20.10. Non-Application of Dispute Settlement
No Party shall have recourse to dispute settlement under Chapter 23 (Dispute Settlement) for any matter arising under this Chapter.
Chapter 21. TRANSPARENCY AND ANTI-CORRUPTION
Section A. Transparency
Article 21.1. Definitions
For the purposes of this Chapter:
administrative ruling of general application means an administrative ruling or interpretation that applies to all persons and factual situations that fall generally within its scope and that establishes a norm of conduct, but does not include:
(a) a determination or ruling made in an administrative or quasi-judicial proceeding that applies to a particular person, good or service of either Party in a specific case; or
(b) aruling that adjudicates with respect to a particular act or practice.
Article 21.2. Publication
1. Each Party shall ensure, that its laws, regulations, procedures and administrative rulings of general application regarding a matter covered by this Agreement, are promptly published or otherwise made available in a manner that enables interested persons and the other Party to become acquainted with them.
2. Each Party shall, to the extent possible:
(a) publish in advance any measure referred to paragraph 1 that it proposes to adopt; and
(b) provide interested persons and the other Party a reasonable opportunity to comment on the proposed measures.
3. To the extent possible, when introducing or changing the laws, regulations or procedures referred to in paragraph 1, each Party shall endeavour to provide a reasonable period between the date when those laws, regulations or procedures, proposed or final in accordance with its legal system, are made publicly available and the date when they enter into force.
4. Each Party shall, with respect to laws and regulations of general application adopted by its central level of government respecting any matter covered by this Agreement that are published in accordance with paragraph 1:
(a) promptly publish the laws and regulations in an official journal of national circulation, or on a single official website that is freely accessible, searchable and updated regularly;
(b) notify in writing that website, no later than 60 days after the date of entry into force of this Agreement; and
(c) if appropriate, include with the publication an explanation of the purpose of and rationale for the regulation.
Article 21.3. Notification and Provision of Information
1. Each Party shall, to the extent possible, inform the other Party of any proposed or actual measure that the Party considers might materially affect the operation of this Agreement, or that substantially affects the interests of the other Party under this Agreement.
2. On request of a Party, the other Party shall promptly provide information and answer questions related to a proposed or actual measure that the requesting Party considers might materially affect the operation of this Agreement, or substantially affect its interests under this Agreement, regardless of whether the requesting Party has been previously informed of that measure.
3. A Party shall convey any request or provide information under this Article through its contact point.
4. Information provided under this Article shall be without prejudice as to whether the measure in question is consistent with this Agreement.
Article 21.4. Administrative Proceedings
In order to administer all measures of general application with respect to a matter covered by this Agreement in a consistent, impartial and reasonable manner, each Party shall ensure, in its administrative proceedings applying measures referred to in article 21.2 to a particular person, good or service of the other Party in specific cases, that:
(a) whenever possible, a person of the other Party that is directly affected by a proceeding, is provided with reasonable notice of the initiation of that proceeding, in accordance with the Party's domestic procedures, including a description of the nature of the proceeding, a statement of the legal authority under which the proceeding is initiated, and a general description of all the issues in dispute;
(b) a person of the other Party that is directly affected by a proceeding is afforded a reasonable opportunity to present facts and arguments in support of that person's positions prior to a final administrative action, when time, the nature of the proceeding and the public interest permit; and
(c) the procedures are in accordance with its laws and regulations.
Article 21.5. Review and Appeal
1. Each Party shall establish or maintain judicial, quasi-judicial or administrative tribunals or procedures for the purpose of the prompt review and, if warranted, correction of final administrative actions concerning matters covered by this Agreement. Such tribunals shall be impartial and independent of the office or authority responsible for applying administrative measures and they shall not have any substantial interest in the outcome of the matter.