Each Party shall:
(a) refrain from adopting measures providing for local content requirements or any other offset affecting the other Party's products, service suppliers, entrepreneurs or establishments,
(b) refrain from adopting measures requiring the formation of partnerships with local companies, unless such partnerships are deemed necessary for technical reasons and the Party can demonstrate such technical reasons upon request by the other Party;
(c) ensure that any rules concerning the authorisation, certification and licensing procedures that are applied, in particular to equipment, plants and associated transmission network infrastructures, are objective, transparent, and non-arbitrary, and do not discriminate against applicants from the other Party;
(d) ensure that administrative charges imposed on or in connection with the:
(i) importation and use of goods originating in the other Party, or affecting the provision of goods by the other Party's suppliers, are subject to Article 2.10 (Fees and Formalities Connected with Importation and Exportation); and
(ii) provision of services by the other Partyâs suppliers are subject to Article 8.18 (Scope and Definitions), Article 8.19 (Conditions for Licensing and Qualification) and Article 8.20 (Licensing and Qualification Proce- dures); and
(e) ensure that the terms, conditions and procedures for the connection and access to electricity transmission grids are transparent and do not discriminate against suppliers of the other Party.
Article 7.5. Standards, Technical Regulations and Conformity Assessment
1. Where international or regional standards exist with respect to products for the generation of energy from renewable and sustainable non-fossil sources, the Parties shall use those standards, or the relevant parts of those standards, as a basis for their technical regulations except when such international standards or relevant parts would be an ineffective or inappropriate means for the fulfilment of the legitimate objectives pursued. For the purpose of applying this paragraph, the International Organization for Standardization (hereinafter referred to as "ISO") and the International Electrotechnical Commission (hereinafter referred to as IEC), in particular, shall be considered relevant international standard-setting bodies.
2. Where appropriate, the Parties shall specify technical regulations based on product requirements in terms of performance, including environmental performance, rather than in terms of design or descriptive characteristics.
3. With respect to products listed in Chapter 84 of the Harmonized System (except 8401) as well as in HS 850231 and 854140:
(a) the Union will accept declarations of conformity from Singapore suppliers under the same terms as from Union suppliers and without any further requirements, for the purpose of placing such products on the market; and
(b) Singapore will accept EU declarations of conformity or test reports without any further requirements, for the purpose of placing such products on the market. Singapore may require mandatory third party testing or certification under the conditions set out in Article 5 (Safeguard Measures) of Annex 4-A.
For greater certainty, this paragraph is without prejudice to either Party applying requirements not related to the products referred to in this paragraph, such as zoning laws or building codes.
Article 7.6. Exceptions
1. This Chapter is subject to the exceptions provided for in Article 2.14 (General Exceptions), Article 8.62 (General Exceptions), Article 9.3 (Security and General Exceptions) and, for greater certainty, to the relevant provisions of Chapter Sixteen (Institutional, General and Final Provisions).
2. For greater certainty, subject to the requirement that such measures are not applied in a manner which would constitute a means of arbitrary or unjustifiable discrimination between the Parties' products, service suppliers or investors where the same conditions prevail, or a disguised restriction on trade and investment between the Parties, nothing in this Chapter shall be construed as preventing a Party from the adoption or enforcement of measures necessary for the safe operation of the energy networks concerned, or the safety of energy supply.
Article 7.7. Implementation and Cooperation
1. The Parties shall cooperate and exchange information on any issues relevant for the implementation of this Chapter in the Trade Committee established pursuant to Article 16.1 (Trade Committee). The Parties may, by decision of the Trade Committee, adopt appropriate implementing measures to this effect and update this Chapter as appropriate.
2. The cooperation may include:
(a) exchanging information, regulatory experiences and best practices in areas such as:
(i) the design and non-discriminatory implementation of measures promoting the uptake of energy from renewable sources;
(ii) carbon capture and storage;
(iii) smart grids;
(iv) energy efficiency; and
(v) technical regulations, standards and conformity assessment procedures, such as those relating to grid code requirements; and
(b) promoting, also in relevant regional fora, the convergence of their domestic or regional technical regulations, regulatory concepts, standards, requirements and conformity assessment procedures with international standards.
Chapter EIGHT. SERVICES, ESTABLISHMENT AND ELECTRONIC COMMERCE
Section A. GENERAL PROVISIONS
Article 8.1. Objective and Scope
1. The Parties, affirming their respective commitments under the WTO Agreement, hereby lay down the necessary arrangements for the progressive reciprocal liberalisation of trade in services, establishment and electric commerce.
2. Except as otherwise provided, this Chapter shall not:
(a) apply to subsidies granted or grants provided by a Party, including government-supported loans, guarantees, and insurance;
(b) apply to services supplied in the exercise of governmental authority within the respective territories of the Parties;
(c) require the privatisation of public undertakings; and
(d) apply to laws, regulations or requirements governing the procurement by governmental agencies of services purchased. for governmental purposes and not with a view to commercial resale or with a view to use in the supply of services for commercial sale.
3. Each Party retains the right to regulate and to introduce new regulations to meet legitimate policy objectives in a manner consistent with this Chapter.
4. This Chapter does not apply to measures that affect natural persons seeking access to the employment market of a Party, or to measures regarding citizenship, residence or employment on a permanent basis. Nothing in this Chapter shall prevent a Party from applying measures to regulate the entry of natural persons of the other Party into, or their temporary stay in, its territory, including measures that are necessary to protect the integrity of, and to ensure the orderly movement of natural persons across its borders, provided that such measures are not applied in such a manner as to nullify or impair the benefits (4) accruing to the other Party under the terms of this Chapter.
Article 8.2. Definitions
For the purposes of this Chapter:
(a) "direct taxes" comprises all taxes on total income, on total capital or on elements of income or of capital, including taxes on gains from the alienation of property, taxes on estates, inheritances and gifts, and taxes on the total amounts of wages or salaries paid by enterprises, as well as taxes on capital appreciation;
(b) "juridical person" means any legal entity duly constituted or otherwise organised under applicable law, whether for profit or otherwise, and whether privately-owned or governmentally-owned, including any corporation, trust, partnership, joint venture, sole proprietorship, or association;
(c) "Union juridical person" or "Singapore juridical person" means:
(i) a juridical person set up in accordance with the laws of the Union and/or the Member States of the Union, or Singapore, respectively, and having its registered office, central administration (5), or principal place of business in the territory of the Union or Singapore, respectively; or
(ii) in the case of establishment in accordance with paragraph (d) of Article 8.8 (Definitions), a juridical person owned or controlled by natural persons of the Member States of the Union or of Singapore respectively, or by Union juridical persons or Singapore juridical persons respectively;
should the juridical person have only its registered office or central administration in the territory of the Union or of Singapore, respectively, it shall not be considered as a Union or Singapore juridical person, respectively, unless it engages in substantive business operations (6) in the territory of the Union or of Singapore respectively;
a juridical person is:
(i) "owned" by natural or juridical persons of the Union and/or any Member State of the Union, or of Singapore, if more than 50 per cent of the equity interest in it is beneficially owned by persons of the Union and/or any Member State of the Union, or of Singapore, respectively;
(ii) "controlled" by natural or juridical persons of the Union and/or any Member State of the Union, or of Singapore, if such persons have the power to name a majority of its directors or otherwise to legally direct its actions;
(ii) "affiliated" with another person when it controls, or is controlled by, that other person; or when it and the other person are both controlled by the same person;
(d) notwithstanding subparagraph (c), shipping companies established outside the Union and controlled by nationals of a Member State of the Union shall also be covered by this Agreement if their vessels are registered in accordance with the respective legislation of a Member State of the Union and fly the flag of that Member State of the Union;
(e) "measure" means any measure by a Party, whether in the form of a law, regulation, rule, procedure, decision, administrative action, or any other form;
(f) "measures adopted or maintained by a Party" means measures taken by:
(i) central, regional or local governments and authorities; or
(ii) non-governmental bodies in the exercise of powers delegated by central, regional or local governments or authorities;
(g) measures adopted or maintained by a Party affecting trade in servicesâ include measures in respect of:
(i) the purchase, payment or use of a service;
(ii) the access to and use of, in connection with the supply of a service, services which are required by a Party to be offered to the public generally; and
(iii) the presence, including commercial presence, of persons of a Party for the supply of a service in the territory of the other Party;
(h) "Schedule of Specific Commitments" refers to, in the case of the Union, Annex 8-A and the Appendices thereto, and, in the case of Singapore, Annex 8-B and the Appendices thereto;
(i) "service consumer" means any person that receives or uses a service;
(j) "supply of a service" includes the production, distribution, marketing, sale and delivery of a service;
(k) "service of the other Party" means a service which is supplied:
(i) from or in the territory of the other Party, or in the case of maritime transport, by a vessel registered under the laws of the other Party, or by a person of the other Party which supplies the service through the operation of a vessel and/or its use in whole or in part; or
(ii) in the case of the supply of a service through commercial presence or through the presence of natural persons, by a service supplier of the other Party;
(l) "service supplier" means any person that supplies or seeks to supply a service, including through establishment;
(m) service supplied in the exercise of governmental authority means any service, except a service which is supplied on a commercial basis or in competition with one or more service suppliers; and
(n) "trade in services" means the supply of a service:
(i) from the territory of a Party into the territory of the other Party (cross-border);
(ii) in the territory of a Party to a service consumer of the other Party (consumption abroad);
(ii) by a service supplier of a Party, through commercial presence, in the territory of the other Party (Commercial presence); or
(iv) by a service supplier of a Party, through presence of natural persons of that Party, in the territory of the other Party (presence of natural persons).
Section B. CROSS-BORDER SUPPLY OF SERVICES
Article 8.3. Scope
This Section applies to measures of the Parties affecting the cross-border supply of all service sectors except:
(a) audio-visual services;
(b) national maritime cabotage (7); and
(c) domestic and international air transport services, whether scheduled or non-scheduled, and services directly related to the exercise of traffic rights, other than:
(i) aircraft repair and maintenance services during which an aircraft is withdrawn from service;
(ii) the selling and marketing of air transport services; and
(iii) computer reservation system services.
Article 8.4. Definitions
For the purposes of this Section, "cross-border supply of services" means the supply of a service:
(a) from the territory of a Party into the territory of the other Party; and
(b) in the territory of a Party to a service consumer of the other Party.
Article 8.5. Market Access
1. With respect to market access through the cross-border supply of services, each Party shall accord services and service suppliers of the other Party treatment no less favourable than that provided for under the terms, limitations and conditions agreed. and specified in its Schedule of Specific Commitments.
2. In sectors where market access commitments are undertaken, the measures which each Party shall not adopt or maintain either on the basis of a regional subdivision or on the basis of its entire territory, unless otherwise specified in its Schedule of Specific Commitments, are defined as:
(a) limitations on the number of service suppliers, whether in the form of numerical quotas, monopolies, exclusive service suppliers or the requirement of an economic needs test (8);
(b) limitations on the total value of service transactions or assets in the form of numerical quotas or the requirement of an economic needs test; and
(c) limitations on the total number of service operations or on the total quantity of service output expressed in the terms of designated numerical units in the form of quotas or the requirement of an economic needs test (9).
Article 8.6. National Treatment
1. In the sectors inscribed in its Schedule of Specific Commitments and subject to any conditions and qualifications set out therein, each Party shall accord to services and service suppliers of the other Party, in respect of all measures affecting the cross-border supply of services, treatment no less favourable than that it accords to its own like services and service suppliers.
2. A Party may meet the requirement of paragraph 1 by according to services and service suppliers of the other Party, either formally identical treatment or formally different treatment to that it accords to its own like services and service suppliers.
3. Formally identical or formally different treatment shall be considered to be less favourable if it modifies the conditions of competition in favour of services or service suppliers of a Party compared to like services or service suppliers of the other Party.
4. Specific commitments assumed under this Article shall not be construed as requiring a Party to compensate for any inherent competitive disadvantages which result from the foreign character of the relevant services or service suppliers.
Article 8.7. Schedule of Specific Commitments
1. The sectors liberalised by a Party pursuant to this Section and, by means of reservations, the market access and national treatment limitations applicable to services and service suppliers of the other Party in those sectors are set out in its Schedule of Specific Commitments.
2. Neither Party may adopt new or more discriminatory measures with regard to services or service suppliers of the other Party in relation to the specific commitments undertaken in conformity with paragraph 1.
Section C. ESTABLISHMENT
Article 8.8. Definitions
For the purposes of this Section:
(a) "branch" of a juridical person means a place of business or a juridical person not having distinct legal personality and is the extension of a parent body;
(b) "economic activity" includes any activities of an economic nature, except activities carried out in the exercise of governmental authority, ie., activities not carried out on a commercial basis or in competition with one or more economic operators;
(c) "entrepreneur" means any person of a Party that seeks to perform or performs an economic activity through establishment (10);
(d) "establishment" means:
(i) the constitution, acquisition or maintenance of a juridical person; or
(ii) the creation or maintenance of a branch or representative office,
with a view to establishing or maintaining lasting economic links within the territory of a Party for the purpose of performing an economic activity including, but not limited to, supplying a service; and
(e) subsidiary of a juridical person of a Party means a juridical person which is controlled by another juridical person of that Party, in accordance with its domestic law (11).
Article 8.9. Scope
This Section applies to measures adopted or maintained by the Parties affecting establishment in all economic activities with the exception of:
(a) mining, manufacturing and processing (12) of nuclear materials;
(b) production of, or trade in, arms, munitions and war material;
(c) audio-visual services;
(d) national maritime cabotage (13); and
(e) domestic and international air transport services, whether scheduled or non-scheduled, and services directly related to the exercise of traffic rights, other than:
(i) aircraft repair and maintenance services during which an aircraft is withdrawn from service;
(ii) the selling and marketing of air transport services; and
(iii) computer reservation system services.
Article 8.10. Market Access
1. With respect to market access through establishment, each Party shall accord establishments and entrepreneurs of the other Party treatment no less favourable than that provided for under the terms, limitations and conditions agreed and specified in its Schedule of Specific Commitments.
2. In sectors where market access commitments are undertaken, the measures which each Party shall not adopt or maintain either on the basis of a regional subdivision or on the basis of its entire territory, unless otherwise specified in its Schedule of Specific Commitments, are defined as:
(a) limitations on the number of establishments whether in the form of numerical quotas, monopolies, exclusive rights or other establishment requirements such as an economic needs tests;
(b) limitations on the total value of transactions or assets in the form of numerical quotas or the requirement of an economic needs test;
(c) limitations on the total number of operations or on the total quantity of output expressed in terms of designated numerical units in the form of quotas or the requirement of an economic needs test (14);
(d) limitations on the participation of foreign capital in terms of maximum percentage limit on foreign shareholding or the total value of individual or aggregate foreign investment;
(e) measures which restrict or require specific types of legal entity or joint venture through which an entrepreneur of the other Party may perform an economic activity; and
(f) limitations on the total number of natural persons, other than key personnel and graduate trainees as defined. in Article 8.13 (Scope and Definitions) (15), who may be employed in a particular sector or who an entrepreneur may employ and who are necessary for, and directly related to, the performance of the economic activity in the form of numerical quotas or the requirement of an economic needs test.
Article 8.11. National Treatment
1. In the sectors inscribed in its Schedule of Specific Commitments and. subject to any conditions and qualifications set out therein, with respect to all measures affecting establishment (16), each Party shall accord to establishments and entrepreneurs of the other Party treatment no less favourable than that it accords to its own like establishments and entrepreneurs.
2. A Party may meet the requirement of paragraph 1 by according to establishments and entrepreneurs of the other Party, either formally identical treatment or formally different treatment to that it accords to its own like establishments and entrepreneurs.
3. Formally identical or formally different treatment shall be considered to be less favourable if it modifies the conditions of competition in favour of establishments and entrepreneurs of the Party compared to like establishments and entrepreneurs of the other Party.
4. Specific commitments assumed under this Article shall not be construed to require a Party to compensate for any inherent competitive disadvantages which result from the foreign character of the relevant establishments or entrepreneurs.
Article 8.12. Schedule of Specific Commitments
1. The sectors liberalised by a Party pursuant to this Section and, by means of reservations, the market access and national treatment limitations applicable to establishments and entrepreneurs of the other Party in those sectors are set out in the former Party's Schedule of Specific Commitments.