The Claimant shall deliver its Statement of Claim no later than 20 days after the date of the establishment of the arbitral tribunal. The respondent shall submit its statement in response no later than 20 days after the date of service of the initial written statement.
Article 6. Functioning of Arbitral Tribunals
1. All meetings of arbitral tribunals shall be presided over by their chairman.
2. Except as otherwise provided in these rules, the arbitral tribunal may perform its functions by any means, including telephone, facsimile transmission or computer links.
3. Only the arbitrators may participate in the deliberations of the arbitral tribunal.
4. The drafting of decisions and reports shall be the sole responsibility of the arbitral tribunal.
5. Where a procedural question arises that is not covered by these rules, the arbitral tribunal may adopt such procedure as it considers appropriate, provided that it is not inconsistent with this Agreement.
6. When the arbitral tribunal considers it necessary to modify any procedural time limit or to make any other procedural or administrative adjustment to the proceedings, it shall inform the disputing parties in writing of the reason for the modification or adjustment, indicating the time limit or adjustment required. 7. All time limits may be reduced, waived or extended by mutual agreement of the disputing parties.
Article 7. Hearings
1. The chairman shall fix the date and time of the hearings after consulting with the disputing parties and the other arbitrators on the arbitral tribunal. The presiding arbitrator shall notify the disputing parties in writing of the date, time and place of the hearing. The arbitral tribunal may decide not to convene a hearing unless a disputing party objects.
2. The hearing shall be held in the territory of the responding party, unless the disputing parties agree otherwise. The responding party shall be responsible for the logistical administration of the dispute settlement procedure, in particular for the organization of the hearings, unless otherwise agreed.
3. The arbitral tribunal may hold additional hearings with the consent of the disputing parties.
4. All arbitrators must be present at hearings.
5. No later than five days before the date of the hearing, each disputing party shall provide a list of the names of other representatives or advisers who will be present at the hearing.
6. The hearings of arbitral tribunals shall be closed to the public unless the disputing parties decide otherwise. If the disputing parties decide that the hearing shall be open to the public, a part of the hearing may nevertheless be closed to the public if the arbitral tribunal, at the request of the disputing parties, so decides for serious reasons. In particular, the arbitral tribunal shall meet in closed session when the submission and arguments of a disputing party include confidential business information. If the hearing is open to the public, the date, time and place of the hearing shall be published by the disputing party in charge of the logistical administration of the proceeding. 7. The arbitral tribunal shall conduct the hearing in the order set forth below:
(a) arguments of the complaining party;
(b) arguments of the defendant;
(c) the disputing parties' rebuttal arguments;
(d) reply of the complaining party; and,
(e) counter-reply of the defendant.
The presiding officer may set time limits on oral interventions ensuring that equal time is given to the complaining party and the respondent.
8. The arbitral tribunal may put direct questions to any disputing party at any time during the hearing.
9. Within 10 days of the date of the hearing, each disputing party may submit a supplemental brief on any issue raised at the hearing.
Article 8. Written Questions
1. The arbitral tribunal may submit written questions to any disputing party at any time during the arbitral proceedings. The arbitral tribunal shall deliver the written questions to the party to which they are addressed.
2. The disputing party to which the arbitral tribunal has addressed written questions shall deliver a copy of any written answer to the other disputing party and to the arbitral tribunal. Each disputing party shall be given an opportunity to comment in writing on the response within five days after the date of delivery of the response.
3. The disputing parties shall maintain the confidentiality of the hearings to the extent that the arbitral tribunal conducts the hearings in camera pursuant to the rule set forth in Article 7.6 of this Annex. Each disputing party shall treat as confidential information submitted by the other disputing party in confidence to the arbitral tribunal. Where a disputing party submits to the arbitral tribunal a confidential version of its written submissions, it shall also, upon request of the other disputing party, provide a non-confidential summary of the information contained in its written submissions that may be disclosed to the public no later than 15 days after the date of the request or of the filing of the written submission, whichever is later. Nothing in these rules shall prevent a disputing party from making public statements of its own position.
Article 9. Ex Parte Contacts
1. The arbitral tribunal shall refrain from meeting or maintaining contact with a disputing party in the absence of the other disputing party.
2. No disputing party may contact any of the arbitrators in the absence of the other disputing party or the other arbitrators.
3. No arbitrator may discuss with one or both of the disputing parties any matter relating to the proceeding in the absence of the other arbitrators.
Article 10. Role of Experts
1. At the request of a disputing party or on its own initiative (which shall require the consent of both disputing parties), the arbitral tribunal may obtain information and technical advice from such persons and entities as it considers appropriate. Any information so obtained shall be submitted to the disputing parties for comment.
2. Where a written request for a report is made to an expert, any time period applicable to the proceedings before the arbitral tribunal shall be suspended from the date of delivery of the request until the date on which the report is delivered to the arbitral tribunal.
Article 11. Compensation Agreement
The settlement agreement reached by the disputing parties pursuant to Article 14.15.2 of the Agreement shall be recorded in minutes to be signed by the representatives of the disputing parties.
Article 12. Calculation of Time Limits
The time limits referred to in this Chapter and in this Annex shall start to run from the day following the day of notification in accordance with Article 2 of this Annex.
Chapter 15. GENERAL EXCEPTIONS
Article 15.1. General Exceptions
For the purposes of Chapters 3, 4, 5, 7 and 8 of this Agreement, Article XX of the GATT 1994 and its interpretative notes are hereby incorporated into and made part of this instrument, mutatis mutandis. The Parties understand that the measures referred to in Article XX(b) of GATT 1994 include environmental measures necessary to protect human, animal or plant life or health, and that Article XX(g) of GATT 1994 applies to measures relating to the conservation of living or non-living exhaustible natural resources.
Article 15.2. Essential Security
Nothing In this Agreement shall be construed to:
(a) compel a Party to provide or give access to information the disclosure of which it considers contrary to its essential security interests; or,
(b) prevent a Party from applying any measure it considers necessary for the protection of its essential security interests, as well as for the fulfilment of its obligations under the Charter of the United Nations with respect to the maintenance and restoration of international peace and security.
Article 15.3. Disclosure of Information
Nothing in this Agreement shall be construed to require a Party to provide or permit access to information the disclosure of which would impede law enforcement or would be contrary to the laws of the Party protecting the personal privacy or financial affairs or accounts of individual customers of financial institutions.
Article 15.4. Balance of Payments Difficulties
1. If a Party is experiencing, or is threatened with, serious balance of payments and external financial difficulties, it may adopt or maintain restrictive measures on trade in goods and services and on payments and capital movements, including those related to foreign direct investment.
2. The Parties shall endeavour to avoid the application of the restrictive measures referred to in paragraph 1.
3. Restrictive measures adopted or maintained under this Article shall be non-discriminatory and of limited duration and shall not go beyond what is necessary to remedy the external balance of payments and financial situation. They shall be in accordance with the terms of the WTO Agreements and consistent with the Articles of Agreement of the International Monetary Fund, as appropriate.
4. The Party that maintains or has adopted restrictive measures, or any modification thereof, shall inform the other Party without delay and shall submit, as soon as practicable, a timetable for their elimination.
5. The Party applying restrictive measures shall promptly enter into consultations within the framework of the Commission established under Article 13.1. Such consultations shall assess the balance of payments situation of that Party and the restrictions adopted or maintained under this Article, taking into account, inter alia, such factors as:
(a) the nature and extent of external financial and balance of payments difficulties;
(b) the external economic and trade environment of the Party subject to the consultations; and,
(c) other possible corrective measures that may be used. The consultations shall examine the conformity of any restrictive measures with paragraphs 3 and 4. Any statistical or other findings of fact presented by the International Monetary Fund (IMF) on exchange, monetary reserves and balance of payments issues shall be accepted and conclusions shall be based on the Fund's assessment of the external financial and balance of payments situation of the Party subject to the consultations.
Article 15.5. Taxation
1. Except as provided in this Article, nothing in this Agreement shall apply to taxation measures.
2. Nothing in this Agreement shall affect the rights and obligations of either Party under any tax treaty. In the event of any inconsistency between this Agreement and any such treaty, the treaty shall prevail to the extent of the inconsistency. In the case of a tax treaty between the Parties, the competent authorities under that treaty shall have sole responsibility for determining whether there is any inconsistency between this Agreement and that treaty.
3. Notwithstanding paragraph 2, Article 3.1, and such other provisions of this Agreement as are necessary to give effect to that Article, shall apply to taxation measures to the same extent as Article Ill of GATT 1994.
4. For the purposes of this article: competent authorities means:
(a) in the case of Chile, the Director of the Internal Revenue Service, Ministry of Finance; and,
(b) in the case of Ecuador, the Director of the Internal Revenue Service.
tax treaty means an international double taxation avoidance treaty or other international tax treaty or arrangement; e,
taxes and tax measures do not include a:
(a) customs duties, as set out in Article 2.1 of this Agreement; and,
(b) measures resulting from the application of Chapter 6 of this Agreement.
Chapter 16. FINAL PROVISIONS
Article 16.1. Amendments and Additions
1. The Parties may agree on any amendments or additions to this Agreement.
2. The agreed amendments and additions shall enter into force in accordance with the provisions of Article 16.6, and shall constitute an integral part of this Agreement.
Article 16.2. Amendment of the WTO Agreement
If any provision of the WTO Agreement that the Parties have incorporated into this Agreement is amended, the Parties shall consult on whether to amend this Agreement.
Article 16.3. Accession
1. In compliance with the provisions of the Treaty of Montevideo of 1980, this Agreement is open to accession, through prior negotiation, by the other member countries of ALADI.
2. The accession shall be formalized once its terms have been negotiated between the Parties and the acceding country, through the conclusion of an Additional Protocol to this Agreement, which shall enter into force 60 days after being deposited with the General Secretariat of LAIA.
3. This Agreement shall not be subject to reservations.
Article 16.4. Convergence
The Parties shall promote the convergence of this Agreement with other integration agreements of Latin American countries, in accordance with the mechanisms established in the 1980 Treaty of Montevideo.
Article 16.5. Future Negotiations
Upon entry into force of this Agreement, the Parties shall commence negotiations on a Chapter on government procurement.
Article 16.6. Entry Into Force
1. This Agreement shall be of indefinite duration.
2. The entry into force of this Agreement is subject to the completion of the necessary internal legal procedures of each Party.
3. This Agreement shall enter into force 45 days after the date of the last Note in which either Party notifies the other that the above procedures have been completed, or such other period as the Parties may agree.
Article 16.7. Repeals
The Parties hereby replace and render ineffective the Economic Complementation Agreement No. 32 for the Establishment of an Expanded Economic Area between Ecuador and Chile, signed between both governments on 20 December 1994, including its annexes, appendices, protocols and other instruments signed under it, by this consolidated text.
Article 16.8. Denounciation
The Party Wishing to Denounce this Agreement Shall Communicate Its Decision to the other Party 180 days prior to the deposit of the respective instrument of denunciation with the General Secretariat of LAIA.
Conclusion
IN WITNESS WHEREOF, the undersigned, being duly authorized by their respective Governments, have signed this Agreement in two equally authentic copies.
DONE at Santiago, on the tenth day of the month of March, 2008.
For the Government of the Republic of Ecuador:
María Isabel Salvador,
Minister of Foreign Affairs, Trade and Integration
For the Government of the Republic of Chile:
Alejandro Foxley, Minister of Foreign Affairs.