Article 176. Universal Service
1. Each Party has the right to define the kind of universal service obligations it wishes to maintain.
2. Those universal service obligations shall not be regarded per se as anti-competitive, provided they are administered in a proportionate, transparent, objective and non-discriminatory way. The administration of such obligations shall also be neutral with respect to competition and be not more burdensome than necessary for the kind of universal service defined by the Party.
3. All suppliers of electronic communications networks or services should be eligible to provide universal service. The designation of universal service suppliers shall be made through an efficient, transparent and non-discriminatory mechanism. Where necessary, each Party shall assess whether the provision of universal service represents an unfair burden on a supplier designated to provide universal service. Where justified on the basis of such calculation, and taking into account the market benefit which accrues to a supplier that offers universal service, regulatory authorities shall determine whether a mechanism is required to compensate the supplier concerned or to share the net cost of universal service obligations.
Article 177. Number Portability
Each Party shall ensure that suppliers of public electronic communications services provide for number portability on reasonable terms and conditions.
Article 178. Confidentiality of Information
Each Party shall ensure the confidentiality of electronic communications and related traffic data by means of a public electronic communications network and publicly available electronic communications services without restricting trade in services.
Article 179. Resolution of Electronic Communications Disputes
1. Each Party shall ensure that in the event of a dispute arising between suppliers of electronic communications networks or services in connection with rights and obligations that arise from this Subsection, the regulatory authority concerned shall, at the request of either party concerned, issue a binding decision to resolve the dispute in the shortest possible timeframe and in any case within four months, except in exceptional circumstances.
2. Where such a dispute concerns the cross-border provision of services, the regulatory authorities concerned shall coordinate their efforts in order to bring about a resolution of the dispute.
3. The decision of the regulatory authority shall be made available to the public, having regard to the requirements of business confidentiality. The parties concerned shall be given a full statement of the reasons on which it is based and shall have the right to appeal that decision, in accordance with Article 172 paragraph 7.
4. The procedure referred to in this Article shall not preclude either party concerned from bringing an action before the courts.
Article 180. Gradual Approximation
The Parties recognise the importance of gradual approximation of the legislation of the Republic of Armenia on electronic communication networks to that of the European Union.
Subsection VI. Financial Services
Article 181. Scope and Definitions
1. This Subsection applies to measures affecting the supply of financial services, where financial services are liberalised pursuant to Sections B, C and D.
2. For the purposes of this Chapter "financial service" means any service of a financial nature offered by a financial service supplier of a Party. Financial services comprise insurance and insurance-related services as well as banking and other financial services.
3. Insurance and insurance-related services as referred to in paragraph 2 comprise:
(a) direct insurance (including co-insurance):
(i) life; and
(ii) non-life;
(b) reinsurance and retrocession;
(c) insurance inter-mediation, such as brokerage and agency; and
(d) services auxiliary to insurance, such as consultancy, actuarial, risk assessment and claim settlement services.
4. Banking and other financial services (excluding insurance and insurance-related services) as referred to in paragraph 2 comprise:
(a) acceptance of deposits and other repayable funds from the public;
(b) lending of all types, including consumer credit, mortgage credit, factoring and financing of commercial transaction;
(c) financial leasing;
(d) all payment and money transmission services, including credit, charge and debit cards, travellers cheques and bankers drafts;
(e) guarantees and commitments;
(f) trading for own account or for account of customers, whether on an exchange, in an over-the-counter market or otherwise, the following:
(i) money-market instruments (including cheques, bills, certificates of deposits);
(ii) foreign exchange;
(iii) derivative products including, but not limited to, futures and options;
(iv) exchange rate and interest rate instruments, including products such as swaps, forward rate agreements;
(v) transferable securities; and
(iv) other negotiable instruments and financial assets, including bullion;
(g) participation in issues of all kinds of securities, including underwriting and placement as agent (whether publicly or privately) and provision of services related to such issues;
(h) money broking;
(i) asset management, such as cash or portfolio management, all forms of collective investment management, pension fund management, custodial, depository and trust services;
(j) settlement and clearing services for financial assets, including securities, derivative products, and other negotiable instruments;
(k) provision and transfer of financial information, and financial data processing and related software; and
(l) advisory, intermediation and other auxiliary financial services on all the activities listed in this paragraph, including credit reference and analysis, investment and portfolio research and advice, advice on acquisitions and on corporate restructuring and strategy.
5. For the purposes of this Subsection:
(a) "financial service supplier" means any natural or juridical person of a Party that seeks to provide or provides financial services but does not include a public entity;
(b) "public entity" means:
(i) a government, a central bank or a monetary authority, of a Party, or an entity owned or controlled by a Party, that is principally engaged in carrying out governmental functions or activities for governmental purposes, not including an entity principally engaged in supplying financial services on commercial terms; or
(ii) a private entity, performing functions normally performed by a central bank or monetary authority, when exercising those functions;
(c) "new financial service" means a service of a financial nature, including services related to existing and new products or the manner in which a product is delivered, that is not supplied by any financial service supplier in the territory of a Party but which is supplied in the territory of the other Party.
Article 182. Prudential Carve-out
1. Nothing in this Agreement shall prevent a Party from adopting or maintaining measures for prudential reasons, such as:
(a) the protection of investors, depositors, policy-holders or persons to whom a fiduciary duty is owed by a financial service supplier;
(b) ensuring the integrity and stability ofits financial system.
2. Those measures shall not be more burdensome than necessary to achieve their aim.
3. Nothing in this Agreement shall be construed as requiring a Party to disclose information relating to the affairs and accounts of individual consumers or any confidential or proprietary information in the possession of public entities.
Article 183. Effective and Transparent Regulation
1. Each Party shall make its best endeavours to provide in advance to all interested persons any measure of general application that the Party proposes to adopt in order to allow an opportunity for such persons to comment on the measure. Such proposed measure shall be provided:
(a) by means of an official publication; or
(b) in other written or electronic form.
2. Each Party shall make available to interested persons its requirements for completing applications relating to the supply of financial services.
On the request of an applicant, the concerned Party shall inform the applicant of the status of its application. If the concerned Party requires additional information from the applicant, it shall notify the applicant without undue delay.
3. Each Party shall make its best endeavours to ensure that internationally agreed standards for regulation and supervision in the financial services sector and for the fight against tax evasion and avoidance are implemented and applied in its territory. Such internationally agreed standards are, inter alia:
(a) the "Core Principle for Effective Banking Supervision" of the Basel Committee;
(b) the "Insurance Core Principles" of the International Association of Insurance Supervisors;
(c) the "Objectives and Principles of Securities Regulation" of the International Organisation of Securities Commissions;
(d) the OECD "Agreement on exchange of information on tax matters";
(e) the G20 "Statement on Transparency and exchange of information for tax purposes"; and
(f) "Forty Recommendations on Money Laundering" and "Nine Special Recommendations on Terrorist Financing" of the Financial Action Task Force.
4. The Parties take note of the "Ten Key Principles for Information Exchange" promulgated by the Finance Ministers of the G7 Nations, and shall make their best endeavours to apply those principles between them.
Article 184. New Financial Services
Each Party shall permit a financial service supplier of the other Party to provide any new financial service of a type similar to those services that the Party would permit its own financial service suppliers to provide under its domestic law in like circumstances. A Party may determine the legal form through which the service may be provided and may require authorisation for the provision of the service. Where such authorisation is required, a decision shall be made within a reasonable time and the authorisation may only be refused for prudential reasons consistent with Article 182.
Article 185. Data Processing
1. Each Party shall permit a financial service supplier of the other Party to transfer information in electronic or other form, into and out of its territory, for data processing where such processing is required in the ordinary course of business of such financial service supplier.
2. Nothing in paragraph 1 restricts the right of a Party to protect personal data and privacy, so long as such right is not used to circumvent this Agreement.
3. Each Party shall adopt or maintain adequate safeguards for the protection of privacy and fundamental rights, and freedom of individuals, in particular with regard to the transfer of personal data.
Article 186. Specific Exceptions
1. Nothing in this Chapter shall be construed as preventing a Party, including its public entities, from exclusively conducting or providing in its territory activities or services forming part of a public retirement plan or statutory system of social security, except where those activities may be carried out, as provided by the Party's domestic regulation, by financial service suppliers in competition with public entities or private institutions.
2. Nothing in this Agreement applies to activities conducted by a central bank or monetary authority or by any other public entity in pursuit of monetary or exchange rate policies.
3. Nothing in this Chapter shall be construed as preventing a Party, including its public entities, from exclusively conducting or providing in its territory activities or services for the account or with the guarantee or using the financial resources of the Party, or its public entities.
Article 187. Self-regulatory Organisations
Where a Party requires membership or participation in, or access to, any self-regulatory body, securities or futures exchange or market, clearing agency, or any other organisation or association, in order for financial service suppliers of the other Party to supply financial services on an equal basis with financial service suppliers of the Party, or where the Party provides, directly or indirectly, such entities with privileges or advantages in supplying financial services, the Party shall ensure compliance with the obligations specified in Articles 144 and 150.
Article 188. Clearing and Payment Systems
Under the terms and conditions of national treatment specified in Articles 144 and 150, each Party shall grant to financial service suppliers of the other Party established in its territory access to payment and clearing systems operated by public entities, as well as to official funding and refinancing facilities available in the normal course of ordinary business. This paragraph is not intended to confer access to the lender-of-last-resort facilities of a Party.
Article 189. Financial Stability and Regulation of Financial Services In the Republic of Armenia
The Parties recognise the importance of the adequate regulation of financial services to ensure financial stability, fair and efficient markets and the protection of investors, depositors, policy- holders and persons to whom fiduciary duty is owed by financial services suppliers. For such regulation of financial services the international best-practice standards provide the overall benchmark, in particular in the way they are implemented in the European Union. In that context, the Republic of Armenia shall approximate its regulation of financial services, as appropriate, to the legislation of the European Union.
Subsection VII. Transport Services
Article 190. Scope and Objectives
This Subsection sets out the principles regarding the liberalisation of international transport services pursuant to Sections B, C and D.
Article 191. Definitions
1. For the purposes of this Subsection and Sections B, C and D:
(a) "international maritime transport" includes door to door and multi-modal transport operations, which is the carriage of goods using more than one mode of transport, involving a sea-leg, under a single transport document, and includes to this effect the right to directly contract with providers of other modes of transport;
(b) "maritime cargo handling services" means activities exercised by stevedore companies, including terminal operators, but not including the direct activities of dockers, when this workforce is organised independently of the stevedoring or terminal operator companies. The activities covered include the organisation and supervision of:
(i) the loading or discharging of cargo to or from a ship;
(ii) the lashing or unlashing of cargo;
(iii) the reception or delivery and safekeeping of cargoes before shipment or after discharge;
(c) "customs clearance services" or alternatively "customs house brokers" services' means activities consisting in carrying out on behalf of another party customs formalities concerning import, export or through transport of cargoes, whether this service is the main activity of the service provider or a usual complement of its main activity;
(d) "container station and depot services" means activities consisting in storing containers, whether in port areas or inland, with a view to their stuffing or stripping, repairing and making them available for shipments;
(e) "maritime agency services" means activities consisting in representing, within a given geographic area, as an agent the business interests of one or more shipping lines or shipping companies, for the following purposes:
(i) marketing and sales of maritime transport and related services, from quotation to invoicing, and issuance of bills of lading on behalf of the companies, acquisition and resale of the necessary related services, preparation of documentation, and provision of business information; and
(ii) acting on behalf of the companies organising the call of the ship or taking over cargoes when required;
(f) "freight forwarding services" means the activity consisting of organising and monitoring shipment operations on behalf of shippers, through the acquisition of transport and related services, preparation of documentation and provision of business information; and
(g) "feeder services" means the pre- and onward transportation of international cargoes by sea, notably containerised, between ports located in a Party.
2. As regards international maritime transport, the Parties shall ensure effective application of the principle of unrestricted access to cargoes on a commercial basis, the freedom to provide international maritime transport services, as well as national treatment in the framework of the provision of such services.
3. In view of the existing levels of liberalisation between the Parties in international maritime transport each Party shall:
(a) apply effectively the principle of unrestricted access to the international maritime markets and trades on a commercial and non-discriminatory basis; and
(b) grant to ships flying the flag of the other Party or operated by service suppliers of the other Party treatment no less favourable than that accorded to its own ships or those of any third- country, whichever are the better, with regard to, inter alia, access to ports, the use of infrastructure and services of ports, and the use of maritime auxiliary services, as well as related fees and charges, customs facilities and the assignment of berths and facilities for loading and unloading.
4. In applying the principles referred to in paragraph 3, each Party shall:
(a) not introduce cargo-sharing arrangements in future agreements with third countries concerning international maritime transport services, including dry and liquid bulk and liner trade, and terminate, within a reasonable period of time, any such cargo-sharing arrangements that exist in previous agreements; and
(b) upon the entry into force of this Agreement, abolish and abstain from introducing any unilateral measures and administrative, technical and other obstacles which could constitute a disguised restriction or have discriminatory effects on the free supply of services in international maritime transport.
5. Each Party shall permit international maritime transport service suppliers of the other Party to have an establishment in its territory under conditions of establishment and operation no less favourable than those accorded to its own service suppliers or those of any third-country, whichever are the better.
6. Each Party shall make available to international maritime transport service suppliers of the other Party on reasonable and non-discriminatory terms and conditions the following services at the port: pilotage, towing and tug assistance, provisioning, fuelling and watering, garbage collecting and ballast waste disposal, port captain's services, navigation aids, emergency repair facilities, anchorage, berth and berthing services as well as shore-based operational services essential to ship operations, including communications, water and electrical supplies.
7. Each Party shall permit the movement of equipment such as empty containers, not being carried as cargo against payment, between ports of the Republic of Armenia or between ports of a Member State. 8. Each Party, subject to the authorisation of the competent authority shall permit international maritime transport service suppliers of the other Party to provide feeder services between their national ports.
Article 192. Gradual Approximation
The Parties recognise the importance of gradual approximation of the legislation of the Republic of Armenia on transport services to that of the European Union.
Section F. Electronic Commerce
Subsection I. General Provisions
Article 193. Objective and Principles
1. The Parties, recognising that electronic commerce increases trade opportunities in many sectors, aim to promote the development of electronic commerce between them, in particular by cooperating on the issues raised by electronic commerce with regard to the provisions of this Chapter.
2. The Parties agree that the development of electronic commerce shall be fully compatible with the highest international standards of data protection, in order to ensure the confidence of users of electronic commerce.
3. The Parties shall consider electronic transmissions as the provision of services, within the meaning of Section C, which cannot be subject to customs duties.
Article 194. Regulatory Aspects of Electronic Commerce
1. The Parties shall maintain a dialogue on regulatory issues raised by electronic commerce. That dialogue shall inter alia address the following matters:
(a) the recognition of certificates of electronic signatures issued to the public and the facilitation of cross-border certification services;
(b) the liability of intermediary service providers with respect to the transmission, or storage of information:
(i) the treatment of unsolicited electronic commercial communications; and
(ii) the protection of consumers in the ambit of electronic commerce; and
(c) any other matter relevant for the development of electronic commerce.
2. Such dialogue may be implemented by an exchange of information on the legislation of each Party with regard to the matters referred to in paragraph 1 as well as on the implementation of such legislation.
Subsection II. Liability of Intermediary Service Providers
Article 195. Use of Intermediaries' Services
The Parties recognise that the services of intermediaries can be used by third parties for activities infringing their respective domestic law. To take account of that possibility each Party shall adopt or maintain for intermediary service providers the lability measures referred to in this subsection.
Article 196. Liability of Intermediary Service Providers: "mere Conduit"
1. Where an information society service is provided that consists of the transmission in a communication network of information provided by a recipient of the service, or the provision of access to a communication network, each Party shall ensure that the service provider is not liable for the information transmitted, on condition that the provider:
(a) does not initiate the transmission;
(b) does not select the receiver of the transmission; and
(c) does not select or modify the information contained in the transmission.
2. The acts of transmission and of provision of access referred to in paragraph 1 include the automatic, intermediate and transient storage of the information transmitted in so far as this takes place for the sole purpose of carrying out the transmission in the communication network, and provided that the information is not stored for any period longer than is reasonably necessary for the transmission.
3. This Article shall not affect the possibility for a court or an administrative authority, in accordance with the legal system of each Party, to require the service provider to terminate or prevent an infringement.
Article 197. Liability of Intermediary Service Providers: "caching"
1. Where an information society service is provided that consists of the transmission in a communication network of information provided by a recipient of the service, each Party shall ensure that the service provider is not liable for the automatic, intermediate and temporary storage of that information, performed for the sole purpose of making more efficient the information's onward transmission to other recipients of the service upon their request, on condition that the provider:
(a) does not modify the information;
(b) complies with conditions on access to the information;
(c) complies with rules regarding the updating of the information, specified in a manner widely recognised and used by industry;
(d) does not interfere with the lawful use of technology, widely recognised and used by industry, to obtain data on the use of the information; and
(e) acts expeditiously to remove or to disable access to the information the provider has stored upon obtaining actual knowledge of the fact that the information at the initial source of the transmission has been removed from the network, or access to it has been disabled, or that a court or an administrative authority has ordered such removal or disablement.
2. This Article shall not affect the possibility for a court or an administrative authority to require the service provider to terminate or prevent an infringement in accordance with the legal system of each Party.
Article 198. Liability of Intermediary Service Providers: "hosting"
1. Where an information society service is provided that consists of the storage of information provided by a recipient of the service, the Parties shall ensure that the service provider is not liable for the information stored at the request of a recipient of the service, on condition that the provider: