(b) exploring joint initiatives relating to import, export and other customs procedures, including technical assistance, in order to ensure effective services to the business community;
(c) strengthening their cooperation in the field of customs in international organisations such as the WTO and the World Customs Organization (hereinafter referred to as "WCO"); and
(d) establishing, where relevant and appropriate, mutual recognition of trade partnership programmes and customs controls, including equivalent trade facilitation measures.
3. The Parties shall provide each other with mutual administrative assistance in customs matters in accordance with Protocol 2 (On Mutual Administrative Assistance in Customs Matters).
Article 4.3. Customs Legislation and Procedures
1. The Parties shall base their respective customs legislation and procedures on international instruments and standards applicable in the area of customs and trade, including the substantive elements of the International Convention on the Simplification and Harmonisation of Customs Procedures, as amended (Revised Kyoto Convention), done at Brussels on 26 June 1999, the International Convention on the Harmonized Commodity Description and Coding System (hereinafter referred to as "HS Convention"), the Framework of Standards to Secure and Facilitate Global Trade and the Customs Data Model of the WCO.
2. The customs legislation and procedures of the Parties shall:
(a) aim at the protection of legitimate trade through effective enforcement and compliance with legislative requirements;
(b) avoid unnecessary or discriminatory burdens on economic operators, and provide for further facilitation for operators with high levels of compliance; and
(c) ensure safeguards against fraud and illicit or damaging activities.
3. The Parties agree that their respective customs legislation and procedures, including remedies, shall be proportionate and non-discriminatory and that their application shall not unduly delay the release of goods.
4. In order to improve working methods, as well as to ensure non-discrimination, transparency, efficiency, integrity and accountability of operations, the Parties shall:
(a) simplify and review requirements and formalities, wherever possible, with respect to the rapid release and clearance of goods; and
(b) work towards further simplification and standardisation of data and documentation required by customs or other agencies.
Article 4.4. Release of Goods
1. Each Party shall ensure that its customs authorities apply requirements and procedures that provide for the release of goods within a period no longer than that required to ensure compliance with its customs and other trade-related laws and formalities. Each Party shall work towards further reducing this period and releasing the goods without undue delay.
2. The Parties shall allow, inter alia, the release of goods without the payment of customs duties, subject to the provision of a guarantee if required in accordance with their legislation in order to secure the final payment of customs duties.
3. Each Party shall ensure that its customs authorities provide for advance electronic submission and further processing of information before the physical arrival of goods (pre-arrival processing) to enable the release of goods on arrival.
Article 4.5. Simplified Customs Procedures
1. Each Party shall provide for simplified customs procedures that are transparent and efficient in order to reduce costs and increase predictability for economic operators, including for small and medium-sized enterprises. Easier access to customs simplifications shall also be provided for authorised traders according to objective and non-discriminatory criteria.
2. A single administrative document or electronic equivalent shall be used for the purposes of completing the formalities required for placing the goods under a customs procedure.
3. The Parties shall apply modern customs techniques, including risk assessment and post-clearance audit methods, in order to simplify and facilitate the entry and the release of goods.
4. The Parties shall promote the progressive development and use of systems, including those based on information technology, to facilitate the electronic exchange of data between traders, customs administrations and other related agencies.
Article 4.6. Transit and Transhipment
1. Each Party shall ensure the facilitation and effective control of transhipment operations and transit movements through its territory.
2. To facilitate traffic in transit each Party shall ensure cooperation and coordination between all authorities and agencies concerned in its territory.
Article 4.7. Risk Management
1. Each Party shall base its examination and release procedures and its post-clearance audit procedures on risk assessment principles and audits, rather than examining each shipment in a comprehensive manner for compliance with all import requirements.
2. The Parties shall adopt and apply their import, export, transit and transhipment control requirements and procedures for goods on the basis of risk management principles which shall be applied to focus compliance measures on transactions that merit attention.
Article 4.8. Transparency
1. Each Party shall ensure that its customs and other trade-related laws, regulations and general administrative procedures and other requirements, including fees and charges, are readily available to interested parties and, where feasible and possible, on an official website.
2. Each Party shall designate or maintain one or more inquiry or information points to address, within a reasonable time, inquiries by interested parties concerning customs and other trade-related matters.
Article 4.9. Advance Rulings
1. Upon written request from traders, the customs authorities of each Party shall issue, in accordance with its laws and regulations, prior to the importation of a good into its territory, written advance rulings on tariff classification or on any other matter that the Parties may agree upon.
2. Subject to any confidentiality requirements in each Party's laws and regulations, each Party shall publish, for example on an official website, its advance rulings on tariff classification and on any matters that the Parties may agree upon.
3. With a view to facilitating trade, the Parties shall include in their bilateral dialogue regular updates on changes in their respective laws and regulations on advance rulings.
Article 4.10. Fees and Charges
1. Each Party shall publish information on fees and charges via an officially designated medium, and where feasible and possible, on an official website. This information shall include the fees and charges that will be applied, the reason for the fees or charges for the service provided, the responsible authority, and when and how payment is to be made.
2. Each Party shall not impose new or amended fees and charges until the information in accordance with paragraph 1 is published and made readily available.
Article 4.11. Customs Brokers
The Parties shall not require in their respective customs legislation and procedures the mandatory use of customs brokers. The Parties shall apply transparent, non-discriminatory and proportionate rules if and when licensing customs brokers.
Article 4.12. Customs Valuation
1. The Parties shall determine the customs value of goods in accordance with Article VII of GATT 1994 and the Customs Valuation Agreement.
2. The Parties shall cooperate with a view to reaching a common approach to issues relating to customs valuation.
Article 4.13. Preshipment Inspections
The Parties agree that their respective customs legislation and procedures shall not require the mandatory use of preshipment inspections as defined in the Agreement on Preshipment Inspection, or any other inspection activity performed at destination, before customs clearance, by private companies.
Article 4.14. Review and Appeal
Each Party shall provide effective, prompt, non-discriminatory and easily accessible procedures to guarantee the right of appeal against customs and other agency administrative actions, rulings and decisions affecting importation or exportation of goods or goods in transit.
Article 4.15. Relations with the Business Community
The Parties agree:
(a) on the need for timely consultations with trade representatives on legislative proposals and general procedures related to customs and trade facilitation matters. To that end, appropriate consultations between administrations and the business community shall be held by each Party;
(b) to publish or otherwise make available, as far as possible through electronic means, any new legislation and general procedures related to customs and trade facilitation matters prior to the application of any such legislation and procedures, as well as changes to and interpretations of such legislation and procedures; they shall also make publicly available relevant notices of an administrative nature, including agency requirements and entry procedures, hours of operation and operating procedures for customs offices at ports and border crossing points, and contact points for information enquiries;
(c) on the need for a reasonable time period between the publication of new or amended legislation, procedures and fees or charges and their entry into force; and
(d) to ensure that their respective customs and related requirements and procedures continue to meet the needs of the business community, follow best practices, and remain as little trade-restrictive as possible.
Article 4.16. Committee on Customs
1. The Committee on Customs established by Article 17.2 (Specialised Committees) shall be composed of represen- tatives of the Parties.
2. The Committee on Customs shall ensure the proper functioning of this Chapter, the enforcement of intellectual property rights by customs in accordance with Sub-Section 4 (Border Enforcement) of Section C (Enforcement of Intellectual Property Rights) of Chapter 12 (Intellectual Property), Protocol 1 (Concerning the Definition of the Concept of "Originating Products" and Methods of Administrative Cooperation), Protocol 2 (On Mutual Administrative Assistance in Customs Matters) and any additional provisions relating to customs that the Parties may agree upon.
3. The Committee on Customs shall examine the need for, and adopt, decisions, opinions, proposals or recommen- dations on all issues arising from the implementation of the provisions referred to in paragraph 2. It shall have the power to adopt decisions on mutual recognition of risk management techniques, risk criteria and standards, security controls and trade partnership programmes, including aspects such as data transmission and mutually agreed. benefits.
Chapter 5. Technical Barriers to Trade
Article 5.1. Affirmation of the TBT Agreement
The Parties affirm their rights and obligations with respect to each other under the TBT Agreement, which is incorporated into and made part of this Agreement, mutatis mutandis.
Article 5.2. Objectives
1. The objectives of this Chapter are to facilitate and increase bilateral trade in goods by preventing, identifying and eliminating unnecessary obstacles to trade within the scope of the TBT Agreement, and to enhance bilateral cooperation between the Parties.
2. The Parties shall establish and enhance technical capabilities and institutional infrastructure on matters concerning technical barriers to trade.
Article 5.3. Scope and Definitions
1. This Chapter applies to the preparation, adoption and application of standards, technical regulations and conformity assessment procedures, as defined in Annex 1 to the TBT Agreement, that may affect trade in goods between the Parties, except for:
(a) purchasing specifications prepared by governmental bodies for production or consumption requirements of those bodies; or
(b) sanitary and phytosanitary measures as defined in Annex A to the SPS Agreement.
2. Each Party has the right to prepare, adopt and apply standards, technical regulations and conformity assessment procedures in accordance with this Chapter and the TBT Agreement.
3. For the purposes of this Chapter, the definitions of Annex 1 to the TBT Agreement apply.
Article 5.4. Technical Regulations
1. Each Party shall make best use of good regulatory practice, as provided for in the TBT Agreement and in this Chapter, in particular, by:
(a) assessing the available regulatory and non-regulatory alternatives to a proposed technical regulation that would fulfil the Party's legitimate objectives, in accordance with Article 2.2 of the TBT Agreement, and endeavouring to assess, inter alia, the impact of a proposed technical regulation by means of a regulatory impact assessment, as recommended by the Committee on Technical Barriers to Trade established under Article 13 of the TBT Agreement;
(b) using relevant international standards, such as those developed by the International Organization for Standardization, the International Electrotechnical Commission, the International Telecommunication Union and the Codex Alimentarius Commission, as a basis for their technical regulations, except when such international standards would be ineffective or inappropriate for the fulfilment of the legitimate objectives pursued by a Party; when a Party has not used international standards as a basis for its technical regulations, it shall, upon request of the other Party, identify any substantial deviation from the relevant international standards and explain the reasons why those standards have been judged inappropriate or ineffective for the objective pursued;
(c) reviewing, without prejudice to Article 2.3 of the TBT Agreement, technical regulations with a view to increasing their convergence with relevant international standards. In undertaking this review, the Parties shall, inter alia, take into account any new development in the relevant international standards and whether the circumstances that have given rise to divergences from any relevant international standard continue to exist;
(d) specifying technical regulations based on product performance requirements, rather than on design or descriptive characteristics.
2. In accordance with Article 2.7 of the TBT Agreement, a Party shall give favourable consideration to accepting as equivalent technical regulations of the other Party, even if those regulations differ from its own, provided it is satisfied that those regulations adequately fulfil the objectives of its own regulations.
3. A Party that has prepared a technical regulation that it considers to be equivalent to a technical regulation of the other Party because it has a compatible objective and product scope may request in writing that the other Party recognise it as equivalent. That request shall be made in writing and set out in detail the reasons why the technical regulations should be considered to be equivalent, including reasons with respect to product scope. A Party which does not agree that the technical regulations are equivalent shall provide to the other Party, upon request, the reasons for its decision.
Article 5.5. Standards
1. The Parties affirm their obligations under Article 4.1 of the TBT Agreement to ensure that their standardising bodies accept and comply with the Code of Good Practice for the Preparation, Adoption and Application of Standards in Annex 3 to the TBT Agreement. The Parties further affirm their adherence to the principles set out in Decisions and Recommendations adopted by the WTO Committee on Technical Barriers to Trade since 1 January 1995, G/TBT/1/rev.13 of 8 March 2017, including the Decision of the Committee on Principles for the Development of International Standards, Guides and Recommendations with relation to Articles 2, 5 and Annex 3 of the Agreement, referred to in the Annexes to Part 1 of the document.
2. With a view to harmonising standards on as wide a basis as possible, the Parties shall encourage their standardising bodies as well as the regional standardising bodies of which they or their standardising bodies are members to:
(a) participate, within the limits of their resources, in the preparation of international standards by relevant international standardising bodies;
(b) use relevant international standards as a basis for the standards they develop, except where those international standards would be ineffective or inappropriate for the fulfilment of the legitimate objectives pursued by a Party, for instance because of an insufficient level of protection, fundamental climatic or geographical factors, or fundamental technological problems;
(c) avoid duplication of, or overlap with, the work of international standardising bodies;
(d) review national and regional standards not based on relevant international standards at regular intervals, with a view to increasing their convergence with relevant international standards; and
(e) cooperate with the relevant standardisation bodies of the other Party in international standardisation activities. That cooperation may be undertaken in international standardising bodies or at regional level.
3. The Parties shall exchange information on:
(a) their use of standards in support of technical regulations;
(b) their standardisation processes, and the extent of their use of international or regional standards as basis for their national standards; and
(c) cooperation agreements on standardisation implemented by either Party, including on standardisation issues in international agreements with third countries, to the extent this is not explicitly prohibited by those agreements.
4. The Parties recognise that in accordance with Annex 1 to the TBT Agreement, compliance with standards is voluntary. When a Party makes compliance with standards mandatory, through incorporation or referencing in technical regulations or conformity assessment procedures, Article 5.7 (Transparency) applies.
Article 5.6. Conformity Assessment Procedures
1. In respect of mandatory conformity assessment procedures the Parties shall apply paragraph 1 of Article 5.4 (Technical Regulations), mutatis mutandis, with a view to avoiding unnecessary obstacles to trade and ensuring transparency and non-discrimination.
2. In line with Article 5.1.2 of the TBT Agreement, when an importing Party requires positive assurance of conformity with its applicable technical regulations or standards, its conformity assessment procedures shall neither be stricter nor applied more strictly than necessary to give that Party adequate confidence that products conform with its applicable technical regulations or standards, taking account of the risks non-conformity would create.
3. The Parties recognise that a broad range of mechanisms exists to facilitate the acceptance of the results of conformity assessment procedures conducted in the territory of the other Party, including:
(a) the importing Party's reliance on a supplier's declaration of conformity;
(b) agreements on mutual acceptance of the results of conformity assessment procedures with respect to specific technical regulations conducted by bodies located in the territory of the other Party;
(c) use of accreditation to qualify conformity assessment bodies located in the territory of either Party;
(d) government designation of conformity assessment bodies, including bodies located in the territory of the other Party;
(e) unilateral recognition by a Party of the results of conformity assessment procedures conducted in the territory of the other Party;
(f) voluntary arrangements between conformity assessment bodies located in the territory of either Party; and
(g) use of regional and international multilateral recognition agreements and arrangements to which the Parties are party.
4. Having regard in particular to the considerations referred to in paragraph 3, the Parties shall:
(a) intensify their exchange of information on the mechanism referred to in paragraph 3 and on similar mechanisms with a view to facilitating the acceptance of conformity assessment results;
(b) exchange information on conformity assessment procedures and, in particular, on the criteria used to select appro- priate conformity assessment procedures for specific products;
(c) consider a supplier's declaration of conformity as one of the assurances of conformity with domestic law;
(d) consider arrangements on mutual acceptance of the results of conformity assessment procedures according to the procedure set out in paragraph 5;
(e) exchange information on accreditation policy and to consider how to best make use of international standards for accreditation and of international agreements involving the Parties' accreditation bodies, for example, through the mechanisms of the International Laboratory Accreditation Cooperation and the International Accreditation Forum;
(f) consider joining or, as applicable, to encourage their testing, inspection and certification bodies to join any operative international agreements or arrangements for harmonisation or facilitation of acceptance of conformity assessment results;
(g) ensure that economic operators have a choice amongst conformity assessment facilities designated by the authorities to perform the tasks required by domestic law to assure compliance;
(h) endeavour to use accreditation to qualify conformity assessment bodies; and
(i) ensure independence of, and absence of conflict of interest between, accreditation bodies and conformity assessment bodies.
5. Upon request from a Party, the other Party may decide to enter into consultations with a view to defining sectoral initiatives regarding the use of conformity assessment procedures or the facilitation of acceptance of conformity assessment results that are appropriate for the respective sectors. The Party making the request should provide relevant information on how the sectoral initiative would facilitate trade. If the other Party declines that request it shall, upon request, provide its reasons.
6. The Parties affirm their obligations under Article 5.2.5 of the TBT Agreement that fees imposed for mandatory conformity assessment of imported products shall be equitable in relation to any fees chargeable for assessing the conformity of like products of domestic origin or originating in any other country, taking into account communication, transportation and other costs arising from differences between location of facilities of the applicant and the conformity assessment body.
Article 5.7. Transparency
The Parties acknowledge the importance of transparency with regard to the preparation, adoption and application of standards, technical regulations and conformity assessment procedures. In that regard, the Parties affirm their transparency obligations under the TBT Agreement. Each Party shall:
(a) take the other Party's comments into account where a part of the process of developing a technical regulation is open to public consultation, and provide, upon request, written responses in a timely manner to the comments made by the other Party;
(b) ensure that economic operators and other interested persons of the other Party are allowed to participate in any formal public consultation process concerning the development of technical regulations, on terms no less favourable than those accorded to its own legal or natural persons;
(c) further to subparagraph 1(a) of Article 5.4 (Technical Regulations), in cases where impact assessments are carried out, inform the other Party, upon request, of the outcome of the impact assessment of the proposed technical regulation;
(d) when making notifications in accordance with Article 2.9.2 or 5.6.2 of the TBT Agreement:
(i) allow at least a period of 60 days, following the notification, for the other Party to provide comments in writing to the proposal and, where practicable, give due consideration to reasonable requests for extending that period;
(ii) provide the electronic version of the notified text;
(iii) provide, in case the notified text is not in one of the official WTO languages, a detailed and comprehensive description of the content of the measure in the WTO notification format;
(iv) reply in writing to written comments received from the other Party on the proposal, no later than the date of publication of the final technical regulation or conformity assessment procedure; and
(v) provide information on the adoption and the entry into force of the notified measure and the adopted final text through an addendum to the original notification;
(e) allow sufficient time between the publication of technical regulations and their entry into force for economic operators of the other Party to adapt, except where urgent problems of safety, health, environmental protection or national security arise or threaten to arise;
(f) ensure that all technical regulations and mandatory conformity assessment procedures adopted and in force are publicly available on official websites and free of charge; and
(g) ensure that the enquiry point, established in accordance with Article 10.1 of the TBT Agreement, provides information and answers in one of the official WTO languages to reasonable enquiries from the other Party or from interested persons of the other Party on adopted technical regulations, conformity assessment procedures and standards.
Article 5.8. Market Surveillance
The Parties shall:
(a) exchange views on market surveillance and enforcement activities;
(b) ensure that market surveillance functions are carried out by the competent authorities and that no conflicts of interest exist between the market surveillance function and the conformity assessment function; and
(c) ensure that there are no conflicts of interest between market surveillance bodies and the economic operators subject to control or supervision.
Article 5.9. Marking and Labelling
1. The Parties note that a technical regulation may include or deal exclusively with marking or labelling requirements. When a Party's technical regulations contain mandatory marking or labelling requirements, that Party shall observe the principles of Article 2.2 of the TBT Agreement, in particular, that technical regulations shall not be prepared with a view to, or with the effect of, creating unnecessary obstacles to international trade, and that they shall not be more trade restrictive than necessary to fulfil a legitimate objective.
2. When requiring mandatory marking or labelling of products, a Party shall:
(a) only require information which is relevant for consumers or users of the product or which indicates the product's conformity with the mandatory technical requirements;
(b) not require any prior approval, registration or certification of the labels or markings of products as a precondition for placing on its market products that otherwise comply with its mandatory technical requirements, unless it is necessary in view of the risk of the products to human, animal or plant health or life, the environment or national security; this subparagraph is without prejudice to the right of the Party to require prior approval of the specific information to be provided on the label or marking in light of the relevant domestic regulations;
(c) in the event that it requires the use of a unique identification number by economic operators, issue that number to the economic operators of the other Party without undue delay and on a non-discriminatory basis;
(d) provided it is not misleading, contradictory or confusing in relation to the information required in the Party importing the goods, permit the following:
(i) information in other languages in addition to the language required in the Party importing the goods;
(ii) internationally accepted nomenclatures, pictograms, symbols or graphics; or
(ii) information in addition to that required in the Party importing the goods;
(e) accept that labelling, including supplementary labelling or corrections to labelling, take place, where relevant, in authorised premises, such as in customs or bonded licensed warehouses at the point of import, in the importing Party prior to the distribution and sale of the product; the Party may require that the original labelling is not removed;
(f) when it considers that the legitimate objectives under the TBT Agreement are not compromised, endeavour to accept non-permanent or detachable labels, or marking or labelling in the accompanying documentation rather than physically attached to the product.
Article 5.10. Cooperation and Trade Facilitation
1. The Parties shall strengthen their cooperation in the field of standards, technical regulations and conformity assessment procedures with a view to increasing the mutual understanding of their respective systems and to facilitating trade between them. To that end, they may establish regulatory dialogues at both horizontal and sectoral levels.
2. The Parties shall aim to identify, develop and promote bilateral initiatives regarding standards, technical regulations and conformity assessment procedures that are appropriate for particular issues or sectors and which facilitate trade. Those initiatives may include:
(a) promoting good regulatory practices through regulatory cooperation, including the exchange of information, experiences and data, with a view to improving the quality and effectiveness of their standards, technical regulations and conformity assessment procedures and making efficient use of regulatory resources;
(b) using a risk-based approach to conformity assessment such as relying on a supplier's declaration of conformity for low-risk products and, where appropriate, reducing the complexity of technical regulations, standards and conformity assessment procedures;