Cross-strait service trade agreement (this agreement will take effect after completing relevant procedures)
In order to strengthen cross-strait economic and trade relations and promote the liberalization of trade in services, the Cross-Strait Exchange Foundation and the Association for Relations across the Taiwan Strait have reached the following agreement through equal consultation in accordance with the Framework Agreement on Cross-Strait Economic Cooperation and the General Agreement on Trade in Services of the World Trade Organization:
Chapter I General Provisions
First goal
This agreement is dedicated to:
1. Gradually reduce or cancel the restrictive measures of service trade covering many fields of both sides, and promote the further liberalization and facilitation of service trade between the two sides;
Second, continue to expand the breadth and depth of service trade;
Third, strengthen cooperation between the two sides in the field of service trade.
The second definition
For the purpose of this Agreement:
1. "Trade in services" refers to:
(1) One party provides services to the other party;
(2) Providing services to service consumers of the other party within one party;
(3) A service provider of one party provides services by setting up a commercial base in the other party;
(4) The service provider of one party provides services through the presence of natural persons in the other party.
2. "Service Department" refers to:
(1) For specific commitments, it refers to one, more or all sub-sectors of services listed in the commitment table of one party;
(2) In other cases, it refers to the whole service department, including all its sub-departments.
3. "Person" means a natural person or a legal person.
4. "Legal person" refers to an entity established on both sides of the Taiwan Province Strait according to relevant regulations.
5. "Service provider" refers to anyone who provides services on both sides of the Taiwan Province Strait. If the service is not provided directly by the legal person, but through other forms of commercial outlets such as branches or offices, the service provider (that is, the legal person) shall still enjoy the treatment given by this agreement through the commercial outlets. This processing should be extended to the presentation of the service, but it does not need to be extended to any other part of the service provider except the party providing the service.
6. "Service consumer" refers to anyone who accepts or uses services.
7. "Measures" refer to the regulations, rules, procedures, decisions or any other form of measures on both sides of the Taiwan Strait.
8. "Measures of one party affecting trade in services" include measures taken on the following matters:
(a) purchasing, paying or using services;
(two) access to and use of services related to the provision of services, generally provided by the parties to the public;
(3) The statement of the other party about providing services in that party, including the statement of the commercial base.
9. "Introduction of commercial stronghold" refers to any type of commercial or professional stronghold, including providing services within one party in the following ways:
(a) the establishment, acquisition or maintenance of a legal person, or
(2) Establish or maintain branches or offices.
Scope of Article 3
1. This Agreement shall apply to measures taken by both parties that affect trade in services.
2. This Agreement does not apply to:
(1) public procurement;
(2) Services provided by one party for exercising the functions and powers of the public sector;
(3) Subsidies or subsidies provided by one party, or any additional conditions for accepting or continuing to accept such subsidies. However, if the above subsidies seriously affect one party's specific commitments under this Agreement, the other party may request to solve the problem amicably through negotiation. At the request of the other party, one party shall, as far as possible, provide subsidy information related to the specific commitments made under this agreement;
(4) Air transport arrangements across the Taiwan Strait, namely, the measures and contents covered by the Air Transport Agreement across the Taiwan Strait and the Supplementary Agreement on Air Transport across the Taiwan Strait and their subsequent amendments;
(5) Services directly related to the implementation of cross-strait air transport arrangements, but excluding the measures listed in the Framework Agreement on Cross-Strait Economic Cooperation and its subsequent agreements in the Commitment Form for Opening up the Service Trade Market;
(6) Relevant measures of the maritime agreement between the two sides, but excluding the measures listed in the service trade market opening commitment table under the Framework Agreement on Cross-Strait Economic Cooperation and its subsequent agreements;
(seven) other services or measures agreed by both parties.
Three. The annex on the movement of natural persons to the General Agreement on Trade in Services of the World Trade Organization shall apply mutatis mutandis to this Agreement.
Four. The competent business departments at all levels of both parties and their authorized institutions shall fulfill their obligations and commitments under this agreement.
Chapter ii obligations and norms
Article 4 Fair treatment
1. For the service sectors listed in the WTO, Annex IV "Early Harvest Sectors of Service Trade and Opening Measures" of the Cross-Strait Economic Cooperation Framework Agreement and Annex I "Table of Specific Commitments of Service Trade" of this Agreement, provided that any conditions and qualifications listed in the above commitment lists or opening measures are met, one party shall not give less treatment to the services and service providers of the other party in all measures affecting service provision.
Second, the first paragraph of this article does not apply to the existing non-conforming measures of one party and its modification, but that party shall gradually reduce or eliminate such non-conforming measures, and any modification or change of such non-conforming measures shall not increase the restrictions on the services and service providers of the other party.
Three, according to the specific commitments made in the first paragraph of this article shall not be interpreted as requiring any party to compensate for any inherent competitive disadvantage caused by the non-local characteristics of the service or service provider.
Four, one party can give the other party's services and service providers the same or different treatment as similar services and service providers, in order to meet the requirements of the first paragraph of this article. The same or different treatment in this form changes the competitive conditions. Compared with similar services or service providers of the other party, services or service providers that are beneficial to the other party should be regarded as inferior treatment.
5. With regard to the measures taken by one party to affect trade in services, except for the exemption stipulated in Article 2, paragraph 2, of the General Agreement on Trade in Services of the World Trade Organization, the treatment given by that party to the other party's services and service providers shall not be lower than that given by that party to similar services and service providers generally applicable to any other WTO member.
Six, the fifth paragraph of this article does not apply to one party's existing non-conforming measures and their modifications, but the party shall gradually reduce or even eliminate such non-conforming measures, and any modification or change of such non-conforming measures shall not increase the restrictions on the other party's services and service providers.
Article 5 Information Disclosure and Provision
1. One party shall, according to its regulations, promptly announce or otherwise make the public aware of the measures related to trade in services that are generally applicable or directed against the other party.
Two, at the request of the other party, one party shall, in accordance with its regulations, provide timely information about the changes in measures that have been announced and affect the other party's service providers.
Three, one party shall not require the other party to provide confidential information, the disclosure of which will hinder the implementation of the relevant provisions or violate the public interest, or damage the legitimate commercial interests of a specific enterprise.
Article 6 Management norms
One party shall ensure that all universally applicable measures affecting trade in services are implemented in a reasonable, objective and fair manner for departments that have made specific commitments.
Two, both parties shall, in accordance with its provisions, give the affected service providers the right to apply for administrative relief for the decision made by the competent business department, and ensure that the administrative relief procedure provides an objective and fair review.
Three, for the services that have made specific commitments, such as the provision of such services requires permission, the competent business department of one party shall, in accordance with its provisions, notify the applicant of the application results within a certain period of time after the applicant submits the complete application materials. At the request of the applicant, the competent business department of the party concerned shall provide information about the application without undue delay.
Four, in order to ensure that the measures related to qualification requirements, qualification procedures, technical standards and licensing requirements do not constitute unnecessary barriers to trade in services, for the departments that one party has made specific commitments, the party shall strive to ensure the above measures:
(1) Based on objective and transparent criteria, such as the ability to provide services;
(two) shall not exceed the limit necessary to ensure the quality of service;
(3) If it is a licensed program, the program itself does not become a restriction on the provision of services.
Five, one party may, in accordance with its provisions or other ways agreed by both parties, recognize the performance, experience, license, certificate or qualification requirements of the other party for service providers.
Six, in the department has made a specific commitment to professional services, one party should provide appropriate procedures to verify the ability of the other party's professionals.
Article 7 Commercial behavior
1. One party shall ensure that any exclusive service provider within its territory does not violate its commitments in Annex 1 of this Agreement and Annex 4 of the Framework Agreement on Cross-Strait Economic Cooperation when providing exclusive services in relevant markets.
Two, a party's exclusive service provider directly or through the relevant enterprises, to participate in the competition outside the scope of its exclusive rights and belong to the party's specific commitments, the party shall ensure that the service provider does not abuse its exclusive position to take acts that violate such commitments within the party.
Three, when one party has reason to believe that the behavior of the exclusive service provider of the other party violates the provisions of the first or second paragraph of this article, at the request of the other party, the other party can provide information about the operation through consultation.
Four, a party in the form or in fact authorized or established and substantially prevent a few service providers from competing with each other within the party, the provisions of the first and second paragraphs of this article shall apply to such service providers.
Five, in addition to the business activities mentioned in the first to fourth paragraphs of this article, the relevant business activities of service providers may inhibit competition, thus restricting service trade. In this case, one party should negotiate according to the requirements of the other party with a view to eliminating such business practices. The requested party shall give full and positive consideration to this request and provide non-confidential information related to the matters involved as publicly as possible. According to its provisions, the requested party shall provide other available information to the requesting party on the premise of reaching an agreement with the requesting party to ensure confidentiality.
Article 8 Consultation in case of emergency
If the implementation of this agreement has a substantial negative impact on one party's service department, the affected party may request to negotiate with the other party and actively seek solutions.
Article 9 Payment and Transfer
Except as stipulated in Article 10 of this Agreement, one party shall not impose restrictions on the transfer and payment of overseas funds for current account transactions related to its specific commitments.
Limitation of Article 10 on Ensuring Balance of Payments
When there is or may be a serious imbalance in one party's external revenue and expenditure, the transfer and payment of funds related to service trade may be temporarily restricted according to regulations or practices, but the implementation of such restrictions should follow the principles of fairness, non-discrimination and goodwill.
Outside the regulations 1 1
Nothing in this Agreement shall be interpreted as preventing one party from adopting or maintaining special measures in line with the rules of the General Agreement on Trade in Services of the World Trade Organization.
Article 12 Cooperation
The two sides should strengthen cooperation between service departments on the basis of mutual benefit, so as to further improve the capacity, efficiency and competitiveness of their service departments.
Chapter III Specific Commitments
Article 13 The market is open.
With regard to the market opening of the mode of service provision referred to in Paragraph 1 of Article 2 of this Agreement, the services provided by one party to the other party, service providers meeting the conditions listed in Annex 2 of this Agreement and other aspects shall not be less than those listed in Annexes 1 and 4 of the Framework Agreement on Cross-Strait Economic Cooperation. For the services provided in the ways mentioned in Items 1 and 3 of Paragraph 1 of Article 2 of this Agreement, if one party makes a commitment to open the market, it shall allow the relevant capital to flow.
Article 14 Other commitments
According to Article 13 of this Agreement, both parties may hold consultations on measures that affect trade in services but are not included in the specific commitment table, including qualifications, standards, licensing matters or other measures, and the results of consultations shall be included in the specific commitment table.
Article 15 Schedule of Specific Commitments
1. The specific commitment table reached by both parties through consultation is attached as Annex I to this Agreement.
Two, the specific commitment table should contain:
(1) The department or sub-department making the commitment;
(2) market opening commitment;
(3) Other commitments mentioned in Article 14 of this Agreement;
(4) Other contents agreed by both parties.
Three. The ways of opening commitments of the financial services sector listed in Annex I to this Agreement are not restricted by the provisions of paragraph 2 of this article.
Four. The specific provisions on service providers in Annex II of this Agreement shall apply to the service sectors and market opening commitments listed in Annex I of this Agreement and Annex IV of the Framework Agreement on Cross-Strait Economic Cooperation.
Sixteenth gradually reduce the restrictions on trade in services.
1. In order to gradually reduce or cancel the restrictive measures of service trade covering many fields of both sides and promote the liberalization of service trade, consultations can be held on further opening the service trade market on the basis of mutual benefit with the consent of both sides.
Two. The results of the consultations conducted in accordance with the first paragraph of this article shall form part of this agreement.
Three. Either party may, on the basis of the opening commitment stipulated in this agreement, accelerate the opening up or cancel the restrictive measures independently.
Article 17 Revision of Commitment Letter
1. At any time after the expiration of three years from the date of implementation of any commitment in the commitment table, one party may modify or cancel the commitment in accordance with the provisions of this article. If the commitment does not exceed its commitment level in the World Trade Organization, the modification of the commitment shall not be more restrictive than before.
Two, the modifying party shall notify the other party of its intention to modify or cancel the commitment mentioned in the first paragraph of this article, and the notification time shall not be later than three months before the scheduled implementation date of the modification or cancellation.
3. At the request of the affected party, the modifying party shall consult with it with a view to reaching an agreement on the necessary compensatory adjustment, and the adjusted result shall not be lower than the overall openness level of the specific commitments made before the consultation.
Four. If both parties cannot reach an agreement on compensatory adjustment, it can be settled according to Article 20 of this Agreement. Before the modifying party completes the compensatory adjustment according to the result of dispute settlement, it shall not modify or revoke its commitment.
Chapter IV Other Clauses
Article 18 Contact mechanism
1. Both parties agree that the Working Group on Trade in Services of the Cross-Strait Economic Cooperation Committee shall be responsible for handling this Agreement and matters related to trade in services, and the contact person designated by the competent business departments of both parties shall be responsible for liaison. When necessary, with the consent of both parties, other units can be designated to contact.
Two. The Working Group on Trade in Services may, if necessary, establish a working mechanism to deal with this Agreement and specific matters related to trade in services.
Article 19 Inspection
Twelve months after the effective date of this agreement, both parties may hold an annual meeting to review this agreement and other issues related to service trade agreed by both parties.
Article 20 Dispute settlement
Disputes arising from the interpretation, implementation and application of this Agreement shall be handled in accordance with the provisions of Article 10 of the Framework Agreement on Cross-Strait Economic Cooperation.
Article 21 File format
Business contacts based on this agreement shall use the file format agreed by both parties.
Article 22 Annex
The annexes to this agreement constitute a part of this agreement.
Article 23 amendment
The modification of this agreement shall be agreed by both parties through consultation and confirmed in writing.
Article 24 comes into force.
1. After signing this agreement, both parties shall complete relevant procedures and notify each other in writing. This agreement will take effect on the day after both parties receive the notice from the other party.
Two. The contents listed in Annex I of this Agreement shall be implemented as soon as possible after the entry into force of this Agreement.
This Agreement was signed on June 2 1 day in quadruplicate, with each party holding two copies. Different expressions in the four texts have the same meaning, and the four texts have the same effect.