COMPREHENSIVE ECONOMIC PARTNERSHIP AGREEMENT BETWEEN THE REPUBLIC OF KOREA AND THE REPUBLIC OF INDIA
The Republic of Korea (hereinafter referred to as "Korea") and the Republic of India (hereinafter referred to as "India"), and hereinafter referred to jointly as "Parties" and individually as "Party":
RECOGNISING their long-standing friendship, strong economic ties and close cultural links;
RECALLING the establishment of the Joint Study Group to examine the benefits of a Comprehensive Economic Partnership Agreement (hereinafter referred to as "CEPA") between Korea and India in January 2005, and its recommendations, which served as the framework for negotiations on the CEPA and its structure as an integrated package of agreements;
CONSIDERING that the expansion of their domestic markets, through economic integration, is important for accelerating their economic development;
DESIRING to promote mutually beneficial economic relations;
SHARING the belief that the CEPA would improve their attractiveness to capital and human resources, and create larger and new markets, to expand trade and investment not only between them but also in the region;
AFFIRMING their commitment to fostering the development of an open market economy in Asia, and to encouraging the economic integration of Asian economies in order to further the liberalisation of trade and investment in the region;
REAFFIRMING that this Agreement shall contribute to the expansion and development of world trade under the multilateral trading system embodied in the WTO Agreement;
BUILDING on their respective rights and obligations under the WTO Agreement and other bilateral, regional and multilateral instruments of cooperation to which both Parties are party,
FURTHER REAFFIRMING their rights to pursue economic philosophies suited to their development goals and their rights to realise their national policy objectives;
RECOGNISING that economic and trade liberalisation should allow for the optimal use of natural resources in accordance with the objective of sustainable development, seeking both to protect and preserve the environment; and
RESOLVED to promote reciprocal trade and investment, and to avoid circumvention of benefits of regional trade integration, through the establishment of clear and mutually advantageous trade rules, and industry as well as regulatory cooperation;
HAVE AGREED as follows:
The objectives of this Agreement, as elaborated more specifically through its principles and rules are to:
(a) liberalise and facilitate trade in goods and services and expand investment between the Parties;
(b) establish a cooperative framework for strengthening and enhancing the economic relations between the Parties;
(c) establish a framework conducive for a more favourable environment for their businesses and promote conditions of fair competition in the free trade area;
(d) establish a framework of transparent rules to govern trade and investment between the Parties;
(e) create effective procedures for the implementation and application of this Agreement;
(f) explore new areas of economic cooperation and develop appropriate measures for closer economic partnership between the Parties;
(g) improve the efficiency and competitiveness of their manufacturing and services sectors and expand trade and investment between the Parties; and
(bh) establish a framework for further regional and multilateral cooperation to expand and enhance the benefits of this Agreement throughout Asia, and thereby, to encourage the economic integration of Asian economies.
1. The Parties reaffirm their existing rights and obligations with respect to each other under existing bilateral, regional and multilateral agreements to which both Parties are party, including the WTO Agreement.
2. In the event of any inconsistency between this Agreement and other agreements to which both Parties are party, the Parties shall immediately consult with each other with a view to finding a mutually satisfactory solution.
1. For the purposes of this Agreement, unless otherwise specified:
Agreement means the CEPA;
central level of government means:
(a) for Korea, the central level of government; and
(b) for India, the government of the Union of India;
Customs Valuation Agreement means the Agreement on Implementation of Article VI of the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade 1994, contained in Annex 1A to the WTO Agreement;
days means calendar days, including weekends and holidays;
enterprise means any entity constituted or organised under applicable law, whether or not for profit, and whether privately or governmentally owned or controlled, including any corporation, trust, partnership, sole proprietorship, joint venture, association, or similar organisation;
existing means in effect on the date of entry into force of this Agreement;
GATS means the General Agreement on Trade in Services, contained in Annex 1B to the WTO Agreement;
GATT 1994 means the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade 1994, contained in Annex 1A to the WTO Agreement;
goods/products of a Party means all domestic products including manufactures and commodities in their raw, semi processed and processed forms as these are understood in GATT 1994 or such goods as the Parties may agree, and includes originating goods;
government procurement means the process by which a government obtains the use of or acquires goods or services, or any combination thereof, for governmental purposes and not with a view to commercial sale or resale or use in the production or supply of goods or services for commercial sale or resale;
Harmonised System (HS) means the nomenclature of the Harmonised Commodity Description and Coding System defined in the International Convention on the Harmonised Commodity Description and Coding System including all legal notes thereto, as adopted and implemented by the Parties in their respective tariff laws;
measure means any measure by a Party, whether in the form of a law, regulation, rule, procedure, decision, administrative action, or any other form;
measures by Parties means measures taken by:
(a) central, regional, or local governments and authorities; and
(b) non-governmental bodies in the exercise of powers delegated by central, regional or local governments or authorities;
(a) for Korea, a Korean as defined in Article 2 of the Constitution of Korea and its laws; and
(b) for India, natural persons deriving their status as Indian citizens from the law in force in India;
originating goods means goods qualifying under Chapter Three (Rules of Origin); person means a natural person or an enterprise/juridical person;
person of a Party means a national or an enterprise/juridical person of a Party;
preferential tariff treatment means the duty rate applicable under this Agreement to an originating good;
regional level of government means, for India, the state and the Union Territories of India; for Korea, "regional level of government" is not applicable;
Safeguards Agreement means the Agreement on Safeguards, contained in Annex 1A to the WTO Agreement;
SPS Agreement means the Agreement on the Application of Sanitary and Phytosanitary Measures, contained in Annex 1A to the WTO Agreement;
TBT Agreement means the Agreement on Technical Barriers to Trade, contained in Annex 1A to the WTO Agreement;
(a) for Korea, the land, maritime, and air space over which Korea exercises sovereignty, and those maritime areas, including the seabed and subsoil adjacent to and beyond the outer limit of the territorial seas over which it may exercise sovereign rights or jurisdiction in accordance with international law and its law; and
(b) for India, the territory of India including its territorial seas and the air space above it and other maritime zones including the Exclusive Economic Zone and the continental shelf over which India has sovereignty, sovereign rights or exclusive jurisdiction in accordance with its laws in force, the 1982 United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea and International Law;
TRIPS Agreement means the Agreement on Trade-Related Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights, contained in Annex 1C to the WTO Agreement;
WTO means the World Trade Organization; and
WTO Agreement means the Marrakesh Agreement Establishing the World Trade Organization, done on 15 April 1994.
2. In this Agreement, all words in the singular shall include the plural and all words in the plural shall include the singular, unless otherwise indicated in the context.
For the Purposes of this Chapter:
Anti-Dumping Agreement means the Agreement on Implementation of Article VI of GATT 1994;
A.T.A, Carnet Convention means the Customs Convention on the A.T.A. Carnet for the Temporary Admission of Goods, done on 6 December 1961;
A.T.A, carnet has the same meaning as defined in the A.T.A. Carnet Convention;
customs duties (1) includes any duty or charge of any kind imposed in connection with the importation of a good, but does not include any:
(a) charge equivalent to an internal tax imposed consistently with Article 1:2 of GATT 1994;
(b) duty applied consistently with Articles 2.13 through 2.27;
(c) fee or other charge that is limited in amount to the approximate cost of services rendered, and does not represent a direct or indirect protection for domestic goods or a taxation of imports for fiscal purposes;
(d) premium offered or collected on an imported good arising out of any tendering system in respect of the administration of quantitative import restrictions or tariff rate quotas; or
(e) duty imposed pursuant to Article 5 of the Agreement on Agriculture, contained in Annex 1A to the WTO Agreement; and
MFN means "most favoured nation" treatment in accordance with Article I of GATT 1994.
(1) Customs duties for India refer to basic customs duties as specified in the First Schedule to the Customs Tariff Act, 1975 of India. This is without prejudice to Korea's position either on the definition of customs duties or on the consistency of India's internal tax or charge equivalent to an internal tax with Article 2.3 of this Chapter or Article III of GATT 1994.
This Chapter applies to trade in goods between the Parties. Section A: National Treatment and Market Access for Goods
Each Party shall accord national treatment to the goods of the other Party in accordance with Article I of GATT 1994, including its interpretative notes, which is hereby incorporated into and made a part of this Agreement, mutatis mutandis.
1. Except as otherwise provided for in this Agreement, each Party shall reduce or eliminate its customs duties on originating goods of the other Party in accordance with its Schedule to Annex 2-A.
2. Upon the request of either Party, the Parties shall consult each other to consider the possibility of accelerating the reduction or elimination of customs duties as set out in their Schedules to Annex 2-A including the goods that are excluded from tariff concession in the Annex. An agreement by the Parties to accelerate the reduction or elimination of customs duties on any goods shall supersede any duty rate or staging category established for those goods in this Article and the Annex 2-A in accordance with Article 15.5 (Amendment) of this Agreement.
3. The reduced customs duty rates calculated in accordance with a Partyâs Schedule to Annex 2-A shall be applied rounded to the first decimal place.
Goods covered by this Agreement shall be eligible for preferential tariff treatment, provided that they satisfy the rules of origin as set out in Chapter Three (Rules of Origin).
1. Neither Party shall adopt or maintain any non-tariff measures on the importation of any goods of the other Party or on the exportation of any goods destined for the territory of the other Party except in accordance with its rights and obligations under the WTO Agreement or in accordance with other provisions of this Agreement.
2. Each Party shall ensure that such measures are not prepared, adopted or applied with a view to or with the effect of creating unnecessary obstacles to trade in goods between the Parties.
Each Party shall determine the customs value of goods traded between the Parties in accordance with the provisions of Article VII of GATT 1994 and the Customs Valuation Agreement.
Article XII of GATT 1994 and the Understanding on Balance-of-Payments Provisions of GATT 1994 shall be incorporated into and made a part of this Agreement, for measures taken for balance of payments purposes for trade in goods.
1. For the purposes of this Chapter, Articles XX and XXI of GATT 1994 and its interpretative notes are incorporated into and made a part of this Agreement, mutatis mutandis.
2. Nothing in this Chapter shall be construed to require a Party to accord the benefits of this Chapter to the other Party, or the goods of the other Party where a Party adopts or maintains measures in any laws and regulations which it considers necessary for the protection of its essential security interests with respect to a non-Party, or goods of a non- Party that would be violated or circumvented if the benefits of this Chapter were accorded to such Party or goods.
Nothing in this Agreement shall be construed to prevent a Party from maintaining or establishing a state trading enterprise in accordance with Article XVII of GATT 1994.
For the purposes of this Chapter and Chapter Three (Rules of Origin), the basis for tariff classification would be the HS.
1. Each Party shall accept in lieu of its national customs documents, and as due security for the sums referred to in Article 6 of the A.T.A. Carnet Convention, A.T.A. camets valid for its territory, issued and used in accordance with the conditions laid down in the A.T.A. Carnet Convention, for temporary admission of:
(a) professional equipment necessary for representatives of the press or of broadcasting or television organisations for purposes of reporting or in order to transmit or record material for specified programmes, cinematographic equipment necessary in order to make a specified film or films or other professional equipment (2) necessary for the exercise of the calling, trade or profession of a person to perform a specified task;
(b) goods intended for display or demonstration at an event; and
(c) goods intended for use in connection with the display of foreign products at an event, including:
(i) goods necessary for the purposes of demonstrating foreign machinery or apparatus to be displayed;
(ii) construction and decoration material, including electrical fittings, for the temporary stands of foreign exhibitors;
(iii) advertising and demonstration material which is demonstrably publicity material for the foreign goods displayed, for example, sound recordings, films and lantern slides, as well as apparatus for use therewith; and
(iv) equipment including interpretation apparatus, sound recording apparatus and films of an educational, scientific or cultural character intended for use at international meetings, conferences or congresses.
2. The facilities referred to in paragraph 1 shall be granted provided that:
(a) the goods in all respects conform to the description, quantity, quality, value and other specifications given in the A.T.A. carnet duly certified by the customs authorities of the exporting Party;
(b) the goods are capable of identification on re-exporting;
(c) the number or quantity of identical articles is reasonable having regard to the purposes of importation; and
(d) the goods shall be re-exported within three months from the date of importation or such other longer period in accordance with the laws and practices of the Parties.
(2) It would not include equipment which is to be used for internal transport or for the industrial manufacture or packaging of goods or (except in the case of hand-tools) for the exploitation of natural resources, for the construction, repair or maintenance of buildings or for earth moving and like projects.
1. Except as otherwise provided for in this Agreement, the Parties retain their rights and obligations under Article VI of GATT 1994 and the Anti-Dumping Agreement.
2. (a) Notwithstanding paragraph 1, in the event of inconsistency between the articles set out in the following subparagraphs (2)(a)(i) through (iv) and any agreement, to which both Parties are party, that results from negotiations aimed at clarifying and improving disciplines under Article VI of GATT 1994 and the Anti-Dumping Agreement, such agreement shall prevail to the extent of the inconsistency:
(i) Article 2.14 (Notification of Petition for Investigation and Exchange of Information);
(ii) Article 2.17 (Lesser Duty Rule);
(iii) Article 2.18 (Prohibition of Zeroing); and
(iv) Article 2.19 (Exemption from Investigation after Termination on Review);
(b) A Party may withdraw its commitments under articles listed in subparagraph (a), provided that no agreement is reached in the WTO under Article VI of GATT 1994 and the Anti-Dumping Agreement on them within a reasonable period of time, but not less than two years from the date of entry into force of this Agreement;
(c) Notwithstanding subparagraph (b), neither Party may withdraw its commitments under articles listed in subparagraph (a) with respect to anti- dumping cases where the imports from the other Party are the only subject of anti-dumping investigation;
(d) A Party that intends to withdraw its commitments in accordance with subparagraph (b) shall notify the other Party of its intention at least three months before its withdrawal; and
(e) After the date of entry into force of this Agreement, any articles relating to anti-dumping disciplines may be added to the list of articles in subparagraph (a), if both Parties so agree.
The investigating authority of a Party shall, upon accepting a properly documented application for the initiation of an anti-dumping investigation in respect of goods from the other Party, and before proceeding to initiate such an anti-dumping investigation, notify the other Party at least ten working days in advance of the date of initiation of the investigation.
1, Where originating goods are subject to an anti-dumping investigation, the export price of such goods before adjustment for fair comparison in accordance with Article 2.4 of the Anti-Dumping Agreement shall, subject to paragraph 2, be based on the value which appears in relevant documents.
2. In cases where the investigating authority of a Party determines that the value referred to in paragraph 1 is unreliable because of association or a compensatory arrangement between the exporter and the importer or a third party, the export price may be constructed in accordance with Article 2.3 of the Anti-Dumping Agreement.
Each Party may, in all investigations conducted against goods from the other Party, take into account the recommendations of the WTO Committee on Anti-Dumping Practices.
If a Party takes a decision to impose an anti-dumping duty pursuant to Article 9.1 of the Anti-Dumping Agreement, it shall apply a duty less than the margin of dumping where such lesser duty would be adequate to remove the injury to the domestic industry.
When anti-dumping margins are established, assessed or reviewed under Articles 2, 9.3, 9.5, and 11 of the Anti-Dumping Agreement regardless of the comparison bases under Article 2.4.2 of the Anti-Dumping Agreement, all individual margins, whether positive or negative, should be counted toward the average.
1. In case where the investigating authority of the importing Party determines that the anti-dumping measures against imports from the other Party be terminated as a result of the review under Articles 11.2 and 11.3 of the Anti-Dumping Agreement, no investigation shall be initiated on the same goods during one year after the termination of the anti-dumping duties.
2. Notwithstanding the paragraph 1, the investigating authority of the importing Party may initiate an investigation in an exceptional case, provided that the authority is satisfied, on the basis of evidence available with it, that dumping or injury has recurred as a result of withdrawal of the duties and that initiation of such an investigation is necessary to prevent material injury or threat thereof to the domestic industry as a consequence of such dumped imports from the exporting Party.
The Parties reaffirm their commitments to abide by Articles VI and XVI of GATT 1994 and the Agreement on Subsidies and Countervailing Measures contained in Annex 1A to the WTO Agreement.