AUSTRALIA UNITED STATES OF AMERICA TRADE AGREEMENT JSCOT INQUIRY TABLED 24 JUN 2004 Report 61 The Australia - United States Free Trade Agreement June 2004 D Summary Reasons for Australia to take proposed Treaty Action E Submission Man Committee OIC XML & E-commerce Special Interest Group [XZIG] F Side-Letter May 18 on Chapter 15: Government Procurement 1 Contents 2 Membership of the Committee 3 Resolution of Appointment 4 List of Abbreviations 5 List of Recommendations Page A Introduction 1 a Role of the Committee 2 b Conduct of the inquiry 2 c Scope and structure of the Report 4 d Clarification of terms used in the Report 5 e Other inquiries into the AUSFTA 6 B Background a How did we get here? 9 b The 'multilateral vs bilateral' debate 10 c Regionalism 10 d Criticisms of bilateralism 11 e Bilateralism won't affect the multilateral process 12 f Australia's place in the world trade environment 12 g ANZCERTA 13 h Australia's involvement in other trade agreements 15 i Impact of the AUSFTA on Australia's relations with the rest of the world 15 j Australia's approach 17 k Trade diversion 18 l Additional arguments in favour 20 m Consultation with the public 20 n Concluding observations 21 C Overview of the Treaty 23 a Summary of outcomes 24 b Obligations 27 c Implementation 27 d Costs and benefits 31 e Types of economic modelling 32 f Modelling conducted for this Agreement 33 g Conclusions on economic modelling 35 h Consultation 36 i States and Territories 37 j Economic effects on States and Territories 37 k Consultation with States and Territories 38 l Impact on Indigenous interests 43 D Administrative Framework and Dispute Resolution 47 a Introduction 47 b Legal and Institutional Framework (Chapters 1, 22 and 23) 48 c Chapter 22 (General Provisions and Exceptions) 48 d Chapter 23 (Final Provisions) 49 e Chapter 6 (Customs Administration) 50 f Chapter 20 (Transparency) 50 g Chapter 21 (Institutional Arrangements and Dispute Settlement) 51 h Investor-state dispute resolution mechanism in future ? 53 i Concluding observations 56 E National Treatment and Market Access for Goods, Textiles and Apparel and Rules of Origin 57 a Introduction 57 b Anti-dumping measures 58 c National treatment and market access for goods 58 d Tariff reduction 61 e Rules of Origin (ROOs) 69 f Originating g 72 g Change in tariff classification approach to ROOs 72 h Accumulation 73 i Regional value content 73 j De Minimis 74 k Specific products 74 l Third country transportation 75 m Claims for preferential treatment 75 n Textiles and Apparel 76 o Safeguard Mechanisms 76 p Rules of Origin - the 'yarn forward' rule 78 q Customs Cooperation (Article 4.3) 80 r Concluding observations 80 F Annex on Pharmaceuticals 81 a Agreed Principles of the PBS 81 b Patents and marketing of generic drugs 84 c Medicines Working Group 85 d Review mechanism for PBAC decisions 85 e Transparency 91 f Direct-to-consumer advertising 91 g Plasma Fractionation Arrangements 92 h Concluding observations 92 G Agriculture 95 a Introduction 95 b Background 96 c Beef 97 d Industry views on goals 97 e Outcomes - Access and Safeguards 98 f Why weren't the goals met? 99 g Comment on conduct of the negotiations 101 h Dairy 101 i Sugar 102 j A way forward on sugar? 104 k Other agriculture products 105 l Tuna 109 m Wine 110 n Other provisions in respect of Agriculture 111 o Concluding observations 112 H Sanitary and Phytosanitary Measures 113 a Introduction 113 b Proposed impact of SPS measures 114 c Status of quarantine standards 115 d Establishment of two Committees 116 e SPS Committee 116 f Standing Working Group on Animal and Plant Health 117 g Concerns regarding both Committees 118 h Conflict of interest between quarantine and trade? 118 i Concerns specific to SPS Committee 119 j Concerns specific to technical working group 120 k Are Australian quarantine standards threatened? 121 l Positive responses to SPS and Technical Committees 123 m Implementation and operation of SPS measures 123 n Comments in the US 126 o Concluding observations 126 I Technical Barriers to Trade 129 a Introduction 129 b Concerns about the US system and implications for Australian system 131 c Cooperation between the Parties 133 d Recognition and acceptance of assessment procedures 133 e Trade Facilitation 139 f Article 8.7 Transparency 139 g Chapter Coordinators 140 h Consultation 140 i Benefits of the removal of technical barriers to trade 141 j Concluding observations 142 J Safeguards 143 a Introduction 143 b The imposition of a safeguard measure 144 c Conditions and limitations 144 d Provisional safeguard measures 145 e Compensation 145 f Global safeguard measures 146 g Other remedies 146 K Cross Border Trade in Services 147 a Introduction 147 b Professional and public services 148 c Background 148 d Scope and coverage 149 e Core obligations 149 f Movement of people 155 g Mutual Recognition 156 h Professional Services Working Group 158 i Public and essential services 160 j Local content 163 k Local content and its impact on culture 164 l The Australian audiovisual market 167 m Measures to ensure local content in the audiovisual sector 169 n Subsidies, grants and tax concessions for the film industry 190 o Impact on public broadcasters 191 p Australian film exports to the United States 192 r Consultation 193 s Concluding observations 194 L Investment and Financial Services 195 a Introduction 195 b Investment 196 c Good for the economy 196 d No discrimination 198 e Concerns heard 199 f Looks familiar - very different 200 g Expropriation and the Environment 201 h Performance Requirements 202 i Is there a director in the house? 203 j Cultural investment protected 204 k Investor State Dispute Mechanism 205 l Financial Services 205 m Concluding observations 206 M Telecommunications 207 a Access to and use of public telecommunications services 208 b Obligations for Suppliers of Public Telecommunications Services 208 c Obligations for Major Suppliers of Public Telecommunications Services 208 d Other measures 209 e Additional letters - consultation and Telstra 210 f Concluding observations 211 N Competition-Related Matters 213 a Competition law and anticompetitive business conduct 214 b Cooperation on competition/antitrust 215 c Monopolies and government enterprises 215 d Cross border consumer protection 216 e Recognition and enforcement of monetary judgements 216 f Transparency, cooperation and consultations 217 g Dispute settlement 217 O Government Procurement 219 a Introduction 219 b New opportunities 221 c Concerns 222 d Disappointments 222 e Concluding observations 223 P Intellectual Property Rights and Electronic Commerce 225 a IP Rights - Introduction 225 b Background 226 c Obligations concerning copyright 226 d Extension to the term of copyright protection 227 e Copyright and competition 232 f Effective Technological Protection Measures 238 g Trade marks, including geographical indications 244 h Patents 245 i Business as usual 246 j Measures related to certain Regulated Products 247 k Pharmaceutical products 248 l Agriculture and Veterinary Chemicals 250 m Enforcement 251 n E-Commerce 255 Q Labour and Environment 257 a Introduction 257 b Labour 258 c Background 258 d Core obligattions 259 e Labour standards 259 f Environment 264 g Background 264 h Core obligations 265 i Environmental standards 265 j Dispute settlement and consultations 266 k Institutional arrangements 268 l Environmental impact of the FTA 268 m Concluding observations 270 R Conclusions 273 S DISSENTING REPORT 275 Dissenting Report-Mr Wilkie MP, Senator Kirk, Senator Marshall, Senator Stephens, Mr Evans MP and the Hon Mr Adams MP APPENDICES Appendix A - Submissions 277 Appendix B - Witnesses 287 Appendix C - Exhibits 297
