• Protocol to implement the 1^st package (AFAS 1)
• Protocol to implement the 2^nd package (AFAS 2)
• Protocol to implement the 3^rd package (AFAS 3)
• Protocol to implement the 4^th package (AFAS 4)
• Protocol to implement the 5^th package (AFAS 5)
• Protocol to implement the 6^th package (AFAS 6)
• Protocol to implement the 7^th  package (AFAS 7)
• Protocol to implement the 8^th package (AFAS 8)
• Protocol to implement the 9^th package (AFAS 9)
• Protocol to Implement the 10^th package (AFAS 10)

Background

• During ASEAN-Korea Summit in November 2004 in Vientiane, Lao PDR, Leaders welcomed the recommendation of the Report of the Joint Study on Comprehensive Closer Economic Relations between ASEAN and Korea of the ASEAN-Korea Experts Group (AKEG), among others, to establish a Free Trade Area between ASEAN-Korea Free Trade Area.

• At the 8th ASEAN-Korea Summit held on 29 November 2004, the Leaders signed the ASEAN-ROK Joint Declaration on Comprehensive Cooperation Partnership Agreement. Through the Joint Declaration, the Leaders among others agreed to:

  • the recommendations of the ASEAN-ROK Experts Group (AKEG) on the measures to expand two-way trade and investment by liberalising and integrating the markets;

  • the establishment of an ASEAN-ROK Free Trade Area (AKFTA); and  

  • launching the AKFTA negotiations in early 2005 with a goal of having at least 80% of products at zero tariff by 2009, and consideration of special and differential treatment and additional flexibility for new ASEAN Member Countries.

• The Framework Agreement on Comprehensive Economic Cooperation between ASEAN and Korea was signed by the Leaders at the ASEAN-Korea Summit on 13 December 2005 in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia and came into force on 1 July 2006.  (Click here to view full text of the agreement)

• The main objective of this agreement is to establish an ASEAN-Korea Free Trade Area (AKFTA) to strengthen and enhance economic, trade and investment cooperation among ASEAN Member States and Korea by progressively liberalizing and promoting trade in goods and services as well as create a transparent, liberal and facilitative investment regime.

• The Agreement also aims to explore new areas and develop appropriate measures for closer economic cooperation and integration; facilitate more effective economic integration of the new ASEAN Member States and bridge the development gaps; and, establish a cooperative framework to further strengthen economic relations among the countries.

• To achieve the objectives of the Framework Agreement, the Economic Ministers of ASEAN and Korea, with the exception of Thailand, signed the Agreement on Trade in Goods of the Framework Agreement on Comprehensive Economic Cooperation between ASEAN and Korea on 26 August 2006.

• Following the Trade in Goods Agreement, the ASEAN-Korea Trade in Services Agreement was concluded and signed in 2007 and The ASEAN-Korea Investment Agreement was signed in 2009.

• FTA for Trade in Services and Investment to be implemented within the timeframes to be mutually agreed between ASEAN and Korea; and cooperation in the areas of:

  • Customs Procedures; 
  • Trade and Investment Promotion; 
  • Small and Medium Enterprises; 
  • Human Resource Management and Development; 
  • Tourism; 
  • Science and Technology; 
  • Financial Services; 
  • Information and Communication Technology; 
  • Agriculture, Fisheries, Livestock, Plantation Commodities and Forestry; 
  • Intellectual Property; 
  • Environmental Industry; 
  • Broadcasting; 
  • Construction Technology; 
  • Standards and Conformity Assessment and Sanitary and Phytosanitary Measures; 
  • Mining; 
  • Energy; 
  • Natural Resources; 
  • Shipbuilding and Maritime Transport; and 
  • Film. 

• The Agreement on Dispute Settlement Mechanism among ASEAN and Korea was also signed by the Economic Ministers of Korea and ASEAN on 13 December 2005 to provide a mechanism for any disputes that may arise between Parties from the interpretation, implementation or application of all the stand alone Agreements of the ASEAN Korea Free Trade Agreement (AKFTA).

Trade in Services Agreement

• Negotiations for Trade in Services Agreement was concluded in October 2007. The ASEAN-Korea Trade in Services Agreement was signed by the Economic Ministers and Korea at the ASEAN-Korea Summit on 21 November 2007. 
• The scope of offers is based on commitments under:

1. WTO Doha Round; and
2. selected sectors under the Fourth Package of ASEAN Framework Agreement on Services (AFAS) such as:

• business services;
• computer related services;
• telecommunication services;
• construction;
• distribution services;
• educational services;
• environmental services;
• financial services;
• tourism and related services; and
• transport services.

• Malaysia is expected to gain leverage in penetrating Korea's services market. These are in competitive sectors such as construction, engineering, financial services and Information Communication and Technology (ICT).

 

Main Agreement

• ASEAN - Korea Trade In Services Agreement

 

Protocol On The Accesion Of Thailand To AFTA

• Protocol on the Accession of Thailand to the Agreement on Trade in Services Under ASEAN - Korea

 

Schedules Of Specific Commitments (Annexes)

• Brunei
• Cambodia
• Indonesia
• Korea
• Lao PDR
• Malaysia
• Myanmar
• The Philippines
• Singapore
• Thailand
• Viet Nam

 

Main Agreement

• ASEAN - CHINA Trade In Services

 

Protocol To Implement 2nd Package

• ASEAN - CHINA - TIS2 Protocol 

 

Schedules Of Specific Commitments

Schedules Of Specific Commitments 1st Package		Schedules Of Specific Commitments 2nd Package
		Cover and Headnote 2nd Package ACTIS
Brunei		Brunei
Cambodia		Cambodia
Indonesia		Indonesia
Lao PDR		Lao PDR
Malaysia		Malaysia
Myanmar		Myanmar
The Philipines		The Philipines
PRC		PRC
Singapore		Singapore
Thailand		Thailand
Viet Nam		Viet Nam

 

Background

The ASEAN, Australia and New Zealand Summit on 30 November 2004 in Vientiane, Lao PDR, agreed to establish a comprehensive ASEAN, Australia and New Zealand Free Trade Area. The FTA would build on the existing cooperation initiatives under the AFTA-CER CEP, especially in the areas of:

• trade and investment facilitation measures;
• technical assistance; and
• capacity building activities.

Scope

AANZFTA is ASEAN's first comprehensive FTA negotiations with Dialogue Partners covering all sectors:

• trade in goods;
• investment;
• trade in services;
• financial services;
• telecommunications;
• electronic commerce;
• movement of natural persons;
• intellectual property;
• competition policy; and
• economic cooperation.

Status

Economic Ministers of ASEAN, Australia and New Zealand signed the ASEAN-Australia-New Zealand FTA (AANZFTA) Agreement on 27 February 2009 in Thailand.

ASEAN-Australia-New Zealand Free Trade Area have been implemented on 1 January 2010.

Related documents

Joint Media Statement on the Signing of the Agreement Establishing the ASEAN-Australia-New Zealand Free Trade Area, Cha-am, Thailand, 27 February 2009

Agreement Establishing the ASEAN-Australia-New Zealand Free Trade Area, Cha-am, Thailand, 27 February 2009

 

ANNEX 3 - Schedules Specific Services Commitments

•  Australia	•  Brunei Darussalam	•  Cambodia
•  Indonesia	•  Lao PDR	•  Malaysia
•  Myanmar	•  New Zealand	•  Philippines
•  Singapore	•  Thailand	•  Vietnam

 

ANNEX 4 - Schedules of Movement of Natural Persons Commitments

General Notes

•  Australia	•  Brunei Darussalam	•  Cambodia
•  Indonesia	•  Lao PDR	•  Malaysia
•  Myanmar	•  New Zealand	•  Philippines
•  Singapore	•  Thailand	•  Vietnam

 

Main Agreement

• Agreement Establishing The ASEAN - Australia - New Zealand Free Trade Area

 

Schedules of Specific Commitments (Annexes)

Schedule of Specific Commitments		Schedule of Movement of Natural Persons
Australia		Australia
Brunei		Brunei
Cambodia		Cambodia
Indonesia		Indonesia
Lao PDR		Lao PDR
Malaysia		Malaysia
Myanmar		Myanmar
New Zealand		New Zealand
The Philippines		The Philippines
Singapore		Singapore
Thailand		Thailand
Viet Nam		Viet Nam

In line with the services liberalisation under the World Trade Organisation (WTO), Chapter 8 (Trade in Services) under the AHKFTA provides for the progressive liberalisation of the services sector through substantial sectoral coverage. Services and service suppliers/providers in the region will enjoy improved market access and national treatment in sectors/subsectors as specified in the schedules of specific services commitments (by Parties) as follows:

• Brunei Darussalam
• Cambodia
• Indonesia
• Lao PDR
• Malaysia
• Myanmar
• The Philippines
• Singapore
• Thailand
• Viet Nam
• Hong Kong, China

The General Agreement on Trade in Services (GATS) has three elements:

• the main text containing general obligations and disciplines;
• annexes dealing with rules for specific sectors; and
• individual countries' specific commitments to provide access to their markets, including indications of where countries are temporarily not applying the "most favoured-nation" principle of non-discrimination.

Basic principles

• All services are covered by GATS
• Most-favoured-nation treatment applies to all services, except the one-off temporary exemptions
• National treatment applies in the areas where commitments are made
• Transparency in regulations, inquiry points
• Regulations have to be objective and reasonable
• International payments: normally unrestricted
• Individual countries. commitments: negotiated and bound
• Progressive liberalization: through further negotiations

Malaysia's commitments to GATS are in adhering to obligations that involve

• further progressive  liberalisation of market access;
• developing disciplines on domestic regulation; and
• rule-making in the area of emergency safeguard measures, government procurement and subsidies.

The GATS provides four modes of supplying services:

• cross-border trade (Mode 1) -  This is a situation where both the services provider and consumer/client can provide or consume services without having to be in the same country/ geographical territory. For example a consumer/client in Malaysia receives services from abroad through its telecommunications or postal infrastructure. Such supplies may include consultancy or market research reports, tele-medical advice, distance learning, back office operations etc.

• consumption abroad (Mode 2) -  This is a situation where the consumer/client consumes a service by moving to the country/ geographical territory where the services provider is. For example a Malaysian goes abroad as tourist, student or as medical patient to consume the respective services e.g. seeking medical treatment in Singapore. The supplier of the services does not have to move/relocate.

•  commercial presence (Mode 3) -  This is a situation where the services supplier moves and establishes itself in a country/ geographical territory to provide services to the consumer/client of that country/geographical territory. The service is provided within Malaysia by a locally established affiliate, subsidiary or representative office of a foreign-owned and/or controlled company (bank, hotel group, construction company etc.), FDI.

• presence of natural persons (Mode 4) -  This is a situation where the professional services supplier moves temporarily to a country/ geographical territory to provide services to the consumer/client of that country/geographical territory. A foreign national provides a service within Malaysia as an independent supplier (e.g. consultant, health worker) or as an employee of a services supplier (e.g. consultancy firm, hospital, construction company.

Under GATS, Malaysia, as with all other member countries, is expected to identify services sectors or sub-sectors and the modes of supply in which it is willing to make liberalisation commitments through the process of ‘scheduling', as well as to indicate any limitations on market access and national treatment.

Working on a ‘request and offer' basis, members send requests directly to each other indicating what improvements they are seeking for their services and services suppliers; members specify in their initial offers how and to what extent they are willing to take binding commitments in response to these requests.

Malaysia has received requests that cover a wide range of professional services, advertising, news agency services, telecommunications and computer-related services.

In response, Malaysia has also forwarded its own list of requests for market access to forty-five countries that cover architecture, engineering, accountancy, construction and telecommunication services.

Malaysia's existing commitments cover 10 services sectors:

• Business and Professional;
• Communication Services;
• Construction and Related Engineering Services;
• Educational Services;
• Financial Services;
• Transportation Services;
• Health-related Services;
• Tourism and travel-related Services;
• Recreational, Cultural and Sporting Services; and
• Other Services.

To fully appreciate the commitments Malaysia has made and is in negotiations with, one must be familiar with GATS which are general obligations required of a member of WTO and the specific commitment schedule of each member country.

For more information on  DDA and GATS (including Malaysia's commitments ) please select.

Malaysia's Commitments Under The GATS

• To achieve progressively higher levels of liberalisation through expanding level of commitments in sectors and modes of supply

• To develop disciplines on domestic regulation

• To develop rules in the area of emergency safeguard measures, government procurement and subsidies

Market Access

Negotiations to secure commitments in a service sector from a Member are made based on the request and offer approach by trading partners. Offers made by a Member in a particular area will be open to other Members (multilateralised).

 In addition to bilateral negotiations, the request-offer negotiation is also pursued on a plurilateral basis. 21 groups were established such as Air Transport, Architectural, Engineering and Integrated Engineering, Audiovisual, Computer and Related, Construction, Distribution, Education, Energy-related, Environment, Financial, Legal, Logistics, Maritime Transport, Postal and Courier, services Related to Agriculture, Telecommunication, Tourism, Mode 1 (Cross Border Supply), Mode 2 (Consumption Abroad), Mode 3 (Commercial Presence), Mode 4 (Movement of Natural Persons) and MFN Exemptions.

Domestic Regulation

Work started in 1995 to establish disciplines on domestic regulations . i.e. the requirements foreign service suppliers have to meet in order to operate in a market. The focus is on qualification requirements and procedures, technical standards and licensing requirements. By December 1998, members had agreed disciplines on domestic regulations for the accountancy sector. Since then, members have been engaged in developing general disciplines for all professional services and, where necessary, additional sectoral disciplines. All the agreed disciplines will be integrated into GATS and become legally binding by the end of the current services negotiations.

GATS Rules

Negotiations started in 1995 and are continuing on the development of possible disciplines that are not yet included in GATS: rules on emergency safeguard measures, government procurement and subsidies. Work so far has concentrated on safeguards. These are temporary limitations on market access to deal with market disruption, and the negotiations aim to set up procedures and disciplines for governments using these. The negotiations - which have been difficult, will come into effect at the same time as those of the current services negotiations.

Special Treatment For Least-Developed Countries (LDCs)

GATS' mandates members to establish how to give special treatment to least-developed countries during the negotiations. (These "modalities" cover both the scope of the special treatment, and the methods to be used.) The least-developed countries began the discussions in March 2002 when they submitted an informal paper outlining some of the key elements which they proposed should be included in the modalities. As a result of subsequent discussions, the least-developed countries submitted a formal draft text in early May 2003. Members are continuing to discuss this draft.