Letter in Reply from Canada (Telecommunications) – Chapter Nine – Text of the Canada-Korea Free Trade Agreement

September 22, 2014

Mr. Kyong-lim Choi
Chief Negotiator for the Republic of Korea
Seoul, Korea

Dear Mr. Kyong-lim Choi,

I have the honor to acknowledge receipt of your letter of this date, which reads as follows:

“I have the honor to confirm the following understanding reached between the delegations of the Republic of Korea and Canada during the course of negotiations regarding entries on telecommunications services in the Parties’ Schedules to Annex I in the Free Trade Agreement between our two Governments:

If a Party conditions the granting of a license to supply public telecommunications services to a person of the Party in which a person of the other Party holds an equity interest on a finding that the supply of such services would serve the public interest, the Party shall ensure that it: (i) bases any such finding and the procedures for making such a finding on objective and transparent criteria; (ii) employs a presumption in favor of finding that granting a license to a person of the Party in which a person of the other Party holds an equity interest would serve the public interest; and (iii) develops any such procedures through a rulemaking consistent with Article 11.10 (Transparency).

I have the honor to propose that this letter and your letter in reply confirming that your Government shares this understanding shall constitute an integral part of the Free Trade Agreement.”

I have the further honor to confirm that my Government shares this understanding and that your letter and this letter in reply shall constitute an integral part of the Free Trade Agreement.

Sincerely,

Ian Burney
Chief Negotiator for Canada