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Consolidated TPP Text – Chapter 17 – State-Owned Enterprises and Designated Monopolies

Article 17.1: Definitions

For the purposes of this Chapter:

Arrangement means the Arrangement on Officially Supported Export Credits, developed within the framework of the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD), or a successor undertaking, whether developed within or outside of the OECD framework, that has been adopted by at least 12 original WTO Members that were Participants to the Arrangement as of January 1, 1979;

commercial activities means activities which an enterprise undertakes with an orientation toward profit-makingFootnote 1 and which result in the production of a good or supply of a service that will be sold to a consumer in the relevant market in quantities and at prices determined by the enterprise;Footnote 2

commercial considerations means price, quality, availability, marketability, transportation, and other terms and conditions of purchase or sale , or other factors that would normally be taken into account in the commercial decisions of a privately owned enterprise in the relevant business or industry;

designate means to establish, designate, or authorise a monopoly, or to expand the scope of a monopoly to cover an additional good or service;

designated monopoly means a privately owned monopoly that is designated after the date of entry into force of this Agreement and any government monopoly that a Party designates or has designated;

government monopoly means a monopoly that is owned, or controlled through ownership interests, by a Party or by another government monopoly;

independent pension fund means an enterprise that is owned, or controlled through ownership interests, by a Party that:

market means the geographical and commercial market for a good or service;

monopoly means an entity, including a consortium or government agency, that in any relevant market in the territory of a Party is designated as the sole provider or purchaser of a good or service, but does not include an entity that has been granted an exclusive intellectual property right solely by reason of the grant;

non-commercial assistanceFootnote 4 means assistance to a state-owned enterprise by virtue of that state-owned enterprise’s government ownership or control, where:

public service mandate means a government mandate pursuant to which a state-owned enterprise makes available a service, directly or indirectly, to the general public in its territory;Footnote 6

sovereign wealth fund means an enterprise owned, or controlled through ownership interests, by a Party that:

and includes any special purpose vehicles established solely for such activities described in subparagraph (a) wholly owned by the enterprise, or wholly owned by the Party but managed by the enterprise; and

state-owned enterprise means an enterprise that is principally engaged in commercial activities in which a Party:

Article 17.2: ScopeFootnote 8

1. This Chapter shall apply with respect to the activities of state-owned enterprises and designated monopolies of a Party that affect trade or investment between Parties within the free trade area.Footnote 9

2. Nothing in this Chapter shall prevent a central bank or monetary authority of a Party from performing regulatory or supervisory activities or conducting monetary and related credit policy and exchange rate policy.

3. Nothing in this Chapter shall prevent a financial regulatory body of a Party, including a non-governmental body, such as a securities or futures exchange or market, clearing agency, or other organisation or association, from exercising regulatory or supervisory authority over financial services suppliers.

4. Nothing in this Chapter shall prevent a Party, or one of its state enterprises or state-owned enterprises from undertaking activities for the purpose of the resolution of a failing or failed financial institution or any other failing or failed enterprise principally engaged in the supply of financial services.

5. This Chapter shall not apply with respect to a sovereign wealth fund of a PartyFootnote 10, except:

6. This Chapter shall not apply with respect to:

7. This Chapter shall not apply to government procurement.

8. Nothing in this Chapter shall prevent a state-owned enterprise of a Party from providing goods or services exclusively to that Party for the purposes of carrying out that Party’s governmental functions.

9. Nothing in this Chapter shall be construed to prevent a Party from:

10. Article 17.4 (Non-discriminatory Treatment and Commercial Considerations), Article 17.6 (Non-commercial Assistance) and Article 17.10 (Transparency) shall not apply to any service supplied in the exercise of governmental authority.Footnote 11

11. Article 17.4.1(b), Article 17.4.1(c), Article 17.4.2(b) and Article 17.4.2(c) (Non-discriminatory Treatment and Commercial Considerations) shall not apply to the extent that a Party’s state-owned enterprise or designated monopoly makes purchases and sales of goods or services pursuant to:

Article 17.3: Delegated Authority

Each Party shall ensure that when its state-owned enterprises, state enterprises and designated monopolies exercise any regulatory, administrative or other governmental authority that the Party has directed or delegated to such entities to carry out, those entities act in a manner that is not inconsistent with that Party’s obligations under this Agreement.Footnote 12

Article 17.4: Non-discriminatory Treatment and Commercial Considerations

1. Each Party shall ensure that each of its state-owned enterprises, when engaging in commercial activities:

2. Each Party shall ensure that each of its designated monopolies:

3. Paragraphs 1(b) and 1(c) and paragraphs 2 (b) and 2(c) do not preclude a state-owned enterprise or designated monopoly from:

provided that such differential treatment or refusal is undertaken in accordance with commercial considerations.

Article 17.5: Courts and Administrative Bodies

1. Each Party shall provide its courts with jurisdiction over civil claims against an enterprise owned or controlled through ownership interests by a foreign government based on a commercial activity carried on in its territory.Footnote 15 This shall not be construed to require a Party to provide jurisdiction over such claims if it does not provide jurisdiction over similar claims against enterprises that are not owned or controlled through ownership interests by a foreign government.

2. Each Party shall ensure that any administrative body that the Party establishes or maintains that regulates a state-owned enterprise exercises its regulatory discretion in an impartial manner with respect to enterprises that it regulates, including enterprises that are not state-owned enterprises.Footnote 16

Article 17.6: Non-commercial Assistance

1. No Party shall causeFootnote 17 adverse effects to the interests of another Party through the use of non-commercial assistance that it provides, either directly or indirectlyFootnote 18, to any of its state-owned enterprises with respect to:

2. Each Party shall ensure that its state enterprises and state-owned enterprises do not cause adverse effects to the interests of another Party through the use of non-commercial assistance that the state enterprise or state-owned enterprise provides to any of its state-owned enterprises with respect to:

3. No Party shall cause injury to a domestic industryFootnote 19 of another Party through the use of non-commercial assistance that it provides, either directly or indirectly, to any of its state-owned enterprises that is a covered investment in the territory of that other Party in circumstances where:

4. A service supplied by a state-owned enterprise of a Party within that Party’s territory shall be deemed not to cause adverse effects.Footnote 21

Article 17.7: Adverse Effects

1. For the purposes of Article 17.6.1 and Article 17.6.2 (Non-commercial Assistance), adverse effects arise if the effect of the non-commercial assistance is:

2. For the purposes of paragraphs 1(a), 1(b) and 1(d), the displacing or impeding of a good or service includes any case in which it has been demonstrated that there has been a significant change in relative shares of the market to the disadvantage of the like good or like service. “Significant change in relative shares of the market” shall include any of the following situations:

The change must manifest itself over an appropriately representative period sufficient to demonstrate clear trends in the development of the market for the good or service concerned, which, in normal circumstances, shall be at least one year.

3. For the purposes of paragraphs 1(c) and 1(e), price undercutting shall include any case in which such price undercutting has been demonstrated through a comparison of the prices of the good or service of the state-owned enterprise with the prices of the like good or service.

4. Comparisons of the prices in paragraph 3 shall be made at the same level of trade and at comparable times, and due account shall be taken for factors affecting price comparability. If a direct comparison of transactions is not possible, the existence of price undercutting may be demonstrated on some other reasonable basis, such as, in the case of goods, a comparison of unit values.

5. Non-commercial assistance that a Party provides

shall be deemed not to cause adverse effects.

6. For the purposes of Article 17.6.1(b) and Article 17.6.2(b ) (Non-commercial Assistance), the initial capitalisation of a state-owned enterprise, or the acquisition by a Party of a controlling interest in an enterprise, that is principally engaged in the supply of services within the territory of the Party, shall be deemed not to cause adverse effects.

Article 17.8: Injury

1. For the purposes of Article 17.6.3 (Non-commercial Assistance), the term “injury” shall be taken to mean material injury to a domestic industry, threat of material injury to a domestic industry or material retardation of the establishment of such an industry. A determination of material injury shall be based on positive evidence and involve an objective examination of the relevant factors, including the volume of production by the covered investment that has received non-commercial assistance, the effect of such production on prices for like goods produced and sold by the domestic industry, and the effect of such production on the domestic industry producing like goods.Footnote 23

2. With regard to the volume of production by the covered investment that has received non-commercial assistance, consideration shall be given as to whether there has been a significant increase in the volume of production, either in absolute terms or relative to production or consumption in the territory of the Party in which injury is alleged to have occurred. With regard to the effect of the production by the covered investment on prices, consideration shall be given as to whether there has been a significant price undercutting by the goods produced and sold by the covered investment as compared with the price of like goods produced and sold by the domestic industry, or whether the effect of production by the covered investment is otherwise to depress prices to a significant degree or to prevent price increases, which otherwise would have occurred, to a significant degree. No one or several of these factors can necessarily give decisive guidance.

3. The examination of the impact on the domestic industry of the goods produced and sold by the covered investment that received the non-commercial assistance shall include an evaluation of all relevant economic factors and indices having a bearing on the state of the industry, such as actual and potential decline in output, sales, market share, profits, productivity, return on investments, or utilisation of capacity; factors affecting domestic prices; actual and potential negative effects on cash flow, inventories, employment, wages, growth, ability to raise capital or investments and, in the case of agriculture, whether there has been an increased burden on government support programmes. This list is not exhaustive, nor can one or several of these factors necessarily give decisive guidance.

4. It must be demonstrated that the goods produced and sold by the covered investment are, through the effectsFootnote 24 of the non-commercial assistance, causing injury within the meaning of this Article. The demonstration of a causal relationship between the goods produced and sold by the covered investment and the injury to the domestic industry shall be based on an examination of all relevant evidence. Any known factors other than the goods produced by the covered investment which at the same time are injuring the domestic industry shall be examined, and the injuries caused by these other factors must not be attributed to the goods produced and sold by the covered investment that has received non-commercial assistance. Factors which may be relevant in this respect include, among other things, the volumes and prices of other like goods in the market in question, contraction in demand or changes in the patterns of consumption, and developments in technology and the export performance and productivity of the domestic industry.

5. A determination of a threat of material injury shall be based on facts and not merely on allegation, conjecture or remote possibility and shall be considered with special care. The change in circumstances which would create a situation in which non-commercial assistance to the covered investment would cause injury must be clearly foreseen and imminent. In making a determination regarding the existence of a threat of material injury, there should be consideration of relevant factorsFootnote 25 and of whether the totality of the factors considered lead to the conclusion that further availability of goods produced by the covered investment is imminent and that, unless protective action is taken, material injury would occur.

Article 17.9: Party-Specific Annexes

1. Article 17.4 (Non-discriminatory Treatment and Commercial Considerations) and Article 17.6 (Non-commercial Assistance) shall not apply with respect to the non-conforming activities of state-owned enterprises or designated monopolies that a Party lists in its Schedule to Annex IV in accordance with the terms of the Party’s Schedule.

2. Article 17.4 (Non- discriminatory Treatment and Commercial Considerations), Article 17.5 (Courts and Administrative Bodies), Article 17.6 (Non-commercial Assistance) and Article 17.10 (Transparency) shall not apply with respect to a Party’s state-owned enterprises or designated monopolies as set out in Annex 17-D (Application to Sub-Central State-Owned Enterprises and Designated Monopolies).

3.

Article 17.10: TransparencyFootnote 26, Footnote 27

1. Each Party shall provide to the other Parties or otherwise make publicly available on an official website a list of its state-owned enterprises no later than six months after the date of entry into force of this Agreement for that Party, and thereafter shall update the list annually.Footnote 28, Footnote 29

2. Each Party shall promptly notify the other Parties or otherwise make publicly available on an official website the designation of a monopoly or expansion of the scope of an existing monopoly and the terms of its designation.Footnote 30

3. On the written request of another Party, a Party shall promptly provide the following information concerning a state-owned enterprise or a government monopoly, provided that the request includes an explanation of how the activities of the entity may be affecting trade or investment between the Parties:

4. On the written request of another Party, a Party shall promptly provide, in writing, information regarding any policy or programme it has adopted or maintains that provides for non-commercial assistance, provided that the request includes an explanation of how the policy or programme affects or could affect trade or investment between the Parties.

5. When a Party provides a response pursuant to paragraph 4, the information it provides shall be sufficiently specific to enable the requesting Party to understand the operation of and evaluate the policy or programme and its effects or potential effects on trade or investment between the Parties. The Party responding to a request shall ensure that the response it provides contains the following information:

6. If a Party considers that it has not adopted or does not maintain any policies or programmes referred to in paragraph 4, it shall so inform the requesting Party in writing.

7. If any relevant points in paragraph 5 have not been addressed in the written response, an explanation shall be provided in the written response itself.

8. The Parties recognise that the provision of information under paragraphs 5 and 7 does not prejudge the legal status of the assistance that was the subject of the request under paragraph 4 or the effects of that assistance under this Agreement.

9. When a Party provides written information pursuant to a request under this Article and informs the requesting Party that it considers the information to be confidential, the requesting Party shall not disclose the information without the prior consent of the Party providing the information.

Article 17.11: Technical Cooperation

The Parties shall, where appropriate and subject to available resources, engage in mutually agreed technical cooperation activities, including:

Article 17.12: Committee on State-Owned Enterprises and Designated MonopoliesFootnote 31

1. The Parties hereby establish a Committee on State-Owned Enterprises and Designated Monopolies (Committee), composed of government representatives of each Party.

2. The Committee’s functions shall include:

3. The Committee shall meet within one year after the date of entry into force of this Agreement, and at least annually thereafter, unless the Parties agree otherwise.

Article 17.13: Exceptions

1. Nothing in Article 17.4 (Non-discriminatory Treatment and Commercial Considerations) or Article 17.6 (Non-commercial Assistance) shall be construed to:

2. Article 17.4.1 (Non-discriminatory Treatment and Commercial Considerations) shall not apply with respect to the supply of financial services by a state-owned enterprise pursuant to a government mandate if that supply of financial services:

3. The supply of financial services by a state-owned enterprise pursuant to a government mandate shall be deemed not to give rise to adverse effects under Article 17.6.1(b) (Non-commercial Assistance) or Article 17.6.2(b), or under Article 17.6.1(c) or Article 17.6.2(c) where the Party in which the financial service is supplied requires a local presence in order to supply those services, if that supply of financial services:Footnote 33

4. Article 17.6 (Non-commercial Assistance) shall not apply with respect to an enterprise located outside the territory of a Party over which a state-owned enterprise of that Party has assumed temporary ownership as a consequence of foreclosure or a similar action in connection with defaulted debt, or payment of an insurance claim by the state-owned enterprise, associated with the supply of the financial services referred to in paragraphs 2 and 3, provided that any support the Party, a state enterprise or state-owned enterprise of the Party, provides to the enterprise during the period of temporary ownership is provided in order to recoup the state-owned enterprise’s investment in accordance with a restructuring or liquidation plan that will result in the ultimate divestiture from the enterprise.

5. Article 17.4 (Non- discriminatory Treatment and Commercial Considerations), Article 17.6 (Non-commercial Assistance), Article 17.10 (Transparency) and Article 17.12 (Committee on State-Owned Enterprises and Designated Monopolies) shall not apply with respect to a state-owned enterprise or designated monopoly if in any one of the three previous consecutive fiscal years, the annual revenue derived from the commercial activities of the state-owned enterprise or designated monopoly was less than a threshold amount which shall be calculated in accordance with Annex 17-A. Footnote 34, Footnote 35

Article 17.14: Further Negotiations

Within five years of the date of entry into force of this Agreement, the Parties shall conduct further negotiations on extending the application of the disciplines in this Chapter in accordance with Annex 17-C (Further Negotiations).

Article 17.15: Process for Developing Information

Annex 17-B (Process for Developing Information Concerning State-Owned Enterprises and Designated Monopolies) shall apply in any dispute under Chapter 28 (Dispute Settlement) regarding a Party’s conformity with Article 17.4 (Non-discriminatory Treatment and Commercial Considerations) or Article 17.6 (Non-commercial Assistance).

Annex 17-A

Threshold calculation

1. On the date of entry into force of this Agreement, the threshold referred to in Article 17.13.5 (Exceptions) shall be 200 million Special Drawing Rights (SDRs).

2. The amount of the threshold shall be adjusted at three-year intervals with each adjustment taking effect on 1 January. The first adjustment shall take place on the first 1 January following the entry into force of this Agreement, in accordance with the formula set out in this Annex.

3. The threshold shall be adjusted for changes in general price levels using a composite SDR inflation rate, calculated as a weighted sum of cumulative per cent changes in the Gross Domestic Product (GDP) deflators of SDR component currencies over the three-year period ending 30 June of the year prior to the adjustment taking effect, and using the following formula:

Τ 1 = 1 + Σ w i SDR ⋅ Π i SDR Τ 0

where,

4. Each Party shall convert the threshold into national currency terms where the conversion rates shall be the average of monthly values of that Party’s national currency in SDR terms over the three-year period to 30 June of the year before the threshold is to take effect. Each Party shall notify the other Parties of their applicable threshold in their respective national currencies.

5. For the purposes of this Chapter, all data shall be drawn from the International Monetary Fund’s International Financial Statistics database.

6. The Parties shall consult if a major change in a national currency vis-à-vis the SDR were to create a significant problem with regard to the application of this Chapter.

Annex 17-B

Process for developing information concerning state-owned enterprises and designated monopolies

1. If a panel has been established pursuant to Chapter 28 (Dispute Settlement) to examine a complaint arising under Article 17.4 (Non-discriminatory Treatment and Commercial Considerations) or Article 17.6 (Non-commercial Assistance), the disputing Parties may exchange written questions and responses, as set forth in paragraphs 2, 3 and 4, to obtain information relevant to the complaint that is not otherwise readily available.

2. A disputing Party (questioning Party) may provide written questions to another disputing Party (answering Party) within 15 days of the date the panel is established. The answering Party shall provide its responses to the questions to the questioning Party within 30 days of the date it receives the questions.

3. The questioning Party may provide any follow-up written questions to the answering Party within 15 days of the date it receives the responses to the initial questions. The answering Party shall provide its responses to the follow-up questions to the questioning Party within 30 days of the date it receives the follow-up questions.

4. If the questioning Party considers that the answering Party has failed to cooperate in the information-gathering process under this Annex, the questioning Party shall inform the panel and the answering Party in writing within 30 days of the date the responses to the questioning Party’s final questions are due, and provide the basis for its view. The panel shall afford the answering Party an opportunity to reply in writing.

5. A disputing Party that provides written questions or responses to another disputing Party pursuant to these procedures shall, on the same day, provide the questions or answers to the panel. In the event that a panel has not yet been composed, each disputing Party shall, upon the composition of the panel, promptly provide the panel with any questions or responses it has provided to the other disputing Party.

6. The answering Party may designate information in its responses as confidential information in accordance with the procedures set out in the Rules of Procedure established under Article 27.2.1(f) (Functions of the Commission) or other rules of procedure agreed to by the disputing Parties.

7. The time periods in paragraphs 2, 3 and 4 may be modified upon agreement of the disputing Parties or approval by the panel.

8. In determining whether a disputing Party has failed to cooperate in the information-gathering process, the panel shall take into account the reasonableness of the questions and the efforts the answering Party has made to respond to the questions in a cooperative and timely manner.

9. In making findings of fact and its initial report, the panel should draw adverse inferences from instances of non-cooperation by a disputing Party in the information-gathering process.

10. The panel may deviate from the time period set out in Chapter 28 (Dispute Settlement) for the issuance of the initial report if necessary to accommodate the information-gathering process.

11. The panel may seek additional information from a disputing Party that was not provided to the panel through the information-gathering process where the panel considers the information necessary to resolve the dispute.  However, the panel shall not request additional information to complete the record where the information would support a Party’s position and the absence of that information in the record is the result of that Party’s non-cooperation in the information-gathering process.

Annex 17-C

Further negotiations

Within five years of the date of entry into force of this Agreement, the Parties shall conduct further negotiations on extending the application of:

Annex 17-D

Application to sub-central state-owned enerprises and designated monopolies

Pursuant to Article 17.9.2 (Party-Specific Annexes), the following obligations shall not apply with respect to a state-owned enterprise owned or controlled by a sub-central level of government and a designated monopoly designated by a sub-central level of government:Footnote 36

Annex 17-E

Singapore

1. Neither Singapore, nor a sovereign wealth fund of SingaporeFootnote 37, shall take action to direct or influence decisions of a state-owned enterprise owned or controlled by a sovereign wealth fund of Singapore, including through the exercise of any rights or ownership interests over such state-owned enterprises, except in a manner consistent with this Chapter. However, Singapore, or a sovereign wealth fund of Singapore, may exercise its voting rights in any state-owned enterprise it owns or controls through ownership interests in a manner that is not inconsistent with this Chapter.

2. Article 17.4.1 (Non-discriminatory Treatment and Commercial Considerations) shall not apply with respect to a state-owned enterprise owned or controlled by a sovereign wealth fund of Singapore.

3. Article 17.6.2 (Non-commercial Assistance) shall not apply with respect to a state-owned enterprise owned or controlled by a sovereign wealth fund of Singapore, unless:

4. Singapore is deemed to comply with Article 17.10.1 (Transparency) with respect to any state-owned enterprise owned or controlled by a sovereign wealth fund of Singapore if:

Annex 17-F

Malaysia

Permodalan Nasional Berhad

1. The obligations in this Chapter shall not apply with respect to Permodalan Nasional Berhad or an enterprise owned or controlled by Permodalan Nasional Berhad, provided that Permodalan Nasional Berhad:

2. Notwithstanding paragraph 1 of this Annex, Article 17.6.1 (Non-commercial Assistance) and Article 17.6.3 shall apply with respect to Malaysia’s:

Lembaga Tabung Haji

3. The obligations in this Chapter shall not apply with respect to Lembaga Tabung Haji or an enterprise owned or controlled by Lembaga Tabung Haji, provided that Lembaga Tabung Haji:

4. Notwithstanding paragraph 3 of this Annex, Article 17.6.1 (Non-commercial Assistance) and Article 17.6.3 (Non-commercial Assistance), shall apply with respect to Malaysia’s:

Date Modified: