WT/COMTD/RTA/10/3  
 
30 April 2019 
(19-2984) Page: 1/3 
Committee on Trade and Development  
Dedicated Session on Regional Trade Agreements  Original: English/Spanish  
 
PARTIAL SCOPE AGREEM ENT BETWEEN PANAMA A ND THE DOMINICAN REP UBLIC  
(GOODS)  
QUESTIONS AND REPLIES  
 
 
 The following communication is being circulated at the request of the Delegation s of the 
Dominican Republi c and Panama.  
 
 The document provides additional responses from the Dominican Republic  and Panama  to the 
questions from the United States .1  
 
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Questions  from the Delegation  of the United States  
 
3. Provisions o n Trade in Goods  
 
3.1.1 General Provisions  
 
Page 7, Paragraph 3.3: The Panama -Dominican  Republ ic Agreement "foresees that  
quantitative measures, generally of a transitory nature, may be taken by a Party, under 
certain conditions and when facing certain difficulties in terms of competition from 
products imported by the other Party".  
 
• Over the life the Agreement, have any quantitative restrictions been imposed by 
either Party?  
Reply : To date, neither of the Parties have imposed quantitative restrictions because the need to 
apply quantitative restrictions based on taxes, quotas or licen sing procedures has never arisen . 
 
3.1.2 Liberalization of trade and tariff lines  
 
Page 7, Paragraph 3.5: "The Agreement and the Regulation provide for the modification 
of the List, including through the addition of new products, through an amendment 
procedure that requires the adoption of such changes by the Commission."  
• The Free Trade Agreement between Panama and the Dominican Republic entered 
into force on 8  June  1987 and fully implemented on 2  November  2003. Have the 
Parties undertaken any steps to  liberalize further trade in goods beyond the 
commitments undertaken over 30 years ago?  
                                                
1 These questions, which were initially circulated in document WT/COMTD/RTA/10/2  along with the replies 
from the Parties, were resubmitted  to the Parties by the United States  after the Ninth Dedicated Session on 
Regional Trade Agreements held on 21 November 2018.  WT/COMTD/RTA/10/3  
 
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  Reply : On this subject, we can report that a delegation from the Dominican Republic and a delegation 
from Panama engaged in two consultations in June 2009. The first to ok place on 4 and 5 June 2009 
and was overseen by the Ministry of Industry and Trade of the Dominican Republic. The shared goal 
was to expand the lists of products covered by the Partial Scope Agreement. At the meeting, 
convergence was achieved regarding t he products of interest for both countries and they agreed to 
discuss specific rules of origin for the products identified.  
 
The lists contained in annexes 3, 4, 5 and 6 were considered by both countries with particular 
interest. As soon as the rules of or igin are defined, the lists may be considered to be agreed and, 
consequently, may be incorporated into the Agreement prior to their adoption at the meeting of the 
Mixed Commission.  
 
Subsequently, on 22 June of the same year, the two delegations held a vide oconference during 
which the discussion centred on the following points: (1) rules of origin for products agreed both for 
Panama and for the Dominican Republic; and (2) discussion of products proposed for 
reconsideration.  
 
During the videoconference, Panam a asked the Dominican Republic to formulate a simpler, easy to 
implement proposal for some of the rules and the Dominican Republic agreed to conduct the 
consultations necessary to put together something that matched the requirements more effectively.  
 
As regards the rules of origin for juices, Panama indicated at the time that it would welcome a more 
extensive exchange of proposals that brought satisfactory results for both parties.  
 
Also, during the videoconference, Panama agreed to conduct the required co nsultations concerning 
the possibility of including fish in the "Doble Vía" (twin track), while the Dominican Republic agreed 
to do the same in respect of rubber tyres. It is important to note that both countries are currently 
working on these aspects.  
 
The process was subsequently resumed in 2013. On 28 April 2017, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of 
the Dominican Republic (MIREX) and the Ministry of Trade and Industry of the Republic of Panama 
(MCI) signed a general framework agreement for negotiating the extension of the lists and the 
modification of the Implementing Regulations of the Partial Scope Agreement between the two 
countries.  
 
At this stage, negotiations have resumed to extend the lists, with a first round of negotiations having 
taken place in th e Dominican Republic on 25 and 26  February  2019 and a second due to be held in 
Panama on 2 and 3 May 2019.  
 
4. General Provisions of the Agreement  
 
Page 22, Table 4.1 lists multiple FTAs that the Parties have not notified as required under 
WTO rules.  
 
• Can Panama please explain why its accession to the LAIA Agreement has not been 
notified to WTO Members? Can Panama please provide an update on when it 
intends to notify the preferences it is extending to other LAIA Members under this 
agreement?  
Reply : In document WT/COMTD/84, of 12  December  2013, Uruguay, on behalf of the members of 
the LAIA Agreement, submitted a report that incorporates existing agreements for Panama, by virtue 
of which it extends preferences to other LAIA members.  
• Similarly, Panama a ppears to be a party to two additional preferential agreements 
as part of its participation in the LAIA regional grouping, AAP.CE N.71 and 
AAP.A25TM N.29. Can Panama provide an update on when it may be submitting its 
required notifications for these agreem ents?  
Reply : Indeed, we signed the Economic Complementarity Agreement with the Republic of Cuba and 
the Partial Scope Agreement with Colombia within the framework of the Treaty of Montevideo. As 
indicated in the previous reply, these Agreements are part of  the list of agreements included in the 
report contained in document WT/COMTD/85 of 10  November  2014.  WT/COMTD/RTA/10/3  
 
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• The table indicates that the Colombia -Panama Agreement (AAP.A.25TM N29) is 
part of the LAIA regional network, with an entry into force date of 1 January  1995. 
However, the table indicates that Panama did not accede to the LAIA agreement 
until 3 May  2012.  
Reply : Indeed, the Republic of Panama signed a Partial Scope Agreement with the Republic of 
Colombia, which entered into force in 1995.  
On 3 May 2012 Pana ma became a member of the LAIA.  
• Can Panama please explain the relationship between the Colombia -Panama 
agreement and the LAIA agreement?  
Reply : There is no relationship between the two Agreements, each being different in nature.  
 
• Can Panama provide an upda te on the status of the required notification for the 
Panama -Israel agreement and the Panama -Trinidad and Tobago agreement?  
Reply : The Free Trade Agreement between the Republic of Panama and Israel has not yet entered 
into force.  
For the Partial Scope Agre ement between the Republic of Panama and the Republic of Trinidad and 
Tobago, we need to approach the trading partner and assess the procedure for the corresponding 
notification.  
• The table indicates that the Dominican Republic -CARICOM agreement  entered into 
force on 5  February  2002. Can the Dominican Republic provide an update on the 
notification for this agreement?  
Reply : The transparency provisions of the WTO rules on regional trade agreements require such 
agreements to be notified to the WTO.  In keeping with these provisions, the outstanding issue of 
notification to the WTO by virtue of the Enabling Clause was discussed at the fifth meeting of the 
Joint Council of the Dominican Republic -CARICOM FTA.  
 
We are currently engaged in discussions to coordinate the process of duly notifying the Agreement 
with the assistance of the CARICOM Coordinator and the Mission of the Dominican Republic, both of 
which are located in Geneva.  
 
This agenda item will be discussed in more detail at the next meeting of the Joint Council of the FTA 
in question. However, no date for this meeting has as yet been set. The last meeting took place in 
2016.  
 
4.8 Government Procurement  
 
Page 23, Paragraph 4.15:  The Secretariat's report states that there are no provisions on 
government procurement in the Agreement. Have the parties established any bilateral 
procurement practices that provide preferential or reciprocal access?  
 
Reply : The Parties have not made any further changes to the original document notified to the WTO.  
 
Government procurement in the Dominican Republic is channelled through the General Directorate 
of Government Procurement https://www.dgcp.gob.do  in accor dance with Decree No. 350 17 
providing for mandatory use of the Transactional Portal by all agencies and entities falling within the 
scope of application of Law No. 340 06 and any amendments thereto.   
 
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