WT/REG350/M/1  
 
9 April 2015  
(15-1933)  Page: 1/4  
Committee on Regional Trade Agreements 
Seventy-sixth Session   
 
 AGREEMENT BETWEEN SINGAPORE AND THE SEPARATE CUSTOMS TERRITORY OF 
TAIWAN, PENGHU, KINMEN AND MATSU ON ECONOMIC PARTNERSHIP,  
GOODS AND SERVICES 
NOTE ON THE MEETING OF 30 MARCH 2015 
Chairman: Ambassador Francisco Pirez Gordillo (Uruguay) 
1.1.  The 76th Session of the Committee on Regional Trade Agreements (hereinafter 'CRTA' or the 
'Committee') was convened in Airgram WTO/AIR/RTA/1 dated 16 February 2015. 
1.2.  Under Agenda Item B.III of the session , the CRTA considered the Agreement between 
Singapore and the Separate Customs Territory of Taiwan, Penghu, Kinmen and Matsu on Economic 
Partnership, (hereinafter "the Agreement"). 
1.3.  The Chairman said that the Agreement had entered into force on 19 April 2014. It had been  
notified to the WTO by Singapore and the Separa te Customs Territory of Taiwan, Penghu, Kinmen 
and Matsu on 22 April 2014 under Article XXIV:7(a) of the GATT 1994 and the Understanding on the Interpretation of Article XXIV of GATT 1994 as an Agreement establishing a free trade area 
(document WT/REG350/N/1) and under GATS Article V:7(a) as an Agreement providing for the 
liberalization of trade in services within th e meaning of Article V of the GATS (document 
S/C/N/739). The text of the Agreement was available, together with its Annex, on the Parties' official websites. The Factual Presentation on the goods and services aspect (document 
WT/REG350/1 dated 19 January 2015) had been prepared by the Secretariat on its own 
responsibility in full consultation with the Parties, in accordance with paragraph 7(b) of the Transparency Mechanism for Regional Trade Ag reements (document WT/L/671). In addition, 
written questions and replies on this Agreemen t had been distributed in document WT/REG350/2 
dated 25 March 2015. He proposed to organize the consideration of the Agreement by first asking the Parties and then other Members to give any general comments, then he would turn to the 
specifics of the Agreement. 
1.4.  The Representative of the Separate Custom s Territory of Taiwan, Penghu, Kinmen and Matsu 
(Chinese Taipei), thanked the Secretariat for having prepared the factual presentation on the 
Agreement. He also thanked Singapore for its cooperation in their efforts to complete the 
consideration procedure and Australia, Peru, Thailand, the EU and Mexico for their written 
questions.  
1.5.  He highlighted five main aspects that o ffered an overview of the Agreement. First, he 
referred to the importance of trade with Sing apore with bilateral trade volumes reaching 
approximately US$28.9 billion in 2014, Singapore was Chinese Taipei's 4th largest export market, 
and its 8th largest import source. The Agreement marked Chinese Taipei's first economic 
cooperation agreement with a major trading partner in Southeast-Asia, and boosted its efforts in 
creating a favourable environment to further enhance trade relations with other countries and improve its economic development.  
1.6.  Secondly, the first step of the Agreement had started on August 5
th, 2010, when both sides 
had agreed to conduct individual feasibility studies for an economic cooperation agreement (ECA), 
and in the following December, a joint statement ha d been made to launch official negotiations. All 
consultations had been conducted in accordance with related provisions under GATT Article XXIV 
and GATS Article V, and the Agreement had been signed on 7 November 2013, following two years WT/REG350/M/1 
 
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  of negotiations. After the completion of both Parties’ necessary legal procedures, the Agreement 
had entered into force on 19 April 2014, and the WTO had been notified. Thirdly, the Agreement 
was of a high-standard, and covered substantially al l the trade. On trade in goods, 99.48% of tariff 
lines had been liberalized. Tariffs on 83.03% of goods imported from Singapore had been 
eliminated when the Agreement had entered into force. With the exception of 40 agricultural 
products, such as rice, all other products would enjoy reduction to zero tariff status in 5, 10, or 15 years. 
1.7.  On trade in services, the Agreement featured substantial sectoral coverage in accordance 
with GATS Article V. Its market access commitmen ts followed a negative list approach. In other 
words, aside from the restrictive measures listed, both Parties had committed to non-discriminatory trade in all services sectors. 
1.8.  In addition, the Agreement had established mechanisms for harmonizing regulations and 
cooperation on non-tariff barriers, such as SPS and TBT, and issues like customs procedures and intellectual property to deepen bilateral cooperatio n. It also covered a wide range of issues, some 
of which had yet to be addressed in the WTO, such as investment, competition and e-commerce. 
1.9.  Fourthly, one of Chinese Taipei's most prominent research institutions had studied the 
negotiation results and had indicated that th e Agreement would bring substantial economic 
benefits. After the final stage of the 15-year ta riff reduction, Chinese Taipei's GDP would have 
increased by US$701 million, total exports and imports would have increased by US$782 million and US$719 million respectively, and domestic production would have increased by US$1.39 billion. On trade in goods,  since most of the customs duties in Singapore were zero, the 
research showed that Chinese Taipei's growth of  exports to Singapore might not be so obvious. 
However, Chinese Taipei's imports of Singaporean in dustrial products were expected to increase by 
US$15 billion.  
1.10.  Lastly, he provided figures to support th e positive effects of the implementation of the 
Agreement. Since the Agreement's entry into force, Chinese Taipei's exports to Singapore had increased by 9% over the nine month period between May 2014 to January 2015 compared to the 
previous period, while bilateral trade had increase d by 5%. This demonstrated that the Agreement 
had already shown positive effects on trade relations between the two Parties. Also, both governments valued the benefits gained from im plementing the Agreement, with group visits 
taking place to explore business opportunities. In April 2015, both Parties would hold the first 
meeting in Singapore to review the implementation of the Agreement.  
1.11.  To conclude he reiterated that the Agr eement was a high-quality, high-standard agreement, 
it demonstrated the determination to liberalize trade. Chinese Taipei firmly believed that the 
Agreement would bring about economic benefits to both Parties, and would also contribute to the 
development of the region. 
1.12.  The representative of Singapore welcomed the opportunity to present the Agreement. She 
thanked the Secretariat for preparing the factual presentation and Members for their interest. She 
also welcomed the Chinese Taipei delegation led by Deputy Chief Negotiator Michael Tseng and thanked them for their close cooperation.  
1.13.  The Agreement had entered into force on 19 April 2014. It was Chinese Taipei’s first 
economic partnership agreement with an ASEAN country, and also its first economic partnership 
agreement with one of its top 10 trading partners. Bilateral trade had been on a constant rise. In 2014, Chinese Taipei had been Singapore’s 6
th largest trading partner as bilateral trade doubled 
over the decade. Similarly, Chinese Taipei was a key source and destination for investment. 
Investments from Chinese Taipei had increased by  15% from 2012 to reach S$8.4 billion in 2013. 
With the Agreement in place, Singapore was co nfident that economic relations between both 
economies would continue to grow from strength to strength. The Agreement was a high-quality, 
comprehensive partnership agreement that would liberalise and facilitate trade in goods and services and investments between both markets. It also comprised provisions on intellectual property, government procurement, e-commerce, competition and dispute settlement.  
1.14.  The Trade in Goods Chapter covered products traded between Singapore and Chinese 
Taipei. Upon the entry into force of the Agreement, tariffs on 96.7% of Singapore’s exports had WT/REG350/M/1 
 
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  been eliminated. When the Agreement is fully im plemented, substantially all Singapore exports 
would enter Chinese Taipei tariff-free. At the same time, tariffs would be fully eliminated for all of Chinese Taipei’s exports to Singapore.   
1.15.  On trade in services Singapore and Chinese Taipei were bound to levels of liberalisation 
beyond their current commitments to the WTO General Agreement on Trade in Services (GATS). 
The Services Chapter adopted a negative list approach and applied to all sectors except those sectors or areas which had been explicitly reserved. The sectors covered included professional, 
communication and transport services. Bilateral trade in services had grown steadily, reaching 
S$4.7 billion in 2013. This had almost doubled from that in 2004.  
1.16.  Trade facilitation was a key objective. To complement tariff liberalisation under the 
Agreement, the Customs Procedures Chapter aimed to facilitate the flow of goods between both 
Parties through the simplification of customs procedures, such as promoting paperless trading. 
Traders would benefit from faster turnaround time which would lower compliance costs. 
1.17.  The Agreement widened access to procurement opportunities in Chinese Taipei and 
Singapore. It assured Singapore companies that they would be treated on par with local suppliers 
for several new areas of market access beyond the WTO GPA. 
1.18.  Singapore had always placed the highest priority on the multilateral trading system. Its 
work on bilateral and regional trade arrangements such as the Agreement, were building blocks to 
complement the multilateral process. Singapore appreciated the opportunity to introduce the Agreement to Members, thanked Australia, the European Union, Mexico, Peru and Thailand for their written questions and would be happy to wo rk with Chinese Taipei on answering further 
questions that Members might have.  
1.19.  The representative of the United States thanked the Parties and the Secretariat for the 
materials provided and appreciated the excellent presentations that gave a very good overview of 
the Agreement and commended the Parties for the am bition in the Agreement. With respect to  
Table 5.1, the U.S. noted that Chinese Taipei's agreement with China had been in force since September 2010 but had not been notified and that Singapore's agreement with the GCC had been 
in force since September 2013 and had also not been notified. Given that an early announcement 
of an agreement could not take the place of the required notification he asked the Parties to indicate when they expected to properly notify these agreements. 
1.20.  The representative of the European Union thanked the Parties for the detailed presentation 
of the agreement and the Secretariat for preparing the Factual Presentation. With reference to the 
comprehensive agreement, which in most aspects reconfirmed the Parties commitments under the WTO, the EU noted in particular the wide scope of trade liberalization in goods among the Parties 
as well as the significant improvements in the le vel of commitments in services compared to their 
GATS commitments. It also noted the relatively limited lowering of thresholds regarding government procurement, and the similarly limited extension of covered services beyond those in 
the revised GPA listings of the Parties. Finally the EU thanked the Parties for the written replies to 
their questions. 
1.21.  The representative of Singapore said she a ttached great importance to timely notifications 
as described in paragraph 3 of the Transparency Mechanism. Her delegation would work with the 
GCC to notify the Committee of the GCC- Singapore FTA as soon as possible. 
1.22.  The representative of Chinese Taipei said  that they had submitted to the WTO in May 2011 
an early announcement of the Agreement with China with the text and annexes which had already 
been included in the RTA database. Since it was only a framework agreement with follow-up 
agreements to be negotiated, Chinese Taipei would formally notify the WTO after those agreements had been signed. 
1.23.  The Chairman said that the considerat ion of the Goods and Services Aspects of the 
Agreement between Singapore and the Separate Customs Territory of Taiwan, Penghu, Kinmen 
and Matsu had allowed the Committee to clarify a number of questions and the oral discussion of this RTA could be concluded in accordance with paragraph 11 of the Transparency Mechanism. If 
any delegations wished to ask follow up questions they were invited to forward submissions in WT/REG350/M/1 
 
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  writing to the Secretariat by 6 April 2015 and Parties were asked to submit replies in writing by no 
later than 20 April 2015. In accordance with paragraph 13 of the Transparency Mechanism all written submissions, as well as minutes of this meeting would be circulated promptly, in all WTO official languages, and would be made available on the WTO website.  
1.24.  The Committee took note of the comments made. 
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