WT/REG309/M/1  
 
4 October 2013  
(13-5357) Page: 1/4  
Committee on Regional Trade Agreements 
Seventieth Session    
 
CONSIDERATION OF THE FREE TRADE AGREEMENT BETWEEN  
JAPAN AND PERU, GOODS AND SERVICES 
NOTE ON THE MEETING OF 17-18 SEPTEMBER 2013 
Chairman: Ambassador Francisco Lima Mena (El Salvador) 
1.1.  The 70th Session of the Committee on Regional Trade Agreements (hereinafter 'CRTA' or the 
'Committee') was convened in Airgram WTO/AIR/4163/REV.1 dated 4 September 2013. 
1.2.  Under Agenda Item B.VII of this session, the CRTA considered the Free Trade Agreement 
(FTA) between Japan and Peru (hereinafter "the Agreement"). 
1.3.  The Chairman said that the Agreement had entered into force on 1 March 2012. It had been 
notified to the WTO by the Parties on 24 Febr uary 2012 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/REG309/N/1) and under GATS Article V:7(a) as an 
Agreement providing for the liberalization of trade in  services within the meaning of Article V of the 
GATS (document S/C/N/617). The text of the Agreement was available, together with its Annexes, 
on the Parties' official websites. The Factual Presentation on the goods and services aspects 
(document WT/REG309/1 dated 15 April 2013) had b een 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) ("TM"). Written 
questions and replies on this Agreement had been distributed in document WT/REG309/2 dated 
1 August 2013. He proposed to organize the consideration of the Agreement by first asking the Parties and then other Members to give any general comments and then use the Factual 
Presentation, document WT/REG309/1, to guide the discussion. 
1.4.  The representative of Japan welcomed the opportunity to present the important elements of 
the Agreement between Japan and the Republic of Peru for an Economic Partnership (JPEPA) for 
review and examination by WTO Members. Japan’s ba sic external economic policy was to maintain 
and strengthen the multilateral trading system based on the principles of the WTO. Japan had 
been promoting bilateral EPA/FTAs that complemented and further promoted trade liberalization under the WTO. As part of such a policy, Japan had concluded the EPA with Peru, which 
encompassed areas beyond the liberalization of trade in goods and services, such as the 
movement of natural persons, protection of intellectual property, rule-making in government procurement and competition policy, improvement of the business environment and promotion of 
cooperation. By promoting economic partnership in  these areas, Japan aimed to further strengthen 
comprehensive economic ties with Peru. The comp lementary nature of the economies of Japan and 
Peru, as well as cooperative efforts and friendly relations between both countries, had led to a 
rapid increase in trade and investment in the run up to the negotiations. Therefore, it was 
expected that concluding an EPA with Peru, a country which had achieved significant growth 
through its solid liberal economic policy, would further facilitate trade in goods and services, promote investment and advance rule-making in several areas. It was also expected that, as a 
consequence, the Agreement would enhance business opportunities between the two countries. 
1.5.  In April 2009, the Prime Minister of Japan and the President of Peru had decided to start 
negotiations with the first round held in May 2009. In September 2010 after the 7
th round both 
sides reached an agreement in substance. The leaders of both countries confirmed that the WT/REG309/M/1 
 
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  negotiations had successfully been completed in November of the same year, which was followed 
by the finalization of the legal texts of the Agre ement. The JPEPA was signed by the Minister for 
Foreign Affairs of Japan and the Minister of Foreign Trade and Tourism of Peru on 31 May 2011 in Tokyo, and had entered into force on 1 March 2012. 
1.6.  JPEPA was a comprehensive economic partnership agreement. In terms of trade in goods, it 
would eliminate more than 99% of tariffs within ten years in terms of two-way trade volume in 2008. Furthermore, the two countries did not actually have any other restrictive regulations in 
their trade regime that would be inconsistent with GATT and the Agreement did not establish 
any restrictions on trade nor maintain any existing ones. Moreover, concerning trade in services, JPEPA provided national treatment for a broad ra nge of sectors and sub-sectors. Therefore, the 
Agreement was consistent with Article XXIV of GATT and Article V of GATS.  
1.7.  The Agreement included provisions on a br oad range of legal frameworks, such as a higher 
level of protection of intellectual property, a high level of liberalization in investment and trade in services, movement of natural persons, improvement of business environment and cooperation in 
eight different areas. The Agreement established Sub-Committees, in addition to the Commission, 
in areas such as trade in goods, rules of or igin, customs procedures, TBT/SPS, movement of 
natural persons, government procurement, intell ectual property rights, improvement of business 
environment and cooperation. The first meeting of the Commission had been held on the entry into 
force of the Agreement, and the operational rules for its effective implementation had been adopted thereunder. With regard to the Sub-Committees, so far, the one on improvement of business environment had met once.  
1.8.  In conclusion, she thanked the Committee once again for giving Japan the opportunity 
to submit this report on the Agreement between Japan and the Republic of Peru for an Economic 
Partnership. Japan was fully convinced that the Agreement had provided a foundation for further 
growth in bilateral trade and investment and ha d strengthened economic ties between Japan and 
Peru. She hoped that the implementation of the Agreement would contribute to strengthening the 
multilateral trading system of the WTO. 
1.9.  The representative of Peru noted that although Japan belonged to a distant region Peru 
shared with them the objective of strengthenin g the multilateral trading system as well as 
important economic and trade links, in particular trade in goods and services, investment as well as scientific collaboration. Peru supported the multilateral trading system and believed that 
bilateral and regional integration schemes should be complementary to the multilateral trading 
system and not replace it. At the same time, Peru was committed to sustainable development with social inclusion which was why it had focused on policies that promoted openness to international 
trade. Having private investment and foreign trade as the main engines of growth in the last few 
years had significantly contributed to reducing poverty in Peru. The policy of trade openness that Peru had been developing in a consistent manner was fully compatible with its WTO obligations. In 
this spirit the three agreements to be considered at the meeting, along with the six agreements 
already considered in the CRTA under the Transparency Mechanism, covered 68% of Peru's exports. With the further consideration in the CRTA of the more recent agreements with Mexico, Costa Rica and the European Union 12 agreements covering 87% of Peru's exports would have 
been considered. This reflected Peru's firm co mmitment to the Transparency Mechanism and the 
work of the Committee to improve understanding of  regional trade agreements. Peru thanked the 
WTO Secretariat for having prepared the factual presentation, Japan for its close co-operation and 
support in preparing for the meeting and Memb ers for their questions on the Agreement. 
1.10.  For a number of years, Peru had maintained a process of moving closer to Asia and the 
Agreement was a further demonstration of that. It was the result of years of work coordinated 
between Peru and Japan to strengthen trade relations taking into consideration the interest shared 
in the WTO and the Asian Pacific Economic Cooperation Forum to achieve a trade and investment r e g i m e  t h a t  w a s  f r e e  a n d  m o r e  o p e n .  T h i s  w a s  t h e  f o u r t h  R T A  s i g n e d  b y  P e r u  w i t h  a n  A s i a n  economy. The Agreement had the highest political support taking into consideration the bilateral 
relations established for 140 years between both countries with the Treaty of Peace, Friendship, 
Trade and Navigation in 1873. Peru was the first Latin American country to establish diplomatic relations with Japan and the first in South America to receive Japanese migration in 1899. This 
Agreement was an excellent opportunity to strengthen trade relations with a country whose 
market was one of the biggest and most competitiv e in the world ensuring future development on 
the basis of trade and investment. It was also an opportunity for Peru to expand its markets to the WT/REG309/M/1 
 
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  Asia Pacific region allowing its exporters to have  a wider range of destinations for their products 
and take advantage of the productive structures that were highly complementary in both countries. Japan had a high level of technological standards and their main export products to Peru were intermediate goods, capital goods and high technology goods which had allowed Peru to 
improve its production capacity and the competitiv eness of its production sectors. Japan was the 
largest consumer of fresh products and clothing fr om Peru, generating new opportunities for Peru's 
SMEs, farmers and fishermen. Furthermore, the Agreement had strengthened further trade 
relations and had generated a framework and conditions that were more transparent and 
favourable to trade in goods, trade in services, investment and cooperation between both countries which would strengthen Peru's strategy to be consolidated as a regional hub between Latin America and the Asia Pacific.  
1.11.  According to Peru's statistics, bilateral trade had grown by 18% between 2011 and 2012, 
reaching US$4.76 billion. Japan was the fifth largest destination for exports from Peru. Japan was also an important source of FDI and cooperation with Peru. Japan was a country of origin for 1.1% 
of FDI in Peru in 2012 mainly in mining and other areas. Peru was a primary recipient of Japanese 
corporations in Latin America through their active participation in infrastructure products in productive social and environmental enterprises as well as the promotion of transfer of knowledge 
and technology through their experts and volunteers. In Peru's view the Agreement was an 
integral Agreement which complied with high standards to be compatible with the multilateral obligations under the WTO. It had at its basis provisions and principles of the WTO Agreement including not only in market access of goods and services, but also rule-based provisions designed 
to provide greater predictability and clear rules. The EPA with Japan could be described as being 
broad because of its provisions some of which he would highlight. In terms of market access, the Parties had agreed on a high level of tariff liberali zation complimented with other Chapters relating 
to goods. The Agreement also facilitated the movement of persons. A Joint Declaration on 
Biodiversity had been signed with regard to access to genetic resources and traditional knowledge which reaffirmed the importance of the provisions  of the Convention on Biological Diversity and 
ensured the sharing of information which could have an impact on patents so as to comply with 
the conditions of patentability. There was promotion of investment, fisheries, environment, communication, agriculture and transport. The fi rst meeting of the Commission of the Agreement 
had taken place on the very day the Agreement ha d entered into force. At this meeting, the 
Commission had confirmed the establishment of the Sub-Committees of the Agreement and had 
taken actions related to the implementation of  the Agreement. Peru and Japan had continued 
working on the development of mechanisms for economic and trade integration which would 
strengthen the progressive process of integration. This was demonstrated by their participation in 
the negotiations of the Trans Pacific Partnership together with ten other APEC economies and in plurilateral negotiations in Geneva for an agreement on trade in services. He hoped that the 
consideration of the Agreement would help Members have a better understanding of the terms of 
the Agreement and his delegation stood ready to answer any additional questions. 
1.12.  The representative of the United States thanked the Parties for their excellent summaries 
and for the work that had been put into the review. He drew attention to the fact that Japan, a 
developed country, excluded more than five time s as many tariff lines as Peru, a developing 
country. 
1.13.  The representative of the European Union said that in Section 4, her delegation had noted 
the significant improvement both Parties had made  on services compared with their respective 
GATS commitments. In Section 3, on entry into force of the Agreement in 2012 tariff liberalization was relatively high for both Parties, above 80% and there was high liberalization after ten years. 
She wondered what the rationale was for having an implementation period of 15 years, i.e. until 
2027, given that tariff liberalization wa s already quite high after ten years. 
1.14.  The representative of Peru replied that the progressive liberalization of tariffs reflected the 
results of negotiations and the balance obtained during these negotiations given the sensitivities 
on both sides. 
1.15.  The Chairman said that the considerat ion of the Goods and Services Aspects of the 
Free Trade Agreement between Japan and Peru 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 writing to the Secretariat by 24 September 2013 and Parties WT/REG309/M/1 
 
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  were asked to submit replies in writing by no later than 8 October 2013. In accordance with 
paragraph 13 of the Transparency Mechanism all wr itten 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.  
1.16.  The Committee took note of the comments made. 
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