. /.  WORLD TRADE  
ORGANIZATION   
WT/REG230/5 
12 January 2012 
 (12-0156) 
Committee on Regional Trade Agreements Original:   English 
  
 
ECONOMIC INTEGRATION AGREEMENT BETWEEN CHINA AND CHILE  
(SERVICES) 
 
Questions and Replies 
 
 
 The following communication, dated 11 January 2 012, is being circulated at the request of the 
delegations of China and Chile.   This document reproduces the follow-up ques tion addressed to the Parties following the 
63rd Session of the CRTA and the response submitted. 
 
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Question from the Delegation of the United States 
 
1. A representative of the United States exp ressed his appreciation for the presentations 
made by the Parties, as well as for the material  provided in advance to the meeting.  He noted 
that the Agreement carved out large areas of both Parties' services markets, and was in 
important respects less ambitious in its cover age than the Parties' commitments under the 
GATS.  The Parties themselves had acknowled ged that the coverage of the Agreement's 
liberalization commitments was narrower than th at of the GATS, while noting that the 
exclusions were not intended to be permanent.  In  light of the significant exclusions from the 
Agreement, including for example the absence of commitments in financial services, and the Parties acknowledgement that the Agreement's  liberalization was incomplete, he asked the 
Parties whether they believed that the Agreeme nt currently satisfied GATS Article V conditions 
for substantial sector coverage and elimination of substantially all discrimination, or whether 
those conditions would be only satisfied after further negotiations would take place.  The 
Agreement only provided that the Parties "might review" the Agreement (Article 9).  It did not 
create any mechanism or obligation on the Parties' to review the commitments under the Agreement, much less any obligation to achieve addi tional liberalization.  He asked what were 
the compulsions on the Parties to address the ex clusions of the Agreement's coverage, which the 
Parties had stated "were not intended to be permanent". 
 
 The Supplemental Agreement on Trade in Services between Chile and China is 
compatible with Article V of the GATS .  Indeed, under Article 9, "Rev iew", the Parties could 
add new sectors and discip lines to the existing text .  
 
 Regarding the absence of specific commitments on the financial services sector, Chile's policy is to pursue bilateral arrangements on the basis of a self-contained - comprehensive independent Chapter.  The reasons for this preferred approach are various, and respond to the particular sensitivities associated  with the regulation of the financial services 
sector.  In other words, we seek not to exclude a whole sector, but to address it separately.  WT/REG230/5 
Page 2  
 
   Furthermore, Article 120 of the Chile - China Free Trade Agreement (2008) provides 
that Services and Investment are to be negotiated after the entry into force of the Agreement. Both negotiations have been concluded and initiated, respectively.   
 In this context then, Financial Services could be negotiated at any time, subject to the 
agreement of the Parties. 
 
 
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