. /.  WORLD TRADE  
ORGANIZATION  WT/COMTD/N/20/Add.1
26 September 2005 
 (05-4257) 
Committee on Trade and Development Original:   English 
  
 
FRAMEWORK AGREEMENT ON COMPRE HENSIVE ECONOMIC COOPERATION 
BETWEEN THE ASSOCIATION OF SOUTH EAST ASIAN NATIONS  
AND THE PEOPLE'S REPUBLIC OF CHINA 
 
Notification from the Parties to the Agreement
 
 
Addendum  
  
 The following communication, dated 21 September 2005, is being circulated at the request of 
the delegations of Malaysia on behalf of th e ASEAN members of the WTO (Brunei Darussalam, 
Cambodia, Indonesia, Malaysia, Myanmar, the Ph ilippines, Singapore and Thailand) and China. 
 
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AGREEMENT ON TRADE IN GOODS OF THE FRAMEWORK AGREEMENT  
ON COMPREHENSIVE ECONOMIC COOPERATION BETWEEN  
THE ASSOCIATION OF SOUTH EAST ASIAN NATIONS (ASEAN) 
AND THE PEOPLE'S REPUBLIC OF CHINA 
  
The Permanent Representatives of the member states of ASEAN and the People's Republic of 
China to the World Trade Organization (WTO) wish to notify that the Agreement on Trade in Goods 
of the Framework Agreement on Comprehensiv e Economic Cooperation between ASEAN and the 
People's Republic of China was signed on 29 November 2004 and entered into force on 1 January 2005.
1 
 
The Framework Agreement on Comprehensive Economic Cooperation between ASEAN and 
the People's Republic of China was notified to the WTO on 24 November 2004.  
This notification is made pursuant to the Decision of 28 November 1979 under the GATT on 
Differential and More Favourable Treatment, Recipr ocity and Fuller Participation of Developing 
Countries, also known as the "Enabling Clause".   The Agreement on Trade in Goods:  
(i) provides for the establishment of a fr ee trade area in goods between China 
and the six original ASEAN member countries (ASEAN-6) by 2010 and Cambodia, Laos, Myanmar and Vietnam (CLMV) by 2015; 
                                                     
 
1 The text of the Agreement on Trade in Goods is being circulated as document 
WT/COMTD/51/Add.1.  The associated annexes and appendix have been submitted to the Secretariat for consultation (Development Divisi on) by interested Members. 
 WT/COMTD/N/20/Add.1 
Page 2  
 
(ii) contains the agreed modalities for pr ogressive reduction and elimination of 
tariffs on goods beginning 1 July 2005 with products placed in either the 
Normal Track or Sensitive Track; 
(iii) contains the rules of origin (ROO) to be used in the Agreement on Trade in 
Goods;  and 
(iv) provides the principles and disciplines governing the application of non-tariff 
barriers, safeguard measures and dispute settlement procedures. 
 The timeframes for the implementation of tariff reduction and elimination under the 
Agreement are:  1. Normal Track 
(a) For products placed in the normal trac k, ASEAN-6 and China will reduce import 
duties to zero to 5 per cent on at least 40 per cent of the products beginning 1 July 2005, 60 per cent of the products by 2007 and elimination of duties on all products in 2010.  Flexibility up to 2012 is  allowed for a limited number of products 
not exceeding 150 tariff lines. 
(b) CLMV countries will eliminate their tariffs by  2015 with flexibility up to 2018 for a 
limited number of products not  exceeding 250 tariff lines. 
2. Sensitive Track 
(a) Products placed in the sensitive track are fu rther categorized into the Sensitive List 
(SL) and Highly Sensitive List (HSL). 
(b) For products placed in the SL, duties will be reduced to: 
- 20 per cent by 2012 and zero to five per cent by 2018 for ASEAN-6 and 
China;   and 
- 20 per cent by 2015 and zero to five per cent by 2020 for CLMV countries. 
 
(c) For products listed under the HSL, tariffs w ill be reduced to 50 per cent by 2015 for 
ASEAN-6 and China and 2018 for CLMV countries. 
 ASEAN-6 and China are allowed to place in  the Sensitive Track only 400 tariff lines at 
6 digits and not more that 10 per cent of the total import value based on 2001 statistics.  CLMV countries are allowed to place not more th an 500 tariff lines in the Sensitive Track. 
 
 A copy of the Agreement together with the annexes which include the product lists, tariff 
reduction schedules for Normal Track and Sensitive Track  and the rules of origin have been submitted 
to the WTO.  The documents are also available at www.aseansec.org
. 
 
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