* The associated annexes and appendix have been submitted to the Secretariat for consultation 
(Development Division) by interested Members.   WORLD TRADE  
ORGANIZATION  WT/COMTD/51/Add.1 
27 September 2005 
 
 (05-4262) 
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 
 
Communication 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 Philippines, Singapore and Thailand) and China.
* 
 
_______________ 
  
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 
1 
  
The Governments of Brunei Darussalam, th e Kingdom of Cambodia, the Republic of 
Indonesia, the Lao People's Democratic Republic ("La o PDR"), Malaysia, the Union of Myanmar, the 
Republic of the Philippines, the Republic of Singa pore, the Kingdom of Thailand and the Socialist 
Republic of Viet Nam, Member States of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (collectively, "ASEAN" or "ASEAN Member States", or individu ally, "ASEAN Member State"), and the People's 
Republic of China ("China"). 
Recalling  the Framework Agreement on Compre hensive Economic Cooperation ("the 
Framework Agreement") between ASEAN and China (c ollectively, "the Parties", or individually 
referring to an ASEAN Member State or to China as a "Party") signed by the Heads of Government/State of ASEAN Member States and China in Phnom Penh, Cambodia on the 4
th day of 
November 2002 and the Protocol to amend the Framework Agreement on Comprehensive Economic 
Cooperation on the Early Harvest Programme signed by the Economic Ministers of the Parties in Bali, 
Indonesia on the 6th day of October 2003; 
Recalling  further Articles 2(a), 3(1) and 8(1) of the Framework Agreement, which reflect the 
Parties' commitment to establish the ASEAN-China Free Trade Area (ACFTA) covering trade in 
goods by 2010 for ASEAN 6 and China and by 2015 for the newer ASEAN Member States;  
                                                      
 WT/COMTD/51/Add.1 
Page 2  
 
Reaffirming  the Parties' commitment to establish the ASEAN-China Free Trade Area within 
the specified timeframes, while a llowing flexibility to the Parties to  address their sensitive areas as 
provided in the Framework Agreement; 
Have agreed as follows:  
Article 1 
 
Definitions
 
 
For the purposes of this Agreem ent, the following definitions shall apply unless the context 
otherwise requires: 
(a) "WTO" means the World Trade Organization; 
(b) "the GATT 1994" means the General Ag reement on Tariffs and Trade 1994, 
including Annex I (Notes and Supplementary Provisions); 
(c) "ASEAN 6" refers to Brunei Darussalam , Indonesia, Malaysia, the Philippines, 
Singapore and Thailand; 
(d) "newer ASEAN Member States"  refers to Cambodia, Lao PDR, Myanmar and Viet 
Nam; 
(e) "applied MFN tariff rates" shall include in-quota rates, and shall: 
(i) in the case of ASEAN Member States (which are WTO Members as of 
1 July 2003) and China, refer to their respective applied rates as of 1 July 2003;  and 
(ii) in the case of ASEAN Member States (which are non-WTO Members as of 
1 July 2003), refer to the rates as applied to China as of 1 July 2003; 
(f) "non-tariff measures" shall include non-tariff barriers; 
(g) "AEM" means ASEAN Economic Ministers; 
(h) "MOFCOM" means Ministry of Commerce of China; 
(i) "SEOM" means ASEAN Senior Economic Officials Meeting. 
 
Article 2 
 
National Treatment on Intern al Taxation and Regulation
 
 
Each Party shall accord national treatment to th e products of all the other Parties covered by 
this Agreement and the Framewor k Agreement in accordance with Article III of the GATT 1994.  To 
this end, the provisions of Article III of the GATT 1994 shall, mutatis mutandis , be incorporated into 
and form an integral part of this Agreement.  WT/COMTD/51/Add.1 
 Page 3 
 
 
Article 3 
 
Tariff Reduction and Elimination  
 1. The tariff reduction or elimination programme of  the Parties shall require the applied MFN 
tariff rates on listed tariff lines to be gradually  reduced and where applicable, eliminated, in 
accordance with this Article 3. 
2. The tariff lines which are subject to the tariff reduction or elimination programme under this 
Agreement shall include all tariff lines not covere d by the Early Harvest Programme under Article 6 
of the Framework Agreement, and such tariff lin es shall be categorized for tariff reduction and 
elimination as follows: 
(a) Normal Track
: Tariff lines placed in the Normal Track by each Party on its own 
accord shall have their respective applie d MFN tariff rates gradually reduced and 
eliminated in accordance with the modalities set out in Annex 1 of this Agreement with the objective of achieving the targets prescribed in the thresholds therein. 
(b) Sensitive Track
: Tariff lines placed in the Sensitive Track by each Party on its own 
accord shall have their respective applied MF N tariff rates reduced or eliminated in 
accordance with the modalities set out in Annex 2 of this Agreement. 
3. Subject to Annex 1 and Annex 2 of this Ag reement, all commitments undertaken by each 
Party under this Article shall be a pplied to all the other Parties. 
Article 4 
 
Transparency  
 
Article X of the GATT 1994 shall, mutatis mutandis , be incorporated into and form an 
integral part of this Agreement. 
Article 5 
 
Rules of Origin  
 
The Rules of Origin and the Operational Certifi cation Procedures applicable to the products 
covered under this Agreement and the Early Harvest  Programme of the Framework Agreement are set 
out in Annex 3 of this Agreement. 
Article 6 
 
Modification of Concessions  
 
1. Any Party to this Agreement may, by negotiati on and agreement with any Party to which it 
has made a concession under this Agreement, modify or withdraw such concession made under this 
Agreement. 
2. In such negotiations and agreement, wh ich may include provision for compensatory 
adjustment with respect to other products, the Pa rties concerned shall maintain a general level of 
reciprocal and mutually advantageous concessions not  less favourable to trade than that provided for 
in this Agreement prior to su ch negotiations and agreement. WT/COMTD/51/Add.1 
Page 4  
 
Article 7 
 
WTO Disciplines
 
 1. Subject to the provisions of this Agreement and any future agreements as may be agreed 
pursuant to reviews of this Agreement by the Par ties under Article 17 of this  Agreement, the Parties
1  
hereby agree and reaffirm their commitments to ab ide by the provisions of the WTO disciplines on, 
among others, non-tariff measures, technical barriers to trade, sanitary and phytosanitary measures, 
subsidies and countervailing measures, anti-dumpi ng measures and intellectual property rights. 
2. The provisions of the WTO Multilateral Agre ements on Trade in Goods, which are not 
specifically mentioned in or modified by this Agreement, shall apply, mutatis mutandis, to this 
Agreement unless the context otherwise requires. 
Article 8 
 
Quantitative Restrictions and Non-Tariff Barriers  
 
1. Each Party undertakes not to maintain any qua ntitative restrictions at any time unless 
otherwise permitted under the WTO disciplines.2 
2. The Parties shall identify non-tariff barriers (other than quantitative restrictions) for 
elimination as soon as possible after the entry into force of this Agreement.  The time frame for elimination of these non-tariff barriers shall be  mutually agreed upon by all Parties. 
3. The Parties shall make information on their r espective quantitative restrictions available and 
accessible upon implementation of this Agreement. 
Article 9 
 
Safeguard Measures
 
 
1. Each Party, which is a WTO member, retains its  rights and obligations under Article XIX of 
the GATT 1994 and the WTO Agreement on Safeguards. 
2. With regard to ACFTA safeguard measures, a Pa rty shall have the right to initiate such a 
measure on a product within the transition period for that product.  The transition period for a product 
shall begin from the date of entry into force of th is Agreement and end five years from the date of 
completion of tariff elimination/reduction for that product. 
3. A Party shall be free to take ACFTA safeguard measures if as an effect of the obligations 
incurred by that Party, including tariff con cessions under the Early Harvest Programme of the 
Framework Agreement or this Agreement, or, if as a result of unforeseen developments and of the 
effects of the obligations incurred by that Party,  including tariff concessions under the Early Harvest 
Programme of the Framework Agreement or this Ag reement, imports of any particular product from 
the other Parties increase in su ch quantities, absolute or relativ e to domestic production, and under 
                                                      
1Non-WTO Members of ASEAN shall abide by th e WTO provisions in accordance with their 
accession commitments to the WTO. 
2 Non-WTO Members of ASEAN shall phase out their quantitative restrictions three years [Vietnam:  
four years] from the date of entr y into force of this Agreement or  in accordance with their accession 
commitments to the WTO, whichever is earlier. 
  WT/COMTD/51/Add.1 
 Page 5 
 
 
such conditions so as to cause or threaten to cau se serious injury to the domestic industry of the 
importing Party that produces like or directly competitive products. 
4. If an ACFTA safeguard measure is taken, a Party taking such a measure may increase the 
tariff rate applicable to the product concerned to the WTO MFN tariff rate applied to such product at 
the time when the measure is taken. 
5. Any ACFTA safeguard measure may be maintained  for an initial period of up to three years 
and may be extended for a period not exceeding one  year.  Notwithstanding the duration of an 
ACFTA safeguard measure on a product, such measure shall terminate at the end of the transition period for that product. 
6. In applying ACFTA safeguard measures, the Par ties shall adopt the rules for the application 
of safeguard measures as provided under the WTO Agreement on Safeguards, with the exception of 
the quantitative restriction measures set out in Ar ticle 5, and Articles 9, 13 and 14 of the WTO 
Agreement on Safeguards.  As such, all other provi sions of the WTO Agreement on Safeguards shall, 
mutatis mutandis, be incorporated into and form an integral part of this Agreement. 
7. An ACFTA safeguard measure sha ll not be applied against a product originating in a Party, so 
long as its share of imports of the product concer ned in the importing Party does not exceed 3 per cent 
of the total imports from the Parties. 
8. In seeking compensation under Article 8 of the WTO Agreement on Safeguards for an 
ACFTA safeguard measure, the Parties shall seek  the good offices of the body referred to in 
paragraph 12 to determine the substa ntially equivalent leve l of concessions prior to any suspension of 
equivalent concessions.  Any pro ceedings arising from such good o ffices shall be completed within 
90  days from the date on which the AC FTA safeguard measure was applied. 
9. On a Party's termination of an ACFTA safeguard  measure on a product, the tariff rate for that 
product shall be the rate that, according to that Pa rty's tariff reduction and elimination schedule, as 
provided in Annex 1 and Annex 2 of this Agreement, would have been in effect commencing on 
1 January of the year in which the safeguard measure is terminated. 
10. All official communications and documentati ons exchanged among the Parties and to the 
body referred to in paragraph 12 relating to any ACFTA safeguard measures shall be in writing and 
shall be in the English language.  
11. When applying ACFTA safeguard measures, a Pa rty shall not have simultaneous recourse to 
the WTO safeguard measures referred to in paragraph 1. 
12. For the purpose of this Article, any refere nce to "Council for Trade in Goods" or the 
"Committee on Safeguards" in the incorporated provisions of the WTO Agreement on Safeguards 
shall, pending the establishment of a permanent bod y under paragraph 1 of Ar ticle 16, refer to the 
AEM-MOFCOM, or the SEOM-MOFCOM, as appropriate , which shall be replaced by the permanent 
body once it is established. 
Article 10 
 
Acceleration of Commitments
 
 
Nothing in this Agreement shall preclude th e Parties from negotiating and entering into 
arrangements to accelerate the implementation of commitments made under this Agreement, provided 
that such arrangements are mutually agreed to and implemented by all the Parties. WT/COMTD/51/Add.1 
Page 6  
 
Article 11 
 
Measures to Safeguard the Balance of Payments
 
 
Where a Party is in serious balance of payments  and external financial difficulties or threat 
thereof, it may, in accordance with the GATT 1994 and the Understanding on Balance-of-Payments 
Provisions of the GATT 1994, adopt restrictive import measures. 
Article 12 
 
General Exceptions  
 
Subject to the requirement that such measures are not applied in a manner which would 
constitute a means of arbitrary or unjustifiable discrimination between the Parties where the same 
conditions prevail, or a disguised restriction on inte rnational trade, nothing in this Agreement shall be 
construed to prevent the adoption or enforcement by a Party of measures: 
(a) necessary to protect public morals; 
(b) necessary to protect human, animal or plant life or health; 
(c) relating to the importations or exportations of gold or silver; 
(d) necessary to secure compliance with laws or regulations which are not inconsistent 
with the provisions of this Agreement,  including those relating to customs 
enforcement, the enforcement of monopoli es operated under paragraph 4 of Article II 
and Article XVII of the GATT 1994, the pr otection of patents, trade marks and 
copyrights, and the prevention of deceptive practices; 
(e) relating to the products of prison labour; 
(f) imposed for the protection of national treasure s of artistic, historic or archaeological 
value; 
(g) relating to the conservation of exhaustible  natural resources if such measures are 
made effective in conjunction with restrictions on domestic production or 
consumption; 
(h) undertaken in pursuance of obligations under any intergovernmental commodity 
agreement which conforms to criteria subm itted to the WTO and not disapproved by 
it or which is itself so subm itted and not so disapproved; 
(i) involving restrictions on exports of domestic  materials necessary to ensure essential 
quantities of such materials to a domestic processing industry during periods when the domestic price of such materials is held below the world price as part of a governmental stabilization plan;  Provided  that such restrictions shall not operate to 
increase the exports of or the protection affo rded to such domestic industry, and shall 
not depart from the provisions of this Ag reement relating to non discrimination; 
(j) essential to the acquisition or distribution of pr oducts in general or local short supply;  
Provided that any such measures shall be consiste nt with the principle that all Parties 
are entitled to an equitable share of the inte rnational supply of such products, and that 
any such measures, which are inconsiste nt with the other provisions of this  WT/COMTD/51/Add.1 
 Page 7 
 
 
Agreement shall be discontinued as soon as th e conditions giving rise to them have 
ceased to exist. 
Article 13 
 
Security Exceptions  
 
Nothing in this Agreemen t shall be construed: 
(a) to require any Party to furnish any information the disclosure of which it considers 
contrary to its essential security interests; 
(b) to prevent any Party from taking any acti on which it considers necessary for the 
protection of its essential security interests, including but not limited to: 
(i) action relating to fissionable materials or the materials from which they are 
derived; 
(ii) action relating to the traffic in arms, ammunition and implements of war and 
to such traffic in other goods and mate rials as is carried on directly or 
indirectly for the purpose of supplying a military establishment; 
(iii) action taken so as to protect critical communications infrastructure from 
deliberate attempts intended to disable  or degrade such infrastructure; 
(iv) action taken in time of war or other em ergency in domestic or international 
relations;  or 
(c) to prevent any Party from taking any action in pursuance of its obligations under the 
United Nations Charter for the maintena nce of international peace and security. 
Article 14 
 
Recognition of China's Market Economy Status  
 
Each of the ten ASEAN Member States agr ees to recognise China as a full market economy 
and shall not apply, from the date of the signatu re of this Agreement, Sections 15 and 16 of the 
Protocol of Accession of the People’s Republic of China to the WTO and Paragraph 242 of the Report 
of the Working Party on the Accession of China to  WTO in relation to the trade between China and 
each of the ten ASEAN Member States. 
Article 15 
 
State, Regional and Local Government  
 
In fulfilling its obligations and commitments unde r this Agreement, each Party shall ensure 
their observance by regional and local governments and authorities in its te rritory as well as their 
observance by non-governmental bodies (in the exer cise of powers delegated by central, state, 
regional or local governments or authorities) within its territory. WT/COMTD/51/Add.1 
Page 8  
 
Article 16 
 
Institutional Arrangements
 
 1. Pending the establishment of a permanent b ody, the AEM-MOFCOM, supported and assisted 
by the SEOM-MOFCOM, shall oversee, supervise, coor dinate and review the implementation of this 
Agreement. 
2. The ASEAN Secretariat shall monitor and report to the SEOM-MOFCOM on the 
implementation of this Agreement.  All Parties sh all cooperate with the ASEAN Secretariat in the 
performance of its duties.  
3. Each Party shall designate a contact point to facilitate communications between the Parties on 
any matter covered by this Agreement.  On the requ est of a Party, the contact point of the requested 
Party shall identify the office or official res ponsible for the matter and assist in facilitating 
communication with the requesting Party. 
Article 17 
 
Review
 
 1. The AEM-MOFCOM or their designated representativ es shall meet within a year of the date 
of entry into force of this Agreement and then bien nially or otherwise as appropriate to review this 
Agreement for the purpose of considering further measures to liberalise trade in goods as well as 
develop disciplines and negotiate agre ements on matters referred to in Article 7 of this Agreement or 
any other relevant matters as may be agreed. 
2. The Parties shall, taking into account their resp ective experience in the implementation of this 
Agreement, review the Sensitive Track in 2008 with  a view to improving the market access condition 
of sensitive products, including the further possibl e reduction of the number of products in the 
Sensitive Track and the conditions governing the recipr ocal tariff rate treatment of products placed by 
a Party in the Sensitive Track. 
Article 18 
 
Annexes and Future Instruments
 
 
This Agreement shall include: 
(a) the Annexes and the contents therein which shall form an integral part of this 
Agreement;  and 
(b) all future legal instruments agr eed pursuant to this Agreement. 
Article 19 
 
Amendments  
 
This Agreement may be amended by the mu tual written consent of the Parties.  WT/COMTD/51/Add.1 
 Page 9 
 
 
Article 20 
 
Miscellaneous Provisions  
 
Except as otherwise provided in this Agreement,  this Agreement or any action taken under it 
shall not affect or nullify the rights and obligations of a Party under existing agreements to which it is 
a party. 
Article 21 
 
Dispute Settlement  
 
The Agreement on Dispute Settlement Mechanis m between ASEAN and China shall apply to 
this Agreement. 
Article 22 
 
Depositary  
 
For the ASEAN Member States, this Agreemen t shall be deposited with the Secretary-
General of ASEAN, who shall promptly furnish a certified copy thereof, to each ASEAN Member 
State. 
Article 23 
 
Entry Into Force  
 1. This Agreement shall enter into force on 1 January 2005. 
2. The Parties undertake to complete their internal  procedures for the entry into force of this 
Agreement prior to 1 January 2005. 
3. Where a Party is unable to complete its internal  procedures for the entry into force of this 
Agreement by 1 January 2005, the rights and obliga tions of that Party under this Agreement shall 
commence on the date of the completion of such internal procedures. 
4. A Party shall upon the completion of its internal procedures for the entry into force of this 
Agreement notify all the other Parties in writing. 
IN WITNESS WHEREOF , the undersigned being duly authorised by their respective 
Governments, have signed this  Agreement on Trade in Goods of the Framework Agreement on 
Comprehensive Economic Cooperation between the A ssociation of Southeast Asian Nations and the 
People's Republic of China
. 
 
DONE at, Vientiane, Lao PDR this Twenty Ninth Day of November in the Year Two 
Thousand and Four, in duplicate copies in the English Language. WT/COMTD/51/Add.1 
Page 10  
 
 
For Brunei Darussalam 
 
(signed) 
PEHIN DATO ABDUL RAHMAN TAIB 
Minister of Industry and Primary Resources 
   For the People's Republic of China 
 
(Signed) 
BO XILAI 
Minister of Commerce 
For the Kingdom of Cambodia 
 
 
(signed) 
CHAM PRASIDH 
Senior Minister and Minister of Commerce 
 
   
 
For the Republic of Indonesia 
 
(signed) 
MARI ELKA PANGESTU 
Minister of Trade 
   
 
For the Lao People's Democratic Republic 
 
(signed) 
SOULIVONG DARAVONG 
 
 
  
For Malaysia 
 
(signed) 
RAFIDAH AZIZ 
Minister of International Trade and Industry 
   
  
For the Union of Myanmar 
 
(signed) 
SOE THA 
Minister of National Planning and 
Economic Development   WT/COMTD/51/Add.1 
 Page 11 
 
 
 
For the Republic of the Philippines 
 
(singed) 
CESAR V. PURISIMA 
Secretary of Trade and Industry 
   
 
   
For the Republic of Singapore 
 
(signed) 
LIM HNG KIANG 
Minister for Trade and Industry 
    
For the Kingdom of Thailand 
 
(signed) 
WATANA MUANGSOOK 
Minister of Commerce 
  
  
For the Socialist Republic of Viet Nam 
 
(signed) 
TRUONG DINH TUYEN 
Minister of Trade  
 
__________