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Public
FTAA.soc/civ/72
May 16, 2003


Original: English

FTAA - COMMITTEE OF GOVERNMENT REPRESENTATIVES ON THE PARTICIPATION OF
CIVIL SOCIETY

CONTRIBUTION IN RESPONSE TO THE OPEN AND ONGOING INVITATION


Name(s) John Murphy, Vice President, Western Hemisphere, U.S. Chamber of Commerce, and Executive Vice President, Association of American Chambers of Commerce in Latin America (AACCLA)
Mark Smith, Executive Vice President, U.S. Section of the Brazil-U.S. Business Council
Organization(s) U.S. Chamber of Commerce
Association of American Chambers of Commerce in Latin America
U.S. Section of the Brazil-U.S. Business Council
Country United States of America

U.S. Chamber of Commerce
Association of American Chambers of Commerce in Latin America
U.S. Section of the Brazil-U.S. Business Council

Recommendations for the Market Access Negotiating Group

Executive Summary
 

The U.S. Chamber of Commerce, the Association of American Chambers of Commerce in Latin America (AACCLA), and the U.S. Section of the Brazil-U.S. Business Council welcome this opportunity to present our views on the emerging Free Trade Area of the Americas (FTAA). We strongly support free trade in the hemisphere, and we have previously submitted recommendations to the Committee of Government Representatives on the Participation of Civil Society and to the previous seven meetings of the Americas Business Forum giving our perspective on how the agreement should be framed.

With respect to the negotiating group on market access, the FTAA negotiations should continue striving for the earliest possible removal of all tariffs, quotas, and other barriers to trade, more specifically, the elimination of a high proportion of tariffs within five years. The negotiators can pursue various procedures toward this end, including the immediate removal of low tariffs, the adoption of ceiling rates from which progressive reductions can be made, and the establishment of sectoral arrangements, where appropriate. Additionally, each FTAA country should be required to grant “national treatment” to goods of any other FTAA country. We consider market access to be one of the most important components of any future free-trade agreement for which our specific recommendations will follow.
 

U.S. Chamber of Commerce
Association of American Chambers of Commerce in Latin America
U.S. Section of the Brazil-U.S. Business Council

Recommendations for the Market Access Negotiating Group

The U.S. Chamber of Commerce, the Association of American Chambers of Commerce in Latin America (AACCLA), and the U.S. Section of the Brazil-U.S. Business Council welcome this opportunity to present our views on the emerging Free Trade Area of the Americas (FTAA). We strongly support free trade in the hemisphere, and we have previously submitted recommendations to the Committee of Government Representatives on the Participation of Civil Society and to the previous seven meetings of the Americas Business Forum giving our perspective on how the agreement should be framed.

Specifically we recommend that the governments in the hemisphere agree during the Quito FTAA Ministerial to take the following actions to build a strong foundation for the final FTAA Agreement, including endorsing the following measures:

  • Each FTAA country should eliminate a high proportion of its tariffs within five years. The negotiators should also consider measures by which FTAA countries might agree to early elimination of tariffs in particular industry sectors.

  • In addition, the FTAA countries should agree to eliminate de minimus tariffs during the 2002 FTAA Trade Ministerial.

  • The FTAA countries should take steps to make the sanitary and phytosanitary health certification process more transparent and efficient, including publishing regulations and explanations of the certification process in English, Portuguese and Spanish on the Internet and creating mechanisms that allow companies track the progress of their certification requests online.

  • The FTAA countries should establish a system (such as surety, satisfactory guarantee, bond, or other appropriate instrument) that enables the eligible importer or agent to obtain the goods (not posing environment, health or safety threats) prior to the completion of administrative requirements and payment of duties, taxes or fees.

  • The FTAA Agreement should require each FTAA country to grant “national treatment” to goods of any other FTAA country in accordance with Article III of the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade 1994 (GATT 1994). This means that FTAA countries must treat imported goods no less favorably than they treat like domestic goods in respect of all laws, regulations and requirements affecting their sale, purchase, transportation and use.

  • The FTAA Agreement should bar FTAA countries from increasing existing tariffs or adopting new duties on FTAA goods. Specifically, the FTAA countries should agree to set currently enforced tariff levels as ceiling rates that cannot be exceeded during the course of the FTAA negotiations. The FTAA Agreement should also oblige FTAA countries to progressively eliminate, according to a schedule attached to the FTAA Agreement, tariffs and other fees or charges they impose which are not related to an import service.

  • The FTAA Agreement should eliminate the need for consular transactions for FTAA goods, including related fees. Consular transactions are requirements that customs documents accompanying goods of one country intended for export to another must first be certified by the consul of the importing country.

  • The FTAA Agreement should prohibit export and import price requirements, import licensing conditioned on the fulfillment of a performance requirement, and voluntary export restraints not allowed under the WTO.

  • The FTAA Agreement should eliminate all differential export taxes on raw and processed agricultural products.

  • Consistent with Article VIII of the GATT 1994, the FTAA Agreement should ensure that all fees and charges imposed on or in connection with importation or exportation are limited in amount to the approximate cost of services rendered and do not represent an indirect protection to domestic products or a taxation of imports or exports.

  • Each FTAA country should be required to notify all other FTAA countries of all existing import licensing procedures and fees imposed in connection with importation and exportation. Thereafter, they must notify any new procedures or fees and changes to existing procedures or fees within 60 days of publication.

  • The FTAA Agreement should adopt straightforward, transparent, and easy-to-use rules to determine origin. The Agreement should avoid requirements to “trace” the origin of components.

  • Expanding upon the implementation of the “once tested accepted everywhere” principal established during the VI Americas Business Forum 2001market access negotiating group, the FTAA countries should accept one standard, one test, third party certification or supplier’s declaration of conformity accepted everywhere, at the customer’s choice.

  • Each FTAA country should provide electronically to the other FTAA countries’ standards inquiry points the full text of draft technical regulations at the time that the country sends notification of such measures to the WTO pursuant to the TBT and SPS Agreements. The FTAA Agreement should also permit all import documentation to be submitted electronically.

  • The FTAA countries should recommit themselves to the complete and rapid implementation of the customs-related business facilitation measures adopted at the 1999 Toronto Trade Ministerial. The business facilitation process is an essential part of the FTAA, and implementation of the business facilitation measures should remain a priority in the FTAA process.

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