The Taipei Economic and Cultural Office in Hanoi (hereafter
referred to as （TECO）being duly authorized and
The Vietnam Economic and Cultural Office in Taipei (hereafter
referred to as （VECO）being duly authorized,
hereinafter referred to collectively as "Contracting Parties"
and individually as "Contracting Party";
Being desirous of developing and strengthening economic and
trade relations between the Relevant Side from which VECO has
been authorized (hereafter referred to as "Side A") and the
Relevant Side from which TECO has been authorized (hereafter
referred to as "Side B"), hereinafter referred to collectively
as "Sides" and individually as "Side", on the basis of equality
and mutual benefit;
Have agreed as follows:
Article 1:
PROMOTING THE ECONOMIC AND TRADE RELATIONS
The Contracting Parties undertake to promote economic and trade
relations between the Two Sides in accordance with their
respective laws and regulations in force.
Article 2:
MOST-FAVOURED-NATION TREATMENT
1.During the time period before Side A acquires a full
membership of the World Trade Organization (WTO), the Side A
shall accord to Side B the Most-Favoured-Nation treatment on
trade in goods, including:
a.Customs duties and charges of any kind imposed on or in
connection with importation or exportation, including the
method of levying such duties and charges;
b.Methods of payment for imports and exports, and the
international transfer of such payments;
c.Rules and formalities in connection with importation and
exportation, including those relating to customs clearance,
transit, warehouses and transshipment;
d.Taxes and other internal charges of any kind applied
directly or indirectly to imported goods;
e.The application of quantitative restrictions and the
granting of licenses; and
f.Other laws, regulations and requirements affecting the sale,
offering for sale, purchase, transportation, distribution,
storage and use of products in the domestic market.
2.During the time period before Side A acquires full membership
of WTO, the Side B shall accord to the Side A the status
analogous to that the Side B accords to members of the WTO
with respect to trade in goods.
3.The Most-Favoured-Nation treatment provisions of this
Agreement shall not apply to:
a.Advantages accorded by either Side to members of economic
alignment agreements signed or acceded by the Side
concerned;
b.Advantages accorded by either Side to its bordering
countries to facilitate cross-border trade, in conformity
with bilateral agreement;
c.Advantages accorded by either Side to developing countries
and less developed countries;
d.Advantages resulted from transit goods agreements signed or
acceded by the Side concerned;
e.Tenders of goods purchasing for projects financed by
international organizations or foreign countries and other
projects stipulated by the government concerned; and
f.Advantages accorded by either Side to any third country
under any specific and bilateral agreements, which are under
a time schedule and are not accorded to any other third
country, as defined by the Understanding on the
Interpretation of Article ⅩⅩⅣ of the GATT1994.
Article 3:
TRADE FACILITATION
1. The Contracting Parties shall assist their respective Side's
enterprises in respect of Co-operation and joint ventures in
manufacturing and processing for export in their mutual
interest.
2. Each Contracting Party shall facilitate the other Side's
enterprises in trade fairs to be held in its territory and
the staging of exhibitions, subject to such terms and
conditions as may be imposed by the competent authorities at
the places where the trade fair or exhibition is to be held.
3. The Contracting Parties agree to actively cooperate to remove
non-tariff barriers in order to facilitate the exportation
and importation of goods.
Article 4:
ARTICLES IMPORTED FOR DISPLAY, SAMPLES AND INSTALLATION
EQUIPMENT, HAND-TOOLS
With respect to articles and samples imported for display at a
fair or exhibition, samples of no-commercial value and not for
sale, installation equipment and hand-tools for installation and
repairs subject to the condition that they will be re-exported
out of the importing Side after completion of the work, the laws
and regulations of the importing country where such fair or
exhibition is held shall govern:
- Any exemption from customs duties or other similar charges;
- Any entry of the articles or samples into the commerce in the
importing Side.
- Duration from date of entry to date of re-export.
Article 5:
EXPECTIONS
1.Nothing in this Agreement prejudices or limits the right of
either Contracting Party, based on WTO's Agreement on
safeguards, to enact and administer laws and regulations
applicable to products imported in such increased quantities
and under such conditions as to cause or threaten to cause
serious injury to domestic producers of like or directly
competitive products.
2.The provisions of this Agreement shall not limit the right of
either Contracting Party to take any action for the protection
of its national security interests.
3.Nothing in this Agreement shall be construed to prohibit the
adoption or enforcement by either Contracting Party of
measures:
a.Necessary to protect public morals;
b.Necessary to protect human, animal or plant life or health;
c.Relating to the importation or exportation of gold or
silver;
d.Necessary to secure compliance with laws or regulations
which are not inconsistent with the provisions of this
Agreement;
e.Relating to the products of prison labour;
f.Imposed for the protection of national treasures 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.
4.The Contracting Parties undertake to strictly follow the
requirement that such above mentioned measures are not applied
in a manner which would constitute a means of arbitrary or
unjustifiable discrimination between countries where the same
conditions prevail, or a disguised restriction on
international trade.
Article 6:
SETTLEMENT OF TRADE PREJUDICES
1.When trade prejudices made by one Contracting Party do occur,
the other Contracting Party may request for initiation of a
consultation or an investigation for settlement. Any request
for initiation of a consultation or an investigation shall be
submitted in writing and shall give the reasons for the
request, including identification of the measures at issue.
2.As soon as possible after a request for initiation of an
investigation is received by the authorities of one
Contracting Party who created the trade prejudices, and in any
event upon the initiation of an investigation, the Contracting
Party of the affected side shall be afforded an adequate
opportunity for consultations with the aim of clarifying the
situation and arriving at a mutually agreed solution.
Furthermore, throughout the period of investigation, the
Contracting Party of the affected side shall be afforded an
adequate opportunity to continue consultations, with a view to
clarifying the factual situation and to arriving at a mutually
agreed solution.
3.The Contracting Party of the affected side shall permitted,
upon request, access to non-confidential evidence and data of
the other Side being used for initiating or conducting the
investigation.
4.Each Contracting Party shall ensure that its laws and
regulations are transparent and afford the Contracting Party
of the affected side an opportunity to submit their views.
Such laws and regulations shall not be applied in a manner
that discriminates arbitrarily or unjustifiably between
products of the other Side and products of any third country.
Article 7:
SETTLEMENT OF TRADE DEFICIT
The Contracting Parties undertake that, with the occurrence of a
serious trade imbalance between the two Sides, the Contracting
Party of the Side which enjoys a trade surplus shall actively
cooperate with the Contracting Party of the other Side which
suffers a trade deficit to seek effective measures for increment
of importation of goods from the Side of trade deficit in order
to gradually eliminate such trade imbalance.
Article 8:
LAW APPLICABLE TO CONTRACTS AND SETTLEMENT OF COMMERCIAL
DISPUTES
1.Neither Contracting Party shall interfere with the freedom of
the juridical persons and physical persons subject to its
jurisdiction to agree with the juridical persons and physical
persons of the other Side on the choice of law to govern the
conclusion and performance of contracts between them.
2.The juridical persons and physical persons of Sides may agree
to settle disputes arising out of commercial transactions by
arbitration.
3.Such juridical persons and physical persons of Sides involved
in disputes arising out of individual commercial transactions,
may agree to settle the disputes by arbitration in accordance
with the Arbitration Rules of the United Nations Commission on
International Trade Law (UNCITRAL), adopted in 1976.
4.Nothing in this Agreement shall be interpreted in such a way
as to hamper, nor shall either Contracting Party prevent, the
juridical persons and physical persons commercial transactions
from agreeing on any other form of arbitration for the
settlement of commercial disputes.
5.For the settling of commercial disputes, the juridical persons
and physical persons of each Side shall enjoy access to the
courts and arbiters of the other Side on the same basis as the
juridical persons and physical persons of the other side and
of any third country.
Article 9:
PAYMENTS
All payments between enterprises of the Two Sides shall be made
in freely convertible currencies in accordance with respective
foreign exchange regulations in force.
Article 10:
CONSULATIONS
1.The Contracting Parties shall consult with each other from
time to time regarding the operation of this Agreement or of
any provision thereof.
2.Pursuant to paragraph 1 of this Article The terms of reference
for consultations shall be:
a.To keep under review the possibility of broadening this
Agreement;
b.To consider matters affecting trade between Two Sides.
c.To exchange information and views on matters that might
adversely affect either Side's existing levels or future
development of trade;
d.To review multilateral trade matters of common interest;
e.To review progress towards expanding bilateral trade, and to
examine, where appropriate, proposals designed to encourage
further growth in trade or to overcome hindrances to such
growth.
3.Consultations pursuant to this Article may be initiated at the
request of either Contracting Party upon an official notice to
the other Contracting Party and may be reviewed within 60 days
from the date the other Contracting Party received such an
official notice.
4.The location of meetings held pursuant to this Article shall
alternate between Two Sides unless the Contracting Parties
agree otherwise. A competent representative of each
Contracting Party shall lead that Side's delegation to such
meetings. Each meeting shall be chaired by a representative of
the host Side.
5.The Contracting Parties shall endeavor to amicably settle any
dispute that may arise over the interpretation or application
of any provision of this Agreement.
Article 11:
ENTRY INTO FORCE, TERMS AND TERMINATION
1.Each Contracting Party shall notify the other Contracting
Party of the fulfillment of its domestic legal procedures
required for the entry into force of this Agreement. This
Agreement shall enter into force on the later date of the
required notification given by the Contracting Party. It shall
remain in force for one year in the first instance and shall
be automatically renewed for a period of one year each time,
unless either Contracting Party expresses its intention in
writing to terminate this Agreement 90 days before the expiry
of its validity.
2.The provisions of this Agreement shall continue to be applied
after it has expired to all commercial transactions concluded
but not fully performed before the termination of this
Agreement.
3.At any time whilst the Agreement is in force, either of the
Contracting Parties may propose in writing amendments thereto
and to which the other Contracting Party shall reply within 90
days upon receipt of such notice. The terms of the Agreement
may be amended by the mutual consent of the Contracting
Parties.
Done at Hanoi, on the 8th day of September 2005, in duplicate,
in the English language.
Representative of Representative of the Vietnam
the Taipei Economic and Economic and Cultural Office
Cultural Office in Hanoi in Taipei
────────────── ──────────────
Huang Nan-Huei Hoang Nhu Ly