Introduction
- We, the Ministers Responsible for Trade, representing the 34 countries which
participated in the Summit of the Americas, in Miami, in December 1994, met at the IV
Ministerial Meeting on Trade in San José, Costa Rica to review the results of the
preparatory work for the negotiations of the Free Trade Area of the Americas (FTAA) with
the intent to recommend to our Heads of State and Government the initiation of the
negotiations.
- We note the progress achieved in trade liberalization in this Hemisphere since the Miami
Summit of the Americas as a result of the implementation of the obligations assumed by our
Governments in the context of the Uruguay Round of Multilateral Trade Negotiations and of
the World Trade Organization (WTO); the widening and deepening of existing sub-regional
and bilateral integration and free trade agreements; the signing of new agreements; and
the unilateral trade liberalization measures adopted by some countries. Even as countries
in our region have been tested by financial and other economic pressures, the overall
course in the Americas has been one of faster economic growth, lower inflation, expanded
opportunities, and confidence in participating in the global marketplace. A major reason
for this positive record has been our countries steadfast and cooperative efforts to
promote prosperity through increased economic integration and more open economies. We are
confident, therefore, that the FTAA will improve the well being of all our people.
- With the intent of contributing to the expansion of world trade, we reaffirm our
commitment that the FTAA shall not raise additional barriers to other countries, and we
will continue to avoid to the greatest extent possible the adoption of policies that
adversely affect trade in the hemisphere.
- Furthermore, we reiterate that the negotiation of the FTAA shall take into account the
broad social and economic agenda contained in the Miami Declaration of Principles and Plan
of Action with a view to contributing to raising living standards, to improving the
working conditions of all people in the Americas and to better protecting the environment.
- In designing the FTAA we shall take into account differences in the levels of
development and size of the economies in our Hemisphere, to create opportunities for the
full participation of the smaller economies and to increase their level of development.
- We recognize the wide differences in the level of development and size of economies
existing in our Hemisphere and we will remain cognizant of these differences as we work to
ensure their full participation in the construction of the FTAA.
- We reviewed and approved the work submitted to us by the Preparatory Committee of
Vice-Ministers on how to proceed with the negotiations of the FTAA.
Initiation of the Negotiations
- We recommend to our Heads of State and Government that they initiate negotiation of the
FTAA during the II Summit of the Americas, which will be held in Santiago, Chile, on April
18 and 19, 1998, in accordance with the objectives, principles, structure, venue and other
decisions set forth in this Declaration.
- We reaffirm the principles and objectives that have guided our work since Miami, as set
out in Annex I, including inter alia that the agreement will be balanced,
comprehensive, WTO-consistent, and will constitute a single undertaking. It will take into
account the needs, economic conditions and opportunities of the smaller economies. The
negotiations will be transparent and built on consensus decision making. The FTAA can
co-exist with bilateral and sub-regional agreements, to the extent that the rights and
obligations under these agreements are not covered or go beyond the rights and obligations
of the FTAA. We remain committed to concluding the negotiations no later than 2005 and to
achieving concrete progress toward the attainment of this objective by the end of the
century.
Structure and Organization of the Negotiations
- We have agreed to an initial structure for the negotiations. This structure is flexible
and we expect to modify it over time as required to assist the negotiations. We will
exercise the ultimate oversight and management of the negotiations and therefore we will
meet as required and no less than every 18 months. We establish the Trade Negotiations
Committee (TNC) at the Vice-ministerial level. The TNC will have a Chairman and a
Vice-Chairman. The TNC will select the Chairman and Vice Chairman of each negotiating
group. The TNC will have the responsibility of guiding the work of the negotiating groups
and of deciding on the overall architecture of the agreement and institutional issues. The
TNC is to take the overall responsibility of ensuring the full participation of all the
countries in the FTAA process. It will also ensure that this issue, in particular the
concerns of the smaller economies and concerns related to countries with different levels
of development will be dealt with within each negotiating group. The TNC should meet as
required and no less than twice a year. It should hold its first meeting no later than the
30th of June, 1998.
- We establish 9 negotiating groups on : market access; investment; services;
government procurement; dispute settlement; agriculture; intellectual property rights;
subsidies, antidumping and countervailing duties; and competition policy. The Chairman and
Vice-Chairman of each group will be selected taking into account the need to maintain
geographic balance among countries. They will serve for a period of 18 months or until the
subsequent ministerial meeting. As a general principle, there should not be immediate
reelection of the Chair and Vice-chair. This principle establishes a presumption against
immediate reelection, but should not be inflexibly applied. The negotiating groups will be
guided in their work by the general principles and objectives in Annex I as well as
specific objectives in Annex II. We mandate the TNC in its first meeting to develop a work
program for the negotiating groups in order to ensure that they begin their work no later
than the 30th of September, 1998. We have agreed that the meetings of the negotiating
groups will be held in a single venue which will rotate among the following three
countries:
Miami, United States: |
From May 1, 1998 to February 28, 2001 |
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Panama City, Panama: |
From March 1, 2001 to February 28, 2003 |
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Mexico D.F., México: |
From March 1, 2003 to December 31, 2004 |
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The period for which Mexico hosts the venue of the negotiations will be up to the
conclusion of the negotiations.
The countries that will have the Chair and Vice-Chair of the negotiating groups for the
first 18 month period will be the following:
Negotiating Group |
Chair |
Vice-Chair |
Market Access |
Colombia |
Bolivia |
Investment |
Costa Rica |
Dominican Republic |
Services |
Nicaragua |
Barbados |
Government Procurement |
United States |
Honduras |
Dispute Settlement |
Chile |
Uruguay-Paraguay |
Agriculture |
Argentina |
El Salvador |
Intellectual Property Rights |
Venezuela |
Ecuador |
Subsidies, Antidumping and Countervailing Duties |
Brazil |
Chile |
Competition Policy |
Peru |
Trinidad and Tobago |
Work in different groups may be interrelated, such as agriculture and market access;
services and investment; competition policy and subsidies, antidumping and countervailing
duties; among others. The TNC shall identify linkages and outline appropriate procedures
to ensure timely and effective coordination. We agree to give the mandate to the relevant
negotiating groups to study issues relating to: the interaction between trade and
competition policy, including antidumping measures; market access and agriculture, in
order to identify any areas that may merit further consideration by us. The groups
involved will report their results to the TNC no later than December 2000. This is without
prejudice to decisions made by the TNC to dissolve, establish or merge groups. Likewise,
the negotiating groups may establish ad-hoc working groups.
Chairmanship of the FTAA
- The Chairmanship of the FTAA process will rotate among different countries at the end of
each Ministerial Meeting. The country that will chair the FTAA process will host the
Ministerial Meetings and will also chair the TNC.
The countries that will hold the
Chair and Vice-chair of the FTAA process will be:
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May 1, 1998-
Oct. 31, 1999 |
Nov. 1, 1999-
April 30, 2001 |
May 1, 2001-
Oct. 31, 2002 |
Nov. 1, 2002-
Dec. 31, 2004 |
Chair |
Canada |
Argentina |
Ecuador |
Co-chair
between Brazil and the United States of America |
Vice-chair |
Argentina |
Ecuador |
Chile |
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The period in which the United States of America and Brazil exercise the
Co-chairmanship will be until the conclusion of the negotiations.
In the last period, from November 1st, 2002 to December 31st,
2004, there will be at least two Meetings of Ministers Responsible for Trade, one in each
Co-chair country.
In the first 18 month period, three meetings of the TNC will be held, one in each of
the following countries: Argentina, Suriname and Bolivia. In the second 18 month period,
from November 1, 1999 to April 30, 2001, the first meeting will be held in Guatemala will
hold the first meeting of the TNC.
Consultative Group on Smaller Economies
- We have agreed to establish a Consultative Group on Smaller Economies, open to the
participation of all the FTAA countries, and reporting to the TNC. For the first period,
the Chair will be Jamaica with Guatemala serving as Vice-chair. Succession criteria will
be the same as those applying to the negotiating groups. The Consultative Group will have
the following functions:
- follow the FTAA process, keeping under review the concerns and interests of the
smaller economies; and will
- bring to the attention of the TNC the issues of concern to the smaller economies and
make recommendations to address these issues.
Administrative Secretariat for the Negotiations
- We have agreed to create an Administrative Secretariat for the negotiations, which will
conclude no later than the year 2005. It will report to the TNC and will:
- provide logistical and administrative support to the negotiations;
- provide translation services for documents and interpretation during the deliberations;
- keep the official documents of the negotiation; and
- publish and distribute documents.
This Administrative Secretariat will be located at .the same venue as the meetings of
the negotiating groups. It should be funded from local resources and existing resources of
the Tripartite Committee Institutions. We recommend our Governments to instruct their
representatives in the institutions of the Tripartite Committee in particular the
Inter American Development Bank- to allocate appropriate existing resources within their
institutions to support the Administrative Secretariat.The TNC will determine the size and
composition of the staff and will appoint the Head of the Secretariat.
Tripartite Committee
- We express our appreciation to the Tripartite Committee for the technical and logistical
support given during the preparatory phase of the FTAA negotiation. We request that the
respective institutions of the Tripartite Committee continue to provide the appropriate
existing resources necessary to respond positively to requests for technical support from
FTAA entities, including reallocation for this purpose if necessary. Furthermore, we ask
the three institutions to provide technical assistance related to FTAA issues to member
countries, particularly smaller economies, at their request, according to the procedures
of the respective institutions.
- We also express our appreciation and reiterate our interest, that the pertinent
multilateral, regional and sub-regional institutions continue to offer, in their areas of
recognized specialization, additional contributions in response to specific requests from
the TNC and the negotiation groups.
Other Issues
Participation of Civil Society
- We reaffirm our commitment to the principle of transparency of the negotiation process,
to facilitate the constructive participation of the different sectors of society. We also
reaffirm our commitment to the Belo Horizonte Ministerial Declaration and to paragraph 4
of the Singapore Ministerial Declaration of the WTO.
We recognize and welcome the
interests and concerns that different sectors of society have expressed in relation to the
FTAA. Business and other sectors of production, labor, environmental and academic groups
have been particularly active in this matter. We encourage these and other sectors of
civil societies to present their views on trade matters in a constructive manner. We have,
therefore, established a committee of government representatives, open to all member
countries, who shall select a chair. The committee shall receive these inputs, analyze
them and present the range of views for our consideration.
In this regard, we value the contributions made by the business sector through the
Business Fora of the Americas of Denver, Cartagena, Belo Horizonte and San José.
Concrete progress by the year 2000
- We reaffirm our commitment to make concrete progress by the year 2000. We direct the
negotiating groups to achieve considerable progress by that year. We instruct the TNC to
agree on specific business facilitation measures to be adopted before the end of the
century, taking into account the substantive work that has already emanated from the FTAA
process.
Electronic Commerce
- We noted the rapid expansion of Internet usage and electronic commerce in our
Hemisphere. In order to increase and broaden the benefits to be derived from the
electronic marketplace, we welcome the offer of Caricom to lead a joint government-private
sector committee of experts that will make recommendations to us at our next meeting.
Acknowledgement
- We wish to express our gratitude to the Government of Costa Rica for its notable
contribution to the advance of the FTAA process during the last year, by presiding over
the deliberations of the Preparatory Committee of the Negotiations, as well as the IV
Meeting of the Ministers Responsible for Trade in the Hemisphere, which concluded the
preparations to initiate the FTAA negotiations.
Annex I
General Principles and Objectives
The negotiations for the construction of the FTAA will be guided by the following
General Principles and Objectives
General Principles
- Decisions in the FTAA negotiating process will be made by consensus.
- Negotiations will be conducted in a transparent manner to ensure mutual advantage and
increased benefits to all participants of the FTAA.
- The FTAA Agreement will be consistent with the rules and disciplines of the WTO. With
this purpose, the participating countries reiterate their commitment to multilateral rules
and disciplines, in particular Article XXIV of the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade
(GATT) 1994 and its Uruguay Round Understanding, and Article V of the General Agreement on
Trade in Services (GATS)
- The FTAA should improve upon WTO rules and disciplines wherever possible and
appropriate, taking into account the full implications of the rights and obligations of
countries as members of the WTO.
- The negotiations will begin simultaneously in all issue areas. The initiation, conduct
and outcome of the negotiations of the FTAA shall be treated as parts of a single
undertaking which will embody the rights and obligations as mutually agreed upon.
- The FTAA can co-exist with bilateral and sub-regional agreements, to the extent that the
rights and obligations under these agreements are not covered by or go beyond the rights
and obligations of the FTAA.
- Countries may negotiate and accept the obligations of the FTAA individually or as
members of a sub-regional integration group negotiating as a unit.
- Special attention should be given to the needs, economic conditions (including
transition costs and possible internal dislocations) and opportunities of smaller
economies, to ensure their full participation in the FTAA process.
- The rights and obligations of the FTAA will be shared by all countries. In the
negotiation of the various thematic areas, measures such as technical assistance in
specific areas and longer periods for implementing the obligations could be included on a
case by case basis, in order to facilitate the adjustment of smaller economies and the
full participation of all countries in the FTAA.
- The measures agreed upon to facilitate the integration of smaller economies in the FTAA
process shall be transparent, simple and easily applicable, recognizing the degree of
heterogeneity among them.
- All countries shall ensure that their laws, regulations and administrative procedures
conform to their obligations under the FTAA agreement.
- In order to ensure the full participation of all countries in the FTAA, the differences
in their level of development should be taken into account.
General Objectives
- To promote prosperity through increased economic integration and free trade
among the countries of our Hemisphere, which are key factors for raising standards of
living, improving the working conditions of people in the Americas and better protecting
the environment.
- To establish a Free Trade Area, in which barriers to trade in goods and services and
investment will be progressively eliminated, concluding negotiations no later than 2005
and achieving concrete progress toward the attainment of this objective by the end of this
century.
- To maximize market openness through high levels of disciplines through a balanced and
comprehensive agreement.
- To provide opportunities to facilitate the integration of the smaller economies in the
FTAA process in order to realize their opportunities and increase their level of
development.
- To strive to make our trade liberalization and environmental policies mutually
supportive, taking into account work undertaken by the WTO and other international
organizations.
- To further secure, in accordance with our respective laws and regulations, the
observance and promotion of worker rights, renewing our commitment to the observance of
internationally recognized core labor standards and acknowledging that the International
Labor organization is the competent body to set and deal with those core labor standards.
Annex II
Objective by Issue Area
We have agreed that the negotiations for the construction of the FTAA, in the different
issue area, will be guided by the following objectives:
Market Access
- Consistent with the provisions of the WTO, including article XXIV of the
General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade (GATT 1994) and its Understanding on the
Interpretation of Article XXIV of the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade 1994, to
progressively eliminate, tariffs, and non tariff barriers, as well as other measures with
equivalent effects, which restrict trade between participating countries.
- All tariffs will be subject to negotiation.
- Different trade liberalization timetables may be negotiated.
- To facilitate the integration of smaller economies and their full participation in the
FTAA negotiations.
Agriculture
- The objectives of the negotiating group on Market Access shall apply to trade in
agricultural products. Rules of origin, customs procedures and Technical Barriers to Trade
issues will be addressed in the Market Access negotiating group.
- To ensure that sanitary and phytosanitary measures are not applied in a manner which
would constitute a means of arbitrary or unjustifiable discrimination between countries or
a disguised restriction to international trade, in order to prevent protectionist trade
practices and facilitate trade in the hemisphere. Consistent with the WTO Agreement on the
Application of Sanitary and Phytosanitary Measures (SPS Agreement), said measures will
only be applied to achieve the appropriate level of protection for human, animal or plant
life or health, will be based on scientific principles, and will not be maintained without
sufficient scientific evidence.
Negotiations in this area involve identifying and
developing measures needed to facilitate trade, following and examining in depth the
provisions set down in the WTO/SPS Agreement.
- To eliminate agricultural export subsidies affecting trade in the Hemisphere.
- To identify other trade-distorting practices for agricultural products, including those
that have an effect equivalent to agriculture export subsidies, and bring them under
greater discipline.
- Agricultural products covered are the goods referred to in Annex I of the WTO
Agriculture Agreement.
- Incorporate progress made in the multilateral negotiations on agriculture to be held
according to Article 20 of the Agreement on Agriculture, as well as the results of the
review of the SPS Agreement.
Rules of Origin
- To develop an efficient and transparent system of rules of origin, including
nomenclature and certificates of origin, in order to facilitate the exchange of goods,
without creating unnecessary obstacles to trade.
Customs Procedures
- To simplify customs procedures, in order to facilitate trade and reduce
administrative costs.
- To create and implement mechanisms to exchange information in customs issues among FTAA
countries.
- To design effective systems to detect and combat fraud and other illicit customs
activities, without creating unnecessary obstacles to foreign trade.
- To promote customs mechanisms and measures that ensure operations be conducted with
transparency, efficiency, integrity and responsibility.
Investment
- To establish a fair and transparent legal framework to promotes investment
through the creation of a stable and predictable environment that protects the investor,
his investment and related flows, without creating obstacles to investments from outside
the hemisphere.
Standards and Technical Barriers to Trade
- To eliminate and prevent unnecessary technical barriers to trade in the FTAA, based on
the proposals contained in the Common Objectives Paper approved by the Working Group.
Subsidies, Antidumping and Countervailing Duties
- To examine ways to deepen, if appropriate, existing disciplines provided in the WTO
Agreement on Subsidies and Countervailing Measures and enhance compliance with the terms
of the WTO Agreement on Subsidies and Countervailing Measures.
- To achieve a common understanding with a view to improving, where possible, the rules
and procedures regarding the operation and application of trade remedy laws in order to
not create unjustified barriers to trade in the Hemisphere.
Government Procurement
- The broad objective of negotiations in government procurement is to expand
access to the government procurement markets of the FTAA countries.
More specifically, the objectives are:
- To achieve a normative framework that ensures openness and transparency of
government procurement processes, without necessarily implying the establishment of
identical government procurement systems in all countries;
- To ensure non-discrimination in government procurement within a scope to be negotiated;
- To ensure impartial and fair review for the resolution of procurement complaints and
appeals by suppliers and the effective implementation of such resolutions.
Intellectual Property Rights
- To reduce distortions in trade in the Hemisphere and promote and ensure
adequate and effective protection to intellectual property rights. Changes in technology
must be considered.
Services
- Establish disciplines to progressively liberalize trade in services, so as to
permit the achievement of a hemispheric free trade area under conditions of certainty and
transparency;
- Ensure the integration of smaller economies into the FTAA process.
Competition Policy
The objectives of the negotiations are:
- General Objectives:
- To guarantee that the benefits of the FTAA liberalization process not be undermined by
anti-competitive business practices.
- Specific Objectives:
- To advance towards the establishment of juridical and institutional coverage at the
national, sub-regional or regional level, that proscribes the carrying out of
anti-competitive business practices;
- To develop mechanisms that facilitate and promote the development of competition policy
and guarantee the enforcement of regulations on free competition among and within
countries of the Hemisphere.
Dispute Settlement
- To establish a fair, transparent and effective mechanism for dispute settlement among
FTAA countries, taking into account inter alia the WTO Understanding on Rules and
Procedures Governing the Settlement of Disputes.
- To design ways to facilitate and promote the use of arbitration and other alternative
dispute settlement mechanisms, to solve private trade controversies in the framework of
the FTAA.
Work in different groups may be interrelated, such as agriculture and market access;
services and investment; competition policy and subsidies, antidumping and countervailing
duties; among others. The TNC shall identify linkages and outline appropriate procedures
to ensure timely and effective coordination. We agree to give the mandate to the relevant
negotiating groups to study issues relating to: the interaction between trade and
competition policy, including antidumping measures; market access and agriculture, in
order to identify any areas that may merit further consideration by us. The groups
involved will report their results to the TNC no later than December 2000. This is without
prejudice to decisions made by the TNC to dissolve, establish or merge groups. Likewise,
the negotiating groups may establish ad-hoc working groups. |