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  jata  Malaysia's Free Trade Agreements

ASEAN - Australia, New Zealand

BACKGROUND

  • The ASEAN, Australia and New Zealand Summit on 30 November 2004 in Vientiane, Lao PDR, agreed to establish the ASEAN, Australia and New Zealand Free Trade Area (AANZFTA).

  • The AANZFTA is a comprehensive and single-undertaking economic agreement that opens up and creates new opportunities for the 650 million peoples of ASEAN, Australia and New Zealand which has a combined economic output of US$4.2 trillion via a platform of a more liberal, facilitative and transparent market access and investment regimes among the signatories to the Agreement.

  • Through the AANZFTA:

    • tariffs will be progressively reduced from entry into force of the Agreement, and eliminated for at least 90 percent of all tariff lines within specified timelines;

    • movement of goods will be facilitated via a more modern and flexible rules of origin, simplified customs procedures and more transparent mechanisms;

    • barriers to trade in services will be progressively liberalized allowing for greater market access to service suppliers in the region;

    • movement of business persons, those engaged in trade and investment activities, will be facilitated; and

    • covered investments will be accorded a range of protection, including the possibility of dealing with disputes via an investor-state dispute settlement mechanism.

  • Economic Ministers of ASEAN, Australia and New Zealand signed the AANZFTA Agreement on 27 February 2009 in Thailand. It is ASEAN's first comprehensive FTA negotiations with Dialogue Partners covering all sectors:

    • trade in goods;

    • investment;

    • trade in services;

    • financial services;

    • telecommunications;

    • electronic commerce;

    • movement of natural persons;

    • intellectual property;

    • competition policy; and

    • economic cooperation.

  • The ASEAN-Australia-New Zealand Free Trade Area Agreement has been implemented by Malaysia on 1 January 2010.

  • For further information on the Agreement, please visit the following link: http://aanzfta.asean.org

  • Please click the following link to view the Agreement Establishing the ASEAN-Australia-New Zealand Free Trade Area:

[Agreement Establishing the ASEAN-Australia-New Zealand Free Trade Area, Cha-am, Thailand, 27 February 2009]

TRADE IN GOODS

  • Chapter 2 of the Agreement provides for progressive liberalization of tariffs from the entry into force of the AANZFTA Agreement. It aims to eliminate on at least 90 per cent of products traded in the region within a specified time line. Australia and New Zealand committed to achieve 100 per cent elimination of tariffs by 2020.

  • AANZFTA Schedules of Tariff Commitments are available at https://aanzfta.asean.org/index.php?page=annex-1-schedules-of-tariff-commitments

     

RULES OF ORIGIN

TRADE IN SERVICES

  • Building on the services liberalisation under the World Trade Organisation (WTO), the AANZFTA through Chapter 8 on Trade in Services of the Agreement further improves on the commitments and obligations on services trade. Under the AANZFTA, Australia and New Zealand made GATS-plus and commercially meaningful commitments in a number of services sectors.

    • Australia opened up new opportunities for ASEAN service providers in the following sectors/subsectors: legal services, nursing and midwifery, services to mining, communication services, educational services, environmental services, financial services, and transport services.

    • Similarly, New Zealand created new opportunities in legal services, engineering services, veterinary services, construction services, educational services, environmental services and financial services.

  • As a key outcome, services commitments of the AANZFTA Parties/signatories on various services sectors have significantly improved enabling service providers to enjoy greater market access and benefit from improved national treatment commitments as specified in the Parties’ schedules of specific services commitments as follows:

  • Recognising the critical role of financial services and telecommunications sectors in the integration process, the AANZFTA also has a specific Annex on Financial Services, and an Annex on Telecommunication Services, where Parties undertook additional commitments.

  • To facilitate movement of natural persons engaged in trade and investment, the AANZFTA has a Chapter on Movement of Natural Persons (MNP). This Chapter sets out the obligations and commitments on the temporary movement of natural persons including:

    • business visitors

    • installers and servicers

    • executives of businesses, headquartered in a Party, establishing a branch or subsidiary, or other commercial presence in another Party

    • intra-corporate transferees

    • contractual service suppliers

  • Commitments on MNP who are services suppliers (Mode 4) are included in the schedules of MNP commitments. The schedules of MNP commitments specify the conditions and limitations governing those commitments including the length of stay for each category of natural persons included in the schedules. The Schedule of MNP Commitments of all Parties is as follows:

INVESTMENT

  • The AANZFTA provides a greater level of certainty for investors and their investments. Chapter on Investment of the AANZFTA accords a wide range of protection that includes:

    • Fair and equitable treatment, and full protection and security

    • Non-discriminatory treatment in relation to compensation for losses arising from armed conflict, civil strife or state of emergency

    • Provisions that freely allow transfers relating to covered investments

    • Non-discriminatory expropriation of investments that is done only for public purpose and carried out with due process of law, and receives prompt, adequate and effective compensation

  • The Chapter provides for an investor-state dispute settlement (ISDS) that provides investors recourse to a choice of procedures for settling any investment related issues.

  • Similar to the Chapter on Services, the transparency provisions of the Chapter on Investment requires publication of any measures affecting investors and their covered investments in the internet. It likewise allows interested parties to give their comments on any new measures on investment that is under consideration.

  • For further explanation and other information, also read the “AANZFTA: A Guide for ASEAN Business.”

CONTACT US

For matters relating to Preferential Certificate of Origin (CO Form AANZ) / Rules of Origin, please contact:

  1. Ms. Rosazliza Azman
    DL: 03-6208 4740
    Email: rosazliza@miti.gov.my

  2. Ms. Ryia Aisha Mohd Yunos
    DL: 03-6208 4727
    Email: ryia.yunos@miti.gov.my


For other enquiries, please contact the FTA focal point(s) as follows:

  1. Mr. Azrul Sani Ibrahim
    DL: 03-6200 0382
    Email: azrulsani@miti.gov.my
     
  2. Ms. Rozalinie Romeli
    DL: 03-6200 0387
    Email: rozalinie@miti.gov.my