Page 267 - Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership (RCEP)

(G/TBT/1/Rev.13), as may be revised, issued by the WTO TBT requested Party shall provide such information or explanation in
Committee. the language or languages agreed by the Parties concerned or,
whenever possible, in the English language.
2. Upon written request, a Party shall provide to the requesting
Party, if already available, the full text or summary of its notified
technical regulations and conformity assessment procedures in Article 6.12: Contact Points
the English language. If unavailable, the Party shall provide to
the requesting Party a summary stating the requirements of the 1. Each Party shall, within 30 days of the date of entry into force of
notified technical regulations and conformity assessment this Agreement for that Party, designate one or more contact
procedures in the English language, within a reasonable period of points responsible for coordinating the implementation of this
time agreed by the Parties concerned and, if possible, within 30 Chapter, and notify the other Parties of the contact details of the
days after receiving the written request. In implementing the relevant official or officials in that contact point, including the
preceding sentence, the contents of the summary shall be telephone number, facsimile number, email address, and any
determined by the requested Party. other relevant details. Each Party shall promptly notify the other
Parties of any change to those contact details.
3. Each Party shall, on request of another Party, provide information
regarding the objectives of, and rationale for, a technical 2. Each Party shall ensure that its contact point or contact points
regulation or conformity assessment procedure that the facilitate the exchange of information between the Parties on
requested Party has adopted or is proposing to adopt. standards, technical regulations, and conformity assessment
procedures, in response to all reasonable requests for such
4. Each Party shall normally allow 60 days from the date of information from another Party.
notification to the WTO in accordance with paragraph 9 of Article
2 and paragraph 6 of Article 5 of the TBT Agreement for the other
Parties to provide comments in writing, except where urgent Article 6.13: Implementing Arrangements
problems of safety, health, environmental protection, or national
security arise or threaten to arise. Each Party shall take the The Parties may develop bilateral or plurilateral arrangements to set out
comments of another Party into account and shall endeavour to areas of cooperation of mutual interest for applying this Chapter. The
provide responses to those comments upon request. Parties that have adopted such arrangements under this Chapter are
encouraged, where mutually agreed, to report such arrangements to the
5. Each Party shall allow persons of another Party to participate in Committee on Goods.
consultation procedures that are available to the general public
for the development of technical regulations, national standards
and conformity assessment procedures by the Party, subject to Article 6.14: Dispute Settlement
its laws and regulations, on terms no less favourable than those
accorded to its own persons. Chapter 19 (Dispute Settlement) shall not apply to any matter arising
under this Chapter at the entry into force of this Agreement, and this non-
6. When a Party detains an imported consignment, at the point of application shall be subject to a review by the Parties two years after the
entry due to non-compliance with a technical regulation or a date of entry into force of this Agreement. In the course of the review,
conformity assessment procedure, it shall notify the importer or its Parties shall give positive consideration to the application of Chapter 19
representative, as soon as possible, the reasons for the detention. (Dispute Settlement) to either the whole or parts of this Chapter. Such
review shall be completed within three years from the date of entry into
7. Unless otherwise provided in this Chapter, any information or force of this Agreement.
explanation requested by a Party pursuant to this Chapter shall
be provided by the requested Party, in print or electronically,
within a reasonable period of time agreed by the Parties
concerned and, if possible, within 60 days. Upon request, the

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