Page 486 - Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership (RCEP)

4. The Responding Party shall immediately acknowledge its receipt
of the request for consultations made pursuant to paragraph 1, by
way of notification to the Complaining Party, indicating the date
on which the request was received, otherwise the date when the
request was made shall be deemed to be the date of the
Responding Party’s receipt of the request. The Responding Party
shall simultaneously provide a copy of the notification to the other
Parties.

5. The Responding Party shall:

(a) reply to the request for consultations made pursuant to
paragraph 1 no later than seven days after the date of its
receipt of the request; and

(b) simultaneously provide a copy of the reply to the other
Parties.

6. The Responding Party shall enter into consultations no later than:

(a) 15 days after the date of its receipt of the request for
consultations made pursuant to paragraph 1 in cases of
urgency including those which concern perishable goods;
or

(b) 30 days after the date of its receipt of the request for
consultations made pursuant to paragraph 1 regarding any
other matter.

7. The Parties to the dispute shall engage in consultations in good
faith and make every effort to reach a mutually agreed solution
through consultations. To this end, the Parties to the dispute
shall:

(a) provide sufficient information in the course of consultations
to enable a full examination of the matter, including how
the measures at issue might affect the implementation or
application of this Agreement;

(b) treat any confidential or proprietary information exchanged
in the course of consultations on the same basis as the
Party providing the information; and

(c) endeavour to make available for the consultations
personnel of their government agencies or other regulatory

19-4