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Canada-Chile Free Trade Agreement

Part Five: Other Provisions

Chapter O - Exceptions

Article O-01: General Exceptions

1. For purposes of Part Two (Trade in Goods), except to the extent that a provision of that Part applies to services or investment, Article XX of the GATT 1994 and its interpretative notes, or any equivalent provision of a successor agreement to which both Parties are party, are incorporated into and made part of this Agreement. The Parties understand that the measures referred to in Article XX(b) of the GATT 1994 include environmental measures necessary to protect human, animal or plant life or health, and that Article XX(g) of the GATT 1994 applies to measures relating to the conservation of living and non-living exhaustible natural resources.

2. Provided that such measures are not applied in a manner that would constitute a means of arbitrary or unjustifiable discrimination between countries where the same conditions prevail or a disguised restriction on trade between the Parties, nothing in:

shall be construed to prevent the adoption or enforcement by either Party of measures necessary to secure compliance with laws or regulations that are not inconsistent with the provisions of this Agreement, including those relating to health and safety and consumer protection.

Article O-02: National Security

1. Nothing in this Agreement shall be construed:

Article O-03: Taxation

1. Except as set out in this Article and in Annex O-03.1, nothing in this Agreement shall apply to taxation measures.

2. Nothing in this Agreement shall affect the rights and obligations of either Party under any tax convention. In the event of any inconsistency between this Agreement and any such convention, that convention shall prevail to the extent of the inconsistency.

3. Notwithstanding paragraph 2:

4. Subject to paragraph 2:

5. Subject to paragraph 2 and without prejudice to the rights and obligations of the Parties under paragraph 3, Article G-06(3), (4) and (5) (Performance Requirements) shall apply to taxation measures.

6. Article G-10 (Expropriation and Compensation) shall apply to taxation measures except that no investor may invoke that Article as the basis for a claim under Article G-17 (Claim by an Investor of a Party on Its Own Behalf) or G-18 (Claim by an Investor of a Party on Behalf of an Enterprise), where it has been determined pursuant to this paragraph that the measure is not an expropriation. The investor shall refer the issue of whether the measure is not an expropriation for a determination to the appropriate competent authorities set out in Annex O-03.6 at the time that it gives notice under Article G-20 (Notice of Intent to Submit a Claim to Arbitration). If the competent authorities do not agree to consider the issue or, having agreed to consider it, fail to agree that the measure is not an expropriation within a period of six months of such referral, the investor may submit its claim to arbitration under Article G-21 (Submission of a Claim to Arbitration).

Article O-04: Balance of Payments

1. Nothing in this Agreement shall be construed to prevent a Party from adopting or maintaining measures that restrict transfers where the Party experiences serious balance of payments difficulties, or the threat thereof, and such restrictions are consistent with this Article.

2. As soon as practicable after a Party imposes a measure under this Article, the Party shall:

3. A measure adopted or maintained under this Article shall:

4. A Party may adopt or maintain a measure under this Article that gives priority to services that are essential to its economic program, provided that a Party may not impose a measure for the purpose of protecting a specific industry or sector unless the measure is consistent with paragraph 2(c) and with Article VIII(3) of the Articles of Agreement of the IMF.

5. Restrictions imposed on transfers:

Article O-05: Disclosure of Information

Nothing in this Agreement shall be construed to require a Party to furnish or allow access to information the disclosure of which would impede law enforcement or would be contrary to the Party's law protecting personal privacy or the financial affairs and accounts of individual customers of financial institutions.

Article O-06: Cultural Industries

Annex O-06 applies to the Parties with respect to cultural industries.

Article O-07: Definitions

For purposes of this Chapter:

cultural industriesmeans persons engaged in any of the following activities:

international capital transactions means "international capital transactions" as defined under the Articles of Agreement of the IMF;

IMF means the International Monetary Fund;

payments for current international transactions means "payments for current international transactions" as defined under the Articles of Agreement of the IMF;

tax convention means a convention for the avoidance of double taxation or other international taxation agreement or arrangement;

taxes and taxation measures do not include:

transfers means international transactions and related international transfers and payments.

Annex O-03.1

Double Taxation

1. The Parties agree to conclude a bilateral double taxation agreement within a reasonable time after the date that this Agreement enters into force.

2. The Parties agree that upon conclusion of a bilateral double taxation agreement, they will agree to an exchange of letters setting out the relationship between the double taxation agreement and Article O-03 of the Agreement.

Annex O-03.6

Competent Authorities

For purposes of this Chapter:

competent authority means

Annex O-06

Cultural Industries

Nothing in this Agreement shall be construed to apply to measures adopted or maintained by either Party with respect to cultural industries except as specifically provided in Article C-02 (Market Access - Tariff Elimination).

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