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North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA)

Part Eight: Other Provisions

Chapter Twenty-One: Exceptions

Article 2101 : General Exceptions

1. For purposes of:

GATT Article XX and its interpretative notes, or any equivalent provision of a successor agreement to which all Parties are party, are incorporated into and made part of this Agreement.

The Parties understand that the measures referred to in GATT Article XX(b) include environmental measures necessary to protect human, animal or plant life or health, and that GATT Article XX(g) 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 any 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 2102: National Security

1. Subject to Articles 607 (Energy - National Security Measures) and 1018 (Government Procurement Exceptions), nothing in this Agreement shall be construed:

Article 2103: Taxation

1. Except as set out in this Article, nothing in this Agreement shall apply to taxation measures.

2. Nothing in this Agreement shall affect the rights and obligations of any 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 1106(3), (4) and (5) (Investment - Performance Requirements) shall apply to taxation measures.

6. Article 1110 (Expropriation and Compensation) shall apply to taxation measures except that no investor may invoke that Article as the basis for a claim under Article 1116 (Claim by an Investor of a Party on its Own Behalf) or 1117 (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 2103.6 at the time that it gives notice under Article 1119 (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 1120 (Submission of a Claim to Arbitration).

Article 2104: 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 paragraphs 2 through 4 and are:

General Rules

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.

Restrictions on Transfers Other than Cross-Border Trade in Financial Services

5. Restrictions imposed on transfers, other than on cross border trade in financial services:

Restrictions on Cross-Border Trade in Financial Services

6. A Party imposing a restriction on Cross-Border trade in financial services:

7. In consultations under paragraph 6(b), the Parties shall:

Article 2105: 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 2106: Cultural Industries

Annex 2106 applies to the Parties specified in that Annex with respect to cultural industries.

Article 2107: Definitions

For purposes of this Chapter:

cultural industries means 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 2103.4

Specific Taxation Measures

1. For purposes of Article 2103(4)(a) and (b), the listed tax is the asset tax under the Asset Tax Law ("Ley del Impuesto al Activo") of Mexico.

2. For purposes of Article 2103(4)(h), the listed tax is any excise tax on insurance premiums adopted by Mexico to the extent that such tax would, if levied by Canada or the United States, be covered by Article 2103(4)(d), (e) or (f).

Annex 2103.6

Competent Authorities

For purposes of this Chapter:

competent authority means

Annex 2106

Cultural Industries

Notwithstanding any other provision of this Agreement, as between Canada and the United States, any measure adopted or maintained with respect to cultural industries, except as specifically provided in Article 302 (Market Access - Tariff Elimination), and any measure of equivalent commercial effect taken in response, shall be governed under this Agreement exclusively in accordance with the provisions of the Canada - United States Free Trade Agreement . The rights and obligations between Canada and any other Party with respect to such measures shall be identical to those applying between Canada and the United States.

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