SR 20-23: Treaty bringing Kenya into the Atlasia-Africa Free Trade Zone (Vote)

[Pericles]

SECTION I. SCOPE

1) This agreement shall apply to the trade in all goods between the nation of Atlasia and the nation of Kenya except for those herein listed.

2) Any item prohibited from export by the Bureau of Industrial Security or any successor agency shall not be subject to the terms of this agreement.

3) Any narcotic, drug, or substance prohibited from consumption under the laws of any member party shall not be subject to the terms of this agreement.

4) Any animal or animal product prohibited from sale by the Endangered Species Act shall not be subject to terms of this agreement.

SECTION II. NATIONAL TREATMENT AND MARKET ACCESS FOR GOODS

1) Elimination of Duties - Except as otherwise provided in this agreement, each party shall progressively eliminate its customs duties on originating goods of the other party.

2) Customs Value - Each party shall adopt and apply the provisions of the WTO Customs Valuation Agreement for the purposes of determining the customs value of goods traded between the parties

3) Export Tax - Neither party shall adopt or maintain any duty, tax or other charge on the export of any good to the territory of the other party.

4) Import and Export Restrictions - Neither party shall adopt or maintain any prohibition or restriction on the importation or exportation of any good of the other party, except as permitted by this agreement.

5) Merchandise Processing Fee - Neither party shall adopt or maintain any merchandise processing fee for originating goods.

SECTION III: ORIGIN DETERMINATIONS

1) Chapter 3 of the Atlasia-Mozambique Free Trade Agreement, governing rules for determining originating goods is hereby incorporated by reference.

SECTION IV: CUSTOMS ADMINISTRATION

1) Notice Requirements - Each party shall publish at least 30 days in advance any change to any of its rules or regulations for customs administration.

2) Cooperation - Each party shall cooperate on the interpretation and dispute resolution of customs rules, regulations, and determinations.

SECTION V: SAFEGUARDS

1) Anti-Dumping - If as a result of the reduction or elimination of any customs duty under the agreement, an originating good of the other party is being imported in such quantities, in absolute terms or relative to domestic production, and under such conditions that the imports of such originating good constitute a substantial cause of serious injury to a domestic industry producing a like or directly competitive good, such party may either: suspend the further reduction of any rate of customs duty provided for under this agreement for the good or increase the rate of customs duty on the good until such time that imports of the good stabilize at a sustainable rate.

2) Government Enterprises and monopolies - Chapter 12 of the Atlasia- Mozambique Free Trade Agreement, governing rules for anticompetitive behaviour is hereby incorporated by reference.

3) Marketing Boards - Atlasia agrees to not treat agricultural marketing boards administered by Kenya as anti-competitive under the terms of this agreement, provided the net added value of such administration does not exceed 15% of fair market value.

4) Intellectual Property - Kenya agrees to abide by the intellectual property laws of Atlasia. This agreement hereby gives personal jurisdiction to Atlasian Courts over such violations occurring in Kenya. Kenya hereby agrees to domesticate any judgment assessed under the terms of this agreement.

5) Government Procurement - Neither party shall treat government procurement policies favouring domestic goods as anticompetitive under the terms of this agreement.

6) Environmental barriers - Atlasia agrees not to enforce the terms of the Lacey act against any timber or other plant product exported by Kenya under the terms of this agreement.

7) Quality Controls and Inspections - Neither party shall treat the neutral enforcement of generally applicable quality control laws as anticompetitive under the terms of this agreement.

8 ) Countervailing Duties - If after this agreement is fully implemented, either party fails to comply with its terms, the other party may set countervailing duties proportionate to the fair market value of the unfair advantage afforded by the breaching party’s actions.

9) Withdrawal - Either party may withdraw from this agreement six months after a declaration of intent to withdraw has been formally published by the head of state of the withdrawing party.

SECTION VI: TELECOMMUNICATION AND ELECTRONICS

1) Chapter 9 of the Atlasia-Mozambique Free Trade Agreement, governing rules for telecommunications trade is hereby incorporated by reference.

SECTION VII: FINANCIAL SERVICES

1) Chapter 10 of the Atlasia-Mozambique Free Trade Agreement, governing rules for financial services commerce is hereby incorporated by reference.

SECTION VIII: BUSINESS VISAS

1) Chapter 11 of the Atlasia-Mozambique Free Trade Agreement, governing rules for temporary business visas is hereby incorporated by reference.

SECTION IX: DISPUTE SETTLEMENTS

1) Chapter 20 of the Atlasia-Mozambique Free Trade Agreement, governing rules for dispute resolution is hereby incorporated by reference.

SECTION X: IMPLEMENTATION

1) This agreement shall take full effect 15 months from the date of passage.

Sponsor:
Senate Designation: SR 20-23

[Pericles]

This needs a sponsor.

[Southern Senator North Carolina Yankee]

I will sponsor this for the administration.

[Pericles]

24 hours to object to Senator North Carolina Yankee sponsoring this.

[Pericles]

Senator North Carolina Yankee is recognized as the sponsor and has 48 hours to speak on this treaty.

[Southern Senator North Carolina Yankee]

I PMed the Secretary of State about this bill, but have yet to receive a response.

[Southern Senator North Carolina Yankee]

I have finally received a response from the Secretary so hopefully there will be some feedback on the content soon.

[YE]

Assuming I’m reading this correctly, let’s drive down wages by (presumably) removing incentives to ship jobs to Kenya. What could go wrong?

[Former President tack50]

I am generally in favour of free trade, but I have several questions and problems.

First of all, is it normal to reduce all import/export tariffs to literally 0%? I thought most of the time free trade agreements still had a small tariff, just way smaller than normal. Either way maybe I can live with it.

I also have problems with many of the points in Section V:

-What do Marketing Boards do? Is that point important?

-I don't think Atlasia should be enforcing its copyright laws on foreign countries and viceversa. Now, I am in favour of that happening if we were going to pass something like the UK-Atlasia common market agreement, but a simple free trade agreement should not include copyright.

-I completely oppose removing environmental protections as done in point 6.

Since this is a bilateral trade agreement I don't think we can simply amend it like with any other bill right?

[Don Vito Corleone]

Before I begin I'd like to acknowledge that I am quite late in responding to this Treaty reaching the Senate floor, and for that I apologize.

Anyway, as for my statement:
Free Trade agreements have brought many benefits to our nation. They have provided jobs, lowered the cost of goods for consumers here at home, and given our products greater access to global markets. The Atlasia-Africa Free Trade Zone is no exception; it too has provided our nation benefits. Therefore, when Kenya approached us and asked to be inducted into the Free Trade Zone, we immediately negotiated a Treaty to bring them into the zone. And to those who worry about some of the content of this Treaty, I will point out that this Treaty is more or less identical to the one which founded the Atlasia-Africa Free Trade Zone, meaning all the rules and provisions in this treaty are ones already in place; all this Treaty does is expand where the provisions and rules apply to. In short, this Treaty expands a Free Trade Zone which has already proven itself to be beneficial to this country (in an economic as well as geo-political basis), and I urge for it to be passed.

[Don Vito Corleone]

Assuming I’m reading this correctly, let’s drive down wages by (presumably) removing incentives to ship jobs to Kenya. What could go wrong?

As I pointed out in my statement, all the provisions and rules in this treaty are already in place, and yet we do not see a decline in wages.

[Devout Centrist]

I am willing to vote in favor of this bill.

[Don Vito Corleone]

I am generally in favour of free trade, but I have several questions and problems.

First of all, is it normal to reduce all import/export tariffs to literally 0%? I thought most of the time free trade agreements still had a small tariff, just way smaller than normal. Either way maybe I can live with it.

Perhaps it's not normal, but I must admit I don't really see the issue with it (especially as you say it's not a dealbreaker).

I also have problems with many of the points in Section V:

-What do Marketing Boards do? Is that point important?

An Agricultural Marketing Board is an agency which markets Agricultural Products on behalf of the producer. For example, in Canada we had the Canadian Wheat Board which would buy farmer's Wheat and Barely and then sell it on their behalf, giving the profit to the farmer. As to whether the point dealing with them are important, I must admit I don't exactly understand what you mean. Are you asking if the provision dealing with the Marketing Boards is important, or if the existence of the Marketing Boards themselves are important?

-I don't think Atlasia should be enforcing its copyright laws on foreign countries and viceversa. Now, I am in favour of that happening if we were going to pass something like the UK-Atlasia common market agreement, but a simple free trade agreement should not include copyright.

Why not? Expanding our copyright laws allows us to protect the intellectual property of creators in Atlasia, I do not see why expansion is a bad idea.

-I completely oppose removing environmental protections as done in point 6.

Since this is a bilateral trade agreement I don't think we can simply amend it like with any other bill right?

A) I hate to bring this up again so soon but, like I said the rules and provisions in this treaty already exist, and things seem to be working fine. That said, this point does strike me as a perfectly valid criticism and if need be we can look into striking that part of the Treaty.

B) Well, yes, we can't amend it unilaterally, but to my understanding if we had to make some changes we could talk to the Kenyans about it, and I doubt the Kenyans would object based on the character of our negotiations.

[Dr. MB]

will this promote Kenyan sweatshops or no?

[Don Vito Corleone]

will this promote Kenyan sweatshops or no?

What do you mean by "promote"?

[Peanut]

To clarify, as an appointed member of the President's NSC I commend this bill. Cooperation between our nations (and stronger ties between Atlasia and Africa at large in this changing context) are extremely important.

[Dr. MB]

will this promote Kenyan sweatshops or no?

What do you mean by "promote"?

Encourage Atlasian corporations to outsource labor to them.

[Don Vito Corleone]

will this promote Kenyan sweatshops or no?

What do you mean by "promote"?

Encourage Atlasian corporations to outsource labor to them.

No, Senator, this Treaty will not do that.

[Peanut]

Seeing the lack of debate, I move for a final vote on this bill. Ftr, I'm fully in support.

[Pericles]

24 hours for objections to Senator Peanut's final vote motion.

[Pericles]

With no objection, a final vote lasting for 72 hours has begun on this treaty.

[Dr. MB]

Aye

[Southern Senator North Carolina Yankee]

Aye

[Pyro]

Abstain.

[Devout Centrist]

Aye