South Asian Free Trade Area Agreement (SAFTA)

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AGREEMENT ON SOUTH ASIAN FREE TRADE AREA (SAFTA)

The Governments of the SAARC (South Asian Association for Regional

Cooperation) Member States comprising the People’s Republic of

Bangladesh, the Kingdom of Bhutan, the Republic of India, the Republic of

Maldives, the Kingdom of Nepal, the Islamic Republic of Pakistan and the

Democratic Socialist Republic of Sri Lanka hereinafter referred to as

“Contracting States”

Motivated by the commitment to strengthen intra-SAARC economic

cooperation to maximise the realization of the region’s potential for trade

and development for the benefit of their people, in a spirit of mutual

accommodation, with full respect for the principles of sovereign equality,

independence and territorial integrity of all States;

Noting that the Agreement on SAARC Preferential Trading Arrangement

(SAPTA) signed in Dhaka on the 11th of April 1993 provides for the adoption

of various instruments of trade liberalization on a preferential basis;

Convinced that preferential trading arrangements among SAARC Member

States will act as a stimulus to the strengthening of national and SAARC

economic resilience, and the development of the national economies of the

Contracting States by expanding investment and production opportunities,

trade, and foreign exchange earnings as well as the development of

economic and technological cooperation;

Aware that a number of regions are entering into such arrangements to

enhance trade through the free movement of goods;

Recognizing that Least Developed Countries in the region need to be

accorded special and differential treatment commensurate with their

development needs; and

Recognizing that it is necessary to progress beyond a Preferential Trading

Arrangement to move towards higher levels of trade and economic

cooperation in the region by removing barriers to cross-border flow of

goods;

Have agreed as follows:

Article – 1

Definitions

For the purposes of this Agreement:

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1. Concessions mean tariff, para-tariff and non-tariff concessions

agreed under the Trade Liberalisation Programme;

2. Direct Trade Measures mean measures conducive to promoting

mutual trade of Contracting States such as long and medium-term

contracts containing import and supply commitments in respect of

specific products, buy-back arrangements, state trading operations, and

government and public procurement;

3. Least Developed Contracting State refers to a Contracting State

which is designated as a “Least Developed Country” by the United

Nations;

4. Margin of Preference means percentage of tariff by which tariffs are

reduced on products imported from one Contracting State to another

as a result of preferential treatment.

5. Non-Tariff Measures include any measure, regulation, or practice,

other than “tariffs” and “para-tariffs”.

6. Para-Tariffs mean border charges and fees, other than “tariffs”, on

foreign trade transactions of a tariff-like effect which are levied solely on

imports, but not those indirect taxes and charges, which are levied in

the same manner on like domestic products. Import charges

corresponding to specific services rendered are not considered as

para-tariff measures;

7. Products mean all products including manufactures and commodities in

their raw, semi-processed and processed forms;

8. SAPTA means Agreement on SAARC Preferential Trading

Arrangement signed in Dhaka on the 11th of April 1993;

9. Serious injury means a significant impairment of the domestic industry

of like or directly competitive products due to a surge in preferential

imports causing substantial losses in terms of earnings, production or

employment unsustainable in the short term;

10. Tariffs mean customs duties included in the national tariff schedules of

the Contracting States;

11. Threat of serious injury means a situation in which a substantial

increase of preferential imports is of a nature to cause “serious injury”

to domestic producers, and that such injury, although not yet existing,

is clearly imminent. A determination of threat of serious injury shall be

based on facts and not on mere allegation, conjecture, or remote or

hypothetical possibility.

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Article – 2

Establishment

The Contracting States hereby establish the South Asian Free Trade

Area (SAFTA) to promote and enhance mutual trade and economic

cooperation among the Contracting States, through exchanging

concessions in accordance with this Agreement.

Article – 3

Objectives and Principles

1. The Objectives of this Agreement are to promote and enhance

mutual trade and economic cooperation among Contracting

States by, inter-alia:

a) eliminating barriers to trade in, and facilitating the crossborder

movement of goods between the territories of the

Contracting States;

b) promoting conditions of fair competition in the free trade

area, and ensuring equitable benefits to all Contracting

States, taking into account their respective levels and

pattern of economic development;

c) creating effective mechanism for the implementation and

application of this Agreement, for its joint administration and

for the resolution of disputes; and

d) establishing a framework for further regional cooperation to

expand and enhance the mutual benefits of this Agreement.

2. SAFTA shall be governed in accordance with the following

principles:

a) SAFTA will be governed by the provisions of this Agreement

and also by the rules, regulations, decisions, understandings

and protocols to be agreed upon within its framework by the

Contracting States;

b) The Contracting States affirm their existing rights and

obligations with respect to each other under Marrakesh

Agreement Establishing the World Trade Organization and

other Treaties/Agreements to which such Contracting States

are signatories;

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c) SAFTA shall be based and applied on the principles of overall

reciprocity and mutuality of advantages in such a way as to

benefit equitably all Contracting States, taking into account

their respective levels of economic and industrial

development, the pattern of their external trade and tariff

policies and systems;

d) SAFTA shall involve the free movement of goods, between

countries through, inter alia, the elimination of tariffs, para

tariffs and non-tariff restrictions on the movement of goods,

and any other equivalent measures;

e) SAFTA shall entail adoption of trade facilitation and other

measures, and the progressive harmonization of legislations

by the Contracting States in the relevant areas; and

f) The special needs of the Least Developed Contracting States

shall be clearly recognized by adopting concrete preferential

measures in their favour on a non-reciprocal basis.

Article – 4

Instruments

The SAFTA Agreement will be implemented through the following

instruments:-

1. Trade Liberalisation Programme

2. Rules of Origin

3. Institutional Arrangements

4. Consultations and Dispute Settlement Procedures

5. Safeguard Measures

6. Any other instrument that may be agreed upon.

Article – 5

National Treatment

Each Contracting State shall accord national treatment to the products

of other Contracting States in accordance with the provisions of Article

III of GATT 1994.

Article – 6

Components

SAFTA may, inter-alia, consist of arrangements relating to:

a) tariffs;

b) para-tariffs;

c) non-tariff measures;

d) direct trade measures.

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Article – 7

Trade Liberalisation Programme

1. Contracting States agree to the following schedule of tariff reductions:

a) The tariff reduction by the Non-Least Developed Contracting States

from existing tariff rates to 20% shall be done within a time frame

of 2 years, from the date of coming into force of the Agreement.

Contracting States are encouraged to adopt reductions in equal

annual installments. If actual tariff rates after the coming into

force of the Agreement are below 20%, there shall be an annual

reduction on a Margin of Preference basis of 10% on actual tariff

rates for each of the two years.

b) The tariff reduction by the Least Developed Contracting States

from existing tariff rates will be to 30% within the time frame of 2

years from the date of coming into force of the Agreement. If

actual tariff rates on the date of coming into force of the

Agreement are below 30%, there will be an annual reduction on a

Margin of Preference basis of 5 % on actual tariff rates for each of

the two years.

c) The subsequent tariff reduction by Non-Least Developed

Contracting States from 20% or below to 0-5% shall be done

within a second time frame of 5 years, beginning from the third

year from the date of coming into force of the Agreement.

However, the period of subsequent tariff reduction by Sri Lanka

shall be six years. Contracting States are encouraged to adopt

reductions in equal annual installments, but not less than 15%

annually.

d) The subsequent tariff reduction by the Least Developed Contracting

States from 30% or below to 0-5% shall be done within a second

time frame of 8 years beginning from the third year from the date

of coming into force of the Agreement. The Least Developed

Contracting States are encouraged to adopt reductions in equal

annual installments, not less than 10% annually.

2. The above schedules of tariff reductions will not prevent Contracting

States from immediately reducing their tariffs to 0-5% or from

following an accelerated schedule of tariff reduction.

3. a) Contracting States may not apply the Trade Liberalisation

Programme as in paragraph 1 above, to the tariff lines included in

the Sensitive Lists which shall be negotiated by the Contracting

States (for LDCs and Non-LDCs) and incorporated in this

Agreement as an integral part. The number of products in the

Sensitive Lists shall be subject to maximum ceiling to be mutually

agreed among the Contracting States with flexibility to Least

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Developed Contracting States to seek derogation in respect of the

products of their export interest; and

b) The Sensitive List shall be reviewed after every four years or

earlier as may be decided by SAFTA Ministerial Council (SMC),

established under Article 10, with a view to reducing the number

of items in the Sensitive List.

4. The Contracting States shall notify the SAARC Secretariat all non-tariff

and para-tariff measures to their trade on an annual basis. The

notified measures shall be reviewed by the Committee of Experts,

established under Article 10, in its regular meetings to examine their

compatibility with relevant WTO provisions. The Committee of Experts

shall recommend the elimination or implementation of the measure in

the least trade restrictive manner in order to facilitate intra-SAARC

trade1.

5. Contracting Parties shall eliminate all quantitative restrictions, except

otherwise permitted under GATT 1994, in respect of products included

in the Trade Liberalisation Programme.

6. Notwithstanding the provisions contained in paragraph 1 of this

Article, the Non-Least Developed Contracting States shall reduce their

tariff to 0-5% for the products of Least Developed Contracting States

within a timeframe of three years beginning from the date of coming

into force of the Agreement.

Article – 8

Additional Measures

Contracting States agree to consider, in addition to the measures set

out in Article 7, the adoption of trade facilitation and other measures

to support and complement SAFTA for mutual benefit. These may

include, among others: -

a) harmonization of standards, reciprocal recognition of

tests and accreditation of testing laboratories of

Contracting States and certification of products;

b) simplification and harmonization of customs clearance

procedure;

c) harmonization of national customs classification based

on HS coding system;

d) Customs cooperation to resolve dispute at customs entry

points;

e) simplification and harmonization of import licensing and

registration procedures;

f) simplification of banking procedures for import financing;

1 The initial notification shall be made within three months from the date of coming into force of the Agreement and

the COE shall review the notifications in its first meeting and take appropriate decisions.

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g) transit facilities for efficient intra-SAARC trade,

especially for the land-locked Contracting States;

h) removal of barriers to intra-SAARC investments;

i) macroeconomic consultations;

j) rules for fair competition and the promotion of venture

capital;

k) development of communication systems and transport

infrastructure;

l) making exceptions to their foreign exchange restrictions,

if any, relating to payments for products under the

SAFTA scheme, as well as repatriation of such payments

without prejudice to their rights under Article XVIII of the

General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade (GATT) and the

relevant provisions of Articles of Treaty of the

International Monetary Fund (IMF); and

m) Simplification of procedures for business visas.

Article – 9

Extension of Negotiated Concessions

Concessions agreed to, other than those made exclusively to the Least

Developed Contracting States, shall be extended unconditionally to all

Contracting States.

Article – 10

Institutional Arrangements

1. The Contracting States hereby establish the SAFTA Ministerial Council

(hereinafter referred to as SMC).

2. The SMC shall be the highest decision-making body of SAFTA and shall

be responsible for the administration and implementation of this

Agreement and all decisions and arrangements made within its legal

framework.

3. The SMC shall consist of the Ministers of Commerce/Trade of the

Contracting States.

4. The SMC shall meet at least once every year or more often as and

when considered necessary by the Contracting States. Each

Contracting State shall chair the SMC for a period of one year on

rotational basis in alphabetical order.

5. The SMC shall be supported by a Committee of Experts (hereinafter

referred to as COE), with one nominee from each Contracting State at

the level of a Senior Economic Official, with expertise in trade matters.

6. The COE shall monitor, review and facilitate implementation of the

provisions of this Agreement and undertake any task assigned to it by

the SMC. The COE shall submit its report to SMC every six months.

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7. The COE will also act as Dispute Settlement Body under this

Agreement.

8. The COE shall meet at least once every six months or more often as

and when considered necessary by the Contracting States. Each

Contracting State shall chair the COE for a period of one year on

rotational basis in alphabetical order.

9. The SAARC Secretariat shall provide secretarial support to the SMC

and COE in the discharge of their functions.

10. The SMC and COE will adopt their own rules of procedure.

Article – 11

Special and Differential Treatment for the Least Developed

Contracting States

In addition to other provisions of this Agreement, all Contracting States shall

provide special and more favorable treatment exclusively to the Least

Developed Contracting States as set out in the following sub-paragraphs:

a) The Contracting States shall give special regard to the situation of the

Least Developed Contracting States when considering the application of

anti-dumping and/or countervailing measures. In this regard, the

Contracting States shall provide an opportunity to Least Developed

Contracting States for consultations. The Contracting States shall, to the

extent practical, favourably consider accepting price undertakings offered

by exporters from Least Developed Contracting States. These

constructive remedies shall be available until the trade liberalisation

programme has been completed by all Contracting States.

b) Greater flexibility in continuation of quantitative or other restrictions

provisionally and without discrimination in critical circumstances by the

Least Developed Contracting States on imports from other Contracting

States.

c) Contracting States shall also consider, where practical, taking direct trade

measures with a view to enhancing sustainable exports from Least

Developed Contracting States, such as long and medium-term contracts

containing import and supply commitments in respect of specific

products, buy-back arrangements, state trading operations, and

government and public procurement.

d) Special consideration shall be given by Contracting States to requests

from Least Developed Contracting States for technical assistance and

cooperation arrangements designed to assist them in expanding their

trade with other Contracting States and in taking advantage of the

potential benefits of SAFTA. A list of possible areas for such technical

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assistance shall be negotiated by the Contracting States and incorporated

in this Agreement as an integral part.

e) The Contracting States recognize that the Least Developed Contracting

States may face loss of customs revenue due to the implementation of

the Trade Liberalisation Programme under this Agreement. Until

alternative domestic arrangements are formulated to address this

situation, the Contracting States agree to establish an appropriate

mechanism to compensate the Least Developed Contracting States for

their loss of customs revenue. This mechanism and its rules and

regulations shall be established prior to the commencement of the Trade

Liberalisation Programme (TLP).

Article – 12

Special Provision for Maldives

Notwithstanding the potential or actual graduation of Maldives from

the status of a Least Developed Country, it shall be accorded in this

Agreement and in any subsequent contractual undertakings thereof

treatment no less favourable than that provided for the Least

Developed Contracting States.

Article – 13

Non-application

Notwithstanding the measures as set out in this Agreement its

provisions shall not apply in relation to preferences already granted or

to be granted by any Contracting State to other Contracting States

outside the framework of this Agreement, and to third countries

through bilateral, plurilateral and multilateral trade agreements and

similar arrangements.

Article – 14

General Exceptions

a) Nothing in this Agreement shall be construed to prevent any

Contracting State from taking action and adopting measures which

it considers necessary for the protection of its national security.

b) Subject to the requirement that such measures are not applied in a

manner which would constitute a means of arbitrary or

unjustifiable discrimination between countries where the similar

conditions prevail, or a disguised restriction on intra-regional trade,

nothing in this Agreement shall be construed to prevent any

Contracting State from taking action and adopting measures which

it considers necessary for the protection of :

(i) public morals;

(ii) human, animal or plant life and health; and

(iii) articles of artistic, historic and archaeological value.

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Article – 15

Balance of Payments Measures

1. Notwithstanding the provisions of this Agreement, any Contracting

State facing serious balance of payments difficulties may suspend

provisionally the concessions extended under this Agreement.

2. Any such measure taken pursuant to paragraph 1 of this Article shall

be immediately notified to the Committee of Experts.

3. The Committee of Experts shall periodically review the measures

taken pursuant to paragraph 1 of this Article.

4. Any Contracting State which takes action pursuant to paragraph 1 of

this Article shall afford, upon request from any other Contracting

State, adequate opportunities for consultations with a view to

preserving the stability of concessions under SAFTA.

5. If no satisfactory adjustment is effected between the Contracting

States concerned within 30 days of the beginning of such

consultations, to be extended by another 30 days through mutual

consent, the matter may be referred to the Committee of Experts.

6. Any such measures taken pursuant to paragraph 1 of this Article shall

be phased out soon after the Committee of Experts comes to the

conclusion that the balance of payments situation of the Contracting

State concerned has improved.

Article – 16

Safeguard Measures

1. If any product, which is the subject of a concession under this

Agreement, is imported into the territory of a Contracting State in

such a manner or in such quantities as to cause, or threaten to cause,

serious injury to producers of like or directly competitive products in

the importing Contracting State, the importing Contracting State may,

pursuant to an investigation by the competent authorities of that

Contracting State conducted in accordance with the provisions set out

in this Article, suspend temporarily the concessions granted under the

provisions of this Agreement. The examination of the impact on the

domestic industry concerned shall include an evaluation of all other

relevant economic factors and indices having a bearing on the state of

the domestic industry of the product and a causal relationship must be

clearly established between “serious injury” and imports from within

the SAARC region, to the exclusion of all such other factors.

2. Such suspension shall only be for such time and to the extent as may

be necessary to prevent or remedy such injury and in no case, will

such suspension be for duration of more than 3 years.

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3. No safeguard measure shall be applied again by a Contracting State to

the import of a product which has been subject to such a measure

during the period of implementation of Trade Liberalization

Programme by the Contracting States, for a period of time equal to

that during which such measure had been previously applied, provided

that the period of non-application is at least two years.

4. All investigation procedures for resorting to safeguard measures under

this Article shall be consistent with Article XIX of GATT 1994 and WTO

Agreement on Safeguards

5. Safeguard action under this Article shall be non-discriminatory and

applicable to the product imported from all other Contracting States

subject to the provisions of paragraph 8 of this Article.

6. When safeguard provisions are used in accordance with this Article,

the Contracting State invoking such measures shall immediately notify

the exporting Contracting State(s) and the Committee of Experts.

7. In critical circumstances where delay would cause damage which it

would be difficult to repair, a Contracting State may take a provisional

safeguard measure pursuant to a preliminary determination that there

is clear evidence that increased imports have caused or are

threatening to cause serious injury. The duration of the provisional

measure shall not exceed 200 days, during this period the pertinent

requirements of this Article shall be met.

8. Notwithstanding any of the provisions of this Article, safeguard

measures under this article shall not be applied against a product

originating in a Least Developed Contracting State as long as its share

of imports of the product concerned in the importing Contracting State

does not exceed 5 per cent, provided Least Developed Contracting

States with less than 5% import share collectively account for not

more than 15% of total imports of the product concerned.

Article – 17

Maintenance of the Value of Concessions

Any of the concessions agreed upon under this Agreement shall not be

diminished or nullified, by the application of any measures restricting

trade by the Contracting States, except under the provisions of other

articles of this Agreement.

Article – 18

Rules of Origin

Rules of Origin shall be negotiated by the Contracting States and

incorporated in this Agreement as an integral part.

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Article – 19

Consultations

1. Each Contracting State shall accord sympathetic consideration to and

will afford adequate opportunity for consultations regarding

representations made by another Contracting State with respect to

any matter affecting the operation of this Agreement.

2. The Committee of Experts may, at the request of a Contracting State,

consult with any Contracting State in respect of any matter for which

it has not been possible to find a satisfactory solution through

consultations under paragraph 1.

Article – 20

Dispute Settlement Mechanism

1. Any dispute that may arise among the Contracting States regarding

the interpretation and application of the provisions of this Agreement

or any instrument adopted within its framework concerning the rights

and obligations of the Contracting States will be amicably settled

among the parties concerned through a process initiated by a request

for bilateral consultations.

2. Any Contracting State may request consultations in accordance with

paragraph 1 of this Article with other Contracting State in writing

stating the reasons for the request including identification of the

measures at issue. All such requests should be notified to the

Committee of Experts, through the SAARC Secretariat with an

indication of the legal basis for the complaint.

3. If a request for consultations is made pursuant to this Article, the

Contracting State to which the request is made shall, unless otherwise

mutually agreed, reply to the request within 15 days after the date of

its receipt and shall enter into consultations in good faith within a

period of no more than 30 days after the date of receipt of the

request, with a view to reaching a mutually satisfactory solution.

4. If the Contracting State does not respond within 15 days after the

date of receipt of the request, or does not enter into consultations

within a period of no more than 30 days, or a period otherwise

mutually agreed, after the date of receipt of the request, then the

Contracting State that requested the holding of consultations may

proceed to request the Committee of Experts to settle the dispute in

accordance with working procedures to be drawn up by the

Committee.

5. Consultations shall be confidential, and without prejudice to the rights

of any Contracting State in any further proceedings.

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6. If the consultations fail to settle a dispute within 30 days after the

date of receipt of the request for consultations, to be extended by a

further period of 30 days through mutual consent, the complaining

Contracting State may request the Committee of Experts to settle the

dispute. The complaining Contracting State may request the

Committee of Experts to settle the dispute during the 60-day period if

the consulting Contracting States jointly consider that consultations

have failed to settle the dispute.

7. The Committee of Experts shall promptly investigate the matter

referred to it and make recommendations on the matter within a

period of 60 days from the date of referral.

8. The Committee of Experts may request a specialist from a Contracting

State not party to the dispute selected from a panel of specialists to

be established by the Committee within one year from the date of

entry into force of the Agreement for peer review of the matter

referred to it. Such review shall be submitted to the Committee within

a period of 30 days from the date of referral of the matter to the

specialist.

9. Any Contracting State, which is a party to the dispute, may appeal the

recommendations of the Committee of Experts to the SMC. The SMC

shall review the matter within the period of 60 days from date of

submission of request for appeal. The SMC may uphold, modify or

reverse the recommendations of the Committee of Experts.

10. Where the Committee of Experts or SMC concludes that the measure

subject to dispute is inconsistent with any of the provisions of this

Agreement, it shall recommend that the Contracting State concerned

bring the measure into conformity with this Agreement. In addition to

its recommendations, the Committee of Experts or SMC may suggest

ways in which the Contracting State concerned could implement the

recommendations.

11. The Contracting State to which the Committee’s or SMC’s

recommendations are addressed shall within 30 days from the date of

adoption of the recommendations by the Committee or SMC, inform

the Committee of Experts of its intentions regarding implementation of

the recommendations. Should the said Contracting State fail to

implement the recommendations within 90 days from the date of

adoption of the recommendations by the Committee, the Committee

of Experts may authorize other interested Contracting States to

withdraw concessions having trade effects equivalent to those of the

measure in dispute.

Article – 21

Withdrawal

1. Any Contracting State may withdraw from this Agreement at any time

after its entry into force. Such withdrawal shall be effective on expiry of

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six months from the date on which a written notice thereof is received

by the Secretary-General of SAARC, the depositary of this Agreement.

That Contracting State shall simultaneously inform the Committee of

Experts of the action it has taken.

2. The rights and obligations of a Contracting State which has withdrawn

from this Agreement shall cease to apply as of that effective date.

3. Following the withdrawal by any Contracting State, the Committee shall

meet within 30 days to consider action subsequent to withdrawal.

Article – 22

Entry into Force

1. This Agreement shall enter into force on 1st January 2006 upon

completion of formalities, including ratification by all Contracting

States and issuance of a notification thereof by the SAARC Secretariat.

This Agreement shall supercede the Agreement on SAARC Preferential

Trading Arrangement (SAPTA).

2. Notwithstanding the supercession of SAPTA by this Agreement, the

concessions granted under the SAPTA Framework shall remain

available to the Contracting States until the completion of the Trade

Liberalisation Programme.

Article – 23

Reservations

This Agreement shall not be signed with reservations, nor will

reservations be admitted at the time of notification to the SAARC

Secretariat of the completion of formalities.

Article – 24

Amendments

This Agreement may be amended by consensus in the SAFTA

Ministerial Council. Any such amendment will become effective upon

the deposit of instruments of acceptance with the Secretary General of

SAARC by all Contracting States.

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Article – 25

Depository

This Agreement will be deposited with the Secretary General of

SAARC, who will promptly furnish a certified copy thereof to each

Contracting State.

IN WITNESS WHEREOF the undersigned being duly authorized

thereto by their respective Governments have signed this Agreement.

DONE in ISLAMABAD, PAKISTAN, On This The Sixth Day Of the Year

Two Thousand Four, In Nine Originals In The English Language All

Texts Being Equally Authentic.

M. MORSHED KHAN

Minister for Foreign Affairs

People’s Republic of

Bangladesh

NADO RINCHHEN

Officiating Minister for

Foreign Affairs

Kingdom of Bhutan

YASHWANT SINHA

Minister of External Affairs

Republic of India

FATHULLA JAMEEL

Minister of Foreign Affairs

Republic of Maldives

DR. BHEKH B. THAPA

Ambassador-at-large

for Foreign Affairs

His Majesty’s Government of

Nepal

KHURSHID M. KASURI

Minister of Foreign Affairs

Islamic Republic of

Pakistan

TYRONNE FERNANDO

Minister of Foreign Affairs

Democratic Socialist Republic of Sri Lanka

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