The Parties recognize that economic development, social development and environmental protection are interdependent. In Chapter 11, they reaffirm their commitment to multilateral environmental and labour agreements and principles and commit to maintaining the level of protection, while recognizing the right of each party to establish its own level of environmental and labour protection. Arbitration procedures shall not apply to this Chapter. Philippines – European Free Trade Association Free Trade Agreement The Philippines and EFTA members Iceland, Liechtenstein, Norway and Switzerland signed a free trade agreement in 2016 that is expected to enter into force in 2018. The Philippines` EFTA includes trade in goods, trade in services, investment, competition, intellectual property, government procurement, trade and sustainable development. The Agreement also provides for tariff concessions for both basic agricultural products and processed agricultural products covered by bilateral Annexes VIII to X to the Agreement. Specific provisions to facilitate trade in fish and other seafood products are set out in a separate Annex to the Chapter on Trade in Goods (Annex V). Provisions for the elimination of export duties are included in the agreement, but the Philippines has maintained the possibility of such tariffs on roundwood in accordance with Annex IV. For EFTA-Philippines trade statistics, see the EFTA Trade Statistics Tool The Chapter on Trade in Services (Chapter 6) closely follows the approach of the WTO General Agreement on Trade in Services (GATS). It covers trade in all services sectors among the four types of supply.

Separate Annexes on Financial Services (Annex XIII), Telecommunications Services (Annex XIV), Free Movement of Natural Persons (Annex XV), Maritime Transport Services (Annex XVI) and Energy-Related Services (Annex XVII) complete the Chapter with additional sectoral disciplines. The lists of specific obligations and derogations from the most-favoured-nation regime of the Contracting Parties are set out in Annexes XI and XII respectively. These schedules are regularly reviewed in order to further liberalise trade in services between the two parties. A Sustainable Development Impact Assessment (SIA) was carried out to support the negotiations on free trade agreements (FTAs) between the European Union and the Philippines. The saa aims to assess the potential impact of trade and trade provisions in a future free trade agreement on economic, social, human rights and environmental aspects in any trading partner and in other relevant countries. On this page you will find important information about the Philippines` participation in the WTO. The Philippines has been a member of the WTO since 1 January 1995 and a member of GATT since 27 December 1979. Other free trade agreements Under ASEAN, the Philippines has preferential trade agreements with China, Hong Kong, India, Japan, South Korea, Australia and New Zealand. Visit www.dti.gov.ph/15-main-content/dummy-article/682-free-trade-agreements and tariffcommission.gov.ph/finder/ to find a list of Philippine trade agreements and the corresponding customs plans and commitments.

For more information on trade, please visit the website of the Http://pntr.gov.ph/ National Trade Repository of Philippines. As a far-reaching agreement, the free trade agreement includes trade in goods, trade in services, investment, competition, protection of intellectual property rights, government procurement, trade and sustainable development. In the area of trade in goods, EFTA removes all tariffs on industrial products from the entry into force of the agreement, while the Philippines will gradually reduce or eliminate its tariffs on the vast majority of these products. .