Agreement between the Government of Canada
and the Government of the Eastern Republic of Uruguay
for the Promotion and Protection of Investments
ANNEX I
GENERAL AND SPECIFIC EXCEPTIONS
Special Provisions
I. MFN Exceptions:
Articles III(l)(a), IV(1)(a) and IV(2)(a) shall not apply to treatment by a
Contracting Party pursuant to any existing or future bilateral or multilateral agreement:
establishing, strengthening or expanding a free trade area or
customs union;
negotiated within the framework of the GATT (including in particular
the General Agreement on Trade in Services (GATS)), the World Trade Organization, or any
successor organization), and containing obligations and rights relating to trade in
services; or
relating to:
aviation;
telecommunications transport networks and telecommunications
transport services;
fisheries;
maritime matters, including salvage; or
financial services.
Article III(l)(a) does not apply in respect of financial services.
For the purposes of this Agreement, the term "financial service"
means a service of a financial nature, including insurance, and a service incidental or
auxiliary to a service of a financial nature;
II. National Treatment Exceptions:
Articles III(l)(b), IV(1)(b), IV(2)(b), V(1), V(2) and VI do not apply to:
any measure maintained or adopted after the date of entry into force
of this Agreement that, at the time of sale or other disposition of a government's equity
interests in, or the assets of, an existing state enterprise or an existing governmental
entity, prohibits or imposes limitations on the ownership of equity interests or assets or
imposes nationality requirements relating to senior management or members of the board of
directors;
any existing non-conforming measures maintained within the territory
of a Contracting Party; the continuation or prompt renewal of any such non-conforming
measure or any measure referred to in paragraph (a) above; any amendment to such
non-conforming measure or any measure referred to in paragraph (a) above, to the extent
that such amendment does not decrease the conformity of the measure as it existed
immediately before the amendment with those obligations;
the right of each Contracting Party to make or maintain exceptions
within the following sectors or matters:
Canada:
social services (i.e. public law enforcement; correctional services;
income security or insurance; social security or insurance; social welfare; public
education; public training; health and child care);
residency requirements for ownership of oceanfront land;
measures implementing the Northwest Territories Oil and Gas Accord;
government securities -- as described in Standard Industrial
Classification number 8152 as set out in Statistics Canada Standard Industrial
Classification, fourth edition, 1980.
Uruguay:
social services (i.e. public law enforcement; correctional services;
income security or insurance; social security or insurance; social welfare; public
education; public training; health and child care).
The Contracting Parties shall, within a two year period after the entry into
force of this Agreement, exchange letters listing, to the extent possible any existing
measures that it may rely on to limit national treatment obligations in accordance with
Paragraph (1)(b) hereof.
Notwithstanding any other provision of this Agreement, the Contracting
Parties agree that in respect of services, nothing in this Agreement shall oblige a
Contracting Party to accord to investors, prospective investors, or to investments of
investors of the other Contracting Party any treatment or right under Articles III(1)(b),
IV(1)(b), IV(2)(b), V(1), V(2) or VI more favourable than that which the Contracting Party
is required to accord to such investor, prospective investor, or investment pursuant to
the General Agreement on Trade in Services ("GATS"), as it may from time to time
be amended or replaced.
III. General Exceptions and Exemptions:
Nothing in this Agreement shall be construed to prevent a Contracting Party
from adopting, maintaining or enforcing any measure otherwise consistent with this
Agreement that it considers appropriate to ensure that investment activity in its
territory is undertaken in a manner sensitive to environmental concerns.
Provided that such measures are not applied in an arbitrary or unjustifiable
manner, or do not constitute a disguised restriction on international trade or investment,
nothing in this Agreement shall be construed to prevent a Contracting Party from adopting
or maintaining measures, including environmental measures:
necessary to ensure compliance with laws and regulations that are
not inconsistent with the provisions of this Agreement;
necessary to protect human, animal or plant life or health; or
relating to the conservation of living or non-living exhaustible
natural resources if such measures are made effective in conjunction with restrictions on
domestic production or consumption.
Nothing in this Agreement shall be construed to prevent a
Contracting Party from adopting or maintaining reasonable measures for prudential reasons,
such as:
the protection of investors, depositors, financial market
participants, policy-holders, policy-claimants, or persons to whom a fiduciary duty is
owed by a financial institution;
the maintenance of the safety, soundness, integrity or financial
responsibility of financial institutions; and
ensuring the integrity and stability of a Contracting Party's
financial system.
Investments in cultural industries are exempt from the provisions of this
Agreement. "Cultural industries" means natural persons or enterprises engaged in
any of the following activities:
the publication, distribution, or sale of books, magazines,
periodicals or newspapers in print or machine readable form but not including the sole
activity of printing or typesetting any of the foregoing;
the production, distribution, sale or exhibition of film or video
recordings;
the production, distribution, sale or exhibition of audio or video
music recordings;
the publication, distribution, sale or exhibition of music in print
or machine readable form; or
radiocommunications in which the transmissions are intended for
direct reception by the general public, and all radio, television or cable broadcasting
undertakings and all satellite programming and broadcast network services.
The provisions of Articles II, III, IV, V and VI of this Agreement do not
apply to:
procurement by a government or state enterprise;
subsidies or grants provided by a government or a state enterprise,
including government-supported loans, guarantees and insurance;
any measure denying investors of the other Contracting Party and
their investments any rights or preferences provided to the aboriginal peoples of Canada;
or
any current or future foreign aid program to promote economic
development, whether under a bilateral agreement, or pursuant to a multilateral
arrangement or agreement, such as the OECD Agreement on Export Credits.
IV. Exceptions to Specific Obligations:
In respect of intellectual property rights, a Contracting Party may derogate
from Article IV in a manner that is consistent with the Final Act Embodying the Results of
the Uruguay Round of Multilateral Trade Negotiations, done at Marrakesh, April 15, 1994.
The provisions of Article VIII do not apply to the issuance of compulsory
licenses granted in relation to intellectual property rights, or to the revocation,
limitation or creation of intellectual property rights, to the extent that such issuance,
revocation, limitation or creation is consistent with the Final Act Embodying the Results
of the Uruguay Round of Multilateral Trade Negotiations, done at Marrakesh, April 15,
1994.
V. Special Provisions relating to Transfers:
Notwithstanding the provisions of Article IX, a Contracting Party may prevent
a transfer through the equitable, non-discriminatory and good faith application of its
laws relating to:
bankruptcy, insolvency or the protection of the rights of creditors;
issuing, trading or dealing in securities;
criminal or penal offenses;
reports of transfers of currency or other monetary instruments; or
ensuring the satisfaction of judgments in adjudicatory proceedings.
Neither Contracting Party may require its investors to transfer, or penalize
its investors that fail to transfer, the returns attributable to investments in the
territory of the other Contracting Party.
Paragraph 2 shall not be construed to prevent a Contracting Party from
imposing any measure through the equitable, non-discriminatory and good faith application
of its laws relating to the matters set out in Paragraph 1.
Notwithstanding the provisions of Article IX and Paragraph 2 above, and
without limiting the applicability of Paragraph 1 above, a Contracting Party may prevent
or limit transfers by a financial institution to, or for the benefit of, an affiliate of
or person related to such institution, through the equitable, non-discriminatory and good
faith application of measures relating to maintenance of the safety, soundness, integrity
or financial responsibility of financial institutions.
For the purposes of this Agreement, "financial institution" means
any financial intermediary or other enterprise that is authorized to do business and
regulated or supervised as a financial institution under the law of the Contracting Party
in whose territory it is located;
VI. Exclusions from Dispute Settlement:
Decisions of a Contracting Party as to whether or not to permit establishment
of a new business enterprise, or acquisition of an existing business enterprise or a share
of such enterprise, by investors or prospective investors of the other Contracting Party
shall not be subject to dispute settlement under Article XII of this Agreement.
Further to Paragraph 1, decisions by a Contracting Party pursuant to a
pre-existing non-conforming measure described in Article II(l)(b) of this Annex as to
whether or not to permit an acquisition shall, in addition, not be subject to dispute
settlement under Article XIII of this Agreement.
ANNEX II
SPECIFIC RULES RE ARTICLE XII
Settlement of Disputes between an Investor
and the Host Contracting Party
I. Prudential Measures:
Where an investor submits a claim to arbitration under Article XII, and the
disputing Contracting Party invokes Article III(3) or V(4) of Annex I, the tribunal
established pursuant to Article XII shall, at the request of that Contracting Party, seek
a report in writing from the Contracting Parties on the issue of whether and to what
extent the said paragraphs are a valid defence to the claim of the investor. The tribunal
may not proceed pending receipt of a report under this Article.
Pursuant to a request received in accordance with Paragraph 1, the
Contracting Parties shall proceed in accordance with Article XIII to prepare a written
report, either on the basis of agreement following consultations, or by means of an
arbitral panel. The consultations shall be between the financial services authorities of
the Contracting Parties. The report shall be transmitted to the tribunal, and shall be
binding on the tribunal.
Where, within 70 days of the referral by the tribunal, no request for the
establishment of a panel pursuant to Paragraph 2 has been made and no report has been
received by the tribunal, the tribunal may proceed to decide the matter.
Panels for disputes on prudential issues and other financial matters shall
have the necessary expertise relevant to the specific financial service in dispute.
II. Taxation Measures:
An investor may submit a claim relating to taxation measures covered by this
Agreement to arbitration under Article XII only if the taxation authorities of the
Contracting Parties fail to reach the joint determinations specified in Article VIII(3) or
XI(2) within six months of being notified in accordance with the relevant Article.
The taxation authorities referred to in Articles VIII(3) and XI(2) shall be
the following until notice in writing to the contrary is provided to the other Contracting
Party:
for Canada:
the Assistant Deputy Minister, Tax Policy, of the Department of Finance Canada;
for Uruguay:
the Minister of Economy and Finance.
III. Damage Incurred by a Controlled Enterprise:
A claim that a Contracting Party is in breach of this Agreement, and that an
enterprise that is a juridical person incorporated or duly constituted in accordance with
applicable laws of that Contracting Party has incurred loss or damage by reason of, or
arising out of, that breach, may be brought by an investor of the other Contracting Party
acting on behalf of an enterprise which the investor owns or controls directly or
indirectly. In such a case
any award shall be made to the affected enterprise;
the consent to arbitration of both the investor and the enterprise
shall be required;
both the investor and enterprise must waive any right to initiate or
continue any other proceedings in relation to the measure that is alleged to be in breach
of this Agreement before the courts or tribunals of the Contracting Party concerned or in
a dispute settlement procedure of any kind; and
the investor may not make a claim if more than three years have
elapsed from the date on which the enterprise first acquired, or should have first
acquired, knowledge of the alleged breach and knowledge that it has incurred loss or
damage.
Notwithstanding Paragraph 1(a) above, where a disputing Contracting Party has
deprived a disputing investor of control of an enterprise, the following shall not be
required:
a consent to arbitration by the enterprise under 1(b); and
a waiver from the enterprise under 1(c).
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