Agreement on Duty-Free Treatment of Multi-Chip Integrated Circuits (MCPs)
Done at: Seoul
Date enacted: 2005-09-15
In force: 2006-04-01
Recalling that there exists a shared view on the duty-free treatment of MCPs among the Members of
the Government/Authorities Meeting on Semiconductors (GAMS), which are the European
Community represented in GAMS through the European Commission; Japan; the Republic of Korea;
the United States of America; and the Separate Customs Territory of Taiwan, Penghu, Kinmen and
Matsu, those GAMS Members have agreed as follows:
1.
For purposes of this Agreement:
(a)
multi-chip integrated circuits (MCPs) means multi-chip integrated circuits consisting of two
or more interconnected monolithic integrated circuits combined to all intents and purposes
indivisibly, whether or not on one or more insulating substrates, with or without lead frames,
but with no other active or passive circuit elements;
(b)
Harmonised System means the Harmonised Commodity Description and Coding System set
out in the Annex to the International Convention of the Harmonised Commodity Description
and Coding System, as may be amended, and as adopted and implemented by the Parties in
their respective internal laws and regulations;
(c)
Party means a GAMS Member or any Member of the World Trade Organization (WTO) that
has deposited its instrument of acceptance with the depositary; and
(d)
terms used in this Agreement that are also used in the Marrakech Agreement Establishing the
World Trade Organization (the WTO Agreement) shall have the same meaning as in the
WTO Agreement.
2.
This Agreement shall apply to all MCPs, regardless of where such products are classified in
the Harmonized System
3.
Each Party shall, on a most-favoured-nation basis, reduce to zero the rate of all customs duties
and other duties and charges, as such duties and charges are described in Article II:1(b) of the General
Agreement on Tariffs and Trade 1994 (GATT 1994), that is applies to MCPs, in accordance with the
following procedures:
(a)
Each Party shall apply duties and charges on MCPs at a rate of zero until all the Parties agree
that a sufficient level of global trade in MCPs is covered in a multilateral tariff reduction
agreement under the auspices of the WTO.
(b)
At that time, or, if that time is before 31 December 2006, on 1 January 2007, each Party shall
bind all duties and charges on MCPs at a rate of zero.
(c)
All the parties agree to cooperate with other Members of the WTO to achieve 90 percent
coverage of global trade in MCPs in such a tariff reduction agreement.
4.
(a)
Each Party shall, at the time of its acceptance of this Agreement, provide to the depositary a
list of the headings in its tariff schedule that include MCPs. If a Party subsequently classifies
an MCP in a heading not included on its original list, that Party shall promptly provide a
modified list to the depositary.
(b)
Any Party may at any time request modifications to a list of another Party that it finds to be
incomplete, in which case the requested Party shall consult and work with the requesting
Party in good faith to complete all modifications as necessary. The modified list shall be
provided to the depositary.
(c)
The depositary shall transmit the provided list, including its modifications, to all Parties.
5.
Notwithstanding the autonomous liberalisation of applied duties and charges on MCPs under
this Agreement, each Party shall be permitted to take into account the binding of tariffs on MCPs at
zero level as part of its overall balance of concessions in a multilateral tariff reduction agreement
under the auspices of the WTO.
6.
Without prejudice to paragraph 3, nothing in this Agreement shall be interpreted as affecting a
Party's rights and obligations under the WTO Agreement.
7.
(a)
After the depositary receives four instruments of acceptance from GAMS Members, those
Parties shall agree on a date of entry into force of the Agreement.
(b)
This Agreement shall be open for acceptance by any Member of the WTO. An acceptance
following the entry into force of this Agreement shall enter into force on the date such
acceptance is received by the depositary. The depositary shall inform all Parties upon receipt
of an acceptance.
(c)
If the Parties agree to amend this Agreement, subparagraphs (a) and (b) shall apply mutatis
mutandis to such amendment.
8.
When all the Parties bind all duties and charges on MCPs at a rate of zero pursuant to
paragraph 3 subparagraphs (a) to (c), this Agreement shall terminate.
9.
The original of this Agreement in the English language as well as the instruments of
acceptance shall be deposited with the Secretary-General of the Council of the European Union.