India formally signs Trade in Services & Trade in Investments Agreement with ASEAN

Agreement will open up opportunities of movement of both manpower and investments from either side between India and ASEAN

India has formally signed the Trade in Services & Trade in Investments Agreement with ASEAN. The Services Agreement will open up opportunities of movement of both manpower and investments from either side between India and ASEAN. Nine out of ten ASEAN countries have signed the same. Philippines is completing its domestic procedure and it is expected to sign soon.

Key features of the Trade in Services Agreement

The Trade in Services Agreement with the ASEAN contains all features of a modern and comprehensive agreement on Services and is in line with the other bilateral agreements that India has signed so far. Some of the important Articles contained in the Agreement are ones on transparency, domestic regulations, recognition, market access, national treatment, increasing participation of developing countries, joint committee on services, review, dispute settlement and denial of benefits.

Both India and ASEAN Member States have taken GATS plus commitments in various Services and modes of supply. Each ASEAN Member State has tabled individual schedule of commitments which are equally applicable for India and other ASEAN Member States. India on the other hand has tabled three schedules of commitments one for Philippines, one for Indonesia and one for the remaining eight ASEAN Member States. It was also agreed by India that in order to increase participation of the least developed countries no additional requests would be tabled to the CLMV countries (Cambodia, Lao, Myanmar and Vietnam). All the three schedules tabled by India are well within the existing autonomous regime of India.

A brief annex on Movement of Natural persons (one of the key areas of interest for India) has been included in the Agreement. This Annex defines Business Visitors, Intra Corporate Transferees (Managers, Executives and Specialists) and Contractual Service Suppliers. This will help provide commercially meaningful market across in ASEAN for our professionals, including those from the IT/ITeS sector. Independent professionals have not been defined in the Annex.

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