The RCEP legal text has just been released. I don't have a sense at this point of how much liberalization is involved in this agreement, but skimming through the various chapters, I found a number of tidbits worth noting.
1. There's an interesting "general review" provision in Chapter 20:
Article 20.8: General Review
1. The Parties shall undertake a general review of this Agreement with a view to updating and enhancing this Agreement to ensure that this Agreement remains relevant to the trade and investment issues and challenges confronting the Parties, five years after the date of entry into force of this Agreement, and every five years thereafter, unless the Parties agree otherwise.2. In conducting a review pursuant to this Article, the Parties shall:
(a) consider ways to further enhance trade and investment among the Parties; and
(b) take into account:
(i) the work of all committees and subsidiary bodies established pursuant to Chapter 18 (Institutional Provisions); and
(ii) relevant developments in international fora.
In my view, this is the kind of review provision the USMCA should have had, rather than the sunset provision that they decided to use there.
2. The panel composition provisions in Chapter 19 seem well-designed to avoid blocking by the responding party:
3. Within 10 days of the date of the receipt of the request for the establishment of a panel made pursuant to paragraph 1 of Article 19.8 (Request for Establishment of a Panel), the Parties to the dispute shall enter into consultations with a view to reaching agreement on the procedures for composing the panel, taking into account the factual, technical, and legal aspects of the dispute. Any such procedures agreed upon shall also be used for the purposes of paragraphs 15 and 16.
4. If the Parties to the dispute are unable to reach agreement on the procedures for composing the panel within 20 days of the date of the receipt of the request for the establishment of a panel made pursuant to paragraph 1 of Article 19.8 (Request for Establishment of a Panel), any Party to the dispute may at any time thereafter notify the other Party to the dispute that it wishes to use the procedures set out in paragraphs 5 through 7. Where such a notification is made, the panel shall be composed in accordance with paragraphs 5 through 7.
5. The Complaining Party shall appoint one panellist within 10 days of the date of the receipt of the notification made pursuant to paragraph 4. The Responding Party shall appoint one panellist within 20 days of the date of the receipt of the notification made pursuant to paragraph 4. A Party to the dispute shall notify the appointment of its panellist to the other Party to the dispute.6. Following the appointment of the panellists in accordance with paragraph 5, the Parties to the dispute shall agree on the appointment of the third panellist who shall serve as the chair of the panel. To assist in reaching such agreement, each Party to the dispute may provide to the other Party to the dispute a list of up to three nominees for the chair of the panel.
7. If any panellist has not been appointed within 35 days of the date of the receipt of the notification made pursuant to paragraph 4, any Party to the dispute, within a further period of 25 days, may request the Director-General of the WTO to appoint the remaining panellists within 30 days of the date of such request. Any list of nominees which was provided under paragraph 6 shall also be provided to the Director-General of the WTO, and may be used in making the required appointments.
8. If the Director-General of the WTO notifies the Parties to the dispute that he or she is unavailable, or does not appoint the remaining panellists within 30 days of the date of the request made pursuant to paragraph 7, any Party to the dispute may request the Secretary-General of the Permanent Court of Arbitration to appoint the remaining panellists promptly. Any list of nominees which was provided under paragraph 6 shall also be provided to the Secretary-General of the Permanent Court of Arbitration, and may be used in making the required appointments under paragraph 12.
3. Chapter 18 indicates that there will be an independent Secretariat at some point:
Article 18.3: Functions of the RCEP Joint Committee
1. The functions of the RCEP Joint Committee shall be as follows:
...
(i) to establish and thereafter supervise an RCEP Secretariat, on terms agreed by the Parties, to provide secretariat and technical support to the RCEP Joint Committee and its subsidiary bodies;
4. The investment provisions in Chapter 10 look fairly typical in their substance. There is no ISDS yet, but it will be considered later:
Article 10.18: Work Programme
1. The Parties shall, without prejudice to their respective positions, enter into discussions on:(a) the settlement of investment disputes between a Party and an investor of another Party; and
(b) the application of Article 10.13 (Expropriation) to taxation measures that constitute expropriation, no later than two years after the date of entry into force of this Agreement, the outcomes of which are subject to agreement by all Parties.
2. The Parties shall conclude the discussions referred to in paragraph 1 within three years from the date of commencement of the discussions.
5. The general exceptions in Chapter 17 apply to the investment provisions:
Article 17.12: General Exceptions
1. For the purposes of Chapter 2 (Trade in Goods), Chapter 3 (Rules of Origin), Chapter 4 (Customs Procedures and Trade Facilitation), Chapter 5 (Sanitary and Phytosanitary Measures), Chapter 6 (Standards, Technical Regulations, and Conformity Assessment Procedures), Chapter 10 (Investment), and Chapter 12 (Electronic Commerce), Article XX of GATT 1994 is incorporated into and made part of this Agreement, mutatis mutandis.2. For the purposes of Chapter 8 (Trade in Services), Chapter 9 (Temporary Movement of Natural Persons), Chapter 10 (Investment), and Chapter 12 (Electronic Commerce), Article XIV of GATS including its footnotes is incorporated into and made part of this Agreement, mutatis mutandis.
