The Philippines' commitments on services market liberalization under RCEP
RCEP is the only free trade agreement that applies both methods of services market opening commitments used worldwide, including:
- Commitments under the “positive list” approach: a country opens its services market to service suppliers of partner countries only under the conditions, to the extent, and in the sectors specifically listed in the “Schedule of Specific Commitments” (Annex II of the RCEP Agreement).
- Commitments under the “negative list” approach: a country opens all of its services markets without limitation to service suppliers from partner countries, except for specific restrictions listed in the “Schedule of Non-Conforming Measures” (Annex III of the RCEP Agreement).
RCEP allows member countries to choose whether to apply the “positive list” or the “negative list” approach during the initial stage of implementing the Agreement (known as the transition period):
- Eight of the fifteen RCEP members chose to open their services markets using the “positive list” approach during the transition period, including Cambodia, Lao PDR, Myanmar, New Zealand, the Philippines, Thailand, China, and Viet Nam.
The transition period for countries applying the positive list approach is six years from the entry into force of RCEP (except Cambodia, Lao PDR, and Myanmar, which have a transition period of fifteen years).
- Seven of the fifteen members adopted the “negative list” approach from the outset, including Australia, Brunei, the Republic of Korea, Indonesia, Malaysia, Japan, and Singapore.
Accordingly, the Philippines has committed to opening its services market under the “positive list” approach during the transition period (six years from the entry into force of RCEP), with its own Schedule of Specific Commitments set out in Annex II of the RCEP Agreement.
This schedule lists each service sector and sub-sector in which the Philippines commits to market opening. The specific commitments regarding the level of market access for RCEP service suppliers in each sector and sub-sector include:
- Commitments on terms, limitations, and conditions related to market access (MA);
- Conditions and criteria related to national treatment (NT);
- Other additional commitments; and
- The implementation timeline for those commitments, where applicable.
The schedule also clearly identifies sectors and sub-sectors where further liberalization may occur in the future (FL), and/or where most-favoured-nation (MFN) commitments apply.
Source: Center for WTO and International Trade - VCCI
The schedule of specific commitments on services of the Philippines is attached below:
Annex II: Schedule of specific commitments on services of the Philippines
The schedule of reservations and non-conforming measures for services and investment of the Philippines is attached below:
