The U.S. - Taiwan Trade and Investment Framework Agreement Consultations May 25-26, 2006 Agreed Outcomes

OT0609E | Date: 2006-05-26

Doha and Economic Developments in the Asia-Pacific

• Taiwan and the U.S. agreed to work together to substantially improve market access in order to reach a successful conclusion of the Doha Round.

• Noting ongoing trends toward Asia-Pacific economic integration, the U.S. and Taiwan reaffirmed their commitment to continuing to deepen bilateral economic cooperation.

Government Procurement Agreement

• AIT and TECRO agreed to enhance cooperation on government procurement.

Agricultural Trade and Market Access:

• AIT and TECRO agreed to hold discussions to establish a bilateral Consultative Committee on Agriculture (CCA) that will address agricultural trade and policy issues.

• BAPHIQ will review BSE-related bans on non-ruminant products.

• AIT and TECRO commit to improve cooperation on resolving SPS issues, and adhere to the WTO SPS Agreement and OIE guidelines in the development of import requirements.

• The U.S. welcomes that the Taiwan Department of Health conditionally lifted the ban on import of U.S. beef on January 25, 2006, and will continue to provide information on BSE monitoring measures and related issues as relevant.

• AIT recognizes the importance of TECRO's market access request for Pomelos and Longan and will facilitate the approval processes.

Telecommunications Policy and Liberalization

• The U.S. welcomed the establishment of the National Communication Commission (NCC) on February 22, 2006.
• AIT and TECRO agreed to continue dialogue on how to support fair competition in the telecommunications and broadcasting markets sector.

Bilateral Investment Issues

• AIT and TECRO agreed to conduct further discussions on ways to enhance the bilateral investment relationship.

Pharmaceuticals and Medical Devices Market Access 

Price Volume Survey:

• AIT and TECRO share the goal of ensuring a transparent, accurate and fair process in determining reimbursement rates for pharmaceuticals.
• BNHI also agreed to hold regular meetings with AIT and private sector stakeholders to discuss health care reform issues including pricing and reimbursement, the separation of prescribing and dispensing and other issues of concern.

New Drug Approval Review System Reform: 

• DOH agreed to develop any further changes to the user-fee system through discussion with industry and confirmed that 1) fees are used only to support review-related activities for which the fees are imposed and 2) a ten percent reduction in review times has resulted from the new fees to date.

Stage Two and Three Validation: 

• The U.S. welcomed that DOH agrees to provide manufacturers with six months notice prior to a GMP site inspection.

Protecting Intellectual Property Rights:

• AIT commends TECRO's efforts to strengthen IPR protection and enforcement and recognizes the significant steps TECRO has taken toward creating a healthy environment to support innovation, creativity and economic growth.  AIT welcomes TECRO's commitment to combating IPR violations, in particular, internet piracy, addressing both unauthorized peer-to-peer file-sharing and internet service provider (ISP) liability; stopping the unauthorized use of copyright material on and around college and university campuses through education and policies that deter illegal activities; and protecting patented pharmaceuticals.  AIT also supports TECRO's IPR Action Plan that outlines initiatives to be undertaken within the next two years and looks forward to seeing the fruits of those initiatives.
• While recognizing TECRO's achievements, there remain a few, but significant issues yet to be addressed.  To this end, AIT and TECRO have agreed to establish consultations, to meet every six months, to discuss IP issues of concern.  AIT looks forward to the future consultations with TECRO so that practical and concrete solutions benefiting both US and Taiwan IP rightholders may be developed.

Secure Trade

Container Security Initiative:

• The U.S. appreciates the seizure of $1.99 million in counterfeit U.S. currency at Kaohsiung Port since joining CSI, and welcomes Keelung Harbor's active preparations to join CSI in order to expand cooperation with the United States in fighting against global terrorism.

Export Control Cooperation:

• AIT and TECRO recognize progress in securing trade and reaffirmed the importance of continuing to enhance efforts towards this end.  The U.S. welcomes that as of June 1, 2006, Taiwan will add 87 sensitive items to its list of SHTC items subject to export controls to North Korea and Iran, and that Taiwan will consider more items to be included in the SHTC list in the future.

Supporting African Growth and Development

• AIT and TECRO held productive discussions relating to our shared goal of empowering the African economies by providing greater trade and investment-enhancing opportunities and related trade capacity-building assistance.

Insurance Supervision

AIT took note of TECRO concerns relating to insurance supervision and agreed that AIT would serve as a liaison to assist in this area.