Chapter Fourteen: Financial Services
1. In lieu of Article 1802(2) (Publication), each Party shall, to the extent practicable, provide in advance to all interested persons any measure of general application that the Party proposes to adopt in order to allow an opportunity for such persons to comment on the measure. Such measure shall be provided:
(a) by means of official publication;
(b) in other written form; or
(c) in such other form as permits an interested person to make informed comments on the proposed measure.
2. Each Party's regulatory authorities shall make available to interested persons their requirements for completing applications relating to the provision of financial services.
3. On the request of an applicant, the regulatory authority shall inform the applicant of the status of its application. If such authority requires additional information from the applicant, it shall notify the applicant without undue delay.
4. A regulatory authority shall make an administrative decision on a completed application of an investor in a financial institution, a financial institution or a cross-border financial service provider of another Party relating to the provision of a financial service within 120 days, and shall promptly notify the applicant of the decision. An application shall not be considered complete until all relevant hearings are held and all necessary information is received. Where it is not practicable for a decision to be made within 120 days, the regulatory authority shall notify the applicant without undue delay and shall endeavor to make the decision within a reasonable time thereafter.
5. Nothing in this Chapter requires a Party to furnish or allow access to:
(a) information related to the financial affairs and accounts of individual customers of financial institutions or cross-border financial service providers; or
(b) any confidential information, the disclosure of which would impede law enforcement or otherwise be contrary to the public interest or prejudice legitimate commercial interests of particular enterprises.
6. Each Party shall maintain or establish one or more inquiry points no later than 180 days after the date of entry into force of this Agreement, to respond in writing as soon as practicable, to all reasonable inquiries from interested persons regarding measures of general application covered by this Chapter.
Article 1412: Financial Services Committee
1. The Parties hereby establish the Financial Services Committee. The principal representative of each Party shall be an official of the Party's authority responsible for financial services set out in Annex 1412.1.
2. Subject to Article 2001(2)(d) (Free Trade Commission), the Committee shall:
(a) supervise the implementation of this Chapter and its further elaboration;
(b) consider issues regarding financial services that are referred to it by a Party; and
(c) participate in the dispute settlement procedures in accordance with Article 1415.
3. The Committee shall meet annually to assess the functioning of this Agreement as it applies to financial services. The Committee shall inform the Commission of the results of each annual meeting.
1. A Party may request consultations with another Party regarding any matter arising under this Agreement that affects financial services. The other Party shall give sympathetic consideration to the request. The consulting Parties shall report the results of their consultations to the Committee at its annual meeting.
2. Consultations under this Article shall include officials of the authorities specified in Annex 1412.1.
3. A Party may request that regulatory authorities of another Party participate in consultations under this Article regarding that other Party's measures of general application which may affect the operations of financial institutions or cross-border financial service providers in the requesting Party's territory.
4. Nothing in this Article shall be construed to require regulatory authorities participating in consultations under paragraph 3 to disclose information or take any action that would interfere with individual regulatory, supervisory, administrative or enforcement matters.
5. Where a Party requires information for supervisory purposes concerning a financial institution in another Party's territory or a cross-border financial service provider in another Party's territory, the Party may approach the competent regulatory authority in the other Party's territory to seek the information.
6. Annex 1413.6 shall apply to further consultations and arrangements.
B>Article 1414: Dispute Settlement
1. Section B of Chapter Twenty (Institutional Arrangements and Dispute Settlement Procedures) applies as modified by this Article to the settlement of disputes arising under this Chapter.
2. The Parties shall establish by January 1, 1994 and maintain a roster of up to 15 individuals who are willing and able to serve as financial services panelists. Financial services roster members shall be appointed by consensus for terms of three years, and may be reappointed.
3. Financial services roster members shall:
(a) have expertise or experience in financial services law or practice, which may include the regulation of financial institutions;
(b) be chosen strictly on the basis of objectivity, reliability and sound judgment; and
(c) meet the qualifications set out in Article 2009(2)(b) and (c) (Roster).
4. Where a Party claims that a dispute arises under this Chapter, Article 2011 (Panel Selection) shall apply, except that:
(a) where the disputing Parties so agree, the panel shall be composed entirely of panelists meeting the qualifications in paragraph 3; and
(b) in any other case,
(i) each disputing Party may select panelists meeting the qualifications set out in paragraph 3 or in Article 2010(1) (Qualifications of Panelists), and
(ii) if the Party complained against invokes Article 1410, the chair of the panel shall meet the qualifications set out in paragraph 3.
5. In any dispute where a panel finds a measure to be inconsistent with the obligations of this Agreement and the measure affects:
(a) only the financial services sector, the complaining Party may suspend benefits only in the financial services sector;
(b) the financial services sector and any other sector, the complaining Party may suspend benefits in the financial services sector that have an effect equivalent to the effect of the measure in the Party's financial services sector; or
(c) only a sector other than the financial services sector, the complaining Party may not suspend benefits in the financial services sector.
Article 1415: Investment Disputes in Financial Services
1. Where an investor of another Party submits a claim under Article 1116 or 1117 to arbitration under Section B of Chapter Eleven (Investment Settlement of Disputes between a Party and an Investor of Another Party) against a Party and the disputing Party invokes Article 1410, on request of the disputing Party, the Tribunal shall refer the matter in writing to the Committee for a decision. The Tribunal may not proceed pending receipt of a decision or report under this Article.
2. In a referral pursuant to paragraph 1, the Committee shall decide the issue of whether and to what extent Article 1410 is a valid defense to the claim of the investor. The Committee shall transmit a copy of its decision to the Tribunal and to the Commission. The decision shall be binding on the Tribunal.
3. Where the Committee has not decided the issue within 60 days of the receipt of the referral under paragraph 1, the disputing Party or the Party of the disputing investor may request the establishment of an arbitral panel under Article 2008 (Request for an Arbitral Panel). The panel shall be constituted in accordance with Article 1414. Further to Article 2017 (Final Report), the panel shall transmit its final report to the Committee and to the Tribunal. The report shall be binding on the Tribunal.
4. Where no request for the establishment of a panel pursuant to paragraph 3 has been made within 10 days of the expiration of the 60day period referred to in paragraph 3, the Tribunal may proceed to decide the matter.
For purposes of this Chapter:
cross-border financial service provider of a Party means a person of a Party that is engaged in the business of providing a financial service within the territory of the Party and that seeks to provide or provides financial services through the cross-border provision of such services;
cross-border provision of a financial service or cross-border trade in financial services means the provision of a financial service:
(a) from the territory of a Party into the territory of another Party,
(b) in the territory of a Party by a person of that Party to a person of another Party, or
(c) by a national of a Party in the territory of another Party, but does not include the provision of a service in the territory of a Party by an investment in that territory;
financial institution means any financial intermediary or other enterprise that is authorized to do business and regulated or supervised as a financial institution under the law of the Party in whose territory it is located;
financial institution of another Party means a financial institution, including a branch, located in the territory of a Party that is controlled by persons of another Party;
financial service means a service of a financial nature, including insurance, and a service incidental or auxiliary to a service of a financial nature;
financial service provider of a Party means a person of a Party that is engaged in the business of providing a financial service within the territory of that Party;
investment means "investment" as defined in Article 1139 (Investment Definitions), except that, with respect to "loans" and "debt securities" referred to in that Article:
(a) a loan to or debt security issued by a financial institution is an investment only where it is treated as regulatory capital by the Party in whose territory the financial institution is located; and
(b) a loan granted by or debt security owned by a financial institution, other than a loan to or debt security of a financial institution referred to in subparagraph (a), is not an investment;
for greater certainty:
(c) a loan to, or debt security issued by, a Party or a state enterprise thereof is not an investment; and
(d) a loan granted by or debt security owned by a cross-border financial service provider, other than a loan to or debt security issued by a financial institution, is an investment if such loan or debt security meets the criteria for investments set out in Article 1139;
investor of a Party means a Party or state enterprise thereof, or a person of that Party, that seeks to make, makes, or has made an investment;
new financial service means a financial service not provided in the Party's territory that is provided within the territory of another Party, and includes any new form of delivery of a financial service or the sale of a financial product that is not sold in the Party's territory;
person of a Party means "person of a Party" as defined in Chapter Two (General Definitions) and, for greater certainty, does not include a branch of an enterprise of a non-Party;
public entity means a central bank or monetary authority of a Party, or any financial institution owned or controlled by a Party; and
self-regulatory organization means any non-governmental body, including any securities or futures exchange or market, clearing agency, or other organization or association, that exercises its own or delegated regulatory or supervisory authority over financial service providers or financial institutions.
Annex 1401.4: Country-Specific Commitments
For Canada and the United States, Article 1702(1) and (2) of the Canada United States Free Trade Agreement is hereby incorporated into and made a part of this Agreement.
Annex 1403.3: Review of Market Access
The review of market access referred to in Article 1403(3) shall not include the market access limitations specified in Section B of the Schedule of Mexico to Annex VII.
Annex 1404.4: Consultations on Liberalization of cross-border Trade
No later than January 1, 2000, the Parties shall consult on further liberalization of cross-border trade in financial services. In such consultations the Parties shall, with respect to insurance:
(a) consider the possibility of allowing a wider range of insurance services to be provided on a cross-border basis in or into their respective territories; and
(b) determine whether the limitations on cross-border insurance services specified in Section A of the Schedule of Mexico to Annex VII shall be maintained, modified or eliminated.
Annex 1409.1: Provincial and State Reservations
1. Canada may set out in Section A of its Schedule to Annex VII by the date of entry into force of this Agreement any existing non-conforming measure maintained at the provincial level.
2. The United States may set out in Section A of its Schedule to Annex VII by the date of entry into force of this Agreement any existing non-conforming measures maintained by California, Florida, Illinois, New York, Ohio and Texas. Existing non-conforming state measures of all other states may be set out by January 1, 1995.
Annex 1412.1: Authorities Responsible for Financial Services
The authority of each Party responsible for financial services shall be:
(a) for Canada, the Department of Finance of Canada;
(b) for Mexico, the Secretaría de Hacienda y Crédito Público; and
(c) for the United States, the Department of the Treasury for banking and other financial services and the Department of Commerce for insurance services.
Annex 1413.6: Further Consultations and Arrangements
Section A Limited Scope Financial Institutions
Three years after the date of entry into force of this Agreement, the Parties shall consult on the aggregate limit on limited scope financial institutions described in paragraph 8 of Section B of the Schedule of Mexico to Annex VII.
Section B Payments System Protection
1. If the sum of the authorized capital of foreign commercial bank affiliates (as such term is defined in the Schedule of Mexico to Annex VII), measured as a percentage of the aggregate capital of all commercial banks in Mexico, reaches 25 percent, Mexico may request consultations with the other Parties on the potential adverse effects arising from the presence of commercial banks of the other Parties in the Mexican market and the possible need for remedial action, including further temporary limitations on market participation. The consultations shall be completed expeditiously.
2. In considering the potential adverse effects, the Parties shall take into account:
(a) the threat that the Mexican payments system may be controlled by non-Mexican persons;
(b) the effects foreign commercial banks established in Mexico may have on Mexico's ability to conduct monetary and exchangerate policy effectively; and
(c) the adequacy of this Chapter in protecting the Mexican payments system.
3. If no consensus is reached on the matters referred to in paragraph 1, any Party may request the establishment of an arbitral panel under Article 1414 or Article 2008 (Request for an Arbitral Panel). The panel proceedings shall be conducted in accordance with the Model Rules of Procedure established under Article 2012 (Rules of Procedure). The Panel shall present its determination within 60 days after the last panelist is selected or such other period as the Parties to the proceeding may agree. Article 2018 (Implementation of Final Report) and 2019 (Non-Implementation-Suspension of Benefits) shall not apply in such proceedings.
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