Australia, Singapore Trade Pact Revisions Take Effect

Australia and Singapore now have an updated version of their nearly fifteen-year-old trade pact in force, one year after their top trade officials signed a new amendment to the accord. The original Australia-Singapore agreement entered into force in 2003, slashing goods tariffs between the two Asia-Pacific partners, along with undertaking a series of commitments in services trade, investment, telecommunications, intellectual property, and electronic commerce, among various other provisions. Australian Trade Minister Steven Ciobo and Singaporean Trade Minister Lim Hng Kiang signed the updated accord nearly 14 months ago, with the latter official telling the Straits Times recently that “both sides have been working expeditiously to bring the agreement into force so that Australian and Singapore businesses can reap the enhanced benefits.” The deal states that its updated objective are manifold, including both increasingly liberalised goods and services trade bilaterally, as well as backing “the wider liberalisation process in the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation consistent with its goals of free and open trade and investment; to build upon their commitments at the World Trade Organization, and to support its efforts to create a predictable, and more free and open global trading environment,” among other goals. The changes include modernising the existing investor-state...