South Pacific Regional Trade and Economic Co-operation Agreement
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The South Pacific Regional Trade and Economic Co-operation Agreement (SPARTECA) is a nonreciprocal
TCF in Fiji
The local
Australian ICS
The Australian ICS commenced in July 1991 as part of a larger package of tariff and other industrial reforms in Australia. It was introduced as a temporary measure to encourage Australian TCF exports and terminated on 30 June 2000, except in the case of Fiji, where an extension had been granted to October 2000.
Details of SPARTECA
Given the Australian and Fiji Governments’ commitment to developing a WTO-friendly arrangement in place of the ICS, the SPARTECA (TCF Provisions) Scheme was developed. SPARTECA (TCF) provisions concept complements the existing SPARTECA treaty and provides for a change in the way local area content (LAC) is calculated for TCF products (goods) entering Australia from Forum Island Countries (FICs). Under the existing SPARTECA arrangements, goods can enter Australia duty free where the Allowable Factory Cost is greater than or equal to 50% of the total ex-factory cost of manufacturing the goods. These arrangements continue to stand.
The SPARTECA (TCF provisions) Scheme enables companies to utilise excess local area content (ELAC) from certain SPARTECA qualifying TCF goods to help meet the 50% content requirement in otherwise non-qualifying Eligible Goods. ELAC is only derived where a product’s LAC exceeds 70%. Similarly, ELAC can only be used where a product’s LAC is greater than 35%, and where there is a last process of manufacture performed in the FIC. The duration of the S-TCF Scheme is from March 1, 2001 to December 31, 2004.
Member Countries
- Australia
- Cook Islands
- Fiji
- Kiribati
- Marshall Islands
- Micronesia
- Nauru
- New Zealand
- Niue
- Papua New Guinea
- Samoa
- Solomon Islands
- Tonga
- Tuvalu
- Vanuatu
See also
- Melanesian Spearhead Group
- North American Free Trade Agreement
- South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation
- Pacific Agreement on Closer Economic Relations
- Trans-Pacific Strategic Economic Partnership(P4)
References
- ISBN 978-1-885073-03-7.