Organization of American States - Trade Unit
Chapter Thirteen Telecommunications
Article 1301: Scope and Coverage
1. This Chapter applies to:
(a) measures adopted or maintained by a Party relating to
access to and use of public telecommunications
transport networks or services by persons of another
Party, including access and use by such persons
operating private networks;
(b) measures adopted or maintained by a Party relating to
the provision of enhanced or value-added services by
persons of another Party in the territory, or across
the borders, of a Party; and
(c) standards-related measures relating to attachment of
terminal or other equipment to public
telecommunications transport networks.
2. Except to ensure that persons operating broadcast stations
and cable systems have continued access to and use of public
telecommunications transport networks and services, this Chapter
does not apply to any measure adopted or maintained by a Party
relating to cable or broadcast distribution of radio or
television programming.
3. Nothing in this Chapter shall be construed to:
(a) require a Party to authorize a person of another Party
to establish, construct, acquire, lease, operate or
provide telecommunications transport networks or
telecommunications transport services;
(b) require a Party, or require a Party to compel any
person, to establish, construct, acquire, lease,
operate or provide telecommunications transport
networks or telecommunications transport services not
offered to the public generally;
(c) prevent a Party from prohibiting persons operating
private networks from using such networks to provide
public telecommunications transport networks or
services to third persons; or
(d) require a Party to compel any person engaged in the
cable or broadcast distribution of radio or television
programming to make available its cable or broadcast
facilities as a public telecommunications transport
network.
Article 1302: Access to and Use of Public Telecommunications
Transport Networks and Services
1. Each Party shall ensure that persons of another Party have
access to and use of any public telecommunications transport
network or service, including private leased circuits, offered in
its territory or across its borders for the conduct of their
business, on reasonable and non-discriminatory terms and
conditions, including as set out in paragraphs 2 through 8.
2. Subject to paragraphs 6 and 7, each Party shall ensure that
such persons are permitted to:
(a) purchase or lease, and attach terminal or other
equipment that interfaces with the public
telecommunications transport network;
(b) interconnect private leased or owned circuits with
public telecommunications transport networks in the
territory, or across the borders, of that Party,
including for use in providing dial-up access to and
from their customers or users, or with circuits leased
or owned by another person on terms and conditions
mutually agreed by such persons;
(c) perform switching, signalling and processing functions;
and
(d) use operating protocols of their choice.
3. Each Party shall ensure that:
(a) the pricing of public telecommunications transport
services reflects economic costs directly related to
providing such services; and
(b) private leased circuits are available on a flat-rate
pricing basis.
Nothing in this paragraph shall be construed to prevent
cross-subsidization between public telecommunications transport
services.
4. Each Party shall ensure that persons of another Party may
use public telecommunications transport networks or services for
the movement of information in its territory or across its
borders, including for intracorporate communications, and for
access to information contained in data bases or otherwise stored
in machine-readable form in the territory of any Party.
5. Further to Article 2101 (General Exceptions), nothing in
this Chapter shall be construed to prevent a Party from adopting
or enforcing any measure necessary to:
(a) ensure the security and confidentiality of messages; or
(b) protect the privacy of subscribers to public
telecommunications transport networks or services.
6. Each Party shall ensure that no condition is imposed on
access to and use of public telecommunications transport networks
or services, other than that necessary to:
(a) safeguard the public service responsibilities of
providers of public telecommunications transport
networks or services, in particular their ability to
make their networks or services available to the public
generally; or
(b) protect the technical integrity of public
telecommunications transport networks or services.
7. Provided that conditions for access to and use of public
telecommunications transport networks or services satisfy the
criteria set out in paragraph 6, such conditions may include:
(a) a restriction on resale or shared use of such services;
(b) a requirement to use specified technical interfaces,
including interface protocols, for interconnection with
such networks or services;
(c) a restriction on interconnection of private leased or
owned circuits with such networks or services or with
circuits leased or owned by another person, where such
circuits are used in the provision of public
telecommunications transport networks or services; and
(d) a licensing, permit, registration or notification
procedure which, if adopted or maintained, is
transparent and applications filed thereunder are
processed expeditiously.
8. For purposes of this Article, "non-discriminatory" means on
terms and conditions no less favorable than those accorded to any
other customer or user of like public telecommunications
transport networks or services in like circumstances.
Article 1303: Conditions for the Provision of Enhanced or
Value-Added Services
1. Each Party shall ensure that:
(a) any licensing, permit, registration or notification
procedure that it adopts or maintains relating to the
provision of enhanced or value-added services is
transparent and non-discriminatory, and that
applications filed thereunder are processed
expeditiously; and
(b) information required under such procedures is limited
to that necessary to demonstrate that the applicant has
the financial solvency to begin providing services or
to assess conformity of the applicant's terminal or
other equipment with the Party's applicable standards
or technical regulations.
2. A Party shall not require a person providing enhanced or
value-added services to:
(a) provide those services to the public generally;
(b) cost-justify its rates;
(c) file a tariff;
(d) interconnect its networks with any particular customer
or network; or
(e) conform with any particular standard or technical
regulation for interconnection other than for
interconnection to a public telecommunications
transport network.
3. Notwithstanding paragraph 2(c), a Party may require the
filing of a tariff by:
(a) such provider to remedy a practice of that provider
that the Party has found in a particular case to be
anticompetitive under its law; or
(b) a monopoly to which Article 1305 applies.
Article 1304: Standards-Related Measures
1. Further to Article 904(4) (Unnecessary Obstacles), each
Party shall ensure that its standards-related measures relating
to the attachment of terminal or other equipment to the public
telecommunications transport networks, including such measures
relating to the use of testing and measuring equipment for
conformity assessment procedures, are adopted or maintained only
to the extent necessary to:
(a) prevent technical damage to public telecommunications
transport networks;
(b) prevent technical interference with, or degradation of,
public telecommunications transport services;
(c) prevent electromagnetic interference, and ensure
compatibility, with other uses of the electromagnetic
spectrum;
(d) prevent billing equipment malfunction; or
(e) ensure users' safety and access to public
telecommunications transport networks or services.
2. A Party may require approval for the attachment to the
public telecommunications transport network of terminal or other
equipment that is not authorized, provided that the criteria for
such approval are consistent with paragraph 1.
3. Each Party shall ensure that the network termination points
for its public telecommunications transport networks are defined
on a reasonable and transparent basis.
4. A Party shall not require separate authorization for
equipment that is connected on the customer's side of authorized
equipment that serves as a protective device fulfilling the
criteria of paragraph 1.
5. Further to Article 904(3) (Non-Discriminatory Treatment),
each Party shall:
(a) ensure that its conformity assessment procedures are
transparent and non-discriminatory and that
applications filed thereunder are processed
expeditiously;
(b) permit any technically qualified entity to perform the
testing required under the Party's conformity
assessment procedures for terminal or other equipment
to be attached to the public telecommunications
transport network, subject to the Party's right to
review the accuracy and completeness of the test
results; and
(c) ensure that any measure that it adopts or maintains
requiring persons to be authorized to act as agents for
suppliers of telecommunications equipment before the
Party's relevant conformity assessment bodies is non-
discriminatory.
6. No later than one year after the date of entry into force of
this Agreement, each Party shall adopt, as part of its conformity
assessment procedures, provisions necessary to accept the test
results from laboratories or testing facilities in the territory
of another Party for tests performed in accordance with the
accepting Party's standards-related measures and procedures.
7. The Telecommunications Standards Subcommittee established
under Article 913(5) (Committee on Standards-Related Measures)
shall perform the functions set out in Annex 913-B.
Article 1305: Monopolies
1. Where a Party maintains or designates a monopoly to provide
public telecommunications transport networks or services, and the
monopoly, directly or through an affiliate, competes in the
provision of enhanced or value-added services or other
telecommunications-related services or telecommunications-related
goods, the Party shall ensure that the monopoly does not use its
monopoly position to engage in anticompetitive conduct in those
markets, either directly or through its dealings with its
affiliates, in such a manner as to affect adversely a person of
another Party. Such conduct may include cross-subsidization,
predatory conduct and the discriminatory provision of access to
public telecommunications transport networks or services.
2. To prevent such anticompetitive conduct, each Party shall
adopt or maintain effective measures such as:
(a) accounting requirements;
(b) requirements for structural separation;
(c) rules to ensure that the monopoly accords its
competitors access to and use of its public
telecommunications transport networks or services on
terms and conditions no less favorable than those it
accords to itself or its affiliates; or
(d) rules to ensure the timely disclosure of technical
changes to public telecommunications transport networks
and their interfaces.
Article 1306: Transparency
Further to Article 1802, each Party shall make publicly
available its measures relating to access to and use of public
telecommunications transport networks or services, including
measures relating to:
(a) tariffs and other terms and conditions of service;
(b) specifications of technical interfaces with such
networks or services;
(c) information on bodies responsible for the preparation
and adoption of standards-related measures affecting
such access and use;
(d) conditions applying to attachment of terminal or other
equipment to the public telecommunications transport
network; and
(e) notification, permit, registration or licensing
requirements.
Article 1307: Relationship to other Chapters
In the event of any inconsistency between a provision of
this Chapter and the provision of another Chapter, the provision
of this Chapter shall prevail to the extent of such
inconsistency.
Article 1308: Relation to International Organizations and
Agreements
The Parties recognize the importance of international
standards for global compatibility and interoperability of
telecommunication networks or services and undertake to promote
such standards through the work of relevant international bodies,
including the International Telecommunications Union and the
International Organization for Standardization.
Article 1309: Technical Cooperation and Other Consultations
1. To encourage the development of interoperable
telecommunications transport services infrastructure, the Parties
shall cooperate in the exchange of technical information, the
development of government-to-government training programs and
other related activities. In implementing this obligation, the
Parties shall give special emphasis to existing exchange
programs.
2. The Parties shall consult with a view to determining the
feasibility of further liberalizing trade in all
telecommunications services, including public telecommunications
transport networks and services.
Article 1310: Definitions
For purposes of this Chapter:
authorized equipment means terminal or other equipment that has
been approved for attachment to the public telecommunications
transport network in accordance with a Party's conformity
assessment procedures;
conformity assessment procedure means any procedure used,
directly or indirectly, to determine that a relevant technical
regulation or standard is fulfilled, including sampling, testing,
inspection, evaluation, verification, monitoring, auditing,
assurance of conformity, accreditation, registration or approval
used for such a purpose;
enhanced or value-added services means those telecommunications
services employing computer processing applications that:
(a) act on the format, content, code, protocol or similar
aspects of a customer's transmitted information;
(b) provide a customer with additional, different or
restructured information; or
(c) involve customer interaction with stored information;
flat-rate pricing basis means pricing on the basis of a fixed
charge per period of time regardless of the amount of usage;
intracorporate communications means telecommunications through
which an enterprise communicates:
(a) internally or with or among its subsidiaries, branches
or affiliates, as defined by each Party; or
(b) on a non-commercial basis with other persons that are
fundamental to the economic activity of the enterprise
and that have a continuing contractual relationship
with it,
but does not include telecommunications services provided to
persons other than those described herein;
network termination point means the final demarcation of the
public telecommunications transport network at the customer's
premises;
private network means a telecommunications transport network that
is used exclusively for intracorporate communications;
protocol means a set of rules and formats that govern the
exchange of information between two peer entities for purposes of
transferring signaling or data information;
public telecommunications transport network means public
telecommunications infrastructure that permits telecommunications
between defined network termination points;
public telecommunications transport networks or services means
public telecommunications transport networks or public
telecommunications transport services;
public telecommunications transport service means any
telecommunications transport service required by a Party,
explicitly or in effect, to be offered to the public generally,
including telegraph, telephone, telex and data transmission, that
typically involves the real-time transmission of customer-
supplied information between two or more points without any end-
to-end change in the form or content of the customer's
information;
standards-related measure means a "standards-related measure" as
defined in Article 915;
telecommunications means the transmission and reception of
signals by any electromagnetic means; and
terminal equipment means any digital or analog device capable of
processing, receiving, switching, signaling or transmitting
signals by electromagnetic means and that is connected by radio
or wire to a public telecommunications transport network at a
termination point.
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