Australian Regulatory Trends 2019

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In the services sector, there will be guaranteed access for Australian suppliers of financial and professional services, engineering and construction, transport and logistics and education. The A-HKFTA will bind tariffs at zero, a significant change from the current WTO rules which legally permit Hong Kong to increase tariff rates on Australia exports. This will create greater certainty for Australian exporters in the future. The current financial threshold for screening private Hong Kong investments into non-sensitive sectors in Australia will be increased from AUD 261 million to AUD 1.134 million, although Australia will retain the right to screen investments in sensitive sectors and residential land.

preferential of Indonesia’s goods exports will enter Australia duty-free. IA-CEPA will also liberalise services trade and investment between Australia and Indonesia. Indonesia has agreed to make specific commitments in the energy and infrastructure sectors and will allow Australian-owned companies to supply a range of mining-related and energy services. In the construction sector, Australian-owned companies will be able to provide various construction- related services to Indonesia on a cross- border basis. There will also be greater transparency in relation to the application procedures necessary to supply financial services. The IA-CEPA Investment Chapter includes an Investor-State Dispute Settlement ( ISDS ) provision which will provide investors with both countries with the ability to resolve disputes through arbitration. There will be limited scope for Indonesia to make key investment regulations more restrictive in the future. arrangements. All

INDONESIA-AUSTRALIA COMPREHENSIVE ECONOMIC PARTNERSHIP AGREEMENT

The Indonesia-Australia Comprehensive Economic Partnership Agreement ( IA- CEPA ) was signed on 4 March 2019. Both countries are in the process of passing implementing legislation. The IA-CEPA builds on the existing commitments made by both countries under the ASEAN-Australia-New Zealand Free Trade Agreement ( AANZFTA ). Under the IA-CEPA, 99% of Australia’s goods exports will enter Indonesia duty- free or with significantly improved

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