(a) whether the Government has finalised the Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership (RCEP) Agreement;
(b) if so, the details thereof along with the major provisions envisaged in the said RCEP;
(c) whether the Government has not made public RCEP documents and if so, the details thereof and the reasons therefor; and
(d) whether the Government has received any representation against the RCEP and if so, the details thereof along with the action taken thereon?
THE MINISTER OF STATE IN THE MINISTRY OF COMMERCE AND INDUSTRY (INDEPENDENT CHARGE)
(SMT. NIRMALA SITHARAMAN)
(a): No Madam, the Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership (RCEP) negotiations are not yet concluded.
(b): Institutionally, RCEP consists of 15 negotiating groups namely the Trade Negotiating Committee (TNC) which is the apex negotiating group; 8 working groups relating to goods, services, investment, competition, economic and technical cooperation (ECOTECH), intellectual property (IP) legal and institutional issues (LII) and e-commerce; and 6 sub working groups relating to SPS (sanitary and phytosanitary measures), STRACAP (standards, Technical regulations and conformity assessment procedures); rules of origin (ROO); customs procedures and trade facilitation (CPTF); financial services; and telecommunication.
(c) & (d): The negotiations are ongoing and the government regularly holds stakeholders’ consultations for seeking inputs on various issues of RCEP.
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