Common use of Rights and Obligations of Parties Clause in Contracts

Rights and Obligations of Parties. 1. Nothing in this Chapter shall prevent a Party from preparing, adopting or applying technical regulations necessary for the protection of human health or safety, of animal or plant life or health or of the environment, for the prevention of deceptive practices, for ensuring the quality of its exports or for the protection of its essential security interests, or standards or related conformity assessment procedures, provided that such measures are not inconsistent with this Chapter. 2. Parties that are WTO Members affirm their rights and obligations with respect to each other under the TBT Agreement. While reserving their rights under the TBT Agreement, Parties that are WTO Members shall apply the provisions of Articles 1 through 10 of the TBT Agreement with respect to Parties that are not WTO Members, to the extent that such provisions are not already covered in this Chapter. 3. Notwithstanding that the provisions of this Chapter apply to developing country Parties that are not WTO Members, where a Party that is a developing country and not a WTO Member prepares, adopts or applies a technical regulation, standard or conformity assessment procedure, such regulation, standard or procedure shall be based on the TBT Agreement only to the extent of such Party’s capacity. On request of a Party with an interest in a product subject to a technical regulation, standard or conformity assessment procedure applied by such Party, those Parties shall engage promptly in bilateral technical discussions on the matter in accordance with the procedure under Article 11.