RCEP is the only FTA that applies both “positive approach” and “negative approach” to open trade in services in the world. Specifically:

- “Positive approach”: a country only opens its service markets to service suppliers of partners under the requirements, at the level and in the sectors as specified in “Schedule of Specific Commitments for Services” (in Annex II of RCEP’s Full Text); 

- “Negative approach”: a country opens all of its service markets to service suppliers of partners without limit/restriction, except for specific reservations specified in the “Schedule of Reservations and Non-conforming measures for Services and Investment” (in Annex III of RCEP’s Full text).

RCEP allows member countries to choose whether to apply the "negative approach" or "positive approach" in the first phase of RCEP implementation (the transition period):

- There are 8/15 RCEP members opening service markets under the "positive approach" during the transition period, including Cambodia, Laos, Myanmar, New Zealand, Philippines, Thailand, China and Vietnam. The transition period for these countries is 6 years after the date of entry into force of RCEP Agreement (the transition period for Cambodia, Laos, and Myanmar is 15 years).

- There are 7/15 RCEP members opening service markets under the "negative approach" from the date of entry into force of RCEP, including Australia, Brunei, Korea, Indonesia, Malaysia, Japan, Singapore.

Thus, New Zealand commits to open its services market on an “positive approach” during the transition period (6 years from the entry into force of RCEP) with a specific New Zealand Schedule of Commitments in Annex II of the RCEP Agreement.

This Schedule lists each service sector and sub-sector that New Zealand commits to open. Specific commitments on the level of access for RCEP services and service suppliers in each service sector and sub-sector are stated accordingly, including:

- Commitments on terms, limitations and conditions of Market Access (MA);

- Conditions and standards on National Treatment (NT);

- Other additional commitments; and

- Timeline for implementation of such commitments, if any.

The Schedule of Commitments also clearly lists sectors and sub-sectors with commitments to open more in the future (FL), and/or commitments to implement MFN.

Source: Center for WTO and International Trade

Documents are attached below:

• Schedules of Specific Commitments for Services of New Zealand
• Schedules of Reservations and Non-conforming measures of New Zealand

• New Zealand’s tariff commitments on imported goods under the RCEP
• New Zealand’s origin certification mechanism under the RCEP
• Opportunities from RCEP for exporting Vietnamese goods to New Zealand market
• Challenges from RCEP for Vietnam's exports to the New Zealand market