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ANNEX 9D: PROFESSIONAL SERVICES

1. The objective of this Annex is the establishment of rules to be followed by the Parties in the reduction and gradual elimination, within their territories, of the barriers in the rendering of professional services.
   

Development of Professional Standards

1. The Parties shall encourage the relevant bodies in their respective territories to develop mutually acceptable standards and criteria for licensing and certification of professional service providers and to provide recommendations on mutual recognition when the Parties meet for a review under Article 22.1.
   
2. The standards and criteria referred to in paragraph 2 may be developed with regard

to the following matters:

(a) education - accreditation of schools or academic programs;

(b) examinations - qualifying examinations for licensing, including alternative methods of assessment such as oral examinations and interviews;

(c) experience - length and nature of experience required for licensing;

(d) conduct and ethics - standards of professional conduct and the nature of disciplinary action for non-conformity with those standards;

(e) professional development and re-certification - continuing education and ongoing requirements to maintain professional certification;

(f) scope of practice - extent of, or limitations on, permissible activities;

(g) local knowledge - requirements for knowledge of such matters as local laws, regulations, language, geography or climate; and

(h) consumer protection - alternatives to residency requirements, including bonding, professional liability insurance and client restitution funds, to provide for the protection of consumers.

1. Upon receipt of a recommendation referred to in paragraph 2, the Parties meeting at the review under Article 22.1 shall review the recommendation within a reasonable time

to determine whether it is consistent with this Agreement. Based on the review, each Party

shall encourage its respective competent authorities, where appropriate, to implement the recommendation within a mutually agreed time.

Temporary Licensing

1. Where the Parties agree, each Party shall encourage the relevant bodies in its territory to develop procedures for the temporary licensing of professional service providers of the other Party.
   

Recognition of Professional engineers

1. To facilitate access of professional engineers to business opportunity in the territory

of the other Party, both Parties agree to widen the scope of recognized universities for professional engineers, as follows:

2

(a) Korea will recognise 2 Singapore universities.

(b) Singapore will recognise 20 Korean universities.

1. Based on mutual trust and agreement on common benchmarks, each Party will select the qualified universities and their specific qualified programs and notify them to the other Party.
   
2. Both Parties will enter into negotiations on mutual recognition of professional engineers with a view to achieving mutually beneficial outcomes.
   
3. Both Parties will designate the relevant Ministries or Government Agencies in charge of registration or licensing of professional engineers to continue consultations on the mutual recognition of professional engineers.
   
4. Notwithstanding Article 9.2, the recognition above shall apply for any purpose of professional requirement for professional engineers under this Agreement.
   

Review

1. `Pursuant to the Article 22.1, the Parties shall periodically review the implementation of this Annex.