Saint Josephsburg Economic Agreement
The following is the official treaty establishing the Saint Josephsburg Economic Pact, signed by 4 member states on 27 June, 2014.
Preamble
The signatories of this treaty,
Recognising the close political and diplomatic relations between the signatories of this treaty,
Recognising that these relations can be ameliorated by engaging in multilateral trade,
Further recognising that such relations are best incentivised and controlled by a common economic framework,
Decide that:
Article 1: Definitions
Section I
For the purpose of this treaty, "the signatory nations of this treaty" are defined as the sovereign states which have officially signed and ratified this treaty, each of which is recognised as a sovereign state by all the others, and their legal and equally recognised successors.
Section II
For the purpose of this treaty, "free trade" is defined as the lack of restrictions and taxes on imported and exported goods and services of a nation.
Section III
For the purpose of this treaty, "freedom of movement" is defined as the lack of restrictions on the transfer or migration of goods, capital, services or people.
Section IV
For the purpose of this treaty, "legal tender" is defined as a method of payment of debts and financial obligations which is officially recognised as acceptable for the aforementioned use.
Section V
For the purpose of this treaty, "currency" is defined as a material or method which facilitates exchange of assets by proxy, with a specific quality of being exchangeable for many different assets.
Section VI
For the purpose of this treaty, "customs union" is defined as a common economic policy related to external relations between states.
Section VII
For the purpose of this treaty, "common market" is defined as the freedom of movement of capital and labour between states.
Section VIII
For the purpose of this treaty, "economic union" is defined as the combination of a customs union and a common market.
Section IX
For the purpose of this treaty, "economic agreement" is defined as a binding treaty or agreement between states which, at least in part, has terms and conditions relating to trade between or the economies of these nations.
Section X
For the purpose of this treaty, "worker qualification regulations" are defined as laws that define the criteria that workers need to meet before being approved to work in a certain profession.
Section XI
For the purpose of this treaty, "labeling requirement regulations" are defined as laws that define the information that must appear on product labels for them to be approved for sale.
Section XII
For the purpose of this treaty, the "public sector" is defined as all economic activity that is operated by a government or any of its ministries or agencies.
Section XIII
For the purpose of this treaty, the "private sector" is defined as all economic activity outside of the public sector.
Section XIV
For the purpose of this treaty, the "common name" is the name of a product unrelated to a brand, such as "corn cereal" as opposed to "Korn Krisp" (the "brand name").
Section XV
For the purpose of this treaty, a "skilled worker" is a worker who requires specialised and/or technical training and/or education to work in their field.
Article 2: Mutual Recognition and Non-Aggression
Section I
Each signatory nation of this treaty must recognise all other signatory nations as free and sovereign states, and should act toward them in a manner appropriate for this status.
Section II
The signatory nations of this treaty will refrain from carrying out any type of military action against each other.
Section III
The signatory nations of this treaty will refrain from carrying out covert operations meant to damage the functioning or the reputation of another signatory nation.
Article 3: Commitment to Free Trade
Section I
The signatory nations of this treaty will prevent the establishment of barriers to trade between each other, and will work to remove existing barriers.
Section II
No more tax shall be added to goods and services traded between the signatory nations of this treaty than exists on goods or services traded within a signatory nation of this treaty.
Section III
Each signatory nation of this treaty must treat all other signatory nations of this treaty as equally preferred nations in relation to trade, and this must be the same as said nation treats domestic trade.
Article 4: Establishment of a Customs Union
Section I
Each signatory nation of this treaty must treat trade with a non-signatory nation in the same manner as all other signatory nations treat trade with said non-signatory nation.
Section II
All previous economic agreements between signatory nations shall become null and void.
Section III
All previous economic agreements between a signatory nation and a non-signatory nation shall henceforth apply between the non-signatory nation and all of the signatory nations of this treaty, except if it violates the terms and conditions of this treaty, in which case it shall become null and void.
Section IV
All future economic agreements shall be undertaken collectively by the signatory nations of this treaty, and shall apply equally to all of them.
Article 5: Establishment of a Common Market
Section I
The signatory nations of this treaty will allow the freedom of movement between each other of goods, services, capital, and labour, and will prevent any restriction or barrier to this freedom of movement between each other.
Section II
a) The signatory nations of this treaty will implement a common visa policy in relation to visitors or workers from non-signatory nations, with such a visa being equally valid in all signatory nations of this treaty.
b) The passports of any signatory nation of this treaty must be recognised by all other signatory nations as valid travel and identification documents.
Section III
a) Each signatory nation of this treaty will treat goods, services, and capital from other signatory nations no differently from how it treats domestic goods, services, and capital.
b) Labour from another signatory nation is to be treated in the same manner as domestic labour for the purposes of the private sector workplace, but domestic workers can preferred for or foreign workers barred from public sector jobs, and domestic workers can receive certain services, benefits, and rights (and can bear certain responsibilities) that come with citizenship in a signatory nation that are denied to foreign workers.
Section IV
The signatory nations of this treaty will have unified regulations for worker qualifications and labeling requirements; see Article 6.
Section V
Each signatory nation of this treaty will recognise all currencies of the other signatory nations as legal tender and equally valid to the domestic currency.
Article 6: Additional Regulations, relating to Article 5 Section 4
Section I
a) All products sold by the public sectors of the signatory nations of this treaty must be labeled with the following information, among other optional information, in the official languages of the region where they are sold:
- i) Name of the organisation or corporation which produced or resold it
- ii) Common name of the product
- iii) Net weight (for solids) or volume (for liquids) of the product
- iv) Country of origin
- v) List of ingredients in order of amount in product (for foods only)
- vi) Packing date (for all products) and production date (for foods only)
b) Each signatory nation can decide whether the private sector is also required to label products sold domestically in the manner described above, or whether to leave it optional. Products sold to another signatory nation must be labeled as above by both sectors.
c) Products sold by a non-signatory nation to a signatory nation must conform to these standards, regardless of sector producing the product.
d) Products sold to a non-signatory nation are subject to the legislation of said nation.
e) The one exception to the above rules is if correct labeling of the product endangers the safety of either the producer, reseller, or the consumer by revealing information which can be used to trace any of the above, for example if the product must be transported through a region where it is illegal. In such cases, any information that endangers the safety of the above parties can be omitted.
Section II
a) Skilled workers must be officially certified by a recognised educational institution as competent in their field of work in order to be able to work in said field. If a worker has their certification revoked by said institution or their certification is found to be fraudulent, they must be dismissed immediately.
b) Recognised educational institutions are institutions that train and/or test workers to determine their competence in their desired field of work. Institutions can only be called "recognised" if all the signatory nations of this treaty agree to recognise them as legitimate for the purposes described in Subsection a. Institutions are defined by the types of certifications they grant.
c) Types of certifications are:
- i) Certificate (granted by Vocational Schools): Needed for tradespeople and other skilled manual labourers
- ii) Diploma (granted by Colleges): Needed for technicians and other workers in fields related to the repair and maintenance of technology
- iii) Undergraduate degree (granted by Universities): Needed for specialised careers in the liberal arts, technical careers involving design and creation of technology, and for non-research careers in the sciences.
- iv) Graduate degree (granted by Universities, prerequisite is Undergraduate degree): Needed for research careers and professorships in the sciences.
d) Access to such institutions shall be free of charge to the student if they are from a signatory nation of this treaty, and students from all signatory nations of this treaty are to be treated equally with regards to these institutions.
Article 7: Protocol of the Saint Josephsburg Economic Pact
Section I
The economic union of the signatory nations of this treaty is henceforth to be known as the Saint Josephsburg Economic Pact, or alternatively the SJEP.
Section II
Any future decisions for the SJEP shall be made by the Saint Josephsburg Economic Council (SJEC), which consists of one member for each of the signatory nations of this treaty, deciding by simple majority.
Section III
Any future modification of this treaty or addition of new laws to the SJEP corpus by the SJEC is to be considered as valid as this treaty, and agreement to them as well as to this treaty shall be a condition of joining for new prospective members.
Section IV
The leader and foreign representative of the SJEP and SJEC is the President of the SJEC, which is a rotating position granted to a new delegate every 6 months, in the order of their signing of this treaty. Their only power beyond their status as a member of the SJEC is their role as the resolver of disputes; see Section V.
Section V
a) If there arises an economic or political dispute among nations, the President of the SJEC will act as a judge and review the case, making sure to gather as much evidence and testimony as possible. They will then publish their decision, which must be enacted.
b) Any nation that does not follow this decision is suspended from the SJEP.
c) If the President of the SJEC is involved with said dispute, the next SJEC member in the cycle must take on the role of judge for this dispute.
Section VI
If there is a dispute concerning the interpretation of this treaty or other laws, the case will be dealt with as described in Section V. The interpretation that the President decides is the interpretation that is henceforth used in relation to that part of the treaty or law.
Section VII
Member states of the SJEP must meet the criteria of statehood defined in the Montevideo Convention of 1993, as well as the following:
- i) Having existed in the present form for at least six months
- ii) Having no imaginary land claims nor imaginary or nonhuman citizens
- iii) Having the capacity to produce as well as consume goods and services.
A new member state is only admitted if they are accepted unanimously in the SJEC.
Section VIII
English shall be the sole official language for the SJEP.
Section IX
a) Observer States to the SJEP can be admitted with the same criteria as for full members, but they can be accepted by a simple majority in the SJEC.
b) Observer states can witness the meetings of the SJEC but cannot vote or take part in them.
Section X
The SJEP will keep a list of all recognised Educational Institutions (Article 6, Section 2), corporations operating in the public sector, and any private sector corporations or cooperatives that wish to abide by the rules stated in Article 6 Section 1.
Section XI
Should a tie emerge in the SJEC, the vote of the President of the SJEC shall be the tie breaker.
Section XII
Should the President of the SJEC act in an undesirable manner, a vote of no confidence can be conducted in the SJEC. If the members of the SJEC, excluding the President of the SJEC, unanimously decide that the President of the SJEC should be impeached, the President of the SJEC must step down from this position as well as their position as delegate for their nation, to be replaced with another delegate or the nation suspended if this is not possible.
Signed,