For the purpose of this Agreement:

(a) “covered investment” means, with respect to a Member State, an investment in its territory of an investor of any other Member State in existence as of the date of entry into force of this Agreement or established, acquired or expanded thereafter, and has been admitted according to its laws, regulations, and national policies, and
where applicable, specifically approved in writing by the competent authority of a Member State;

(b) “freely usable currency” means a freely usable currency as determined by the International Monetary Fund (“IMF”) under its Articles of Agreement and any amendments thereto;

(c) “investment” means every kind of asset, owned or controlled, by an investor, including but not limited to the following:

(i) movable and immovable property and other property rights such as mortgages, liens or pledges;

(ii) shares, stocks, bonds and debentures and any other forms of participation in a juridical person and rights or interest derived therefrom;

(iii) intellectual property rights which are conferred pursuant to the laws and regulations of each Member State;

(iv) claims to money or to any contractual performance related to a business and having financial value;

(v) rights under contracts, including turnkey, construction, management, production or revenue-sharing contracts; and(vi) business concessions required to conduct
economic activities and having financial value conferred by law or under a contract, including any concessions to search, cultivate, extract or exploit natural resources.
The term “investment” also includes amounts yielded by investments, in particular, profits, interest, capital gains, dividend, royalties and fees. Any alteration of the form in which assets are invested or reinvested shall not affect their classification as investment;

(d) “investor” means a natural person of a Member State or a juridical person of a Member State that is making, or has made an investment in the territory of any other Member State;

(e) “juridical person” means any legal entity duly constituted or otherwise organised under the applicable law of a Member State, whether for profit or otherwise, and whether privately-owned or governmentally-owned, including any enterprise, corporation, trust, partnership, joint venture, sole proprietorship, association, or organisation;

(f) “measures” means any measure of a Member State, whether in the form of laws, regulations, rules, procedures, decisions, and administrative actions or practice, adopted or maintained by:

(i) central, regional or local government or authorities; or

(ii) non-governmental bodies in the exercise of powers delegated by central, regional or local governments or authorities;

(g) “natural person” means any natural person possessing the nationality or citizenship of, or right of permanent residence in the Member State in accordance with its laws, regulations and national policies;

(h) “newer ASEAN Member States” means the Kingdom of Cambodia, the Lao People’s Democratic Republic, the Union of Myanmar and the Socialist Republic of Viet Nam;

(i) “WTO” means the World Trade Organization; and

(j) “WTO Agreement” means the Marrakesh Agreement Establishing the World Trade Organization, done at Marrakesh, Morocco on 15 April 1994, as may be mended.