Thank you. Chapter 9 is materially restricted by Annex III Schedule of Non-Conforming Measures, which forms part of the FTA. In addition, it also includes some hedging of its own: "covered investment means, with respect to a Party, an investment in its territory of an investor of the other Party in existence at the date of entry into force of this Agreement or established, acquired, or expanded thereafter and which, where applicable, has been admitted by the host Party, subject to its relevant laws, regulations and policies;"
Nonetheless, Annex III is quite restrictive as it is. For example: "The following investments may be subject to objections by the Australian Government and may also require notification to the Government: (a) investments by foreign persons of five per cent or more in the media sector, regardless of the value of the investment; (b) investments by foreign persons in existing Australian businesses, or prescribed corporations, the value of whose assets exceeds 252 million Australian Dollars in the following sectors (goes on to list telecommunications, transportation etc..)" etc...
There are also investment restrictions relating to specific entities, such as Telstra, Qantas and CSL.
As stipulated in Article 9.5, the above restrictions detailed in Annex III nullify Articles 9.3 and 9.4, which for instance, means that the following paragraph in Article 9.3 is trumped: "Australia shall accord to investors of China treatment no less favourable than that it accords, in like circumstances, to its own investors with respect to the establishment, acquisition, expansion, management, conduct, operation and sale or other disposition of investments in its territory."
However, "The Parties shall endeavour to progressively remove the non-conforming measures", which means that the intention is to reduce and remove Annex III eventually. The timing or method to achieve this, and what constitutes reasonable delays, has not been outlined as far as I know.
Interestingly, even if Annex III was removed entirely, there would still be restrictions imposed by Article 9.6 (Denial of Benefits) and Article 9.8 (General Exceptions).
