WORLD TRADE
ORGANIZATIONWT/REG/12
7 July 2003
(03-3626)
Committee on Regional Trade Agreements
INTERIM REPORT (2003) OF THE
COMMITTEE ON REGIONAL TRADE AGREEMENTS
TO THE GENERAL COUNCIL
Chairman:  Mr. Jaynarain Meetoo (Mauritius)
I. INTRODUCTION
1. At the first meeting on 3-4 April 2003, the Committee on Regional Trade Agreements
(CRTA) elected Mr. Jaynarain Meetoo (Mauritius) as Chairman of the Committee.  Dr. Vassili Notis
(Greece) retained his position as Vice-Chairman and Mr B. Weston (Trinidad and Tobago) and Mr. S.Dalela (India) were elected as Vice-Chairmen of the CRTA.
2. As of June, the Committee had held one meeting.  The minutes of this meeting are listed in
Attachment 1.  The Committee plans to hold a second meeting in December 2003.
II. OBSERVER STATUS
3. The Committee agreed to continue the granting of observer status in the CRTA to the Latin
American Integration Association (LAIA), on an ad hoc  basis.  No decision was taken with respect to
the requests for observer status listed in do cument WT/REG/W/11/Add.3, pe nding the guidelines to
be defined by the General Council.
III. EXAMINATION OF REGIONAL TRADE AGREEMENTS
4. As of 12 June 2003, 267 RTAs have been notified to the GATT/WTO.
1  Of these, 222
agreements were notified under GATT Article XXIV, of which 140 are still in force today; 19
agreements were notified under the Enabling Clause;2 and 26 under GATS Article V.
5. The Committee has currently under examination a total of 138 agreements.3  The examination
of 111 of these agreements has been referred to the Committee by the Council for Trade in Goods, 26
by the Council for Trade in Services and one by the Committee on Trade and Development.  For 23RTAs, the Committee has not yet started the factual examination.  39 RTAs are currently undergoing
factual examination.  For the remaining 76 RTAs th e factual examination is already complete (see
Attachment 2).  No progress was made, however, on the completion of the examination reports.
                                                     
1 This figure corresponds to notifications of new RTAs, as well as accessions to existing RTAs.
2 Differential and More Favourable Treatment, Reciprocity and Fulle r Participation of Developing
Countries , Decision of 28 November 1979.
3 One RTA notified under GATT Article XXIV has not yet been transmitted to the Comm ittee for
examination.WT/REG/12
Page 2
IV. REPORTING ON THE OPERATION OF AGREEMENTS
6. Of the six biennial reports still outstanding  in the 2001 Schedule for the Submission of
Biennial Reports on RTAs, none has been received (s ee Attachment 3).  No additional reports are due
this year as it was agreed in 2002 to shift the next submission of biennial reports to 2004, to take into
account the workload due to preparations for the Ministerial Conference in Cancún.
V. PROCEDURES TO IMPROVE AND FACILITATE THE EXAMINATION PROCESS
7. No discussion took place on this item.
VI. SYSTEMIC IMPLICATIONS OF REGIONAL TRADE AGREEMENTS AND
INITIATIVES FOR THE MULTILATERAL TRADING SYSTEM AND THE
RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN THEM
8. No discussion took place on this item.
VII. OTHER
9. The Chairman indicated that the WTO website on regional trade agreements has recently been
updated with links to websites where the relevant text and annexes and protocols of RTAs can befound.  He urged delegations to provide website details in their Standard Formats, when available, so
that this information can be kept up to date.
VIII.  FINAL REMARKS
10. The Committee has pursued its examination work, but has been unable to finalize reports on
any of the examinations before it.WT/REG/12
Page 3
ATTACHMENT 1
Minutes of the Meetings held in 2003
Thirty-Fourth Session – 3-4 April 2003
WT/REG/M/34
WT/REG109/M/3 EC and Mexico, Services
WT/REG126/M/1 EFTA and Me xico, Goods and Services
WT/REG125/M/1 Chile and Mexico, Goods and Services
( Kyrgyz Republic, Russian Federation, Belarus, Kazakhstan
and Tajikistan
( Kyrgyz Republic and Russian Federation
WT/REG/GEN/M/9 ( Kyrgyz Republic and Ukraine
( Kyrgyz Republic and Uzbekistan( Kyrgyz Republic and Kazakhstan
( Kyrgyz Republic and Armenia
( Azerbaijan, Armenia, Belarus, Georgia, Moldova,
Kazakhstan, Russian Federation, Ukraine, Uzbekistan,
Tajikistan and Kyrgyz Republic
( Georgia and Russian Federation
( Georgia and Armenia
WT/REG/GEN/M/10 ( Georgia and Azerbaijan
( Georgia and Ukraine
( Georgia and Turkmenistan( Georgia and Kazakhstan
WT/REG124/M/1 Israel and Mexico
WT/REG135/M/1 Turkey and Slovenia
WT/REG128/M/1 Hungary and Estonia
WT/REG143/M/1 EC and Latvia, Services
WT/REG144/M/1 EC and Estonia, Services
WT/REG145/M/1 EC and Lithuania, ServicesWT/REG146/M/1 EC and Slovenia, ServicesWT/REG/12
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ATTACHMENT 2
List of RTAs Under Examination4
RTAs for which factual examinations have been completed  and the draft examination reports are in
various stages of consultation and finalization (76):
ANZCERTA (services) EFTA-Bulgaria Norway-Faroe Islands
Bulgaria-FYROM EFTA-Estonia Poland-Faroe Islands
Canada-Chile EFTA-FYROM Poland-Latvia
Canada-Israel EFTA-Hungary Poland-LithuaniaCEFTA
5EFTA-Israel Romania-Moldova
Czech Republic-Estonia EFTA-Latvia Slovak Republic-Estonia
Czech Republic-Latvia EFTA-Lithuania Slovak Republic-Latvia
Czech Republic-Lithuania EFTA-Morocco Slovak Republic-Lithuania
Czech Republic-Turkey EFTA-Poland Slovak Republic-TurkeyEC-P. of Andorra EFTA-Romania Slovenia-Croatia
EC-Bulgaria EFTA-Slov enia Slovenia-Estonia
EC-Czech Republic Estonia-Faroe Islands Slovenia-FYROM
EC-Enlargement (goods and
services)Estonia-Latvia-Lithuania Slovenia-Latvia
EC-Estonia Estonia-Ukrai ne Slovenia-Lithuania
EC-Hungary (goods and
services)Hungary-Latvia Switzerland-Faroe Islands
EC-Israel Hungary-Lithuania Turkey-Bulgaria
EC-Latvia Kyrgyz Republic-Moldova Turkey-EstoniaEC- Lithuania Iceland-Faroe Islands Turkey-FYROM
EC-Poland (goods and services) Israel-Czech Republic Turkey-Hungary
EC-Romania Israel-Hungary Turkey-Israel
EC-Slovak Republic (goods and
services)Israel-Poland Turkey-Latvia
EC-Slovenia Israel-Slovak Republic Turkey-Lithuania
EC-Tunisia Israel-Slovenia Turkey-Poland
NAFTA (goods and services) Turkey-Romania
                                                     
4 Unless otherwise indicated, the examinations of RTAs listed below refer to trade in goods only.
5 Including accession of Bulgaria, Romania, and Slovenia.WT/REG/12
Page 5
RTAs under factual examination (39):
Canada-Chile (services)
Chile-Mexico (goods and
services)
EC-Bulgaria (services)
EC-Czech Republic (services)
EC-Estonia (services)
EC-Faroe IslandsEC-FYROM
EC-Latvia (services)
EC-Lithuania (services)EFTA-Mexico (goods and
services)
European Union (services)
European Economic Area
(services)
Georgia-Armenia
Georgia-Azerbaijan
Georgia-KazakhstanGeorgia-Russian Federation
Georgia-Turkmenistan
Georgia-UkraineKyrgyz Republic-Kazakhstan
Kyrgyz Republic-Russian
Federation
Kyrgyz Republic-Russian
Federation, Belarus, Kazakhstan
and Tajikistan
Kyrgyz Republic-Ukraine
Kyrgyz Republic-Armenia
Kyrgyz Republic-UzbekistanMERCOSUR
Mexico-Israel
New Zealand-Singapore (goods
and services)
EC-Mexico (goods andservices)Hungary-Estonia Turkey-Slovenia
EC-Morocco Commonwealth of Independent
States (CIS)
EC-Romania (services)
EC-Slovenia (services)EC-Turkey
RTAs for which factual examination has not yet commenced (23):
Bulgaria-Estonia
Bulgaria-Israel
Bulgaria-LatviaBulgaria-LithuaniaCanada-Costa RicaCARICOM (services)
Chile-Costa Rica (goods andservices)EC-Croatia
EC-Jordan
EC-Palestinian AuthorityEC-South AfricaEFTA (services)EFTA-Croatia
EFTA-JordanEFTA-Palestinian Authority
EFTA-Singapore (goods and
services)
Japan-Singapore (goods and
services)
Slovenia-Bosnia andHerzegovina
United States-Jordan (goods
and services)WT/REG/12
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ATTACHMENT 3
2001 Schedule for the Submission of Biennial Reports on RTAs
Reports submitted and considered by the CRTA in 2001 (4)
European Free Trade Association (EFTA)
EFTA-Czech Republic
EFTA-Slovak Republic
EFTA-Turkey
Reports submitted and considered by the CRTA in 2002 (11)6
Australia and New Zealand Closer Economic Relations Trade Agreement (ANZCERTA)
Czech Republic-Slovak Republic Customs Union
European Communities (EC)-Switzerland AgreementEC-Iceland Agreement
EC-Egypt Cooperation Agreement
EC-Jordan Cooperation Agreement
EC-Lebanon Cooperation Agreement
EC-Syria Cooperation AgreementEC-Algeria Cooperation Agreement
EC-Association of Certain Overseas Countries and Territories (OCTs)
EC-Norway Agreement
Reports not submitted to the WTO as of June 2003 (6)
Australia-Papua New Guinea Agreement (PATCRA)
Caribbean Community and Common Market (CARICOM)
Central American Common Market (CACM)
EC-Cyprus
EC-Malta Association Agreement
United States/Israel
__________
                                                     
6 Reports submitted under the 2001 schedule for the submission of biennial reports on RTAs.