RESTRICTED
WORLD TRADE G/PSI/WP/M/5
25March 1998
ORGANIZATION(98-1194)
Working Party onPreshipment Inspection
MINUTES OFTHE MEETING OF19MARCH 1998
Chairman: Mr.Edward Brown (United Kingdom)
Theagenda proposed forthemeeting, contained inWTO/AIR/796, wasadopted asfollows:
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1. Election ofOfficers ..........................................1
2. Exchange ofviews onprogramme ofwork ...........................1
3. Other business .............................................3
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Mr.Heinz Opelz, Director oftheMarket Access Division intheWTO Secretariat, opened
themeeting intheabsence oftheprevious Chairman whowasunavailable toChair themeeting. He
recalled that,following adoption bytheGeneral Council oftheWorking Party'sReport (G/L/214),
ithadbeenagreed toextend themandate oftheWorking Party foranadditional year.
1. Election ofOfficers
1.1 Mr.Opelz informed theWorking Party thattheChairman oftheCouncil forTrade inGoods,
pursuant toparagraph 6.3ofthe"Guidelines forAppointment ofOfficers toWTO Bodies", hadcarried
outinformal consultations onaslateofnames ofappointment asChairpersons tothedifferent subsidiary
bodies oftheCouncil forTrade inGoods. Theproposed nominations weretaken noteofbytheCouncil
forTrade inGoods atitsmeeting on4March 1998. Withrespect tothisWorking Party, theChairman
oftheCouncil forTrade inGoods hadproposed thatMr.Edward Brown oftheUnited Kingdom be
theChairman.
1.2 TheWorking Party agreed byacclamation toelectMr.Brown asChairperson forthisyear.
2. Exchange ofviews onprogramme ofwork
2.1 TheChairman voiced hisappreciation forhiselection andhoped thatoverthecoming year,
theWorking Party would continue itswork inanefficient, constructive andeffective manner. He
expressedhisgratitudetohispredecessor,Mr.ChieduOsakwe,whosoenergeticallychairedtheWorking
Party during itsfirstyearofexistence. Through hisguidance andcreativity, theWorking Party had
made progress inuncovering some oftheissues which concerned thefunctioning oftheAgreement
onPreshipment Inspection. Working together inaspirit ofcooperation andmutual respect facilitated
theanalysis andreflection thathadlaidthegroundwork forthework thisyear.G/PSI/WP/M/5
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2.2 LikeanyWTO Agreement, headded thatthePreshipment Inspection Agreement carried with
itbothrights andobligations. With thehelpandguidance oftheWorking Party, hehoped thatover
thecoming yearitwould work together toensure thatthisbalance wasrespected. Thiswas,andwould
never be,aneasytask,because quite naturally perspectives onthisissue differed. Buthewould try
toensure thatinfuture work, equal andfairattention waspaidtothisimportant principle thatdrove
theneedtobenefit from themultilateral trading system.
2.3 Henoted thatoneareaofattention wastheneedtomeetrespective notification obligations.
InthecaseofPSI,thisconcerned Article 5oftheAgreement. Today, onlyhalfoftheWTO membership
hadcomplied withthisobligation. Delegations knew whether ornottheywereincluded inthisgroup.
Heconsidered thatifthereason fornon-notification wassimply anuncertainty ofwhatwasrequired,
delegations should seekguidance from theSecretariat. Itwashardtoimagine whatother reason for
non-compliance withnotification obligation existed.
2.4 Headded thatlastyear,afterthesecond yearofitsentryintoforce, andasrequired byArticle 6,
theWorking Party hadreviewed theprovisions, operation andimplementation oftheAgreement on
PSI.Itsreport listed action thatshould betaken immediately, andforwhich atsome stagetheWorking
Party would needtomonitor itsimplementation, aswellasareasthatrequired further reflection. Thus,
thelifeoftheWorking Party wasextended. Thetopics listed inparagraph 8oftheReport (G/L/214)
would initially formtheback-bone ofdiscussions. Butinaddition tothis,heencouraged theWorking
Party tocontinue theprocess ofreceiving further inputs from usercountries, onavoluntary basis,
tocompliment thehelpful reports ithadalready received todatefrom sixcountries. Thiswould
undoubtedly helptobroaden knowledge ofwhat washappening intherealworld. Without such
contributions, work inassessing where efforts could mosteffectively bedirected would bemade that
much more difficult.
2.5 Additionally, theWorking Party would havetoconsider howtoaddress andfocus ontheneeds
ofusercountries inproviding them withtechnical assistance asrequired under Article 3ofthe
Agreement, which further recognised inthePreamble thatthere wasaneedfordeveloping countries
tousePSIagents foraslongandsofarasitwasnecessary. Thissurely implied thatitwasenvisaged
thattheseusercountries 'administrations would berequired totakeonthefunctions currently undertaken
ontheirbehalf bythePSIagents. Technical assistance therefore hadtobedirected tomake thisgoal
achievable inthemost appropriate andexpedient manner possible. Finally, heconsidered itwould
benecessary toreflect further ontheuseoftheIndependent Entity. TheWorking Party hadagreed
lastyearthatthisbodyshould bemaintained, butitdidnotreally havetheopportunity todiscuss how
bothimporters andexporters maymake useof,andbenefit from, thisfacility. Itwasinteresting to
notethattodate, ithadnotbeenused. Itwould benaive toassume thatthismeant thatallwas
necessarilywell.Furtherreflectiononthis,wouldbeusefulinwideningtheWorkingParty'sperspective
ontheoperation oftheAgreement.
2.6 HeaddedthatthechallengefacingtheWorkingPartygavemuchfoodforthoughtandherealised
thatdelegations would needtoconsult theircapitals before commenting. Heproposed, therefore, that
theWorking Party initially concentrate, although notnecessarily today, ontheseven topics listed in
paragraph 8ofitsreport, thatreflected aconsolidated listofinterests ofsome delegations. Hesuggested
thatthesedelegations present theirviews, inwritten formandcovering asmany topics astheywished,
fortheWorking Party todiscuss inaninformal meeting inabout fourweeks time. Iftimethen
permitted, apreliminary discussion onhowtheWorking Party should cover theother areas ofwork
thathadbeenidentified could alsobeheld.
2.7 Therepresentative oftheEuropean Community saidthatherdelegation entirely supported the
approach outlined bytheChairman andconsidered itaveryrational one. Herdelegation attached
greatimportance totheimplementation oftherecommendations forimmediate action, particularly theG/PSI/WP/M/5
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notification obligation. Itwould beuseful togetmore information fromuserMembers, particularly
onhowcustoms andinspection wascarried out.Oneofherdelegation 'spriorities wastothink about
themodalities oftechnical assistance, andanother wastolookintothefunctioning oftheIndependent
Entity.
2.8 TherepresentativeofSwitzerlandbrieflypresentedherdelegation'ssubmission(G/PSI/WP/W/16)
which wasbased onitscommunication presented lastyear(G/PSI/WP/W/9) inwhich herdelegation
mentioned itsinterest indeveloping amodel agreement. Atthattime, herdelegation hadmentioned
thatsuchamodel could helpincrease theefficiency ofpreshipment inspection activities andmeetsome
concerns ofMembers. Themodel contained inG/PSI/WP/W/16 wasprepared inclose consultation
withalltheinterested groups intheSwiss private sector, andinaccordance withtherecommendations
oftheWorking Party contained inG/L/214. Themodel attempted toensure therespect ofcontractual
freedom. Through thissubmission, herdelegation hoped tocontribute tothethinking among Members
andtothework oftheWorking Party. Given itsonlyrecent distribution, herdelegation would be
prepared todiscuss itatalaterstage.
2.9 Therepresentative ofAustralia stated herdelegation 'shopethattheWorking Party would take
averyconcrete andpractical approach initswork, andwelcomed theSwiss submission asagoodstep
inthatdirection.
2.10 TheWorking Party tooknoteofthestatements made andagreed thatMembers should submit
papers ontheissues contained inparagraph 8ofG/L/214 foraninformal meeting tobescheduled
inabout amonth 'stime.
3. Other business
3.1 TheChairman stated thatthenextformal meeting oftheWorking Party would beheldon
6May1998. Hewould notify Members ofthedateoftheinformal meeting induecourse.
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