WORLD TRADE
ORGANIZATIONWT/L/384
19 December 2000
(00-5528)
GENERAL COUNCIL
Implementation-Related Issues and Concerns
Decision of 15 December 2000
The General Council,
Having regard  to Articles IV.1, IV.2, IV.5 and IX.1 of the Marrakesh Agreement Establishing
the World Trade Organization (WTO);
Considering the importance which Members attach to implementation-related issues and
concerns as reflected in paragraphs 8 and 9 of the Geneva Ministerial Declaration, in the preparatory
process for the third Ministerial Conference and in numerous subsequent discussions in the General
Council;
Considering that the Decision of the General Council of 3 May 2000 provides that the
General Council in Special Sessions shall address issues and concerns raised by Members in
connection with the implementation of some WTO Agreements and Decisions;
Recalling  further that the Decision of 3 May 2000 provides that the General Council shall
assess the existing difficulties, identify ways needed to resolve them, and take decisions for
appropriate action;
Taking into account  the work programme on implementation issues agreed by the General
Council at its first Special Session on 22 June 2000 which provides that, in the light of the progress
made until then, the third Special Session will take decisions for appropriate action where possible;
Recalling  the mandate given to the Chairman of the Council for Trade in Goods and the
consultations held on the issue of transition periods under the Agreement on Trade-Related
Investment Measures;
Taking into consideration  the requests made to the Director-General to work with the relevant
international standard-setting organizations and relevant intergovernmental organizations on the issue
of the participation of developing countries in their work;
Recalling  further that the following implementati on-related issues were referred to the
relevant WTO bodies at the Special Session held on 18 October 2000:
- in the area of Agriculture, the development of internationally agreed disciplines to
govern the provision of export credits, export credit guarantees or insurance
programmes pursuant to Article 10.2 of the Agreement on Agriculture, taking into
account the provisions of paragraph 4 of the Decision on Measures Concerning the
Possible Negative Effects of the Reform Programme on Least-Developed and NetFood-Importing Developing Countries;WT/L/384
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- in the area of Sanitary and Phytosanitary measures, the concerns of developing
countries regarding the equivalence of such measures;
- in the area of Technical Barriers to Trade, the problems faced by developing countries
in both international standards and conformity assessment;
- in the area of Customs Valuation, the idea of information exchange between customs
administrations on export values in doubtful cases, the addition of the cost of services
in Article 8:1(b)(iv) and aspects of the residual method of determining customs value
under Article 7 of the Customs Valuation Agreement; and,
- in the area of Trade-Related Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights (TRIPS), the
issue of the relationship between the TRIPS Agreement and the Convention on
Biological Diversity and the issue of the implementation of Article 66.2 of the
Agreement on technology transfer.
Noting  the reports on the above issues from the Chairpersons of the Council for Trade in
Goods, the Council for Trade-Related Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights, and the Committees on
Agriculture, Sanitary and Phytosanitary Measures, Technical Barriers to Trade and Customs
Valuation, and from the Director-General;
 Decides  as follows:
1. Agreement on Agriculture
1.1 Members shall ensure that their tariff rate quota regimes (TRQs) are administered in a
transparent, equitable and non-discriminatory manner.  In that context, they shall
ensure that the notifications they provide to the Committee on Agriculture contain all
the relevant information including details on guidelines and procedures on the
allotment of TRQs.  Members administering TRQs shall submit addenda to theirnotifications to the Committee on Agriculture (Table MA:1) by the time of the second
regular meeting of the Committee in 2001.
1.2 The Committee on Agriculture shall examine possible means of improving the
effectiveness of the implementation of the Decision on Measures Concerning the
Possible Negative Effects of the Reform Programme on Least-Developed and Net
Food-Importing Developing Countries and report to the General Council at thesecond regular meeting of the Council in 2001.
2. Agreement on the Application of Sanitary and Phytosanitary Measures
In accordance with the request to the Director-Gen eral to work with the relevant international
standard-setting organizations on the issue of the participation of developing countries in their
work, these organizations are urged to ensure the participation of Members at different levels
of development and from all geographic regions, throughout all phases of standard
development.
3. Agreement on Technical Barriers to Trade
In accordance with the request to the Director-Gen eral to work with the relevant international
standard-setting organizations on the issue of the participation of developing countries in their
work, these organizations are urged to ensure the participation of Members at different levelsof development and from all geographic regions, throughout all phases of standard
development.WT/L/384
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4. Agreement on the Implementation of Article VII of the General Agreement on Tariffs and
Trade 1994
Noting that the process of examination and approval, in the Customs Valuation Committee, of
individual requests from Members for extension of the five-year delay period in Article 20.1is proceeding well, the General Council encourages the Committee to continue this work.
5. Agreement on Rules of Origin
Members undertake to expedite the remaining work on the harmonization of non-preferential
rules of origin, so as to complete it by the time of the Fourth Ministerial Conference, or by the
end of 2001 at the latest.  The Chairman of the Committee on Rules of Origin shall reportregularly, on his own responsibility, to the General Council on the progress being made.  The
first such report would be submitted to the Council at its first regular meeting in 2001, and
subsequently at each regular meeting until the completion of the work programme.
6. Agreement on Subsidies and Countervailing Measures
6.1 Taking into account the unique situation of Honduras as the only original Member of
the WTO with a GNP per capita of less than US$ 1000 that was not included in
Annex VII(b) to the Agreement on Subs idies and Countervailing Measures (SCM
Agreement), Members call upon the Director-General to take appropriate steps, inaccordance with WTO usual practice, to rectify the omission of Honduras from the
list of Annex VII(b) countries.
6.2 The Committee on Subsidies and Countervailing Measures (SCM Committee) shall
examine as an important part of its work all issues relating to Articles 27.5 and 27.6of the SCM Agreement, including the possib ility to establish export competitiveness
on the basis of a period longer than two years.
6.3 The SCM Committee shall examine as an important part of its work the issues of
aggregate and generalized rates of remission of import duties and of the definition of
"inputs consumed in the production process", taking into account the particular needs
of developing-country Members.
7. Further Work
The General Council's Decision of 3 May 2000 on Implementation-Related Issues is reaffirmed.  The
General Council shall address the outstanding implementation-related issues and concerns, includingthose set out in paragraphs 21 and 22 of the revised Draft Ministerial Text dated 19 October 1999
(Job(99)/5868/Rev.1), as well as any other implementation-related issues raised by Members, as
envisaged in the Decision of 3 May and the work programme agreed on 22 June 2000, with a view to
completing the process no later than the Fourth Session of the Ministerial Conference.
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