RESTRCTED
WORLD TRADE WT/TPR/R/1
20March 1997
ORGANIZATION(97-1157)
Trade Policy Review Body
REPORT ONTHE MEETING HELD ON10MARCH 1997
1. TheTrade Policy Review Body meton10March 1997. Theagenda covered fourmainitems:
election ofChairperson; observer status forinternational intergovernmental organizations; the
programme ofreviews for1997andthestateofpreparation ofreviews; andthefollow-up toreviews
heldin1996.
2. Noquestions were raised under "Other Business".
Election ofChairperson
3. H.E. MrMunir Akram (Pakistan) waselected Chairperson oftheTrade Policy Review Body
for1997. Members welcomed Ambassador Akram inhisnewpostandwished himwellinconducting
theprogramme ofreviews.
Observer Status forIntergovernmental Organizations
4. TheChairperson recalled that,inJuly1996, theGeneral Council hadadopted theGuidelines
onobservership ofinternational intergovernmental organizations (WT/L/121, Annex 3).Henoted
thattheIMFandtheWorld Bank hadobserver status intheTrade Policy Review Body byvirtue of
theAgreements concluded between theWTO andthese organizations. Inaddition, specific requests
forobservership intheTPRB hadbeenreceived from theEuropean Bank forReconstruction and
Development, theEuropean FreeTrade Association, theFood andAgriculture Organization ofthe
United Nations, theOrganization forEconomic Cooperation andDevelopment andtheUnited Nations
Conference onTrade andDevelopment. These organizations had,uptonow, beengranted adhoc
observer status intheTPRB. Heproposed that,withtheagreement oftheTPRB, theybeaccorded
regular observer status. Theproposal wasagreed.
Programme ofReviews for1997: stateofpreparation ofreviews
5. TheChairperson called attention totheprogramme ofreviews for1997(Annex 1).Henoted
thateleven meetings oftheTPRB would beheldduring thecalendar yearandthatfourfurther reviews
would bestarted during 1997, withaviewtocompletion andTPRB meetings tobeheldinearly1998.
Hecalled attention tothefactthat,asproposed intheTPRB in1996, theBody was,forthefirsttime,
experimenting with"grouped" reviews. Thereview oftheSouthern African Customs Union would
bethefirstcase,withbotheconomic andgeographical logicbehind it.Thetwodelegations ofTrinidad
andTobago andJamaica hadalsorequested ajointreview.
6. TheChairpersonalsostatedthat,followingtheMinisterialMeetingforLeast-DevelopedCountries
heldinNovember 1996 andtheSingapore Ministerial Conference, aconsiderable number ofleast-
developed countries wereseeking trade policy reviews. Satisfying thisdemand would putextra strain
bothonSecretariat resources andonthescheduling ofmeetings. While thiswould beaquestion more
forthe1998 management oftheprogramme thanforthisyear, itwasaquestion onwhich reflection
wasnecessary. Herecalled thatsome twenty reviews peryearwerenecessary tomaintain therhythmWT/TPR/R/1
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ofreviews called forintheAgreement ontheTPRM, whereas themaximum achieved todatehad
beenfifteen witheleven scheduled for1997.
7. Inreply toquestions ontheprogramme ofmeetings, theSecretariat regretted the"bunching"
ofreviews inthesecond halfoftheyear; thiswasrelated tostaffchanges aswellasdelays inthe
preparation ofcurrent reviews. Itwashoped thattheprogramme for1998could bemoreevenly spread.
TheRepresentative ofKorea stated thatconsultations should beheldtodiscuss thenature ofinterim
reviews ofQuad countries sothatthese would notbetreated lightly ascompared withtheregular
reviews. Healsopointed outthatthemembers should settle thisissueatleastinthelatter halfofthis
yearbecause theTPRofaninterim nature would beapplied toQuad countries soon. TheSecretariat
confirmed thattheforthcoming review oftheEuropean Union would bethefirst"interim" review of
aQuad member, asrequested bytheTPRB. Inconformity withdiscussion intheTPRB, thereport
would becomprehensive, butthesecretariat wasfocusing onthemost salient policy developments
inthepasttwoyears andintended toproduce ashorter report.
8. TheSecretariat alsonoted that,todate, fivereviews hadbeen, orwerebeing, conducted of
least-developed countries (LDCs): Bénin, Bangladesh, Lesotho (aspartofSACU), Uganda andZambia.
During andfollowing theSingapore Ministerial Conference, requests forreviews during 1997-98 had
beenreceived fromeightleast-developed Members inAfrica (Burkina Faso, Central African Republic,
Chad, Guinée, Guinée-Bissau, Mali, Niger andTogo) aswellasfrom theSolomon Islands. These
would beadditional totheongoing programme ofreviews. Ways werebeing explored ofhowtodeal
withthesereviews, including possible grouping ofreviews among LDCs orwithothers. TheSecretariat
wasalsoexperimenting withtheuseofconsultants forthefirsttimeinthejointreview oftheSouthern
African Customs Union; external trustfundassistance hadbeenreceived forthisreview.
9. Reviewing progress onthe1997programme ofTPRs, theChairperson noted thattheSecretariat
wasworking actively ontenreviews: Fiji,Cyprus, Paraguay, India, Bénin, Chile, SACU, Japan,
Mexico andtheEuropean Union; andwork hadjustbegun onMalaysia. Most reviews weresofar
reasonably onschedule, butthere wassome concern about thestateofreadiness bytheGovernment
ofFiji,whose policy statement hadnotyetbeensubmitted, andconcern regarding preparation ofthe
reports forIndia andMexico, where replies toquestions bytheSecretariat wereoverdue. Herecalled
thestatement made bytheTPRB, inparagraph 17ofitsreport toSingapore, that"Members oweit
tothehealth ofthesystem toobserve strictly thedeadlines laiddown foranswering questionnaires
anddelivering documentation; delays inthecompletion ofreviews bothaffect thereview process for
Members andslowdown theprogramme ingeneral". Heurged Members thathadnotyetsubmitted
theinformation requested bytheSecretariat todosowithout further delay, sothatreviews could be
conducted onschedule.
10. Therepresentative ofIndiastated thatdelays insubmission ofresponses toquestions weredue
toaheavy overload ofworkinNewDelhi, because oftherequirements oftheCommittee onBalance-of-
Payments Restrictions andthenegotiation oftheInformation Technology andTelecoms Agreements.
Replies would besenttotheSecretariat within thenexttwoweeks.
Follow uptoreviews heldin1996
11. TheChairperson recalled thatMembers under review undertake toprovide written responses
toquestions posed inreview meetings, totheextent thatoralresponses arenotfeasible during the
meetings themselves. These written responses areissued asaddenda totheminutes ofTrade Policy
Reviews. Heinformed theTPRB thattheSecretariat hadrecently received suchwritten answers from
theUnited States andthatthedocument willbeissued shortly. Answers werestillawaited, however,
fromBrazil andKorea. Henoted thatthepublication versions ofColombia andtheUnited States haveWT/TPR/R/1
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recently beenissued; thus,theonlypublications stilloutstanding fromthe1996series ofreviews were
forBrazil, Canada andElSalvador, which were expected tobepublished byEaster.
12. Onfuture developments regarding publication anddistribution, theChairperson stated thatthe
Secretariat waswelladvanced innegotiations withtwocommercial agencies (Reuters, Financial Times
Information Services) concerning rapid dissemination offullTPRs through theirsubscriber networks.
TheSecretariat wasalsoinvestigating commercial partners forpublications, including ofTPRs, inall
WTO languages. Hewould keepMembers informed ofdevelopments inthese areas.
13. Therepresentative oftheRepublic ofKorea stated thatwritten answers toquestions posed in
thetrade policy review ofKorea hadnowbeensubmitted totheSecretariat.
14. There being noother business, themeeting wasadjourned.WT/TPR/R/1
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ANNEX 1
PLANNED TRADE POLICY REVIEWS FOR 1997
Member Planned review date
Fiji 9-10April
Cyprus 25-26 June
Paraguay 17-18 July
India 24-25 July
Benin mid-September
Chile 23-24 September
South Africa/SACU 29-30 September
Mexico 7-8October
EU 25-26 November
Japan 1-2December
Malaysia 4-5December
Trinidad &Tobago/Jamaica tobedetermined
Hungary tobedetermined
Poland tobedetermined
Nigeria tobedetermined