. /.RESTRICTEDWORLD TRADE
ORGANIZATIONWT/REG91/M/2
9 March 2001
(01-1171)
Committee on Regional Trade Agreements
Twenty-Eighth Session
EXAMINATION OF THE FREE TRADE AGREEMENT
BETWEEN EFTA AND MOROCCO
Note on the Meeting of 22 February 2001
Chairman:  Mr. Jae Gil LEE (Korea)
1. The meeting was convened in document WTO/AIR/1484.  Under Agenda Item D.X. of its
Twenty-Eighth Session, the Committee on Regional Trade Agreements (hereinafter CRTA or the
Committee) took up the second round of examinati on of the Free Trade Agreement (FTA) between
EFTA and Morocco.
2. The Chairman stated that the minutes of the first round of examination, which had taken place
in July the previous year, had been distributed as document WT/REG91/M/1.  Since the last meeting,
the Parties had provided information on the bilateral agricultural arrangements between the EFTA
States and Morocco as an Addendum to the Standard Format, which had been distributed as
document WT/REG91/3/Rev.1/Add.1, as well as replies to questions posed by delegations which had
been distributed in document WT/REG91/4.
3. The representative of Switzerland, speaking on behalf of the EFTA States, said that the
Parties had provided additional information which had been circulated in the two documents
mentioned.  No other questions had been received.  With regard to statistics, the Parties had prepared
additional trade data for the day's meeting which, as requested, were based on trade for 1999, by
HS chapter.  Unfortunately, some differences had been discovered between the global database used
for statistics and the databases used at the nati onal level.  The Parties were investigating these
differences and would submit statistics to the Secretariat as soon as this problem was resolved.  In
response to the representative of the United States' question as to when trade statistics would be
available, he said that he could not give an exact date, but that the Parties would do their best.
4. The representative of Morocco said that after the first review of this Agreement in July last
year, her delegation had distributed replies to de legations' questions in document WT/REG91/4.  This
document covered four topics: the twelve-year peri od for the dismantling of industrial tariffs; the
repercussions of the Agreement on third countries; quantitative restrictions and their justification;  and
the status of the agriculture sector.  He asked that any additional questions be submitted to the
Secretariat in writing and hoped that the Committee would soon be able to conclude its examination
of this Agreement.
5. In relation to the twelve-year transitional period, the representative of Japan said that in the
recent document WT/REG91/4, the Parties had explained that this transitional period was necessary in
order to improve competitiveness and strengthen th e competitive position of the Parties prior to the
establishment of the free-trade area.  His delegation wanted to know if there was any possibility to
extend this transitional period.  Secondly, he wondered if the Parties had provided a written responseto the question on safeguards which had been raised during the previous meeting.  The representative
of Switzerland replied that there was no possibility to extend the twelve-year transitional period.  TheWT/REG91/M/2
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representative of Morocco added that the transitional period was due to the differences in the level of
development of the Parties.  The Moroccan authorities had established a broad and far-reaching
adjustment programme as regards its whole industrial fabric, which required this transitional period in
order to bring about the required adjustment.  The Parties asked that the question on the application of
safeguards be submitted in writing.
6. The Chairman said that the second round of examination had allowed the Committee to
clarify a number of issues, but that some outstan ding questions remained.  He proposed that any
additional questions be submitted to the Secretariat by 23 March and that the Parties respond in
writing by 30 April, so that a further round of examination could be scheduled for the July meeting.
7. The Committee took note of the comments made.
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