. /.WORLD TRADE
ORGANIZATIONG/L/413
14 November 2000
(00-4823)
REPORT (2000) OF THE COMMITTEE ON RULES OF ORIGIN
TO THE COUNCIL FOR TRADE IN GOODS1
1. The Committee on Rules of Origin (CRO) held eight meetings on 16 November 1999, on
28 January, 18 February, 14 April, 23 June, 18 July, 29 September and 3 November 2000
(G/RO/M/26-33).  At its meeting in June the CR O elected Mr. Sándor Simon (Hungary) as Chairman
and Mr. Ho-Young Ahn (Korea) as Vice-Chairman for 2000.  Observer governments in the GeneralCouncil of the WTO have observer status in the CRO.  In addition, representatives of the ACP, EFTA,
IADB, IMF, ITCB, OECD, UNCTAD, WCO and the World Bank were invited to attend meetings of
the CRO in an observer capacity.
2. The Harmonization Work Programme (HWP) for non-preferential rules of origin, set out in
Part IV of the Agreement, was to be completed within three years of its initiation, i.e. by 20 July
1998.  This work could not be completed by then and in July 1998, the CRO agreed to make its best
endeavours to complete it by November 1999.  At its meeting in November 1999, the CRO
considered that very useful work and substantial progress had been made since July 1998.  However,
the remaining work could still not be completed and Members introduced various proposals forcompleting the HWP.  There were differing views amongst Members on whether, the CRO should
make a recommendation on the deadline for completion of the HWP, noting that the Third Ministerial
Meeting would be considering this matter.  One Member proposed that the CRO make a
recommendation on the deadline for completion of the HWP by 31 July 2000.  While Members
agreed that establishing a deadline was useful for completing the work programme, they considered
that a deadline had to be realistic and achievable and that the results of the HWP should be a quality
product.  Without prejudice to the Members' position on the deadline, it was agreed that, in themeantime, the CRO should develop its management plan for completing the remaining work.   The
CRO made a progress report to the Council for Trade in Goods (G/RO/42).  At its meeting in January
2000, the CRO agreed to the Notional Work Programme for 2000 (G/RO/M/27);
3. At its meetings in November 1999, in February, April, June, September and November 2000,
the CRO continued discussion of a deadline for the completion of the work programme on
harmonizing rules of origin (G/RO/M/26, 28-33).  Pursuant to the consultations mandated by the
CRO, the Chairman, at the meeting of the CRO in September 2000, suggested as the new deadline the
Fourth Session of the Ministerial Conference, or at  the latest, the end of 2001.  There was  growing
support for this suggestion and the CRO mandated the Chairman to continue these consultations.  The
CRO, at its meeting in November 2000, took note of the communication of the Chairman of the
General Council to the Chairman of the CRO regarding discussions on implementation in the General
Council Special Session of 18 October 2000 relating to rules of origin issues.  The communication
mentioned that the following elements had emerged which might form a basis on which to deal with
this issue:
- First, to consider as the new deadline the Fourth Session of the Ministerial
Conference, or at the latest the end of 2001, as has been suggested by the Chairmanof the Committee;
                                                     
1 This report covers the period November 1999-November 2000.G/L/413
Page 2
- Second, to urge Members to exercise the political will necessary to expedite the
remaining work on harmonizing non-preferential rules of origin;  and
- Third, to request the Chairman of the Committee to report to the General Council, on
his own responsibility, on the progress of work in the Committee;  the first such reportwould be submitted to the Council at its first regular meeting next year, andsubsequently at each regular meeting until the completion of the work programme.
T
he CRO agreed that informal consultations on this matter would continue, and to revert to
this issue at the December meeting. 
4. Substantial work on the HWP continued on the basis of the notional work programme during
January - November 2000 in the CRO.  The CRO:
- discussed the remaining issues relating to the overall architecture of the harmonized rules of
origin, drawing upon the technical work forwar ded by the TCRO and additional contributions
made by Members.   Consensus has been reached on General Rules 1, 3, 6 and 7;  Definition
1 of Appendix 1;  and Rule 1 of Appendix 2 (G /RO/M/26, 28, 30 and 32).  At the stocktaking
meeting of the CRO in July 2000, there was a recognition of the need for more focused work
on the overall architecture.  Members hoped to make substantial progress in this regard and
that the work on overall architecture could be substantially finished by the end of 2000 or as
soon as possible thereafter (G/RO/M/31);
- at its stocktaking meeting in July 2000, agreed that special attention should be paid to
cross-sectoral issues;  hence informal discussions on the cross-sectoral have been scheduled
for November 2000 (G/RO/M/31 and 32);
- discussed outstanding issues on product-specific rules for chapters 1-24 (agricultural products
and fish), 25-27 (mineral products), 28-40 (chemicals), 41-43 (leather), 44-49 (wood and
paper), 50-63 (textile products), 64-67 (footwear and headgear), 68-70 (stone, glass and
ceramics), 71 (precious stones and metals), 72-73 (iron and steel), 74-80 (non-ferrous metals),
81-82 (articles of metals), 84-90 (machinery) and 92-97 (other articles).  Consensus has been
reached on seven issues (G/RO/M/26, 28, 30 and 32).
5. At its meetings in November 1999 and February, April, June and September 2000, the CRO
included in its agenda the issue "implications of the implementation of the harmonized rules of origin
on other WTO Agreements" (G/ROM/26, 28, 29, 30 and 32).  In November 1999 and February 2000,
substantial discussions took place on this issue on the basis of an additional submission from India
(G/RO/W/42), as well as questions from the Unit ed States to India (G/RO/W/48) and the replies by
India (G/RO/W/50).  The discussions are continuing.
6.. Pursuant to Article 5.1 and paragraph 4 of Annex II of the Agreement, all Members are
required to notify their rules of origin, judicial decisions and administrative rulings of general
application relating to rules of origin.  To date, 72 Members have made notifications relating to
non-preferential rules of origin and 75 Members have made notifications relating to preferential rulesof origin.
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