RESTRICTEDWORLD TRADE
ORGANIZATIONWT/REG/M/28
8 March 2001
(01-1128)
Committee on Regional Trade Agreements
Twenty-Eighth Session
NOTE ON THE MEETING OF 22 FEBRUARY 2001
Chairpersons:  Mr. E. T. Custodio (Philippines)
and Mrs. L. Dubois-Destrizais (France)
A. A DOPTION OF THE AGENDA
1. The Twenty-Eighth Session of the Committee on Regional Trade Agreements (CRTA) was
convened in Airgram WTO/ AIR/1484, dated 7 February 2001.
2. The representative of the United States indicated that, under "Other Business", her delegation
would raise an issue relating to the possibility of having a provisional annotated agenda circulated a
month in advance of  meetings of the CRTA.  The Chairman said that the Chair would be making
some announcements concerning the schedule of Committee's meetings under "Other Business".
3. The representative of the United States stated her delegation's concern that some of
documents had not been circulated with adequate notice for that meeting.  While she did not object to
the adoption of the agenda, she had concerns about finishing up some of the items on which
documents had been circulated very late.
4. The following Agenda was adopted:
A. Adoption of the Agenda
B. Work Programme
C. Reporting on the Operation of Agreements
D. Examination of Regional Trade Agreements
I. Customs Union between the Kyrgyz Republic, the Russian Federation,
Belarus, Kazakhstan and Tajikistan
II. Free Trade Agreement between the Kyrgyz Republic and the Russian
Federation
III. Free Trade Agreement between the Kyrgyz Republic and Ukraine
IV. Free Trade Agreement between the Kyrgyz Republic and Uzbekistan
V. Free Trade Agreement between the Kyrgyz Republic and Moldova
VI. Free Trade Agreement between the Kyrgyz Republic and Kazakhstan
VII. Free Trade Agreement between Azerbaijan, Armenia, Belarus, Georgia,
Moldova, Kazakhstan, the Russian Federation, Ukraine, Uzbekistan,
Tajikistan, and the Kyrgyz Republic
VIII. Free Trade Agreement between Estonia and Ukraine
IX. Euro-Mediterranean Agreement between the European Communities and
Tunisia
X. Free Trade Agreement between EFTA and Morocco
XI. Free Trade Agreement between Hungary and Lithuania 
XII. Free Trade Agreement between Hungary and Latvia
X. Free Trade Agreement between Poland and Latvia
E. Election of OfficersF. Other BusinessWT/REG/M/28
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5. The Chairman recalled that the Latin American Integration Association (LAIA) had been
granted observer status to the CRTA on an ad hoc  basis and sought confirmation to extend an
invitation to LAIA to attend the Committee's next meeting.  This  was agreed.
B. WORK PROGRAMME
6. The Chairman said that this item had been placed in the Agenda with the purpose of giving an
opportunity to discuss the scope and direction of the Committee's work in 2001.  In his view, it
during 2001 it could be expected that the Committee would concentrate on finalizing the draft reports
on the examination of RTAs.  The Committee could not have a robust work programme until that
question was addressed satisfactorily, and it had already instructions from the General Council to deal
with it and report back by May on progress made.  Other items in the Committee's work programmewould be the systemic discussions on the basis of horizontal studies being prepared by the Secretariat
as well as the examination of individual RTAs.  The incoming Chairperson would later on be
discussing with the Committee its work  programme for the following weeks.
7. A representative of the Secretariat   indicated that he had spoken to the incoming Chairperson
regarding the Committee's work programme until the General Council meeting in May.  She had
indicated to him that she would work out a programme for consultations which would be proposed to
the Committee in the coming weeks.
8. Reporting on the recent CRTA informal meeting, the Chairman said that finalization of a few
examination reports which were in an advanced stage of drafting was considered a priority task.  In
order to accelerate the process, it had been suggested that draft reports be dealt first within smallgroups of interested delegations; delegations which were interested in the evolution of the drafts but
that could not be present at those groups could give instructions to other Members to present their
comments on their behalf.  Five draft reports were in an advanced stage and it was his hope that the
incoming Chairperson could work out a process where they could be finalized in a short time.  That
would enable the Committee to start considering other draft reports and eventually, to eliminate itswell-known and increasing backlog.  He also noted that on systemic issues the Committee would wait
for the release of the Secretariat's studies on coverage and rules of origin in RTAs, which would be
distributed in advance of the Committee's July meeting.
9. The representative of Hong Kong, China, emphasized the importance which his delegation
attached to the horizontal studies as a means to enhancing understanding of the impact of RTAs on the
multilateral trading system.  The importance of the Committee's systemic work had been underlined at
the last two meetings of the General Council.  Given that at the last Committee's meeting held in
October 2000 it had been said that the study on coverage might be released in January 2001, he
wondered whether that particular study could not be released earlier than June.
10. The representative of the Secretariat noted that the finalization of the draft reports on
examination and the studies on horizontal issue were very much linked, and recalled Members of the
staff resource constraints.  Work had progressed on the study on coverage and some background workhad been done concerning rules of origin.  He doubted that any study could be released by April or
May; if the studies were to be circulated one month in advance of the meeting that would mean that
they would have to be available by early June; this represented a very short time-frame given the
constraints on the Division and the amount of work su ch studies required.  One of the problems being
faced related to the mass of data available in the Secretariat and whether that was of use for thestudies to be prepared.  Unless any Member objected to it, the Secretariat planned to use in the
coverage study data available through the Trade Policy Review Mechanism (TPRM), in line with
paragraph 6 of the 1999 Appraisal of the operation of the TPRM, which read "To avoid duplication,
and, where relevant, upon authorization by the Member  concerned, there should be a two-way flow ofWT/REG/M/28
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information between the Trade Policies Review Division (TPRD) and other parts of the WTO
Secretariat, including the Integrated Database…".1  The Integrated Database was potentially another
source of information, subject to Members' authoriz ation, for looking at the trade coverage of RTAs.
He hoped that Members would not have difficulties on the use of those two sources for the study on
coverage.  While he was not in a position to confirm that the studies in full would be ready in earlyJune, he assured that a foretaste of them would be available by that time.
11. The representative of the United States indicated that her delegation was delighted to see that
other resources available in the Secretariat were being used to promote efficiency of the Division's
work.  She clarified that the proposal she would be presenting later did not involve having documents
ready a month before the Committee's meeting but rather having a provisional annotated agenda
circulated within that time-frame, with documents being circulated within the required advance of
10 calendar days.  She also noted that documents such as the study would not get the appropriateconsideration unless circulated early.
12. The representative of the Secretariat thanked the delegate for the clarification just made and
reaffirmed that the studies would be circulated as early as possible before the meeting so that useful
comments could be made.
13. The representative of Hungary expressed his full support for the Chairman's remarks on the
Committee's work programme for 2001.
14. The Chairman thanked delegations for their support and encouraged those having strong
interest in the draft reports to participate in the small groups.  Few points had to be ironed out in some
of the draft reports so to allow for informal a nd subsequently formal agreement.  Regarding the
studies, he noted that the Secretariat was making strong efforts to release them in time for theirsubstantive consideration at the July meeting.
C. R
EPORTING ON THE OPERATION OF AGREEMENTS
15. The Chairman started by recalling that in the 1999 Schedule for the Submission of Biennial
Reports, reports were expected for 24 customs unions and free-trade agreements.  Twenty of these
reports had been received and reviewed by the Committee;  an additional report - that of the Australia-
New Zealand CER Agreement, circulated in docu ment WT/REG/R/B/111 - had been received but not
yet addressed;  and three biennial reports were still missing - those for the Australia-
Papua New Guinea (PATCRA), EC-Norway, and Unite d States-Israel agreements.  He proposed that
consideration of the 1999 Australia-New Zealand CER report be deferred to the Committee's meeting
in Autumn and that any questions related to it be submitted in writing to the Secretariat by end-March,
to allow Parties to respond by 31 May.  Referring to the Calendar for the Submission of BiennialReports for 2001, circulated by the Secretariat in document WT/REG/W/42, he noted that all RTAs
for which reports were due in 1999 were included, with the exception of three agreements which had
been superseded by more recent ones and which were currently under examination within the
Committee.  He emphasized that all biennial reports should be submitted to the Secretariat by 31 July,
so that the relevant documents could be distributed in time for discussion of the biennial reportsduring the autumn Session.  Finally, he observed that if any breakthrough was achieved in the draft
reports on the examination of RTAs, there might be a need to revisit the Committee's procedures
regarding the timing of the first submission of biennial reports following the adoption of the
examination report.
16. The representative of the European Communities noted that the Uruguay Round had revived
the requirement to submit biennial reports, which had fallen into disuse because not all GATT
                                                     
1 Document WT/MIN(99)/2.WT/REG/M/28
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contracting parties respected it.  The provision of biennial reports was a useful exercise that enabled
the Committee to keep track of factual developments affecting RTAs.  Despite the considerable
amount of work imposed on the EC in preparing the 13 biennial reports submitted in 1999, his
delegation was ready to reconvene the exercise during 2001.  While acknowledging that the
1999 report on EC-Norway was still missing, and would be submitted soon, he stressed that for theexercise to continue of value for the Membership as a whole, the obligation had to be respected by
everybody.  He noted with pleasure that the report on the Australia-New Zealand CER had been
received. He looked forward to the submission of the other two reports still missing.
17. Associating his delegation to the comments made by the EC, the representative of Australia
stated that his delegation considered the biennial reports very valuable, as they gave Members an
opportunity to monitor developments and to discuss issues of importance.  He indicated that the
PATCRA report was under preparation and once the input from the Government of Papua NewGuinea was received it would be submitted to the WTO.
18. Also underlining the importance of the exercise, the representative of Japan noted that the
prolonged examination process resulted in the info rmation on some of the RTAs being outdated and
urged the Committee to improve that situation.
19. The Chairman, summing up, stated that the Committee still attached importance to the
submission of biennial reports.  He hoped that the Committee could resume the process on a more
serious basis in the future and invited delegations to submit the required reports in time for the autumn
meeting.
D. EXAMINATION OF REGIONAL TRADE AGREEMENTS
20.  (The minutes of the examination of the Agreements listed under agenda items D.I-XIII are
being distributed as separate documents.)
E. ELECTION OF OFFICERS
21. The Chairman said that it had been a challenging and pleasant task to chair the Committee,
and hoped that in 2001 the CRTA could come closer to a resolution of major issues confronting it.  He
expressed his deepest appreciation to the Secretariat for its valuable support without which he would
have not been able to exercise his chairmanship.  He was also very grateful to the dedication and hard
work of his Vice-Chairpersons, Ambassador Seifert who had left the Committee last year, Dr. Notis
and Ambassador Jaegil Lee, who had taken most of the load particularly on the examination of
individual RTAs, which were coming in great nu mbers to the Committee.  He hoped that the same
persistence and dedication would be forthcoming to support the incoming Chairperson.  He proposedthe election of Mrs. Laurence Dubois-Destrizais, Permanent Representative of France to the WTO, as
Chairperson of the CRTA.
22. The Committee elected Mrs. Laurence Dubois-Destrizais as Chairperson of the CRTA by
acclamation.
23. The new Chairperson thanked Ambassador Custodio for the work he had done and the
Committee for the confidence it had placed on her.  The Committee was rather unique and
challenging because while the absence of progress would not be surprising, a positive achievement
would come as a surprise.  She thought it was promising that the present Session of the Committee
has been completed in one day.  The Committee could count on her to hear delegations' views and
hold all consultations needed.  While all Members were respectful of procedures, it was alsoimportant to agree on what needed to be accomplished with regard to substance, and she had notedWT/REG/M/28
Page 5
that many delegations had expressed their wish to speed up work by means of informal meetings.  She
though that with the support of the Development Di vision as well as the Vice-Chairpersons of the
Committee, good work could be done under her period of presidency.  In that respect, she announced
that Ambassador Jaegil Lee would be leaving hi s post of Vice-Chairman and that she would be
conducting consultations to ensure reasonable balance with respect to the Officers of the Committee.
24. The representative of United States;  Hong Kong, China;  India;  Malaysia, on behalf of
ASEAN countries;  Japan;  European Communities;  Australia;  Canada;  Uruguay, also on behalf of
MERCOSUR countries welcomed the incoming Chairper son and said they looked forward to working
with her in the next year.
25. The representative of Hong Kong, China thanke d the outgoing Chair for having taken his task
most seriously and having shared the situation in the Committee with a wider membership, which had
generated very useful debate.  He hoped that the momentum gained in the past months would continueso that the Committee's mandate could be fulfilled in 2001.  He also thanked the Secretariat for the
support provided to the Chairman and all the documents it had prepared in the last months.
26. The representative of India expressed his delegation's appreciation for the work put in by the
outgoing Chairman during the last year in pressing the Committee to progress further.  Unfortunately,
those efforts had not succeeded to the extent he would have wished but everyone realized that was along and arduous process; the baton had now been  handed over to the incoming Chairperson.
Thanking the Vice-Chairmen and the Secretariat for the work done in the last year, he noted that
unreasonable demands were made on the Secretariat personnel and often at very short notice but
despite that they had always been up to the challenge and provided the requested services to the
Members.  He hoped that the Ambassador of the Philippines would join the CRTA delegates and helpthe Committee to progress further in the coming year.
27. The representative of Malaysia, speaking on behalf of the ASEAN countries, thanked the
outgoing Chairman for his Chairmanship of the Committee and said that ASEAN countries were
proud of the work he had done.  She thanked the Vice-Chairmen for their very able chairing of the
examinations of RTAs.
28. The representative of Hungary thanked the outgo ing Chairman for having tried to solve the
impossible almost successfully.  He believed the Committee had taken some steps forward in
narrowing differences although this might not yet be visible.  His delegation was convinced that the
consultations that the Chairperson would organize soon would be more successful than in the past.
The issue being discussed was widely important not only to the Committee but also to the whole
trading system, amounting in the end to the re levance of the WTO.  He also thanked the
Vice-Chairmen for the work done during the past year.
29. The representative of Japan expressed his delegation's sincere appreciation for the extreme
efforts done by the outgoing Chairman, thanks to which a certain degree of progress had been made.
The representative of the European Communities thanked the outgoing Chairman for the work done
during the past year.  He thought that the task of the Committee was achievable and assured the
Chairperson of their support in fulfilling her task.  The representative of Australia thanked the
outgoing Chairman for his work in leading the CRTA ship through turbulent waters.  He also thanked
the Secretariat for its hard work on the deck.  The representative of Canada thanked the outgoing
Chairman and the Vice-Chairmen for the hard work  and enthusiasm shown in taking the job during
the past year and also the Secretariat for all the documents prepared.  The representative of Uruguay,
speaking on behalf of the MERCOSUR member States, thanked the outgoing Chairman for his work
in trying to push forward the Committee and also  the Vice-Chairmen for their work done in 2000.WT/REG/M/28
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F. OTHER BUSINESS
30. The representative of the United States proposed that the Committee circulate a provisional
annotated agenda, similar to the practice in the Anti-Dumping and the Subsidies Committees.  That
provisional agenda would include the list of items likely to be considered, with relevant annotations,
and would be circulated 30 days before the meeting.   This would help delegations to do a betterplanning and assist the process to move forward.  The annotations would be of a procedural nature
with indications, for example with respect to RTAs, which round of review was it going to be, where
minutes could be found, what documents could be expected.  Noting that that would help planning
both in Geneva and in capitals, the representatives of Hungary, Japan, Australia, Canada, Uruguay,
speaking also on behalf of MERCOSUR countries supported the proposal.  The representative of
Canada requested that annotations also indicated whether the RTA covered goods and/or services.
31. Noting that the United States proposal had been supported by many delegations, the
Chairperson requested the Secretariat to carry it out. Secretariat.  She proposed to bring forward the
dates of the Committee's Autumn Session from 22-23 October to 27-28 September, so as to enable theCommittee to finalize its Annual Report in good time  for the last General Council meeting before the
Ministerial Conference.  She noted that the Chairman of the General Council would hold
consultations with respect to the coordination of the Committee's work with that of theGeneral Council, particularly in the light of the discussions that had been carried at the last meeting of
that body.
32.  The Committee took note of the comments made.
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