. /.WORLD TRADE
ORGANIZATIONG/L/280
25 November 1998
(98-4724)
REPORT (1998) OF THE COMMITTEE OF PARTICIPANTS ON THE EXPANSION
OF TRADE IN INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY PRODUCTS
1. The Committee of Participants on the Expansion of Trade in Information Technology Products,
hereinafter referred to as the Committee, was established pursuant to the provisions of the MinisterialDeclaration on Trade in Information Technology Products  (WT/MIN(96)/16), hereafter referred to as the
Ministerial Declaration, and the Im plementation of the Ministerial D eclaration on Trade in Information
Technology Products (G/L/160), in order to carry out th e provisions of paragraphs 3, 5, 6 and 7 of the
Annex to the Declaration.
2. The Committee has held ten formal meetings in 1998:  on 12 February, 25 March, 27 March,
23 April, 4 June, 26 June, 30 June, 17 July, 23 October, and 20 November.  The minutes of thesemeetings are contained in documents G/IT/M/4 to G/IT/M/13.  Mr. M. Harvey (New Zealand) was
elected Chairman of the Committee.
3. Membership in the Committee is open to representatives of all participants.  The Committee's
rules of procedure provide for observer status in the Committee to WTO Members which are notparticipants to the Ministerial Declaration and Governments that are observers to the Council for Trade inGoods.  Furthermore, requests for observer status by international intergovernmental organizations wouldbe considered on a case-by-case basis.  Currently, the Organization for Economic Cooperation andDevelopment (OECD) has been granted observer status, and the World Customs Organization (WCO) hasbeen granted observer status to meetings where the issues of HS classificati on and HS amendments are
included in the agenda.
4. The Committee's work during the year focused on the Review of Product Coverage as envisioned
under paragraph 3 of the Annex to the Ministerial D eclaration (WT/MIN(96)/16), and paragraph 7 and the
Annex of the Implementation of the Ministerial Declaration on Trade in Information Technology Products("Implementation of the Ministerial Declaration") (G/L/160).  According to the procedures for the Review,
participants were invited to submit lists of additional information technology products for possibleadditional tariff concessions.  Fourteen such submissions (G/IT/SPEC/1-14) were made, and upon which aconsolidated list (G/IT/SPEC/15) was produced and circulated to participants as well.  These submissionsserved as the basis for the ongoing negotiations throughout the year, however they were further revised andclarified as the negotiations continued. The document on Implementation of the Ministerial Declarationprovided that no later than 30 June 1998, the Committee should meet to decide whether to revise
Attachment A or B to the Annex to the Ministerial Declaration.  On 30 June 1998, the Committee met anddecided to extend the negotiations until July.  Furthermore on 17 July, the Committee agreed to again
prolong the negotiations and that the Chairman would undertake to consult with participants by the end of
September in order to assess the situation with respect to the ongoing negotiations.  His consultations
indicated that participants were still discussing some of the difficult outstanding issues and he believedthese discussions should continue.  On 23 October th e Committee met to further assess the situation and
the Chairman proposed that the Committee r econvene in the week of 16-20 November in
 order to
conclude the process.  On 20 November the Committee met again whereby participants considered aG/L/280
Page 2
"Proposal" put forth by a number of participants.  It was decided that delegations should have more
time to consider the proposal and that time was also needed to address extended staging issues.  The
Committee agreed to the Chairman's suggestion to submit tables of extended staging by 4 December,
and to convene a meeting on 11 December to take a decision on the proposal and the Review.
5. During the year, the Committee has also consistently reviewed the status of implementation, a
summary of which is provided in document G/IT/1 and its revisions.  It was noted that mostparticipants had submitted the formal documentation for rectification and modification of their WTOschedules in order to incorporate the commitments arising from the Ministerial Declaration, while afew were still awaiting the completion of domestic procedural requirements.
6. Pursuant to the provisions of the Ministerial Declaration, the Committee also addressed
divergences in classifying information technology products.  Early in the year much progress wasmade in clarifying these divergences especially as they related to semiconductor manufacturing andtesting equipment.  While agr eeing that the work should conti nue on this issue, the Committee
concentrated on the Review of Product Coverage for the latter part of the year, and therefore agreedthat it would revert back to this important aspect of the Committees' work after the Review was
complete.
7. The Committee noted that paragraph 3 of the Annex to the Ministerial Declaration equally
required the Committee to consult on non-tariff barriers during the course of its work.  Accordingly,the Committee consulted on non-tariff barriers and as a result of these discussions a number of
participants expressed an interest in further discussing standards-related matters and import licensingpractices, specifically as they related to information technology products. The Committee agreed to
conduct a survey on standards-related matters (G/IT/4).  The deadline for replies was 15 April 1998,
and at present, there have been 22 formal replies.
8. During the year, the Committee took note of the interest expressed by China, Latvia,
Kyrgyz Republic, Mauritius, and Panama to become participants to the Ministerial Declaration.  Ofthe draft schedules of commitments submitted, only the schedule of Panama was formally approved,and Panama became the forty-fourth participant to the Ministerial Declaration.
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