RESTRICTED
WORLD TRADE G/MA/SPEC/31
23July1996
ORGANIZATION(96-2913)
Committee onMarket Access Original: English
DRAFT
REPORT OFTHE MARKET ACCESS COMMITTEE
TOTHE COUNCIL FOR TRADE INGOODS
Section A-Background
1. TheCommittee onMarket Access, established under Article IV,paragraph 7oftheWTO
Agreement bytheGeneral Council atitsmeeting of30January 1995. Itsmandate (WT/L/47) covers
market issues related totariffs andnon-tariff measures notcovered byanyother WTO body, aswell
asmatters related totheIntegrated DataBase.
2. Mr.JeanSaint-Jacques (Canada) hasbeenelected Chairman, andMrs. Marie Gosset (Côte
d'Ivoire), Vice-Chairperson oftheCommittee. Their mandates wererenewed for1996. Participation
inthemeetings oftheCommittee areopentoallWTO Members, toGovernments granted observer
status bytheGeneral Council andtothefollowing international organizations: FAO, IMF, ITCB,
UNCTAD, WCO andtheWorld Bank.
3. TheRules ofProcedure fortheCommittee (based ontheRules ofProcedure adopted bythe
Council forTrade inGoods andapproved bytheGeneral Council on31July1995) wereadopted by
theCTG on1December 1995 (WT/L/79).
1English only.G/MA/SPEC/3
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4. TheCommittee heldfourformal meetings eachin1995 andin1996 aswellasanumber of
informal meetings.
Section B-Status report oftheCommittee 'swork
Tariff Matters
Implementation oftheUruguay Round results
Theimplementation oftariff reductions ofconcessions contained intheWTO Schedules on
Goods began on1January 1995 and,according totheprovisions oftheMarrakesh Protocol, willbe
spread oversixstages foragricultural products andfivestages forother products, unless special
provisions areindicated intheschedules. On1January 1996, thesecond stageofreduction tookplace.
There isnospecial notification procedure fortheimplementation ofthose tariff reductions. The
Committee onMarket Access agreed thatifproblems ariseinthisrespect, itwould relyonreverse
notifications.
Implementation ofHarmonized System 1996 changes
5. TheHarmonized Commodity Description andCoding System (Harmonized System) which
isimplemented bytheWorld Customs Organization (WCO) isthecustoms nomenclature usedby
practically allWTO Members fortheirschedules oftariffconcessions. Special procedures havebeen
establishedfortheintroductionofchangestotheHarmonizedSystemintoWTOschedulesofconcessions.
In1995, theWCO agreed toimplement changes to600HStariff positions, toenter intoeffect on
1January 1996. These changes affect bound schedules oftariffconcessions ofalargenumber ofWTO
Members, which havehadtoimplement, inkeeping withtheirWCO obligations, theHS96 changes
intheircustoms nomenclature on1January 1996, without having beenabletocarry outprocedures
related totheimplementation ofthose changes fortheirWTO schedules. These Members hadtorequest
awaiver, inaccordance withArticle IXoftheWTO Agreement, fromtheirobligations under Article IIG/MA/SPEC/3
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ofGATT 1994. Atitsmeeting of13December 1996theGeneral Council approved aDecision granting
awaiver onacollective basisuntil30June1996to33Members, allowing themtoimplement theHS96
changes on1January ofthisyearandtocarry outthenecessary procedures subsequently.
6. ByJune1996, 19Members hadsubmitted thenecessary documentation inconnection with
theintroduction oftheHS96 changes andreservations hadbeenmade byother Members withregard
tomostofthesubmissions. Anextension ofthewaiver appeared therefore necessary. Atthemeeting
oftheCommittee onMarket Access on13June1996theChairman proposed that-forpractical reasons
andbecausetherewasnotalwaysameetingoftheGeneralCouncilinDecember-theperiodforextension
ofwaivers ingeneral, which wasusually sixmonths -fromJanuary toJuneandfromJulytoDecember-,
should bechanged fromMaytoOctober andfrom November toApril ofeachyear. TheCommittee
approved thisproposal andagreed that,inorder tobridge thegapbetween thecurrent situation and
thenewproposal, anyextension ofwaivers should beto30April 1997. Itwasthendecided to
recommend thatthewaiver granted onacollective basisbeexceptionally extended until30April 1997
forallMembers thatindividually requested anextension ortobenewly covered bythewaiver. The
complete required documentation willhave tobesubmitted bytheMembers concerned by
30September 1996 atthelatest. Thedraftdecisions related totheextension ofthewaivers were
approved bytheCouncil forTrade inGoods atitsmeeting of5July1996andadopted bytheGeneral
Council atitsmeeting of18July1996.
Waivers granted inconnection withtheintroduction oftheHarmonized System
7. TheCommittee examined thesituation related tothetransposition andrenegotiation ofschedules
ofcertainMemberswhichdecidedtoadopttheHarmonizedSystemintheyearsfollowingitsintroduction
on1January 1988. These Members wererequested toprovide every sixmonths factual information
inrelation totheirrequests forextension ofthewaivers; theinformation isreproduced asanAnnex
tothesemi-annual reports oftheCommittee totheCouncil forTrade inGoods (document G/MA/4).G/MA/SPEC/3
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While anumber ofMembers havebeenabletocomplete thistransposition inrecent years, 11Members
haverequested anextension ofthewaiver until30April 1997. These extensions wereapproved by
theGeneral Council on18July1996. Inaddition, technical assistance isbeing provided tosome
Memberstoassistinthetranspositionoftheirpre-UruguayRoundschedulesintotheHarmonizedSystem.
Establishment ofconsolidated schedules inaloose-leaf format
8. During thepasttwoyears, theCommittee examined various issues related totheestablishment
ofconsolidated loose-leaf schedules. Theissues concern particularly: thelegalimplications ofthe
establishment ofsuchschedules andtheircontent (e.g.thecoverage ofunbound items; thetreatment
ofadvalorem ,specific andmixed duties; thestages ofimplementation; other duties andcharges
(ODCs)); thereflection ofagriculture commitments; andtheindication ofInitial Negotiating Rights.
Atitsmeeting of22November 1995, theCommittee agreed totheestablishment ofconsolidated loose-
leafschedules onthebasis ofproposals bytheChairman. Thequestion ofverification, however,
remainstobesolved.SeveralMembersraisedthepossibilityofcreatingacomputer-assistedverification
oftheschedules. TheChairman isholding informal consultations withaviewtosolving theproblem.
Non-tariff Matters
Notifications ofquantitative restrictions
9. ADecision onNotification Procedures forQuantitative Restrictions (G/L/59) wasadopted by
theCouncil forTrade inGoods on1December 1995. Inaccordance withthisDecision, Members
weretosubmit totheSecretariat by31January 1996complete notifications ontheQRstheymaintained.
Thesituation withregard tothose notifications isfarfrom satisfactory asonly13Members have
submitted theirnotifications.G/MA/SPEC/3
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Reverse notification ofnon-tariff measures
10. Atitsmeeting inDecember 1995, theCouncil forTrade inGoods alsoadopted adecision related
tothereverse notification ofnon-tariff measures. Nosubmission hasbeenreceived uptonow.
Integrated Data Base
11. InOctober 1995, theCommittee examined several issues concerning thefuture oftheIntegrated
DataBaseandagreed thatMembers should make every effort toprovide thenecessary tradeandtariff
datainorder toestablish areliable database. However, todateveryfewcountries havesubmitted
therequired information. TheCommittee alsoagreed that(1)theSecretariat prepare asimplified
format fortheIDBdatasubmissions anddevelop PCapplications forthepreparation ofdataincapitals;
(2)theSecretariat undertake astudy onthe"downsizing" oftheIDBfrom amainframe toaPC
environment; (3)theIDBbemade operational withbasic information ontariffs andimports before
broadening itsscope toinclude non-tariff measures andother tapes ofrestrictions; and(4)access to
theIDBcould begiven tointernational organizations. Since then, theSecretariat hasprepared and
circulated simplified formats forthesubmission andaPCsoftware forthepreparation ofdataincapitals.
Astudy onthe"downsizing" oftheIDBfrom amainframe toaPCenvironment willbeinitiated in
September 1996.
Future work oftheCommittee
Over thenextfewmonths, theactivities oftheCommittee willbefocusing onthefollowing
issues:
- continuethesupervisionoftheimplementationofconcessionsrelatingtoURtariffsandnon-tariff
measures;G/MA/SPEC/3
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- implementation ofHS96 changes intariff schedules;
- review ofArticle XXVIII procedures ofrenegotiations;
- establishment ofconsolidated schedules oftariff concessions inaloose-leaf format.
C. Recommendations