. /.WORLD TRADE
ORGANIZATIONG/L/271
9 November 1998
(98-4403)
REPORT (1998) OF THE COMMITTEE ON RULES OF ORIGIN
1. The Committee on Rules of Origin (CRO) held  eight meetings between 2-6 February, 16-27
March, 27 April – 1 May, 25-29 May, on 19 June, 1 and 6 July, 15 October and 5 November 1998
(G/RO/M/13-20).  At its meeting in March the Committee elected Mr. Ric Wells (Australia) as
Chairman and Mr. Rossman Ithnain (Singapore) as Vice-Chairman for 1998. Observer governments
in the General Council of the WTO have observer status in the Committee.  In addition,
representatives of the ACP, EFTA, IADB, IMF,  ITCB, OECD, UNCTAD, WCO and the World Bank
attend meetings of the Committee in an observer capacity.
2. In connection with the Harmonization Work Programme (HWP) for non-preferential rules of
origin, as set out in Part IV of the Agreement, the CRO:
- reviewed four Reports from the Technical Committee on Rules of Origin (the TCRO) to the
CRO (G/RO/19, 22, 23 and 27);
- conducted formal, informal, plurilateral and bilateral negotiations on unresolved issues
concerning chapters 1-24 (agricultural products), 50-63 (textile products);
- endorsed about 1,600 of the product-specific rules which had been referred to the CRO from
the TCRO, keeping in mind, however, that in accordance with Article 9.3(b) of the
Agreement, the Committee should finally consider the results of the Harmonization WorkProgramme in terms of their overall coherence (see G/RO/W/22/Rev.4);
- at the meeting in May, came to the conclusion that, due to the complexity of issues, the work
could not be completed within the three-year period foreseen in Article 9.2(a) of the
Agreement.  The Council for Trade in Goods and the General Council, in July, approved the
recommendations of the CRO that it, in cooperation with the TCRO, should continue the
work identified in Articles 9.2(c) and 9.3 of the Agreement;  that Members commit
themselves to make their best endeavour to complete the HWP by November 1999; that theTCRO shall submit the final result of its work  to the CRO by the end of May 1999 for final
consideration by the CRO;  and that in June 19 99 the CRO shall review the status of the HWP
and make a recommendation on a deadline for completing that work;
- as concerns the issue “implications of the implementation of the harmonized rules of origin
on other WTO Agreements”,  considered submissions from the Dominican Republic and Honduras
(G/RO/W/33), El Salvador (G/RO/W/34), India (G/RO/W/28/Rev.1, G/RO/W/30),  Korea
(G/ROW/28) and the United States (G/RO/W/32).
3. At the request of  the Chairman of the Council for Trade in Goods (CTG), the Committee
included the matter of "trade facilitation" in its agenda.  Noting that certain provisions of the
Agreement on Rules of Origin covered some customs practices which were linked to trade facilitation,the CRO discussed the implementation of Article 2(h) and paragraph 3(d) of Annex II of the
Agreement.  The Secretariat has circulated information provided by 33 Members in this context in
documents G/RO/W/26 and G/RO/W/26/Add.1.  The Committee will continue discussions on this
matter with a view to sending a report to the CTG by March 1999.G/L/271
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4. 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, 68 Members have made notifications relating to
non-preferential rules of origin and 71 Members have made notifications relating to preferential rules
of origin.    
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