RESTRICTED
WORLD TRADE WT/GC/W/75
3February 1998
ORGANIZATION(98-0388)
General Council
NOTIFICATION OBLIGATIONS AND PROCEDURES
Communication from theChairman
InNovember1996,theCouncilforTradeinGoods,havingconsideredthereportoftheWorking
GrouponNotificationObligationsandProceduresandtherecommendationscontainedtherein(G/L/112),
hadmade thefollowing recommendations totheGeneral Council:
"(a) TheCouncil requests theGeneral Council totakethenecessary stepstoeliminate the
notificationobligationsintheDecisionsoftheGATT1947CONTRACTINGPARTIESrelating
toimport licensing procedures (L/3756 andSR/28/6).
"(b) TheCouncil requests theMinisterial Conference ortheGeneral Council toconsider
theestablishment, atanappropriate time, ofabody withamandate toreview thenotification
obligations andprocedures throughout theWTO Agreement. Alternatively, consideration might
begiven totheestablishment ofabody, ortheextension/modification ofthemandate ofthe
current Working Group, toconduct, atanappropriate time, afurther comprehensive review
ofthenotification obligations andprocedures intheagreements inAnnex 1AoftheWTO
Agreement. Itwassuggested thatfuture work alsoencompass matters relating totheCentral
Registry ofNotifications, electronic transmission ofnotifications andfurther work onthe
notifications handbook" (G/L/134, Section II).
Atitsmeeting on7,8and13November 1996, theGeneral Council approved the
recommendations oftheCouncil forTrade inGoods andagreed torevert tothismatter atafuture
meeting (WT/GC/M/16, item8(c)(ii)).
With regard totheGoods Council 'srecommendation in(b)above, theformer Chairman of
theWorking Group hashadinformal discussions withsome delegations attherequest oftheGeneral
Council Chairman todetermine thegeneral views onthenature ofthefuture work tobeundertaken
inthisarea,andthescope ofthatfuture work. Onthebasisofthediscussions thathehashad,itwould
appear thatdelegations require some more timeforreflection onthismatter. Onthebasis ofthis,
itseems tomethatnofirmaction canbeconsidered atthisstage. Iwould therefore wishtopropose
thatMembers agree thatthismatter bekeptunder review andreverted toatafuture dateasappropriate.
With regard totherecommendation in(a)above regarding steps tobetaken toeliminate the
notification obligations relating toimport licensing procedures inaDecision oftheCONTRACTING
PARTIES totheGATT 1947, itisproposed thatthedraftdecision contained intheAnnex beadopted
bytheGeneral Council.
./.WT/GC/W/75
Page2
ANNEX
TERMINATION OFTHE DECISION OFTHE CONTRACTING PARTIES TOTHE
GATT 1947 RELATING TOIMPORT LICENSING PROCEDURES
Draft Decision
TheGeneral Council,
Noting thattheCouncil forTrade inGoods, atitsmeeting on15October 1996(G/C/M/14), hadagreed
torequest theGeneral Council totakethenecessary steps toeliminate thenotification obligations in
theDecisions oftheGATT 1947CONTRACTING PARTIES relating toimport licensing procedures
(L/3756 andSR.28/6);
Decides asfollows:
Thenotification obligations resulting from theDecision oftheCONTRACTING PARTIES tothe
GATT 1947 taken attheirtwenty-eighth Session inNovember 1972 (SR.28/6, item3)toadopt the
report oftheCommittee onTrade inIndustrial Products, including theCommittee 'sproposal regarding
notification obligations onlicensing systems (L/3756, paragraph 761),arehereby eliminated.
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1Theparagraph reads asfollows: "Inaddition, it[theCommittee onTrade inIndustrial Products] proposes totheCouncil
thatcontracting parties should notify changes oflicensing systems atthesame timeasnotifications aremade onimport
restrictions, i.e.30September ofeach year."