RESTRICTEDWORLD TRADE
ORGANIZATIONWT/GC/M/83
17 November 2003
(03-6154)
General Council
21 October 2003
MINUTES OF MEETING
Held in the Centre William Rappard
on 21 October 2003
Chairman:  Mr. Carlos Pérez del Castillo (Uruguay)
Prior to the adoption of the Agenda for this meeting, the representative of Benin made a
statement regarding Item 2 of the Proposed Agenda (circulated in WT/GC/W/517) entitled "Povertyreduction – Sectoral initiative in favour of cotton", indicating that the four co-sponsors of this
initiative (Benin, Burkina Faso, Chad and Mali) agreed, in a spirit of flexibility and compromise, that
the General Council Chairman continue, in close cooperation with the different parties concerned, the
consultations he had initiated on this matter, and that this item therefore not be taken up at the present
meeting.  Accordingly, the item was removed from the Agenda.  In the light of the progress made inthe examination of this issue, the four countrie s co-sponsoring the sectoral initiative in favour of
cotton reserved the right to request, if necessary, that this sectoral initiative be included on the agenda
and examined in the next meeting of the General Council and other relevant WTO bodies.  The full
text of the statement by Benin was subsequently circulated as document WT/GC/74.
Subjects discussed: Page
1. Iran – Request for Accession ..................................................................................................2
2. Work Programme on Small Economies – Report by the Chairman of the
Dedicated Sessions of the Committee on Trade and Development .......................................2
3. Report by the Chairman of the Trade Negotiations Committee ..........................................3
4. Review of Chairmanships of WTO bo dies under the TNC – Statement by the
Chairman ............................................................................................................................... ....3
5. Sixth Session of the Ministerial Conference – Communication from Hong Kong,
China ............................................................................................................................... ..........4
6. Widening of EC textiles quota restrictions following accession of new member
States ............................................................................................................................... ...........5
7. Eleventh APEC Economic Leaders' Declaration ...................................................................6
8. Trade in textiles and clothing – Developing Members' concerns about potential
reduction in market (quota) access in 2003 ............................................................................7
9. Review of the exemption provided under Paragraph 3 of GATT 1994 ...............................7
10. Chairmanship of the Working Party on the Accession of Kazakhstan ................................8WT/GC/M/83
Page 2
1. Iran – Request for Accession (WT/ACC/IRN/1)
1. The Chairman drew attention to the communi cation from Iran in WT/ACC/IRN/1 requesting
accession to the WTO Agreement pursuant to Article XII.  He recalled that the General Council had
last considered this matter at its meeting in August, and had agreed to revert to it at the present
meeting.
2. The representative of the United States said that the issue of Iran's accession to the WTO
continued to be under review by her Government, and her delegation had nothing to add to its
statement at the August meeting of the General Council.
3. The representative of Tanzania, speaking on behalf of the Informal Group of Developing
Countries, said that these countries took note of the statement by the United States.  They hoped that
the United States would complete its review soon and would be able to provide a positive response on
this issue at the next meeting of the General Council.
4. The General Council took note of the statements and agreed  to revert to this matter at its next
meeting.
2. Work Programme on Small Economies – Report by the Chairman of the Dedicated
Sessions of the Committee on Trade and Development
5. The Chairman recalled that at its meeting in February and March 2002, the General Council
had taken note of a framework and procedures fo r the conduct of the Work Programme on Small
Economies, under which this Work Programme would be a standing item on the General Council's
agenda.  The framework and procedures also provided that the Committee on Trade and Development
would report regularly to the General Council on the progress of work in its Dedicated Sessions on
this subject.
6. Mr. Mansour (Tunisia), Chairman of the Dedicated Sessions of the Committee on Trade and
Development, said that the Committee had met on 17 October for its sixth Dedicated Session on small
economies.  In his absence, the Dedicated Session had elected Mr. Neil McMillan (United Kingdom)
to the position of interim Chairman for that session.  He recalled that the fifth Dedicated Session had
adopted the report to the General Council in doc ument WT/COMTD/SE/1.  This report showed the
Dedicated Sessions had made progress, insofar as issues relating to the trade of small economies had
been examined, pursuant to the mandate contained in the Doha Ministerial Declaration.  This
educational process had led Members to table proposals for the fuller integration of small, vulnerable
economies into the multilateral trading system.  At the sixth Dedicated Session, Members had agreed
to continue with the work in progress.  The report  to the General Council had also stated that there
was a need for further work in order to achieve the mandate of the Doha Ministerial Declaration.
Members had therefore agreed, as proposed in that report, to continue their work in the DedicatedSessions by considering in further detail the proposals contained in WT/COMTD/SE/W/3.  It was
agreed that the authors of this document would s ubmit a revised version of certain proposals at the
next meeting.  Any additional proposals – as well as any specific suggestions for resolving the trade-
related problems of landlocked developing countries – that Members might wish to submit would also
be examined.  Members would continue their work at the next Dedicated Session in the light of theabove.
7. The General Council took note of the report by the Chairman of the Dedicated Sessions of the
Committee on Trade and Development.WT/GC/M/83
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3. Report by the Chairman of the Trade Negotiations Committee
8. The Chairman recalled that the Trade Negotiations Committee, at its first meeting on
28 January and 1 February 2002, had agreed that it would report to each regular meeting of the
General Council.
9. The Director-General, Chairman of the Trade Negotiations Committee, recalled that in
accordance with paragraph 46 of the Doha Declarat ion, the overall conduct of the DDA negotiations
was supervised by the Trade Negotiations Committee under the authority of the General Council.  As
agreed by the Trade Negotiations Committee on 1 February 2002, the TNC should report to each
regular General Council meeting.  The TNC had last met in July and he had made a report on its
activities to the July meeting of the General Council.  The emphasis of work in the WTO since then
had been on final preparations for and follow up to  Cancún.  As Members were aware, for reasons of
overall coordination, this work had been handled in informal Heads of Delegation meetings and in theGeneral Council itself, in which he had been actively involved.  For the future, he would be staying in
touch with the Chairpersons of the various bodies under the TNC and with the Chairman of the
General Council.  He would, at the right moment, resume consultations as Chairman of the TNC and
reactivate the TNC itself.
10. The Chairman said that, as the Director-General had underlined, the latter's statement had
been made in order to fulfil the requirement that the TNC report to each regular General Council
meeting.  He did not envisage opening a discussion under this item at the present meeting.  He
recalled that at an informal open-ended meeting of Heads of Delegation on 14 October, the Director-
General and he had outlined the process they would be undertaking to put the WTO's work under the
Doha Development Agenda back on track after the Ministerial Conference in Cancún.  The statements
by the Director-General and himself at that mee ting had been circulated in JOB(03)/199.  Obviously,
that process should be allowed to run its course.  He had also informed delegations at the 14 October
meeting that the work in the negotiating bodies, with the exception of the negotiations on the DSU,
had been suspended for the time being.  This was not a suspension sine die , since, together with the
Director-General, he would be taking up the key ne gotiating areas in the process he had described,
and would revert to addressing those matters in due course.  As he had also indicated at the HODS
meeting the previous week, he would keep delegations fully informed as consultations proceeded.
11. The General Council took note of the report by the Chairman of the Trade Negotiations
Committee and of the statement.
4. Review of Chairmanships of WTO bodies under the TNC – Statement by the Chairman
12. The Chairman recalled that at its first meeting on 28 January and 1 February 2002, the Trade
Negotiations Committee (TNC) had adopted a structure and had established a number of bodies to
undertake work on the various elements of the Doha Development Agenda under its supervision.  The
TNC had also endorsed certain principles and practices to guide its work, including that the Chairman
of the General Council would consult on the chairm anships of the individual bodies, and that the
Chairpersons of these bodies would be appointed to serve up to the Fifth Ministerial Conference, at
which time all the appointments would be reviewed.  The Chairpersons of the bodies under the TNChad subsequently been appointed by the General Council at its meeting in February 2002, following
consultations undertaken by the Council Chairman.  At the General Council meeting in August 2003,
under "Other Business", he had stated that althoug h these appointments were to be reviewed at the
time of the Fifth Ministerial Conference, it was his view that given the heavy workload in connection
with the Ministerial Conference, Members would be better placed to conduct this review at the next
meeting of the General Council in October.  He had also stated that this would allow more time for
consultations, as necessary.  He had proposed, in the light of this, that in the meantime, and keeping inWT/GC/M/83
Page 4
mind the need for maintaining continuity in the process, the Chairpersons of these bodies be requested
to continue in office until the review at the October Council meeting.
13. The statement he had made at the August meeting of the General Council had, of course, been
overtaken by events.  He had intended at the present meeting to suggest an extension of the term of
office of all the Chairpersons until the end of the negotiations.  However, bearing in mind the resultsof Cancún, he knew that some delegations had been considering the possibility of making changes.
Nevertheless, from the discussions the Director-General and he had held recently with a very wide
range of delegations, it was their sense that there was a broadly shared view that the principal focus of
their collective efforts in the immediate future had to  be to comply with the instructions of Ministers
at Cancún, and to work with a renewed sense of urgency and purpose with the aim of putting the work
under the Doha Development Agenda back on track by 15 December.  In the light of this situation, he
considered that Members should revert to the review of Chairmanships of WTO bodies under theTNC once the outcome of the follow-up work from the Cancún Ministerial Conference was clear.  It
was worth noting in this connection that the meetings of the groups concerned had been suspended for
the time being, with the exception of the DSU negotiations, which were on a separate track.
14. He therefore proposed that the General Council postpone consideration of this item until the
first regular meeting of the General Council in the new year, and that in the meantime, and keeping in
mind the need to maintain a sense of continuity, th e Chairpersons of these bodies continue in office
until the review at that meeting,
15. The General Council took note of the statement and so agreed
.
5. Sixth Session of the Ministerial Conference – Communication from Hong Kong, China
(WT/GC/72)
16. The Chairman recalled that at its meeting in August, the General Council had considered a
communication from Hong Kong, China (WT/GC/72)  offering to host the Sixth Session of the
Ministerial Conference.  At that meeting, he had noted that the date and venue of the next Ministerial
Conference was an item on the Agenda of the Cancún Ministerial Conference, and had proposed that
he hold informal consultations urgently on the question of the venue of the Sixth Session and reportback to the Chairman of the Cancún Ministerial Conference at the earliest opportunity, with a view to
assisting the latter in preparing th is item for consideration at the Ministerial Conference.  He had also
invited any other Member wishing to host the next Ministerial Conference to so inform him, so that he
might take this into account during his consultations.  The General Council had agreed to proceed in
this way.
17. He had subsequently reported to the Chairman of the Cancún Ministerial Conference that
although no other Member had informed him of its wi sh to host the next Ministerial Conference, he
had been unable, given the pressures of time facing delegations in the preparations for and at the
Cancún Ministerial Conference, to consult on this matter beyond informal contacts with a number of
delegations.  In the light of this situation, Ministers at Cancún had taken note with appreciation of the
offer from the Government of Hong Kong, China, and had requested him to continue consultations
with a view to determining the date and venue of the Sixth Session of the Ministerial Conference.From the contacts he had had with a number of delegations, there was broad support for accepting the
offer from Hong Kong, China, and he believed it would be good for all concerned if agreement could
be reached at the present meeting on the venue of the next Ministerial Conference.
18. He proposed therefore that the General Council agree on Hong Kong, China as the venue for
the Sixth Session of the Ministerial Conference, a nd expressed appreciation, on behalf of the General
Council, to the Government of Hong Kong, China fo r its generous offer.  He further proposed thatWT/GC/M/83
Page 5
consultations be held with a view to determining the timing of the Sixth Session, and that the General
Council revert to this matter at a future meeting.
19. The General Council so agreed.
20. The representative of Hong Kong, China than ked all Members for supporting and accepting
his Government's offer to host the Sixth Session of the Ministerial Conference.  Members were now
in a critical juncture of reactivating the DDA negotiating process, and his delegation fully appreciated
that it would be premature to agree on the timing of the next Ministerial Conference at the present
juncture.  His delegation was prepared to work closely with Members and the Secretariat to identify a
date that would best suit the organization's needs.  He reiterated his delegation's view that, based on
the experience of previous hosts, roughly one year would be required to organize a full-scale
Ministerial Conference outside of Geneva.  Free trade was the life-blood of Hong Kong, China, which
was one of the most open economies in the world and a staunch supporter of the rule-basedmultilateral trading system.  Hong Kong, China pledged to do its utmost to contribute to the
success of the next Ministerial Conference, and l ooked forward to having the full cooperation of
all Members in this endeavour.
21. The General Council took note of the statement.
6. Widening of EC textiles quota restrictions following accession of new member States
22. The representative of India, speaking under "Other Business ", on behalf of members of the
International Textiles and Clothing Bureau that were also Members or observers of the WTO, drew
attention to an Act published in the Official Journal of the European Union, dated 23 September 2003,
entitled "Act concerning the conditions of accession of the Czech Republic, the Republic of Estonia,
the Republic of Cyprus, the Republic of Latvia, the Republic of Lithuania, the Republic of Hungary,the Republic of Malta, the Republic of Poland, the Republic of Slovenia and the Slovak Republic and
the adjustments to the Treaties on which the European  Union is founded".  Paragraph 7 of Article 6 of
this Act stipulated as follows:
"As from the date of accession, the new Member States shall apply the bilateral
textile agreements and arrangements concluded by the Community with third countries.  The
quantitative restrictions applied by the Community on imports of textile and clothing products
shall be adjusted to take into account the accession of the new Member States to the
Community.  To that effect, amendments to the bilateral agreements and arrangements
referred to above may be negotiated by the Community with the third countries concerned
prior to the date of accession.  Should the amendments to the bilateral agreements and
arrangements not have entered into force by the date of accession, the Community shall make
necessary adjustments to its rules for the import of textile and clothing products from thirdcountries to take into account the accession of the new Member States to the Community."
23. This matter was of great importance, both because of its systemic implications for the
multilateral trading system, and the economic and practical considerations related to it.  In this regard,
he noted that this Act was to become effective as from 1 May 2004, i.e. just eight months before thescheduled elimination of all quantitative restrictions on 1 January 2005 pursuant to the Agreement on
Textiles and Clothing.  His delegation would be appreciative if the Community could inform the
General Council of its plans and provide further details.
24. The representative of the European Communities said that his delegation had noted India's
questions.  He would convey them to Brussels and would come back with answers in due course.
25. The General Council took note of the statements.WT/GC/M/83
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7. Eleventh APEC Economic Leaders' Declaration
26. The representative of Thailand, speaking under "Other Business ", said that Thailand had had
the privilege of hosting the Eleventh APEC Meeting of Economic Leaders from 21 economies in the
Asia-Pacific region, comprising Australia, Brunei  Darussalam, Canada, Chile, China, Indonesia,
Japan, Korea, Malaysia, Mexico, New Zealand, Pa pua New Guinea, Peru, Philippines, Russia,
Singapore, Chinese Taipei, Thailand, United States, Vietnam and Hong Kong, China, which
represented a population of over 2.5 billion and a combined GDP of US$19 trillion, and accounted for
almost half of world trade.  That same afternoon in Bangkok, the APEC leaders had issued their
Declaration entitled "Bangkok Declaration on Partne rship for the Future".  As the host country,
Thailand wished to communicate the full contents of the Declaration to all Members by requesting the
Secretariat to circulate it as a WTO document.1  He then quoted the paragraphs of the Declaration
related to the WTO and the multilateral trading system, in which the APEC Economic Leaders hadstated the following:
"We reaffirmed the primacy of the multilateral trading system, and agreed that the Doha
Development Agenda (DDA) offers the potential for real gains for all economies, particularly
developing economies, in the areas of agricultural reform, improved market access for goods and
services, and clarification and improvement of trade disciplines.  We lent our strong support forcontinuing the valuable work done at the Cancún Ministerial Conference to advance the DDA.  We
agreed that for global free trade to flourish, regional and bilateral free trade agreements must be
consistent with WTO principles, advance WTO objectives and contribute to the Bogor Goals.
"To advance the DDA and the Bogor Goals of free and open trade and investment, as well as
their supporting conditions, we agreed to:
- "press for an ambitious and balanced outcome to the DDA, reiterating that the development
dimension is at its core;
- "re-energize the negotiation process, building on Chairman Derbez's text of 13 September
2003, recognizing that flexibility and political will are urgently needed to move the
negotiations toward a successful conclusion;
- "work towards the abolition of all forms of agricultural export subsidies, unjustifiable export
prohibitions and restrictions, and commit ourselves to work in the negotiating group on rules
in accordance with the Doha mandate;
- "advance free trade in a coordinated manner among multilateral, regional and bilateral
frameworks so that they are complementary and mutually reinforcing;
- "extend our continued support for the early accession of the Russian Federation and Viet Nam
to the WTO;
- "continue APEC's work on WTO capacity and confidence building in areas where APEC can
best add value, while reviewing past performance to improve its effectiveness;  and
- "instruct Ministers to take concrete steps to make APEC's trade agenda more supportive of the
work of the WTO and report on their progress in 2004."
27. Thailand hoped that the APEC Economic Leader s' Declaration would help the Chairman find
convergence among Members and provide positive inputs and political impetus to the ongoing DDA
                                                     
1 Subsequently circulated as document WT/L/542.WT/GC/M/83
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negotiations and their successful conclusion, in order to maintain the credibility of the multilateral
trading system in this organization.
28. The General Council took note of the statement.
8. Trade in textiles and clothing – Developing Members' concerns about potential
reduction in market (quota) access in 2003
29. The Chairman, speaking under "Other Business ", recalled that following the discussion at the
July meeting of the General Council on the question of trade in textiles and clothing and developing
Members' concerns about potential reduction in market access in 2003 – on which India and a number
of developing textiles exporting Members had circulated a communication (WT/GC/W/503) – he had
proposed that consultations be held on the best way to deal with this matter.  As Members were
aware, the focus of his work since the July Counc il meeting had revolved around preparations for the
Cancún Ministerial Conference and its follow up.  As a result, it had not been possible to devote thenecessary attention to this issue.  Nevertheless, this matter was still very much on his agenda, and he
wished to assure delegations that he intended to take up consultations on this matter – despite the
heavy workload all faced as a result of Cancún – with the aim of making a report to the December
meeting of the General Council.
30. The General Council took note of the statement.
9. Review of the Exemption Provided under Paragraph 3 of GATT 1994
31. The Chairman, speaking under "Other Business", recalled that Paragraph 3(a) of GATT 1994
provided an exemption from Part II of GATT 1994 for measures under specific mandatory legislation,
enacted by a Member before it became a contracting party to GATT 1947, which prohibited the use,
sale or lease of foreign-built or foreign-reconstructed vessels in commercial applications betweenpoints in national waters or waters of an exclusive economic zone.  On 20 December 1994, the United
States had invoked the provisions of Paragraph 3(a) with respect to specific legislation that met the
requirements of that paragraph.  Paragraph 3(b) of GATT 1994 called for a review of this exemption
five years after the date of entry into force of the WTO Agreement – and thereafter every two years
for as long as the exemption was in force – in order to examine whether the conditions which hadcreated the need for the exemption still prevailed.
32. He recalled that in December 2002, the General Council had agreed, inter alia , as follows:
First, to note that under the two-yearly cycle provided in Paragraph 3(b) of GATT 1994, this
exemption would have to be reviewed again in 2003.  Second, that the General Council would come
back to the issues raised at previous meetings, in the context of the review to be conducted under the
cycle in 2003.  Third, that this review would be on the Agenda of the first meeting of the General
Council in 2003, and that the Chairman would invite  interested delegations to submit comments and
questions to the US regarding the operation of the legislation under the exemption, to which the US
would be invited to respond.  These questions and responses, together with the annual report to be
provided by the US under Paragraph 3(c) of GATT 1994, would form the basis for the review.
Fourth, that for the purposes of the review, this ma tter would be on the Agenda of subsequent General
Council meetings in the course of 2003, as the Chairman deemed appropriate or at the request of aMember.  Fifth, that at its meeting in December 2003, the General Council would be invited to take
note of the discussions held in the course of the review until then, take any other action it might agree
on, and take note that the subsequent review would normally be held in 2005.  The General Council
had also taken note that, as provided in Paragraph 3(e) of GATT 1994, this exemption was without
prejudice to solutions concerning specific aspects of the legislation covered by this exemptionnegotiated in sectoral agreements or in other fora.WT/GC/M/83
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33. At its meeting in February 2003, the General Council had considered this matter, as well as an
annual report circulated by the United States in document WT/L/512, and had agreed to revert to this
review at a future meeting.  He was raising this matter under "Under Business" at the present meeting
in order to advise delegations in adequate time that, as agreed in December 2002, the review of the
exemption under Paragraph 3 of GATT 1994 would formally be on the Agenda of the GeneralCouncil meeting in December.  At that meeting, th e General Council would be invited to take note of
the discussions held in the course of the review until then, take any other action it might agree on, and
also take note that the subsequent review would normally be held in 2005.  He hoped that delegations
would be able to use the time between then and the December meeting to prepare appropriately for
that discussion, and that they would be able to proceed as agreed in 2002.
34. The General Council took note of the statement.
10. Chairmanship of the Working Party on the Accession of Kazakhstan
35. The Chairman, speaking under "Other Business ", said that following consultations held on his
behalf by the Accessions Division of the Secretariat, and upon its recommendation, he wished to
inform delegations that Mr. Himanen (Finland) had kindly agreed to Chair the Working Party on the
Accession of Kazakhstan, replacing Mr. Huhtaniemi (Finland) who had left Geneva and was no
longer available to Chair the Working Party.
36. The General Council took note of this information.
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