. /.WORLD TRADE
ORGANIZATIONTN/MA/W/21
7 January 2003
(03-0022)
Negotiating Group on Market Access Original:  English
MARKET ACCESS FOR NON-AGRICULTURAL PRODUCTS
Communication from Mauritius
The following communication, dated 23 December 2002, has been received from the
Permanent Mission of Mauritius.
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Introduction
1. One among the guiding principles that should underpin the current negotiations on market
access for non-agricultural products and also of the WTO system in general, should be to achieve
balanced and equitable outcomes that take on board the market access situations and conditions of
each individual WTO Member State.  The negotiation should, in the least, maintain or improve the
current benefits associated to existing market access of the WTO Member States so that at the end of
the negotiations no single country is worse off.
2. It is important to emphasize this point, as the terms and conditions under which individual
Member States or groups of them trade are different.  Consequently, if the specific situations of these
countries are not given the required consideration, then the outcome of the negotiations could prove to
be devastating for many of them.  In particular, the more vulnerable among the developing countries,
including the LDCs could find themselves in a situation where they would be under strong
competitive pressure following the negotiations.  This is borne out of the fact that any reductions intariffs would impact on the access of countries trading under various preferential regimes, which as a
matter of fact have been specifically designed to enable the poor and vulnerable developing countries
to secure a certain market share.  In the absence of such regimes or a substantially diluted one, they
would be devoid of any access to world markets and would consequently face major set backs in their
development efforts.  It is therefore suggested that, with a view to establishing a more equitable andbalanced multilateral system, any erosion in preferential market access resulting from the negotiations
should be duly compensated. We would fully appr eciate the views and suggestions of the Member
States on the possible compensation mechanism that could be set up.  Moreover, in the context of
global coherence in policy-making that calls for closer collaboration among International Institutions,
it is suggested that a competitiveness fund on the basis of contribution from the InternationalFinancial Institutions be set up to provide assistance to affected countries to enable them to undertake
competitive adjustment.
Modalities
3. The modalities to be used in the negotiations, while not impeding the trade liberalisation
process should be flexible enough so as to accommodate the specific situations of countries and to
stagger the liberalisation process for products that are highly sensitive.  An across the board formula
approach would neither take account of the different regimes under which countries trade, nor would
it ensure the maintenance of at least the current preferential market access of some of the poorest andTN/MA/W/21
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more vulnerable countries.  A trade weighted average tariff reduction, in contrast could be a more
appropriate way to proceed, with a longer staging period of tariff reductions for sensitive products.
4. It is also the view of Mauritius that tariff cuts should be effected from the bound rates as
opposed to the applied rates.  Developing countries which have not yet bound their tariffs should, inexchange of not undertaking any reduction commitment be given the flexibility to do so at reasonable
rates which are commensurate with the level of their industrial development.
5. In the context of these negotiations, credit should be given for autonomous liberalisation
undertaken by the WTO Member States since 1995.  The Member States could provide information
on the autonomous liberalisation undertaken by them by end of January 2003 while the Secretariat in
the interim could prepare a paper on how the autonomous liberalisation could be taken on board.
NTBs
6. NTBs, including those that have been disciplined at the WTO are increasingly being used as a
means to impeding access to markets.  Consequently, it is the view of Mauritius that priorityconsideration in the negotiations should be given to the elimination of NTBs, especially those that are
"invisibles" or "hidden" NTBs such as administrative bottlenecks, complex distribution networks, etc.
While the audit of NTBs currently being carried out based on information provided by Member States
is a welcome step, it is nonetheless imperative that an independent and comprehensive exercise be
undertaken by the Secretariat to draw a checklist of hidden and invisible NTBs which could serve asthe basis for the negotiations.
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