WORLD TRADE  
ORGANIZATION  WT/TPR/154  
28 October 2004 
 (04-4577) 
Trade Policy Review Body  
 
 
 
TRADE POLICY REVIEW MECHANISM 
 
Report of the Trade Policy Review Body for 2004  
 
Chairperson:  H.E. Mrs. Puangrat Asavapisit (Thailand) 
 
 1. The Trade Policy Review Mech anism (TPRM) was established in 1989 on a provisional basis 
and confirmed by Annex 3 of the Marrakesh Agreem ent establishing the WTO.  As required by the 
Marrakesh Agreement, the operation of the TPRM was appraised by the Trade Policy Review Body in 
1999.  The Appraisal concluded that the TPRM functi ons effectively, that its mission and objectives 
remain important, and that all Me mbers should be reviewed at least once as soon as possible;  the 
TPRM had also "demonstrated that it had a va luable public good aspect, particularly in its 
contribution to transparency".
1  Members have also kept the Mechanism under frequent review over 
the years, as a result of which a number of pro cedural improvements have been introduced since 
1989. 
2. This Report by the Trade Policy Review Body provides a brief assessment of the TPRM, and 
reports on the reviews of Members conducted in 2004.  Tables are annexed showing the Members 
reviewed up to the end of 2004, the geographical c overage of the reviews c onducted to date, as well 
as the proposed programme of reviews for the year 2005. 
Objectives of the TPRM  
3. Annex 3 of the Marrakesh Agreement states the objectives of the TPRM as: "to contribute to 
improved adherence by all Members to rules,  disciplines and commitments made under the 
Multilateral Trade Agreements and, where applicable , the Plurilateral Trade Agreements, and hence to 
the smoother functioning of the multilateral trading system, by achieving greater transparency in, and 
understanding of, the trade policies and practices of Members". 
4. In this regard, the TPRM is re quired to periodically review the trade policies and practices of 
all Members.  By the end of 2004, the TPRM will have conducted 197 reviews since its formation 
(Annex I).  The reviews have c overed 114 of 148 Members, representing around 88% of the share of 
world trade.  The trade policies and practices of f our Members will have been reviewed for the first 
time during 2004.2  The increased importance given to the reviews of least developed countries 
(LDCs) has led to 20 such reviews since 1998.3 
                                                      
1 WTO document WT/MIN(99)/2, 8 October 1999. 
2 These are Belize, Gambia, Rwanda, and Suriname. 
3 The least developed countries reviewed since the establishment of the Mechanism are:  Bangladesh 
(twice), Benin (twice), Burkina Faso (twice), Burundi, Gambia, Guinea, Haiti, Lesotho (twice), Madagascar, 
Malawi, Maldives, Mali (twice), Mauritania, Mozambi que, Niger, Rwanda, Senegal (twice), the Solomon 
Islands, Tanzania, Togo, Uganda (twice), and Zambia (twice). WT/TPR/154 
Page 2  
 
5. The Trade Policy Review Body will have  conducted 15 reviews in 2004 (Annex II).
4  The 
Secretariat reports for the reviews of Be nin, Burkina Faso, Mali, Sri Lanka, and 
Switzerland/Liechtenstein were prepared with th e assistance of consultants, under the close 
supervision of Secretariat staff.  Financing from,  and the experience gained as a consequence of, the 
German Trust Fund proved invaluable in prepari ng the reviews of Benin, Burkina Faso, and Mali.5  
The Secretariat's reports continue to be written in close consultation with the authorities of the 
Member under review. 
6. Procedures for the reviews conducted in 2004 ha ve generally run smoothly.  Responses to 
requests for documentation and questionnaires have normally been provided at or close to the 
requested dates.   In line with recent practice, the Secretar iat has attempted to reduce the burden on 
Members under review of providing responses by using,  to the extent possible, alternative sources of 
documentation, including Members' official web-sites or  other authentic sites on the Internet.  It has 
not been possible to do this for all Members under review, and requests for documentation continue to 
be followed up with a detailed questionnaire when  sufficient information is not available from 
alternative sources.  Secretariat visits to capitals  have continued to be productive, and comments 
provided on Secretariat drafts have been pertinent;  close contact with the Member under review  is 
necessary to help ensure the factual accuracy an d clarity of the documentation prepared for the 
Review.  The result is that the quality, content,  and style of the reviews has been maintained. 
7. The reviews conducted in 2004 were relatively evenly spaced throughout the period, reducing 
pressure of preparation on the Membership for revi ew meetings at close intervals.  For technical 
reasons, the reviews of the European Communitie s and Rwanda were e ach postponed for a few 
months beyond their originally planned dates;  due to unforeseen events, the review of Jamaica had to 
be delayed from November 2004 to January 2005.  E fforts also continue to be made to avoid clashes 
with other meetings at the WTO;  neverthel ess, clashes do at times happen.  The cooperative 
publishing agreement with an international pub lishing company has shortened the period between 
review meetings and the pub lication of related documents.   
8. The Trade Policy Review programme for 2005 comprises 18 reviews.  These will be of: 
• Japan on the two-year cycle; 
• Malaysia on the four-year cycle;   
• Bolivia, Ecuador, Egypt, Jamaica, Mongolia, Nigeria, Paraguay, the Philippines and 
Qatar, Romania, Trinidad and Tobago, and Tunisia on the six-year cycle;  and  
• four least developed countries:  Dji bouti, Guinea, Sierra Leone and Togo.6 
 9. The TPRB intends to continue to  provide an evenly spaced programme of reviews in 2005, 
thereby avoiding a concentration of reviews a nd delays that have occurred in the past. 
Value of the TPRM
 
10. As envisaged in Annex 3, the TPRM conti nues to be a valuable forum for achieving 
transparency in, and understanding of, the trade policies and practices of Members, thus contributing to the smoother functioning of the multilateral tradi ng system.  It provides a forum in which Members 
may openly discuss and provide an objective analysis of each others' trade policies and practices.  The 
                                                     
 
4 A 16th review, that of Jamaica, was fully prepared for 8 and 10 November but had to be delayed, in 
consequence of unforeseen events, to January 2005. 
5 In 2000, the Federal Republic of Germany made available DM1 million over a four-year period to 
undertake reviews of developing countries and to facilitate  the trade-policy review process to better adapt it to 
the requirements of developing countries. 
6 There is the possibility that a review of Angola will also be scheduled, in the context of the Trade 
Policy Clinic exercise for Angola. WT/TPR/154 
Page 3 
 
reports prepared by the Secretariat provide a factua l and independent review of the trade policies and 
practices of individual Members under review and ar e, in general, appreciated by both the Member(s) 
under review and the overall Membership.  By pr oviding an overall picture of the institutional 
interaction in trade policy formulation and implem entation and the effect of policies on different 
sectors, the reports have also served as an input to trade policy formulation in some cases.  In 
addition, several developing and least developed c ountry Members have found the reviews valuable in 
highlighting their infrastructural constr aints and technical assistance needs.  
11. While carrying out an assessment of the Member s' trade policies and practices, the review 
process also discusses the economic impact of trade measures, and places the trade and economic regimes of individual Members within the broader cont ext of developments in their region.  Given the 
growing importance of regional trade agreements a nd groupings, the analysis in the reports has proved 
useful in discussing the wider impact of recent econom ic developments in certain regions, as well as 
the more general question of the impact of regionalism on the multilateral trading system.  
Points emerging from the 2004 reviews
 
12. While each review highlights the specific issues and measures concerning the individual 
Member, certain common themes emerged during the c ourse of the reviews conducted in 2004.  These 
included: 
• transparency in policy-making and implementation; 
• economic environment and trade liberalization; 
• implementation of the WTO Agreements; 
• regional trade agreements and their relati onship with the multilateral trading system; 
• tariff issues, including peaks, escalation, preferences, rationalization and the gap 
between applied and bound rates; 
• customs clearance procedures; 
• import and export restrictions and licensing procedures; 
• the use of contingency measures such as anti-dumping and countervailing duties; 
• technical and sanitary measures and market access; 
• standards and their equivalence with international norms; 
• intellectual property rights legislation and enforcement; 
• government procurement policies and practices7; 
• state involvement in the economy and privatization programmes; 
• trade-related competition and investment policy issues; 
• incentive measures such as s ubsidies and tax forgone; 
• sectoral trade-policy issues, particularly liberalization in agriculture and certain 
services sectors; 
• GATS commitments;  
• special and differential treatment, including market access and implementation, 
particularly for customs valuation, TRIPS and TRIMs;  and 
• technical assistance in implementing the WTO Agreements and the experience with 
the Integrated Framework. 
Coverage of least developed countries (LDCs)  
13. The Trade Policy Review Body's Report to the Singapore Ministerial Meeting suggested that 
greater attention be paid to the coverage of LDCs  in the preparation of the TPRB timetable, and the 
1999 Appraisal of the operation of the TPRM also drew attention to this matter.  The TPRB has 
continued to review a steady number of least developed Members.  Of the 32 least developed 
                                                      
7 This has been discussed even in cases where Me mbers are not party to the plurilateral Agreement on 
Government Procurement. WT/TPR/154 
Page 4  
 
Members of the WTO, 22 will have been reviewed by the end of 2004;  five of these were reviewed in 
2004.
8   
14. Trade Policy Reviews of LDCs have increasingly performed a technical assistance function 
and have been useful in increasing understanding of the trade policy structure in place and its 
relationship with the WTO Agreements.  The revi ews have also enhanced understanding in these 
countries of the WTO Agreements, enabling better compliance and integration in the multilateral 
trading system;  in some cases, better interaction between government agencies has been facilitated by 
the reviews.  The reports' wide coverage of Memb ers' policies also enables Members to identify any 
shortcomings in policy and specific areas where further technical assistance may be required. 
15. Since 2000, the preparation of reviews of LDCs has responded more systematically to 
technical assistance needs.  The review process fo r an LDC now includes a two-to-three-day seminar 
for its officials on the WTO and, in particular, the tr ade policy review exercise and the role of trade in 
economic policy;  such seminars have been he ld during 2004 for the review process of Guinea, 
Rwanda, Sierra Leone and Togo;  in addition, sim ilar exercises were conducted in the preparation of 
the reviews of Benin, Burkina Faso, and Mali (as well as Belize and Suriname).  The Secretariat 
Report for an LDC review includes a section on tech nical assistance needs and priorities, as identified 
in cooperation with the Member concerned, with a vi ew to feeding this into the Integrated Framework 
process.  The seminars and the technical assistance  section in the Secretariat reports involve close 
cooperation with the WTO's Development Divisi on and Institute for Training and Technical 
Cooperation Division. 
Conclusion  
16. The Trade Policy Review Mechanism provid es a forum in which Members discuss each 
others' trade policies in a transparent and frank manner .  The forum is unique in that the separation of 
the TPRM from the compliance and dispute settlement aspects of WTO work allows an open debate.  
The 15 reviews conducted in 2004 have been satisf actory, and have met deadlines agreed with the 
Members. The reviews have been relatively evenly spaced throughout  the period, giving adequate 
time to Members to prepare for the meetings.  The discussants have continued to play a very useful 
role in assisting the discussion during the reviews.  The programme for 2005, similarly, aims to avoid 
delays and concentration of reviews. 
17. The TPRM continues to function effectively in me eting its transparency goals.  However, as 
the Membership of the WTO increases, the pressure  on the TPRB to review more Members grows.  
This, and the limited resources available to the Secr etariat to prepare the reviews, makes it important 
to keep the Mechanism functioning as effectively as po ssible within these constraints.  In particular, 
continued cooperation between Members and the Secretar iat in preparing the reports is essential, as is 
the respect of deadlines, in order to maintain th e standard and quality of the reports, and in the 
successful reviews of Members by the TPRB. 
                                                      
8 These were Benin, Burkina Faso, Gambia, Mali and Rwanda.  The least developed country Members 
of the WTO yet to be reviewed are:  Angola, Cambodia, Central African Republic, Chad, Democratic Republic 
of Congo, Djibouti, Guinea-Bissau, Myanmar, Nepal, and Sierra Leone.  Djibouti and Sierra Leone are scheduled for review in 2005. WT/TPR/154 
Page 5 
 Annex I
  
TRADE POLICY REVIEWS  
WTO Members reviewed, 1989-2004  
 
Europe/Middle East Asia/Pacific Africa America 
Austria1 Australia (4) Beninb (2) Argentina (2) 
Bahrain Bangladesh(2)b Botswana3 (2) Antigua and Barbuda4 
Bulgaria Brunei Darussalam Burkina Fasob (2) Barbados 
Cyprus Fiji Burundib Belizea 
Czech Republic (2) Hong Kong, China (4) Cameroon (2) Bolivia (2) 
European Communities (7) India (3) Côte d'Ivoire Brazil (4) 
Finland1 Indonesia (4) Egypt (2) Canada (7) 
Hungary (2) Japan (6) Gabon Chile (3) 
Iceland (2) Korea, Rep. of  (4) Gambiaa,b Colombia (2) 
Israel (2) Macau, China (2)  Ghana (2) Costa Rica (2) 
Liechtenstein2 (2) Malaysia (3) Guineab Dominica4 
Norway (4) Maldivesb Kenya (2) Dominican Republic (2) 
Poland (2) New Zealand (3) Madagascarb El Salvador (2) 
Romania (2) Pakistan (2) Lesotho3,b (2), Guatemala 
Slovak Republic (2) Papua New Guinea Malib (2) Grenada4 
Slovenia Philippines(2) Malawib Guyana 
Sweden1 (2) Singapore (4) Mauritaniab Haitib 
Switzerland (4)  Solomon Islandsb Mauritius (2) Hondurasa 
Turkey (3) Sri Lanka (2) Morocco (3) Jamaica  
 Thailand (4) Mozambiqueb Mexico (3) 
  Namibia3 (2) Nicaragua 
  Nigerb Paraguay 
  Nigeria (2) Peru (2) 
  Rwandaa,b St.Kitts and Nevis4 
  Senegalb (2) St.Lucia4 
  South Africa3 (3) St.Vincent and the Grenadines4 
  Swaziland3 (2) Surinamea 
  Tanzaniab Trinidad and Tobago 
  Togob United States (7) 
  Tunisia  Uruguay (2) 
  Ugandab (2) Venezuela (2) 
  Zambiab (2)  
  Zimbabwe  
40 Members 
(30 reviews) 20 Members  
(54 reviews) 33 Members 
(49 reviews) 31 Members 
(54 reviews) 
( ) Figures in brackets show the number of revi ews completed where this is greater than one. 
1 Included in European Communities (EC) from 1995. 
2 Joint review with Switzerland (counted as two Members but one review for statistical purposes). 
3 Reviewed as member of the Southern African Customs Unio n in 2003 (counted as five Members, but one review for 
statistical purposes. 
4 Member of the Organization of East Caribbean States (O ECS) reviewed jointly with other OECS members (counted 
as six Members, but one review for statistical purposes). 
a First review in 2004. 
b Least developed Member. 
Number of reviews conducted at end-2004   = 197 
Number of WTO Members reviewed   = 114 out of 148** 
Least-developed WTO Members reviewed   =   22 
Share of world trade of WTO Members reviewed 
(excluding significant double counting and  
intra-EC trade)   =  88%  
** WTO Members as at 15 October 2004. 
 WT/TPR/154 
Page 6  
 
Annex II
 
Trade Policy Reviews conducted in 2004 
 
 
Membera Meeting Date 
(scheduled)  Review Cycle (years) 
United States (6) 14.01.2004 2 
Gambiab 04.02.2004 6 
Sri Lanka (1) 03.03.2004 6 
Singapore (3) 14.06.2004 4 
Beninb (1), Burkina Fasob (1), Malib (1) 28.06.2004 6 
Belize, Suriname 12.07.2004 6 
Korea, Rep. of (3) 15.09.2004 4 
Rwandab 28.09.2004 6 
Norway (3) 11.10.2004 4 
European Communities (6) 25.10.2004 2 
Brazil (3) 29.11.2004 4 
Liechtenstein (1), Switzerland (3) 15.12.2004 4 
 
a Figures in brackets indicate number of previous reviews. 
b Least developed country. 
 
 
 
Annex III  
Proposed programme of reviews for 2005  
 
Two-year cycle Japan 
Four-year cycle Malaysia 
Six-year cycle Bolivia, Ecuador, Egypt, Jamaica, Mongolia, Nigeria, Paraguay, 
the Philippines, Qatar, Romania, Trinidad and Tobago, and 
Tunisia  
Least developed countries (six-year cycle) Djibouti, Guinea, Sierra Leone, and Togo 
 
  
__________