RESTRICTED
G/C/M/67WORLD TRADE
ORGANIZATION13 February 2003
(03-0942)
Council for Trade in Goods
MINUTES OF THE MEETING OF THE COUNCIL FOR TRADE IN GOODS
6 DECEMBER 2002
Chairman:  H.E. Ambassador Supperamaniam
The meeting of the Council for Trade in G oods was convened by airgram WTO/AIR/1985.
Document G/C/W/444 cont ained the proposed agenda for the meeting.
I. OVERALL DISCUSSION OF THE TRADE FACILITATION WORK
PROGRAMME: (I) ARTICLES V, VIII AND X OF THE GATT 1994; (II)
TRADE FACILITATION NEEDS AND PRIORITIES OF MEMBERS,
PARTICULARLY OF DEVELOPING AND LEAST DEVELOPEDCOUNTRIES; (III) TECHNICAL ASSI STANCE AND CAPACITY  BUILDING ...........2
II. TRADE FACILITATION: ORGANI SATION OF FU TURE WO RK..............................28
III. OTHER BUSINESS............................................................................................................. ...31G/C/M/67
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I. OVERALL DISCUSSION OF THE TRADE FACILITATION WORK PROGRAMME:
(I) ARTICLES V, VIII AND X OF THE GATT 1994; (II) TRADE FACILITATION NEEDS
AND PRIORITIES OF MEMBERS, PARTICULARLY OF DEVELOPING AND LEAST
DEVELOPED COUNTRIES; (III) TECHNICAL ASSISTANCE AND CAPACITY BUILDING
1.1 The Chairman noted that, as agreed by Members in their trade facilitation work program, the
Council for Trade in Goods would now meet for its last session in 2002, which Members had wanted to
be a forum for an overall discussion of the program's three core agenda items, as well as an
opportunity to discuss how to organize future work . In line with that agreement, the meeting would
therefore take up the three items Members discussed at the previous three sessions of the Goods
Council on this issue: (i) Articles V, VIII and X of the GATT 1994, (ii) trade facilitation needs and
priorities of Members, particularly of developing and least developed countries, and (iii) technical
assistance and capacity building. A second agenda item would then provide for the opportunity todiscuss the organisation of future work.
1.2 Turning to the first item, which had a rather broad coverage, he announced to structure the
discussions by first addressing the three GATT Arti cles, then moving to the identification of trade
facilitation needs and priorities, before finally turn ing to issues related to technical assistance and
capacity building.
1.3 He noted that as in the case of the previous meetings, the Secretariat had received a number of
communications from Members in preparation for a nd support of the current discussions.  A paper by
Australia (G/C/W/443) would give an overview on trade facilitation from the Australian perspective,addressing issues such as benefits of trade facilitation, opportunities offered by WTO rules and
questions related to technical assistance and capacity  building.  A second contribution originated from
the Separate Customs Territory of Taiwan, Penghu, Kinmen and Matsu, outlining its experience in e-
customs, which would be taken up under the second sub-heading of agenda item 1, where several
Members had outlined their experiences with various trade facilitation measures and programmes(G/C/W/440). Furthermore, a paper had been prepar ed by the European Communities, outlining trade-
related assistance by the EC and its member count ries, which would be presented under sub-heading
three (G/C/W/442).  A paper had also again been prepared by the Secretariat, compiling Members'
proposals on how to review, improve and clarify GA TT Articles V, VIII and X in response to the
request for such a document expressed at the last m eeting.  Turning to the fi rst sub-heading of agenda
item 1, he invited the Secretariat to introduce its paper.
1.4 The representative of the Secretariat noted that the current paper had been prepared in response
to Singapore's request for such documentation at the October meeting. It contained an inventory of
Members' proposals on how to review and, as appropriate, clarify and improve GATT Articles V, VIII
and X. Looking at it, one would find the paper to group the proposals according to the GATT Article
they refered to, thereby maintaining the sequencing set out in the Work Program and used in the CTG
sessions, starting with X, moving to Article VIII and finally taking up Article V. Since many of the
proposals had overlapping content, and the Secretariat had wanted to highlight common elements as
well as avoid repeated listing of similar texts, the document tried to identify a number of sub-headings
under which it grouped the various suggestions, based on common features, even though that meant
departing from the structure of the original communications in some cases. Regarding the sequencingof the sub-headings, it generally followed their mentioning in the GATT Article in question, while
also attempting to list related matter in consecutive order.
1.5 The representative of Australia noted that the Australian paper tried to summarize the work of
the CTG on trade facilitation over the course of its last meetings, looking at the measures aimed at
facilitation for trade and the programme of interna tional assistance for trade facilitation. He noted that
some years ago, the Chairman of the CTG at that time had already summarized the main concerns
expressed by traders in the course of a WTO Sym posium regarding trade facilitation, (circulated in
document G/L/226), grouping them under the following headings: a) Excessive documentationG/C/M/67
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requirements; 2) lack of automation in customs business; 3) lack of transparency in procedures and
requirements; 4) inadequate procedures and 5) lack of modernization of, and cooperation among
customs and other government agencies. He considered it fair to say that despite the operations of
individual administrations and multilateral organizations such as the WTO and the WCO, these
concerns would still exist in international trade. When looking at GATT Articles V, VIII and X, thefocus of Members' work should be to address some aspects of these concerns. He stressed the many
benefits of measures to simplify import and export procedures. For governments, they would lead to
better information and control, better revenue protection and more efficient administration; for
business and industry, particularly small and medium sized enterprises it would imply increased
certainty and transparency, reduced costs and delays, and more competitive import and export
conditions; and for the community as a whole it would mean lower prices and a more efficient public
sector.
1.6 In its own administration Australia had promoted the development and the implementation of
fair and modern trade procedures as a basis for good border administration. Australia had
implemented trade facilitation initiatives on a number of levels: 1) (unilaterally) through the
modernization of its own customs administration, which had been an ongoing process for the last 30years, and which had provided many benefits such as speedier clearance of goods and persons by
implementing measures for pre-arrival information and post-clearance audit to ensure compliance.
The use of information technology enabled border agencies to improve risk management techniques
and to better access traders' information; 2) Bilaterally through agreements with its trading partners;
and 3) multilaterally through a number of organizations such as the World Customs Organization,through its international conventions and various international agreements in place. At the same time
Australia had looked at some of the problems with these processes which it had tried to summarize to
some extent in subsequent parts of its paper.
1.7 Turning to the opportunities offered by WTO rules, he noted that his delegation supported the
development of trade facilitation commitments by the WTO as a means to provide both high level
political impetus and an overall trade policy framework to ensure WTO members follow a consistent
approach to trade facilitation. The advantages of more operational WTO rules on trade facilitation
would be (i) providing a more harmonized and standardized approach to ensure consistent
implementation; (ii) encouraging support and comp liance from the trade community. In this context,
the Australian representative emphasized that customs measures had to be set in full cooperation with
the trading community to provide for more effective and efficient border operations; Furthermore (iii)it would provide for the necessary political impe tus to guide national efforts to simplify and
modernize trade procedures. He underlined that a lot of the measures put in place needed cooperation
across government and not just from a customs administration. To carry out domestic reforms a high
level of political and governmental commitment wa s needed; Another benefit of strengthened rules
and monitoring mechanisms would be the improved transparency and predictability for traders, whichwould help them compete on a non-discriminatory basis.
1.8 When considering a way forward, an approach would be to incorporate into WTO Articles a
number of high level principles for formalities and procedures which underpinned modern multilateral
instruments for facilitating trade,  including: 1) the application of predictable, consistent and
transparent procedures and practices; 2) the provision of  information regarding laws, regulations,
administrative guidelines, procedures and practices to all interested parties; 3) the adoption of modern
techniques such as risk management and audit based controls, and the maximum practicable use of
information technology; 4) cooperation wherever appropriate with other national authorities, other
administrations and the trading communities; and 5) the provision of easily accessible processes foradministrative and judicial review. The developments since the 9/11 attacks had shown an increased
focus on border protection and customs had been one of the agencies tasked with providing that
process. One needed to ensure that in providing trade facilitation procedures border security was not
compromised. In this context, the Australian representative stressed that the measures that had been
discussed so far provided both for improved control and improved trade facilitation. The facilitationG/C/M/67
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of international trade should be achieved without compromising appropriate standards of control for
the protection of society and revenue collection so as to ensure compliance with national laws and
regulations while facilitating legitimate trade. Some observations about trade facilitation implied that
a balance should be brokered between control and facilitation. He noted that many measures used to
facilitate trade and the movement of goods had control enhancing effects. In this process, it wasnecessary to look at technical assistance across a range of issues.
1.9 Turning to technical assistance and capacity building, he noted that Australia welcomed the
Doha Ministerial Declaration's recognition of the case for further trade facilitation and the need for
enhanced technical assistance and capacity building in this area. Australia agreed that measures to
deliver technical assistance should be an integral part of any WTO trade facilitation negotiations as it
would be inadvisable to assume commitments in the WTO in cases where Members did not have thecapacity to implement measures. Consequently, any agreement or understanding on GATT Articles V,
VIII and X should take account of different levels of development amongst different WTO members,
and recognize the needs and difficulties faced by developing countries, especially the least developed,
as well as provide practical means to assist their development. Any future WTO provisions should
therefore include a range of special and differential treatment provisions, including less onerous initialcommitments for developing countries, transitiona l periods for the assumption of commitments, and
more stable provisions regarding the supply of technical assistance. Recognition ought to be given to
the existence of other trade facilitation instruments and work plans of other organizations such as the
WCO, APEC, UNCTAD, UNECE along with the Wo rld Bank and other development agencies.
Australia believed that the WTO should take an approach that supported rather than duplicated thework of these other organizations. In many ways a lot of the proposed work already existed. In this
context, he referred to the work that the World Customs Organizations had done over a number of
years regarding the simplification of customs procedures, which already delivered the current
requirements of the Articles V, VIII and X. Such principles provided increased customs control. He
concluded by noting that the WCO was also able to promote and provide assistance to implementthose principles.
1.10 The representative of Paraguay thanked the Secretariat for its paper as well as the Australian
delegation for its submission. He noted that for a land locked country such as Paraguay, trade facilitation
was a matter of fundamental importance. The thr ee GATT Articles were essential for his country,
especially Article V on freedom of transit. Paraguay had extensive experience in this area and knew the
problems and difficulties encountered in this contex t. He concurred with Australia that Members were
already aware of the problems faced when trying  to harmonize the various aspects Members had to
study. The difficulty was to find solutions. He beli eved that developed countries which had experience
in trade facilitation should make specific proposal s as to how to overcome the various problems
Members had identified and discussed. Highlighting the difficulty to find solutions to the many
problems, he appealed to developed countries to make specific proposals as soon as possible on how to
best address them so as to overcome export and import problems. He stressed that for a landlocked
country like Paraguay imports were very important.  Export facilities were even much more important as
they had to go across the other countries' territories. This was the most crucial aspect for his delegation
which was why Paraguay had established contacts with  various delegations, including that of Canada, in
search for technical assistance. He noted that his de legation was currently trying to define the terms of
reference for that project to grant technical assistance and capacity-building to the Paraguayan
institutions dealing with trade in order to enhance the country's development, for which Paraguay would
be very much indebted to Canada. One of the majo r aspects would be to study and plan how to replace
import duties, which had a tendency to decrease. This had been seen in the proposals by the United
States as well as in the Negotiating Group on Market Access for non-industrial products, which waswhy one had to search for solutions as to how to replace these taxes and duties from customs
procedures. The representative of Paraguay agreed on the need to seek cooperation with the civil
society, both importers and exporters as well as all other organizations dealing with trade. This was a
long and difficult task, especially for developing  countries, and even more difficult for landlocked
countries. Paraguay would continue to participate in  the trade facilitation mee tings with lively interestG/C/M/67
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and enthusiasm since his delegation believed they c ould provide benefits by identifying general world-
wide standards and rules that would be beneficial to  developing countries. He concluded by thanking all
delegations which had provided specific proposals fo r further discussion which would help get a much
clearer sense at the Cancún Ministerial. Paraguay hope d to continue its consultations with Canada on the
technical assistance project his delegation was very  much looking forward to, in order to improve
Paraguay's  international trade, make it more transparent and more beneficial for Paraguay.
1.11 The representative of Panama joined Paraguay in thanking delegations for their useful
contributions to a topic which was of interest to all Members. He commented on two aspects relating to
Article V. Referring to Canada's suggestion regarding national treatment, he expressed his delegation's
interest in continuing the discussion on this matter w ith Canada, especially as regards charges, taxes and
guarantees. His delegation was favourable to Canada's and the EC's initiative to seek clarificationregarding these issues. Panama was ready to participate in defining these terms.
1.12 The representative of Hong Kong, China than ked the Secretariat for its compilation, which
provided a useful basis to continue the discu ssions. He hoped that a more detailed and focussed
discussion on the various ideas that had been put forward would help finding some common areas of
interest to move the process forward. He thanked Australia for its contribution. As his delegation was
still studying the paper his comments would be pre liminary. Hong Kong China shared the notion that
WTO commitments on trade facilitation would be a means to ensure high political support  and that a
WTO trade policy framework in this area would assure  that Members followed a consistent approach to
trade facilitation. Paragraph 8 of the Australian pape r put forward a proposal to incorporate a number of
high level principles into the GATT Articles. He not ed that his delegation was not quite certain whether
the principles listed in the bullets were to constitu te an exhaustive list and whether they incorporated
also some of the basic WTO principles. There might be some convergence between the Australian
proposal and the suggestions previously made by Ho ng Kong China on the injection of certain basic
WTO principles into GATT Article VIII. His delegation would welcome any elaboration from Australiaon these principles.
1.13 The representative of Canada  noted that since this was the last meeting of 2002 dedicated to
trade facilitation, it would be an appropriate time to look back and reflect on Members'
accomplishments as well as look forward to the work ahead. When looking back, the Canadian
delegation took some satisfaction with Members' more specific work on the three GATT Articles that
had been the focus of their efforts. There had been three meetings which had allowed them to look ateach of the Articles in turn. For every one of these Articles, various Members, both developed and
developing, had tabled a number of very useful sugge stions, the most recent one having been prepared
by Australia, which Canada was thankful for. Turning to the previous discussions, the Canadian
representative gave a number of examples of interventions on the three Articles to illustrate what had
been achieved. With respect to Article X, many Members had shared their experiences on the meritsof consultations between customs administrations and traders and on the need to improve
transparency. Under Article VIII, Members had shared views on the need for predictability regarding
fees and formalities while others had shared experiences on the use of risk-assessment principles and
how their use could improve operational efficiencies. Under Article V, Paraguay had spoken
eloquently on the very specific needs of land-locked countries, and on how this Article could be betterstrengthened to address their particular needs. In  this context, the Canadian representative remarked
that his delegation had taken note of Panama's recent intervention expressing interest to further
consider issues related to fees and procedures under that article.
1.14 Based on the discussions in the previous meetings, Canada saw that many of the proposals
had the potential to enhance the functioning of these articles to
 deliver practical and useful trade
facilitation results. These proposals offered a potential win-win situation for both government and
business - cutting red tape and delivering commer cially significant savings. Turning to the
compilation prepared by the Secretariat, the Canadian representative noted that the document was
very helpful in providing an organised collection of the proposals grouped by theme. The compilationG/C/M/67
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usefully highlighted the richness of the proposals that had been put forward.  In a number of instances,
the compilation also demonstrated a high degree of complementarity in the various proposals and
ideas that Members had tabled. In this context, he  referred to the Australian paper, stressing its
benefits in bringing together all three Articles and highlighting possible building blocks Members
could develop. He particularly highlighted the element listed in paragraph 8, noting that Canadaagreed with the thrust of what was mentioned there. The paper usefully summarised the principles
Canada would like to develop.
 As the year ended and one looked forward to the new year, it was
useful to think of how Members might structure or organise their work in 2003, building on the
compilation prepared by the Secretariat. Australian had suggested a way forward in its paper, namely
possible incorporation of high-level principles for formalities and procedures. Canada might approach
this by drawing on various concepts or themes that had  emerged in their discussions during the year.
The Canadian delegation saw this as a useful exercise in continuing the work in 2003. There was aneed in Members' future work to broaden and deepen their understanding of the various proposals and
to make efforts to begin to put them in context with how they might address trade facilitation in a
practical sense. This would allow Members to respond to the call made earlier by the Ambassador of
Paraguay to see how these principles could be put fo rward in concrete terms. In addition to deepening
their understanding, there was a need to gain a better appreciation of the various experiences and todraw on the richness of one's national experiences in this exercise. This could be done in several
ways, by building on the various national experience papers that had already been tabled, and by
encouraging one another to share their respective experiences. Members could also draw upon the
very useful reflections made by the OECD, which highlighted transparency and simplification
approaches to border procedures. These reflections, based on each of GATT Articles V, VIII and X,drew on experiences of more than 40 countries, both developed and developing. In this context, the
Canadian representative thanked the OECD for having made such a valuable and pertinent
contribution to Members' work.
1.15 There was another element in the Australian paper which should guide Members and be kept
in mind as they continued their work, namely the issue of policy clearance and institutional co-
operation. He noted that he have recently attended seminars at UNCTAD as well as an activity
organised by the UNECE on the results of a very interesting study made in the context of APEC,
which was a good illustration of how trade facilitation could work in practice and what concrete
benefits it could bring to countries. There was also very useful work being done at the WCO, the
OECD and regional development banks. Each of these organisations had a very interesting
contribution to make in the area of trade facilitation. It was important to exchange ideas and identifyareas where the WTO could play a complementary role in order to avoid duplication. The current
work program had delivered on that challenge and Canada looked forward to working with all
Members in pursuance of this program. Another area to emphasis on was Members' work on trade-
related technical assistance (TRTA). Several Members had shared their specific experiences in such
assistance this year. In this context, the Canadi an delegate extended his thanks to the European
Communities for tabling information on their tr ade-related technical assistance provided in
conjunction with its Member States. They had stressed that they saw an ongoing need to share
experiences, as well as value in continuing Member s' joint efforts in the WTO to co-ordinate more
broadly with other multilateral and regional institutions engaged in this area. Like other members,
Canada would make further efforts in this regard in the coming year both on a multilateral andbilateral level.
   
1.16 The representative of the European Communities expressed his appreciation of the compilation
prepared by the Secretariat, which he considered to provide a good picture of the work carried out in the
CTG over the last twelve months. The document a ssembled the extremely rich proposals made on trade
facilitation and gave Members a good basis for con tinuing their work in the course of 2003. The EC
delegation was ready to deepen the understanding of the proposals and the ideas expressed therein in the
course of the following year and to discuss them in greater depth. The compilation could be used as a
basis for this exercise. It would provide a good  foundation for moving into a new phase of work.
Turning to the interventions by Paraguay and Panama, the EC representative noted that he wasG/C/M/67
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particularly pleased to hear their call for intensifying  work and for finding concrete solutions to Article
V or Article VIII-related problems th ey had encountered in their trading efforts. This was something that
should be done in the course of next year. Members should look at the proposal s and see to what extent
one could refine them, define them in much more concrete terms and make them operational in order to
be able to address Members' needs.
1.17 Turning to the Australian paper he noted that  the European Communities supported it strongly.
It offered a very good explanation of the benefi ts of trade facilitation and contained convincing
arguments on the value-added of WTO commitments in this field. The EC shared many of the concrete
proposals in terms of which issues could be reflected  in future WTO commitments, especially the ones
listed in paragraph 8 of the Australian paper. His de legation had a some questions on other aspects of the
Australian submission. First of all, he would like to know how Australia saw the relationship between
WTO work and a possible set of WTO provisions a nd the work carried out in other international
organizations. Secondly, Australia had spoken about the need for more stable provisions regarding
technical assistance. In this context, the EC would be  interested to know what Australia had had in mind
when referring to more stable provisions for tech nical assistance. In conclusion the EC representative
underlined his delegation's support of the thrust of th e paper, which the Communities considered to be a
very useful contribution.
1.18 The representative of Norway expressed her delegation's appreciation of the written
contributions submitted by Chinese Taipei, the European Communities and Australia, as well as the
compilation prepared by the Secretariat, which had considerably facilitated Norway's internaldiscussions. Having worked through the papers, she had noticed with satisfaction that Members'
proposals generally pointed in the same direction. Some were more specific than others and the
language varied to some extent, but there was a common thrust. Members should not underestimate
the work load ahead of them in order to complete by Cancún the mandate to "...review, and, as
appropriate, clarify and improve relevant aspects of Articles V, VIII and X of GATT 1994 andidentify the trade facilitation needs and priorities of Members, in particular developing and least
developed countries' .... ". However, having examined the proposals, Norway was confident that
Members would be able to fulfil the assigned task in the next months.
1.19 In preparing for these discussions, the Norwegian delegation had sounded out the views of
major trade oriented business circles and economic agents, and found that one could summarize their
concerns in three words: Predictability, consistency and transparency. In their work on identifying
non-tariff measures in connection with the market access negotiations on industrial products, thebusiness community had reported that a number of the difficulties encountered could have been
avoided by improved and simplified import and e xport procedures. An exporter could live with
reasonable fees, taxes etc., but he should, at a minimum be able to obtain the necessary information on
rules, procedures and the level of fees and taxes to be paid, before his consignment was shipped.
Developing countries, along with small and medium sized businesses generally would be the majorbeneficiaries of simplified, predictable and transparent procedures. Such procedures would facilitate
higher real rates of duty collection alongside reduced  recourse used at the border. Obviously, one was
talking about long term gains, as simplified proced ures would take time to develop and put in place. If
the final end-result of this work would be as hoped for by Norway - consistent, predictable,
transparent and fair rules - the Norwegian idea would be to make these rules mandatory. By doing so,
a certain pressure would be put on Member States to adapt national legislation accordingly to comply
with the rules within a reasonable time period. The Norwegian representative stressed that this did notmean that they were not prepared to consider su ggestions for special and differential treatment of
developing countries, particularly in the form of grace periods and/or longer implementation of
commitments.
1.20 Turning to GATT Articles V, VIII and X, the Norwegian representative outlined her
delegation's position, noting that Norway generally sympathized with the contributions made by theG/C/M/67
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European Communities. This was not to disqualify  the proposals by other Members, which, to a large
extent, were very close in substance and sometimes even identical, but only as a signal that Norway
generally felt comfortable with many of the EC texts. Measures regarding clarifications of fees and
clearer definitions of terms would be of great importance to traders, as well as notifications of any
changes of fees and charges. Making such information public, and preferably also electronicallyavailable, would certainly be helpful to operators. Wi th regard to Article VIII on fees and formalities
connected with importation and exportation, Norway was strongly committed to avoiding unnecessary
procedural barriers to trade in the design and application of import and export procedures, so as to
ensure that such procedures do not unduly slow dow n the movement or release of goods. Thus, future
rules would have to ensure that import and export procedures should not be more trade restrictive than
necessary to fulfil legitimate objectives. The Norwegian delegation was also committed to work
towards reducing the number of fees and charges, and, if possible, the establishment, at WTO level, ofa list of permissible fees. As stated earlier, predictability and transparency were two of the most
important elements in this work. Making information on rules and procedures easily available to
traders was a cornerstone in trade facilitation. In addition to what could be published in paper form or
on the Internet, national focal points allowing traders to visit, call, or mail to with specific questions,
would substantially facilitate their efforts to comply with the rules and procedures based on Art. X.Also with regard to Art. V on freedom of transit, and with reference to the Secretariat's compilation of
the proposals, the Norwegian representative highlighted the importance her delegation attached to
documentation requirements, which should be based on international standards where they existed.
Furthermore, the suggestion by European Communities to promote the use of transit instruments
through the establishment of regional or continental transit regimes could be a useful trade facilitationmeasure on the road to a global transit regime. In this context, she noted that her delegation had taken
note of the comments made by Paraguay and Panama on this regard.  Turning to technical assistance,
the Norwegian representative stressed the need for substantive trade related technical assistance for
developing and least developed member countries. Members had to revert to how they could best
assist in fulfilling any specific requests that may come. She concluded by emphasising the need forclose co-ordination between relevant international organisations, as well as bilateral and other donors,
in order to avoid duplication of efforts.
1.21 The representative of the Philippines thanked all Members who had made written contributions.
She noted that her remarks would focus on the Secret ariat's paper as well as on the Australian position.
The compilation prepared by the Secretariat was very useful. The paper had been refered back to their
capital in order to study all the proposals that had been put forward and to see what the Philippines
would like to do in this regard. Her delegation was studying what was currently being done and what
could still be done, as well as the specific problems that could be encountered with respect to some of
those proposals. The compilation was given serious consideration by no less than their Bureau of
Customs which would be involved in the whole exercise. She noted that asking each Member's
administration what was being done , what could be done and what could be the problems should
Members come up with an agreement in this area, c ould be a way forward for delegations' future work.
This was very important for the Philippines.
1.22 Turning to the Australian paper, the representative highlighted the numerous trade facilitation
initiatives undertaken in the Philippines unilaterally, in response to requests by their businesscommunity and independently from the WTO, APEC or ASEAN. She underlined that most of the
trade facilitation measures the Philippines were currently trying to implement were done on a
voluntary basis and noted that everybody was profit ing from that. The representative noted that while
her delegation was aware of the need for high level political commitment, the Philippines would focus
on technical assistance. She agreed with the fact that any WTO arrangement would have to be coupledwith appropriate technical assistance, because only when doing so could developing countries really
try to approximate the level of ambition of their other partners. In this context, she stressed that for the
Philippines, technical assistance did not only imply transition periods. Special and differential
treatment should not only mean longer transitions periods. Such measures alone would not really
constitute special and differential treatment, as at the end of the transition period, all Members wereG/C/M/67
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obliged to undertaking the same commitments. She not ed that she had been struck to find paragraph
13 of the Australian paper stating that the WCO and the revised Kyoto Convention on the
simplification and harmonization of customs procedures already delivered the current requirements of
the Articles V, VIII and X that Members were discussing. If all this was already been done, she
wondered what WTO Members were doing in this forum. She noted that one should try to coordinatethe efforts of all international organizations working in this field.
1.23 The representative of Pakistan agreed with other delegations that the World Customs
Organization had been working on these issues for over 50 years, but noted that the added support of
the WTO and, in particular, the initiative of the Council for Trade in Goods to review and, where
appropriate to clarify and improve GATT Articles V, VIII and X regarding the trade facilitation needs
would be very helpful for accelerating international tr ade. In this context, he greatly appreciated the
written submissions of the EU, Australia and Chinese Taipei. No one could dispute the need ofreducing the incidence and complexity of import and export procedures to the minimum as
recommended under Article VIII. Similarly, there should be no dispute regarding the usefulness of
having transparency, advance notice of trade rules and the right of appeal etc. as required under
Article X. However, Pakistan had certain reservations regarding the expansion or binding
commitments regarding the free transit of goods in terms of Article V. Free Transit was only feasiblewhen the two neighbouring countries had similar tari ff structures. Otherwise goods for which transit
facility was allowed would flow back to the country from which they transited.
1.24 He noted that in order to boost trade facilitation in Pakistan, a number of initiatives had been
taken recently. These included the improvement of the legal framework. Customs tariff had been
simplified by reducing the number of national tariff headings, subjecting similar goods to the same
rate of duty, and reducing the number of tariff slabs to four. Furthermore, all customs rules andgeneral orders had been re-examined, updated and made available on the customs website as well as
in a printed format. Another step taken was the outsourcing of non-core functions.  Certain non-core
functions such as receipt of customs documents and screening of incoming goods at the international
airports had been outsourced. This had reduced discretion with customs and had made processing far
more efficient. Moreover, instead of 100 % checking, based on their risk profiling, certain importersand exporters had been given green channel/quicker clearance and generally no checking was done at
the time of import/export of goods. Efforts were underway to further expand the scope of such risk
profiling. Another step for modernization was to accede to international conventions regarding trade
facilitation such as the Amended Kyoto Convention and the TIR and Istanbul Conventions, and to
adopt other trade facilitation recommendations. Paki stan had already implemented the 2002 version of
the Harmonized System and the WTO Agreement on Valuation. As a result of these trade facilitation
measures, customs clearance of goods had been improved tremendously. Pakistan therefore fully
supported the work of the Council for Trade in Goods to clarify and improve Articles VIII and X
concerning Trade Facilitation.
1.25 The representative of Brazil thanked Australia and Chinese Taipei for their submissions which
would be looked at in detail and as well as the Secretariat for a very useful and competent job of
putting all the proposals in a simple and easy way for Members to be able to continue their work
during the following year. He would however not agree with his colleague from the European
Communities that the compilation was a good photograph of the work carried out over the years. It
was a good compilation of the proposals but it did not and was never meant to be a reflection of the
diversity of views that had emerged in the Council in the course of the discussions. He underlined that
his delegation remained to be convinced that there was a need to GATT Articles V, VIII, and X.
Brazil had no problems with the concept of trade facilitation, it was something that was undertaking
within Brazil. The benefits were evident and countries had been working autonomously on this issue.
Brazil's doubts related to the question whether binding rules were the best way to go forward. For
Brazil, the threat of taking members to dispute se ttlement was not the best approach to build up a
positive attitude in this field. That was why Brazil would prefer an approach that focused on nonG/C/M/67
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binding guidelines and best practices which would be  implemented over time with enhanced technical
assistance and capacity building initiatives. The representative also noted that Brazil had, at this stage,
some doubts as to the real commitment of the WTO to trade facilitation when the completion of the
harmonization work program for non preferential rules of origin was some five years overdue, even
though it was an agreement which in itself recognized its trade facilitating effect. He questioned thecommitment to trade facilitation due to the enor mous resistance to enhancing cooperation between
customs administrations in combating fraud in the area of customs shown in the discussions on
implementation issues. His delegation also questione d the commitment to trade facilitation in regard
of the extensive use of specific duties in place instead of the simpler and more transparent ad valorem
duties. Those specific duties penalized the most efficient players. Furthermore, he questioned the
commitment to trade facilitation in the light of th e prevalence of very non transparent administration
of quotas, and the number of trade distortive and trade restrictive measures which were still "legal"under WTO rules, which he had decided to not even mention.
1.26 Turning to the issue of special and differential treatment, he noted that he concurred with the
views expressed by the Philippines that this was not only a question of transition periods. The
experience from the Uruguay Round Agreements had shown that the mere granting of a longer periodfor implementation was not sufficient. Five years would not make up the difference between a
developing and a developed country. Therefore, Members should take an approach to special and
differential treatment that  would build it in from the beginning and not  just be an add-on at the end of
the exercise. The Brazilian representative underlined the need for an approach which would see an
effective commitment to really addressing the structural differences between countries, so that onewould not be faced again with the situation currently experienced in the CTD in special session, in
which the Doha mandate to make special and differential provisions effective and operational was
discussed, with nothing having been done. Brazil wished to avoid that situation in the trade facilitation
context.
1.27 The representative of Switzerland thanked all delegations for their papers, as well as the
Secretariat for a useful and good compilation. This compilation underlined that a lot of the proposals
and ideas were common and pointed in the same di rection. Examples of such common points were 1)
the need for public availability of information on laws and regulations related to trade procedures, 2)
the need for advance ruling, enquiry points, review and appeal procedures and due process, 3) the
application of the principles of non-discrimination, transparency and predictability; 4) In Article VIII,
the idea of having a better and clearer definition of fees as well as of having a list of permissible fees;5) Under Article VIII, the importance of simplifying data and document requirements; 6) Regarding
Article V, the need for customs formalities to be limited to the minimum necessary to pursue
legitimate trade objectives and to have no discrimination between modes of transport; 7) The fact that
technical assistance and capacity building were very important matters. In this context, the Swiss
representative noted that next year's discussions would have to put more emphasis on this item andneeded to present concrete proposals on how to enhance technical capacity and assistance building
work efficiently; and finally, 8) the fact that there should be no work duplication between the work of
the WTO and of other international organizations.
1.28 Switzerland agreed with Paraguay that the proposals should be made more specific and that it
would be a good idea for Members to share their experiences on how they rendered these Articles
efficient in their countries. The Swiss representative underlined that trade facilitation was important
for all Members, especially developing countries and small and medium enterprises. It was important
for Switzerland since 90 % of its enterprises were small or medium sized. The Swiss delegation saw
the Secretariat paper as a very good basis for deepening Members' discussions and pursue their workin 2003 in order to fulfill the Doha mandate. In conclusion, the Swiss representative stated that
binding rules on trade facilitation would provide the predictability needed by traders.G/C/M/67
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1.29 The representative of Korea joined the previous speakers in thanking Members for their
written proposals. Such contributions were very indicative for deepening the understanding of the
various elements of trade facilitation. He thanked the Secretariat for its compilation work, which
provided a very good basis for Members' future work in the process of deepening their discussions on
trade facilitation. Korea was pleased to note that all elements compiled in the paper were very muchalike and pointed at similar directions, and that despite some divergences in language and scope, they
tried to concentrate their discussion on the common elements. His delegation agreed with the
suggestions made by Paraguay, Canada and the European Communities on the benefit of introducing
their national experiences on trade facilitation and simplification. Korea was also considering to put
forward, at an appropriate time, a written submission on their national experience regarding the
benefits of introducing trade facilitation. They urged other Member countries to undertake similar
efforts to submit their national experiences.
1.30 The representative of the Czech Republic joined others in thanking the Secretariat for
preparing the compilation paper, which was a very useful tool for Members' discussion aimed at
clarifying and improving relevant aspects of Ar ticles V, VIII and X of GATT 1994. The document
was another proof of the high professional level of WTO staff. He also thanked all delegations whichhad submitted their proposals and enabled Members to have an extremely useful discussion. The
overall view on the proposals had provided them with  a clear picture regarding their main principles.
Transparency, predictability and non-discrimination seemed to be the basic principles which Members
wanted to see applied for the clarification and better implementation of the current rules.
Simplification was often understood as a means to reach that goal. The Czech Republic fully endorsedsuch an approach and would support arrangements designed to prevent the application or maintenance
of procedures, requirements and formalities in situations where the circumstances giving rise to their
introduction no longer existed and which could provide additional protection to domestic products.
1.31 However, since businesses operated in a re al and not a virtual world, the Czech delegation
supported simplification which would not provide room for circumvention of agreed standards. Rather
than abolishing some provisions with a view to si mplifying procedures, it would be more appropriate
to look for possibilities of reasonable standardization of documentation requirements and procedures
relating to export, import and transit. In other words, less variety of different documents, requirements
and procedures would be better than huge amounts of rather simple, but very different documents,
requirements and procedures all relating to the same operation. Practice had shown that where
differences in regulations and procedures were considered legitimate and justifiable by relevantdomestic authorities, the chance for standardization was weak. In particular, the state of economic and
social development, technological disparities or differences in administrative capabilities could be
considered as legitimate and justifiable reasons for maintaining differences in applied documentation,
requirements and procedures. Therefore, the picture of standardization would not be complete without
taking these concerns into account. In the view of the Czech Republic, an appropriate way to fulfil the
Doha Mandate and to address trade facilitation problems would be the use of good practices and
experiences that have previously been tested by bus iness. The architecture of future clarification and
improvement of Articles V, VIII and X should be in harmony with the principles set forth in the
GATT 1994, such as to raise standards of living, expand the exchange of goods and eliminate
discriminatory treatment in international commerce.
1.32 The representative of India associated herself with the comments made by the representative
from Brazil. India did feel that there had been detailed discussions on Articles V, VIII and X and that
the various provisions in this aim had been discussion at length. The Indian delegation was of the
view that, by and large, those three Articles had been working well. India was supportive of trade
facilitation. Her delegation was one of the most active Members in almost all international
Conventions currently in place in this regard, in some cases probably even more than some of the
proponents. Furthermore, India was autonomously carr ying out trade facilitation procedures because it
was something which was, as pointed out by Cana da, a win-win situation. However, India had strongG/C/M/67
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reservations on having binding rules at this point in  time since a number of countries were at different
stages of economic development. It would not be very advisable to make way for binding rules at this
stage. The Indian representative thanked Australia and Chinese Taipei for their presentations as well
as the Secretariat for its very useful compilation.
1.33 Turning to GATT Article V, she asked for clarification on a number of points raised in the
context of proposals on this article. Regarding the EC submission, India was concerned that any talks
on the clarification of the scope of GATT Article V should not lead to an unwitting commitment by a
Member under the General Agreement. Paragraph 5A of the EC's submission addressing the carriage
of oil, gas and other products via pipelines or other means would open a large number of issues which
are currently under discussion under GATS. The laying of pipelines involved questions of stationing
servicing personal for their maintenance and upkeep. India was not sure what purpose would beserved by bringing, at this stage, this issue under GATT Article V. Secondly, with regard to the EC's
observations on sensitive items which were subject to a high level of control during transit by way of
furnishing adequate security, India was of the view that the identification of categories of sensitive
items should be left to individual Member countries. The Indian representative underscored her
delegation's concerns with regard to infrastructure constraints and safeguarding revenues as importantcriteria for undertaking further simplification. Currently, documentation and data requirements for
transit were minimal in India.
1.34 Moving on to paragraph 5E,  the Indian representative underlined the importance of keeping in
mind that securities  were an important means of securing revenue and of preventing leakage of goods
in the transiting countries. These principals woul d be important for determining nature and amount of
securities demanded from transit operators which would need to be linked to the type of goods under
transit and the security level of the mode of transport. Turning to the Korean submission G/C/W/423,
the Indian representative sought clarifications on whether the suggestion of having a harmonized
document implied electronic exchange of information for countries concerned, as such an electronicexchange would require a large scale infrastructure development, which at present was beyond the
capacity of several developing and least developed countries. It was unlikely that a common set of
transit data would be agreed upon by all WTO Member countries keeping in light of the fact that a
significant number of transit agreements had their own data requirements. India would appreciate for
more information from the Korean delegation on this specific matter. Regarding simplified methods
of customs procedures for goods in transit, Korea had also suggested  risk based customs procedures.
In this context, India reiterated their strong concerns as to how a uniformed system of riskmanagement could be implemented given the different risk factors. The implementation of risk
management for transit purposes would be even more difficult than for import procedures, as there
would be no scope for a post clearance audit. Therefore, compliance measurement under any risk
assessment scheme would be very difficult. India would like to receive more information from Korea
on this issue and also appreciate suggestions on the different requirements for goods in transit with orwithout transshipment. India would be very interest ed in such suggestions which could be a positive
way of ensuring simpler transit.
1.35 Turning to the Canadian proposals on the issue of surety bonds, India stated that it would not
be desirable for sensitive goods or for goods where transportation was not carried out in secure pilferproof containers to dispense with requirements of security. The paper presented by UNCTAD in the
course of the previous meeting had pointed out that, at times, transit systems were not able to be
operational on account of lack of key institutions such as road transport associations and weak
banking and insurance firms. The provision of surety bonds would have to be linked to proper
banking systems. Similarly, if a large percentage of vehicles used in transit operations were to be theordinary open type of lorries which could not satisfy the technical requirements to meet the truck
pilfer proof, it might not be feasible to permit transit only under a system of surety bonds. In
discussing improvements of GATT Article V, it w ould therefore be important to take stock of the
infrastructure constraints which might hamper such improvement.G/C/M/67
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1.36 The representative of the United States thanked the Secretariat for its paper and delegations
for their submissions as well as for contributing so constructively to the discussions. Members had a
good basis for advancing next year. There were two issues she wanted to address, the paper by the
Secretariat and Australia's submission. The Secretariat compilation was particularly effective in
puling together the broad horizon of issues in a way that was both comprehensive and manageable.The structure of the paper was as valuable as its content as it would provide Members with a
framework to continue to address the elements they  needed to consider to clarify and improve GATT
Articles V, VIII and X as requested by the Doha mandate. The submissions by the United States had
been characterized as something other than proposals.  In this context, the US representative noted that
her delegation associated herself with the useful contributions made by other Members which had
tirelessly identified the often obvious mechanisms, best practices and other measures that would be
manifestations of improvement of the relevant aspects of GATT Article V, VIII and X. The US
delegation shared the view that the trading system would improve greatly with commitments related
to institutions of advance ruling regimes, more accessible publications (such as through the internet),
greater clarity with regard to fees, measures related to treatment of express shipments and numerous
other elements that would enhance transparency and efficiency at the border. The United States
agreed with many of the speakers who had stated that there was a convergence that these ideas weregood ideas. There remained the question on how these would be framed, but the US had not seen
anybody disputing that they were good practices to undertake.
1.37 With respect to the World Bank study cited by Canada, she noted that the benefits that would
accrue from countries undertaking trade facilitation improvements would accrue as a result of aconcerted effort. There were good reasons for their mandate to look for concerted improvements.
Turning to the Australian paper the US noted it wa s yet another excellent articulation that underlined
the advantages provided by more operational WTO rules on trade facilitation. She highlighted
Australia's observation that many of the proposed measures not only contributed to an enhanced
trading environment, but were also often a means for improving revenue collection and achievinggreater compliance by traders with domestic legal requirements related to importing goods.
1.38 The representative of Malaysia noted that since the current session  was a wrap-up session, he
would not go into the details of the various issues that had been discussed at the previous meetings.
He would only touch upon certain general issues. He felt that it was necessary to do so in order to
inject some balance into the discussion. He thanked delegations for presenting papers and the
Secretariat for having prepared the compilation. He agreed with other Members that it was a goodcompilation to work from but that it was only a compilation of proposals which gave no judgement as
to whether those proposals were acceptable or not. Malaysia felt a little concerned to see that some
delegations pressed the point that there was some convergence of views and that the proposals were
going into a common direction. It was of course true that the proposals went a common direction it
they all emanated from the demanders on this particular issue. There was no reflection of the otherside of the coin in the sense of the arguments that  had been put forward at the last few meetings in
disagreement with some, if not all of these propos als. Such balance had to be injected in the
discussions. Malaysia would share the view that, so far, there had been no violent objection to the idea
that trade facilitation was good and important and should be seen from the perspective of
development, especially that of developing countries. The main difference was as to how Memberswanted to pursue this particular development aspect of trade facilitation, whether rules were really
needed or not. The third bullet of paragraph 7 of the Australian paper reflected the kind of sentiments
or underpinnings of those demanders of binding ru les in the WTO and on trade facilitation. It stated
that rules would provide for the necessary political impetus so that one could simplify and modernize
trade procedures and carry out domestic reforms that otherwise might not occur even though theirdesirability was recognized. He considered this assumption not to be truly correct that countries were
not able to modernize nor carry out domestic reforms.  They were not keen to do so. There were many
reasons why countries could not do so such as the infrastructure, monetary and other constraints or
other constraints that had been mentioned and discussed during the past meetings. Institutional and
infrastructure building involved a lot of money.G/C/M/67
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1.39 He noted that if rules would become compulso ry and there were high or medium standards,
Members would have to implement such rules but if they did not have the means to do so, one could
no longer talk of a development issue, but rather of a compulsion that did not address the needs of
developing countries in the area of trade facilitation. Members should step back and look at the kindof problems faced by developing countries. He did not believe things could only be done in one way
and underlined the need to find creative solutions. Brazil had talked about certain guidelines and non-
binding principles. Even in places like APEC  or ASEAN non binding rules could be found. One
needed to give time to developing countries to ma tch up to the requirements needed internationally.
Such as balance needed to be injected. Turning to the World Bank study on what had been done in
APEC on trade facilitation, he noted that the study did not mention the costs of those measures APEC
countries had to spent. What would really help countries was to look at the breakdown of whatactually constituted trade facilitation measures. In the study, the part relating to administrative
procedures was not as big as the part relating to port logistic, which accounted for about 55 % of the
total amount needed to ensure that trade facilitation moved in a correct way, making port logistics the
single most important trade facilitating factor. Port logistics meant infrastructure and transportation.
The representative raised the question whether developed countries would provide developingcountries with sufficient money for that purpose. He stressed that although the question had been
raised on several occasions, it had never been answered. Everybody had said that one should not
duplicate and let other international organizations do it, but there was no assurance that it would be
done. The representative of Malaysia asked the proponents to really look into the kind of problems
that a lot of developing countries were encountering from a developing perspective.
1.40 The representative of Cuba thanked the Secretariat for an excellent compilation it had
provided to Members, as well as delegations for their submissions. Cuba appreciated the recognition
contained in Australia's document that it would not be desirable to establish commitments in the WTO
if Members did not have the capacity to implement appropriate measures. This coincided with the
concerns expressed by Brazil. Regarding the issue of technical assistance and capacity building, the
Cuban delegation was of the view that such assistan ce should go further than just allowing for less
onerous initial commitments and longer transition periods. It was necessary to actually seek forsolutions to the problems developing countries had with regard to poor infrastructure, insufficient
logistical services for the loading and unloading of goods, automation of customs procedures and
other areas. Cuba appreciated the recognition that account should be taken of the work carried out by
other organizations such as the WTO and UNCTAD among others. In conclusion, the Cuban delegate
reiterated the need for technical assistance and capacity building to be carried out in parallel with thereview of aspects relating to trade facilitation as provided for in the Doha declaration.
1.41 The representative of Singapore thanked the Secretariat for the compilation which had been
prepared upon Singapore's request. It was a good job as one could see the common theme. She agreed
with Korea that it would be a good basis for future work. Her delegation had taken due note of the
point raised by Malaysia on the fact that the document was a compilation of the written submissions
and that there were divergences of views on various elements. However, she wondered whether it
could  not still serve as a basis for further discussions since, for areas of particular need or wheresufficient views had been expressed, future discussion could start from that basis. Singapore very
much welcomed the Australian paper, which provided a very articulate overview of trade facilitation
work. The paper also picked up some of the themes that had been reflected in the Secretariat's
compilation, such as the publication and availability of laws and regulations, the streamlining of
procedures and requirements and the coordination between agencies. Her  delegation particularly
agreed with some of the comments made in paragraphs 8 and 9 of the Australian paper on a way
forward to incorporate a number of high level principles into GATT Articles. While  this was not
necessarily similar to the proposal put forward by Hong Kong, China earlier this year, her delegation
saw it as complementary. She recalled that when Hong Kong China had presented their paper, they
had very much supported this approach. She remarked that what was pertinent in paragraph 9 was theG/C/M/67
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balance between trade facilitation and control, as well as Australia's argument that many measures
used to facilitate trade were also control enhancing. This concurred with Singapore's experience. What
was needed was a closer relationship with the trading community for a better understanding of
patterns and industry cooperation against illegitimate trade. Singapore very much welcomed that the
Ambassador of Pakistan shared his country's experience with other Members. Considering his vastexperience, this provided an excellent on-the-ground perspective of what could be done.
1.42 The representative of Costa Rica joined other delegations in thanking the Secretariat for its
note which Costa Rica considered a great help, since it provided an overview of the proposals tabled
by delegations so far, which would facilitate the ensuing discussion when, as the European Union had
stated, such proposals could be defined and refined.  He agreed with the delegations which had stated
that the discussion on these proposals should focus on technical assistance in the light of national
experiences. Costa Rica hoped to contribute to this exercise in the future. His delegation also wishedto thank all delegations which had presented documents for the current meeting. These contributions
would add value to the proposals already tabled.
1.43 Costa Rica fully agreed that the implementation of trade facilitation measures would entail
significant benefits for the government, the productive sectors, especially for small- and medium-sized enterprises, as well as for the whole co mmunity in general. The implementation of trade
facilitation measures undoubtedly helped to attract investment and actively contributed to the general
welfare due to the increase in the volume of international trade transactions resulting from the gradual
elimination of barriers to trade in goods and servi ces. His delegation shared the view that having more
operational trade facilitation rules would bear a number of advantages, such as more consistent
implementation through harmonization, and greater transparency and predictability by means of clear
and strengthened rules. Costa Rica endorsed Austra lia's view that it was necessary to incorporate high
level principles for formalities and procedures, such as transparency, predictability, consistency, use
of modern risk assessment techniques, maximum practicable use of information technology and
cooperation between authorities into WTO rules. It was essential for the trade facilitation process
established at Doha to be developed by means of enhanced technical assistance and capacity building.
Furthermore, Costa Rica agreed that measures to this end should be an integral part of thesenegotiations so that Members, in particular developing countries, would have the capacity to
implement them.
1.44 The representative of Hungary thanked the Secretariat for their summary of the proposals,
which was a very useful document that could prom ote Members' further discussions, as well as help
them in their follow-up work in 2003. She also thanke d Chinese Taipei, the EC and Australia for their
recent contributions. Hungary was of the view that  a deeper examination of the different proposals
and the identification of their common elements would help Members fulfill their mandate for the
Cancún Ministerial Conference. The Hungarian Delegation agreed with the idea that introducing
national experiences would also contribute to this goal. Hungary was convinced that the identificationof trade facilitation needs and priorities of Members, in particular that of developing and least-
developed countries, was necessary for exploring concrete solutions to problems identified by them.
Therefore, the Hungarian delegation welcomed all the contributions to this effort.
1.45 The representative of Japan thanked the European Communities, Chinese Taipei and
Australia for their contributions as well as the Secretariat for its paper, which the Japanese delegation
had found very useful. The compilation would be a good base for Members' future work. The value of
the Secretariat paper lied its identification of elements, which due to its structured form allowed
Members to discuss the issues item by item. Japan understood that the compilation reflected only the
proponents' views because they were the only ones which had submitted papers in the previous
meetings. If there were specific concerns on specific items or elements, his delegation would focus onthinking about how to address these concerns and reduce the problems.G/C/M/67
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1.46 Turning to the Australian paper, he noted that his delegation welcomed this contribution of
which paragraphs 7, 8 and 9 were of particular interest. The Japanese representative noted that he had
worked with customs for nearly a decade and th at the balancing between the legitimate policy
objectives and trade facilitation was definitely one of his key concerns and interests. "Concerns"
would sound negative and "interest" positive, but one was talking about the same issue.  He had not
seen a country objecting to the benefits of trade facilitation per se  in the course of the previous three
meetings, but only noticed minor differences such as whether there was a need for binding rules on
trade facilitation. He noted that there were several trade facilitation initiatives on a national, regional
or sector specific basis such as customs sector. There was a need to have a common foundation
among those different initiatives. The concept of stand-still and roll-back in this field might be an
interesting idea. The WTO could set this minimal common foundation for trade facilitation and could
give the several initiatives a common direction.
1.47 The representative of Columbia expressing her gratitude for the diligence with which the
Secretariat had prepared the compendium on the proposals that had been presented throughout the
year. The compilation, along with comments and interventions made in the course of the meetings by
countries which had not presented written contributions would provide valuable input for the work in
the immediate future. Colombia also agreed w ith the idea of sharing national experiences.
Commenting on the remarks by the Japanese delegation, she noted that they would serve to strengthen
Australia's points on technical assistance and capacity-building, specifically on what they had
expressed in paragraphs 11 and 12 of their paper. A specific mentioning of these needs should be
made in parallel with technical assistance and capacity-building. In conclusion, the Colombian
delegation expressed their belief that the document presented a good panorama of the general aspects
related to trade facilitation. It was a good approach for closing the cycle of work carried out in 2002.
1.48 The representative of Canada highlighted the usefulness of the current wrap-up session and
expressed his appreciation of the fact that he found so many delegations participating in the
discussions. He was also pleased about the frankness with which the issues were raised. Reacting to a
number of points made by delegations, especially those expressing concerns about the nature of the
work and about where it would lead Members, he noted that was very important to keep such an
element in mind. He had taken note of the statement made by Brazil that he remained to be convinced
and noted that Canada would continue their dialogue . It was his hope walk side by side on the road to
Cancún. In case of diverging views, they had always tried to work them out in the most constructiveway. Turning to the statements made by Brazil and Malaysia, he noted that they had out their finger
on a very important aspect, namely the need to keep issues related to development front and centre.
He underlined that all Members seemed to recognize that trade facilitation generally was valuable.
This was illustrated by the fact that many countries had undertaken such efforts in this field on a
voluntary basis. His delegation recognised such efforts. A fundamental part of Members' work
programme were Members'  needs and priorities, especially those of developing countries. Therefore,
he would echo what had been said by Japan and su pported by Colombia that country experiences and
the further elaboration of the underlying concerns or reactions to the proposals would be useful. As
had been made clear by the Ambassador of Paraguay, interest in trade facilitation work was often
driven by export interest. One could not ignore that over the past fifteen years world trade flows hadevolved in a sense that it was not just south/north or north/south issue, but that there was a big
element of south/south trade, which had introduced a new dimension. As stated by the delegation of
the Philippines, Members should try to find out which of the various proposals would be the most
challenging. At the same time, Members should look at it from the perspective of to how these
measures could help enhancing their respective exports. This was a very important aspect to be kept inmind. Canada was very open as to how to address the various concerns and deepen the understanding
of the proposals and would welcome the contributions to this dialogue. National experiences could  be
useful in this regard.G/C/M/67
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1.49 Turning to the issue of binding rules, the Canadian representative noted that the term
"binding" was too much of a catch-all term and that it was misleading. As usefully pointed out by
Brazil, the main underlying concern related to the issue of binding rules was that of dispute
settlement, and as he had pointed out – building on what had been stated by Malaysia – there was
room for creativity. Canada saw the binding issue as closely related to the legal operationalization ofprinciples. Since Members were still discussing principles and ideas and taking into account the fact
that they had not yet started negotiations, it was premature to start discussions about the legal
operationalization of principles that still required further discussions before their elaboration.
Addressing the trade facilitation needs of all Members, taking into account what could be useful in the
WTO context, taking note on what was taking place in other fora, and of what was done
autonomously, should come before the legal assessment of how to operationalize these principles.
Only then could the legal nature be addressed. One should not put the cart in front of the horses. InCanada's experience with some of their trade agreements and trade facilitation measures (such as a
commitment to improve one's customs operations) it was not something that had created a very high
likelihood of dispute settlement. He underlined that there was room for creativity with regard to the
DSU. The real value of trade facilitation principles enshrined in the WTO was, as pointed out by the
U.S., that Members took collective actions, or collective commitments, as this could yield benefitsthat went beyond the sum of their individual effo rts. In that regard, he expressed his hope that
Members could continue the discussions and not let the binding or non-binding aspect be too much of
a deadlock in the further elaboration of those principles. He concluded by reiterating Canada's view
that there was room for creativity and that his delegation was  very open to further elaborating as to
how Members could best address developing countries' concerns in the context of their work.
1.50 The representative of Australia thanked the delegates for their comments. The current wrap-
up session provided a useful basis to summarize the work undergone over the last twelve months and
to set a pathway for the way forward.  As his Canadian colleagues, the Australian representative noted
he was conscious that one should not focus too much on the question of operation of rules, but that at
this stage, one needed to identify the principles  that should guide Members in their future work.
Japan's intervention had been quite useful in this context. Perhaps a first priority should be to identify
the minimum base level of those principles. Turning to the question raised by Hong Kong China as to
whether the issues listed in the Australian paper constituted an exhaustive list of principles, he noted
that the list was certainly not an exhaustive one. If Members wanted an exhaustive list of those
principles, they should turn to the Kyoto Conventi on and to the way in which those principles and
underlying ideas had been put into practice in, for instance, the APEC context. If one was looking at
examples for a non-binding process, one could turn to APEC where there was  a commitment by all
Members, depending on whether they were developing or developed, to implement a range of
measures by 2005 and 2010.  The voluntary nature of that process was, to some extent, removed by the
fact that heads of states had actually endorsed those underlying principles, so they were voluntary but
it was a question of having been told to volunteer.  This had also been the case regarding the accession
of new Members to the European Union, which had led to support for the customs code . He had seen
a number of presentations by new Members or prospective Members of the European Union on a
modernized customs systems they were implementing as a result. These examples underlined that
there exists a range of examples on which to draw on. The European Union had raised the issue of the
relationship between the work of the WTO and that of other international organizations. This questionhad already practically been answered by other delegations, which had stressed the need to build on
the work of those other institutions rather than duplicate them. Excellent work was currently carried
out. It was incumbent on the WTO to look at a way to take that work into account and reduce the level
of already existing duplication. Regarding another question raised by the EU on stable provisions and
on technical assistance and on what that would mean appeared to be very pertinent. He did not believeMembers had a magic bullet on that score but he was conscious of the work was already underway in
the World Customs Organization, specifically in the context of customs capacity-building. Turning to
the need of an assessment process, he noted that that was something for which results could be
expected in time for our next Council  sessions in June next year. There were examples that could be
taken into account. He noted that there had been a number of very useful presentations during theG/C/M/67
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WTO Customs Valuation Seminar last November that had looked at a framework for capacity-
building and at a strategic process underlying that framework. There could be value for this group in
looking at some of those framework proposals and at  a standardized approach to what was obviously
a very difficult question. This was related to issues that had been raised by his colleague from the
Philippines about the need for technical assistance as an essential part of this process. The pertinentquestion was "if all this had been outlined already in the Kyoto Convention what were Members
actually doing in the WTO forum?". This went back to a suggestion made  in the Australian paper that
one of the underlying benefits of the WTO was that it brought a great deal of political commitment to
what could otherwise be an isolated customs process. It was essential that Members looked for a way
forward.  Such a direction should provide Members with a greater degree of will and  commitment to
bring these measures into practical reality. The need to look at a global process, a holistic process,
was not something that would simply suit developed countries but one that would bring developingnations on board. Looking at it purely from a customs perspective, the representative expressed his
gratitude to have seen practical examples of that process by developing administrations from Africa,
Asia and from the Middle East. The latter were indeed implementing modernized customs systems
and working in concert with a whole governmental approach. In conclusion, the representative noted
that there were a lot of examples on which to draw upon and stated that there was a way forward forMembers that could be put in place over the next  twelve months by drawing on those examples and
on the work done in other institutions.
1.51 The representative of Nigeria joined other delegations in thanking the Secretariat for its
compilation of the documents. He also thanked other Members for their proposals to move the
discussion forward.  He noted that Members had frequently spoken about the benefits of trade
facilitation. He wondered if any Member was in doubt about the benefits that were accruable.
According to the Nigerian delegation, it was precisely due to this derivable benefits that many
Members had embarked on reforms. Nigeria had embarked on a series of reforms of its customs
administration, custom procedures and port modernization and also carried out other necessaryreforms. His delegation shared the vision of the possible streamlining and harmonization of
procedures, the simplification of documentation and would continue to support actions at other fora
aimed at achieving such a goal. However, his delegation believed that the issue of trade facilitation
was more about the improvement of infrastructures, modernization of procedures and training of a
wide spectrum of officials associated with the trade facilitation process and less about the
strengthening of rules or the signing of multilateral agreements. Nigeria was rather in urgent pursuit
of technical assistance. Signing agreements did not automatically translate into efficient tradefacilitation processes if infrastructure remained unimproved, or if the appropriate training was not
given to officials in charge of facilitating that trade.       
1.52 The representative of the OECD remarked that she wanted to give the gr oup some information
about the work that was taking place in the OECD concerning country practices with respect to the
proposals Members had been discussing during their last three meetings. Based on those proposals,
the OECD Trade Committee had decided that it was important to see how proposals could be put inpractice in a concrete way. It was impossible to well understand what these proposals could mean and
how to go about them without seeing how they coul d be concretely implemented. On the basis of the
past work that had been accomplished by the OECD Trade Committee on regulatory issues in
Member countries, the OECD had used its archive material as well as material from other sources
such as APEC, the WTO and national experience missions and the concepts that had been elaborated
in this context to prepare a series of papers on reflections about the implementation of trade
facilitation proposals presented in this group. The first part of the work concerning GATT Article X-related proposals had been made available a couple of weeks before the current meeting. A second
part of the work which was related to the implementation of GATT Article VIII had been made
available two days prior to the meeting. The representative noted that those papers were also available
on the public side of the OECD website.G/C/M/67
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1.53 The conclusions that had emerged from this work which reviewed 42 countries around the
world, of which 40 were already WTO Members with the other two being in the process of accession,
was that all the proposals had been implemented in various ways around the world. It was not only the
proposals that went in the same direction, but also na tional practices that went in the same direction.
This was the case because there were so many international instruments, including the Kyoto
Convention which had indicated the way forward. With respect to transparency and Article X, it had
become clear that many countries had already undertaken efforts in this direction by regularly
publishing information about existing and forthcoming rules and by making serious efforts to propose
this information in an accessible and user-friendly manner. The way this was done showed that one
could not talk about a single model. It was clear in this area that one size did not fit all, as there were
different development situations and different constraints in the different countries, so that Memberscould not all go about it in the same way but had to take into account the capacity of their respective
countries. Every country had however taken important steps forward.  Countries that did not yet have
automation in their customs procedures and that could not use the web to put forward information,
had used a mix of publications and help-desks, a telephone number that one could call, often 24 hours
a day, in order to get the needed information. The same was applied for consultation and feedbackmechanisms. Countries had tried to find their prop er way, according to their own needs, capacities,
and also with respect to consultations and their culture, since not every country did things in the same
way. One would see from the paper that there were many interesting models that could be used in this
direction.
1.54 Turning to Article VIII on simplification, she noted that one important point that had
appeared was that there were two main driving fo rces towards simplification efforts. One of them
being the international momentum, regional agreements and bilateral agreements. This had been a
very important driving force. According to a recent survey, around 71% of the surveyed countries
indicated that globalization was their main driving force in simplifying their customs procedures. Theother concern was enhancing domestic efficiency. In the last part of the study some indications were
given on the benefits that had accrued to different countries, including developing countries, in
modernizing and streamlining their procedures, mainly in the area of revenue enhancement,
combatting corruption and enhancing the activity of customs administration. One could also find in
the study a whole series of measures that could be undertaken both with traditional and automated
means. Automation enhanced efficiency but it appear ed that it was not absolutely indispensable. As
had already been said by many Members, countries that did not have the capacity to go in thatdirection could start on a more modest level. There was no need to implement the same measures at
the same time. Important advances and benefits could be reaped by taking even modest measures such
as customs streamlining and simplification. A third paper on transit procedures should be issued next
year. She informed Members about a new study that had recently been commissioned by her
constituencies, asking to take up a number of case studies of developing countries' customs reforms. Ifthe appropriate information could be collected, the aim would be to underline the net benefits of trade
facilitation measures in the sense of their cost and benefits during the first years of implementation of
such trade facilitation measures. She concluded by noting that the study should be published in
February and would be made available to WTO Members.
1.55 The Chairman observed that Members had exhausted the discussion on the first sub-heading of
this agenda item. He therefore suggested to mo ve on to the second one, trade facilitation needs and
priorities of members, particularly of developi ng and least developed c ountries. In the previous
discussions, a few Members had informed the Council on some of their particular needs and priorities in
the area of trade facilitation, and several others had announced the preparation of submissions on this
matter. The Secretariat had prepared a background document compiling all information submitted to it
since 1996 to support the discussion and trigger the submission of additional communications.
Delegations had been in agreement on the importan ce of receiving Members' inputs on this matter (in
the form of national experience papers or other documents), especially from developing and least
developed ones, for a substantial advancement of the discussions on the matter. One Member, theG/C/M/67
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Separate Customs Territory of Taiwan, Penghu, Kinm en and Matsu had followed that up and prepared a
written submission on its experience with e-customs (G/C/W/440), which he would now like to invite its
representative to introduce.
1.56 The representative of Chinese Taipei noted that is was his pleasure to share his delegation's
experience with one of the most important aspects in trade facilitation, namely the question of how to
set up an efficient and reliable customs system. The paper contained instructions on an electronic
customs clearance system that had added tremendous value to trade facilitation. It would demonstrate
how e-customs systems facilitated trade. The representative noted that two of the biggest problems
that most WTO members were probably currently facing were: 1) strong demand for rapid cargo
movement to meet the needs of the just-in-time economy, and 2) concerns about security. At the same
time, he pointed out that most of the Customs administrations around the world were probably alsofacing two major problems: 1) ever increasing volu mes of trade, and 2) Customs resources that had
remained static or even decreased in recent years. It would go without saying that Customs played an
important role in trade facilitation. Given these conditions and concerns, Chinese Taipei had decided a
few years ago to strengthen the automation, facilitation, transparency and risk management aspects of
its operations.
1.57 Turning to the upgrading of the computer system, the representative of Chinese Taipei
remarked that an efficient computer system was the basis for clearance facilitation, for ensuring
transparency and for risk management. In order to expedite clearance and to provide Customs officers
with the tools needed to conduct profiling and targ eting activities, which in turn would ensure that
legitimate trade passed through Customs unimpeded, they had upgraded their air-cargo clearance
system in 2000, and were planning to upgrade the ocean-going clearance system by the end of 2004.
They had also established an Internet Declaration Environment and an Application Services Provider
(ASP) to offer declarants the facility of using a number of channels for filing their declarations
directly with Customs via the Internet. This would help to reduce transmission fees and facilitateclearance processing. In addition, a computer gateway has been created for the purpose of promptly
providing import and export information to relevant authorities, as a reference for decision-making,
thus helping to increase overall administrative efficiency.
1.58 Regarding clearance facilitation the representative noted that over the past few years,
Customs had implemented many trade facilitating measures. He informed that the average clearance
time for ocean-going cargo and air-cargo had been reduced to 1.95 hours and 0.38 hours respectively,and that the average examination rate had been reduced to the level of around 8%. At the same time,
manpower had been reduced by 4.37 per cent in 10 years while workload had almost doubled over the
same period. Chinese Taipei had to carry out various supplementary measures, so as to provide a
round-the-clock clearance service. These measures in cluded the following:  a) Pre-entry clearance;   b)
Simplified express consignment clearance based on their natures and values;  c) Paperless clearanceprocedures;  d) Computer interface between the Customs and licensing agencies to increase bypassed
declarations;  e) Advance ruling of classifications;  f) Consolidated clearance operations for transit
and trans-shipment cargo;  g) Establishment of stra tegic partnerships with stakeholders to promote
facilitation and enforcement;  h) Intensify post-clearance audit to increase bypassed declaration;  i)
Duty payment facilitation;  and j) Strengthen risk management to lower examination rate.
1.59 Turning to clearance transparency the representative noted that in order to enforce informed
compliance, to reduce the work load and provide importers and exporters with a clear view of the
declaration processing procedures so as to prevent them from being defrauded by unscrupulous
brokers or customs officers, the Customs web site contained the following key information:  a) Aninquiry facility on the Customs Clearance Database to monitor the flow of cargo clearance;  b) An
inquiry facility on customs tariffs and duty rates;  c) Advance tariff rulings inquiry facility to enable
advance assessment of import costs;  d) Trade statistics inquiry facility for learning about the trends of
trade;  e) Full text searches of customs laws a nd regulations;  and f) Single window service for
clearance problems. On the issue of risk management the representative underlined that expeditingG/C/M/67
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clearance operations without jeopardizing national security, had become a big challenge for their
Customs. In addition to the measures mentioned earlier, Chinese Taipei had also implemented a risk
management mechanism to help them meet the challenge. The representative stressed that customs
services around the world today could not carry out their mission successfully without employing risk
management techniques, particularly in view of the incidence of commercial fraud and smuggling.Targeting high-risk consignments for physical examination using risk assessment techniques should
not only ensure the normal flow of legitimate goods and passengers, but it could also help them to
effectively crack down on illegal trading practices.
1.60 In conclusion, the representative recommended that, as an efficient computer system provided
the basis for Customs clearance facilitation, transparency and risk management, the WTO should
consider developing a technical assistance program to help those countries who did not have a modernor effective automated clearance system. Furthermore, he strongly recommended the WTO to
promote the use of risk management techniques in Customs enforcement. He stressed that over the
past decade, such techniques had managed to simplify Customs formalities to create fully automated
Customs operations and prevent illegal trade practices. As a Member of the WTO, his delegation
would be very happy to exchange their experiences with that of other Members. It was his hope thatthis  would contribute to the creation of a more favorable international trade environment within the
WTO multilateral trading system in the future.
1.61 The representative of the European Communities raised two questions addressed to the
delegation of Chinese Taipei regarding their paper, wh ich he considered to be an extremely interesting
document. The paper noted that Chinese-Taipei was implementing an operation technique which was
still very much in the planning stage in the European community. The Communities had a program
for full automation and modernization of customs, the e-customs 2007, which would be veryimportant in consolidating the larger 25 Member internal market. He stressed that what Chinese-
Taipei was currently operating was something whic h the EC was in many respects, still aspiring
towards. His first question to Chinese Taipei was about the costs of its automation of customs.
Various views had already been expressed in this group on the cost of implementing trade facilitation
measures. Two school of thoughts emerged:  1) The first one holding that it was prohibitively costly,particularly for some developing countries, to introduce quite sophisticated systems of IT automation,
and 2) a second one advocating that trade facilitation was more about reengineering management
techniques then about the cost of hard infrastructure. The EC representative stated that for many
developing countries, the cost could be quite low because they could leapfrog technology more easily
then developed countries. His question was on the experience of Chinese Taipei in terms of the costsof such customs reform. In particular, he would like to know how rapidly, if at all, it had been
possible to recoup costs,  assuming it was possible to measure such a phenomenon. Furthermore, he
wondered what had been the cost-benefit analysis they  had been able to make in terms of introducing
these quite sophisticated systems of automation.
1.62 His second question to Chinese Taipei was on their system of authorized traders which they
referred to in their paper. There was an annex to their paper which settled out the domestic rules for
granting authorized traders particular privileges. This was something the European Communities had
proposed in this group. The EC looked at it in terms of a commitment to introduce domestically a
system for  authorized traders. He was wondering to what extent only very large companies had been
able to comply with their rules for authorized trader s, and to what extent it had been possible for small
and medium sized enterprises to meet the complian ce criteria for the purpose of being granted this
privileged status. This was an issue the European Commission had already raised in this group but on
which they had not received a clear answer.
1.63 The representative of Chinese Taipei replied that it had taken Chinese Taipei about five
million US dollars  to improve and enhance its air cargo clearance system and that Chinese Taipei  was
about to spend six point five million US dollars to upgrade its ocean cargo clearance systems whichG/C/M/67
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was to be finished by the year 2004. As regards the internet clearance environment he noted that this
was decided at the cabinet level, which was he could not give the precise budget figures right now.
Concerning the privileges given to the importers to enjoy lower examination rates, he noted that
Chinese Taipei Customs had conducted a compliance measurement. It was possible to correct the
discrepancies both of the small and big importers to  evaluate their compliance rates so that whether or
not they could enjoy the privilege be based largely on their results of compliance measurement. In his
view, compliance measurement was one of the important measures taken for risk measurement, and it
was fair to both big and small importers.
1.64 The representative of the European Commission wondered whether there had been any
attempt to quantify the return on that investment.1.65 The representative of Chinese Taipei replied that Chinese Taipei did not expect to recoup
these costs from the businesses. The intention of their customs administration was to provide a service
to the business sector in order to promote the development of the economy. That was the main
purpose, which was why the question of recouping the costs was not a concern of Chinese Taipei'scustoms administration. But if Chinese Taipei could further develop its economy and business
managed to earn more money through its business operations, then it could of course collect more tax.
1.66 The representative of Pakistan addressed a number of questions to the representative of
Chinese Taipei on their paper, which he considered to be very interesting, since it provided good
information on what Chinese Taipei had done so far in this area and on the steps they had taken for
electronic clearance. Regarding the issue of paperless clearance procedures, he was seeking further
elaboration on three concepts mentioned when talking about paperless clearance procedures regardingbypassed import/export declarations. The representative wondered about the meaning of "bypassed"
in this context and noted that since it was under the heading paperless clearance procedures, how the
declarations were made regarding import/export manifests and if the same was applied to
import/export manifests and import/export release notices.
1.67 The representative of Chinese Taipei explained the meaning of "bypassed declaration" by
noting that it meant that goods could pass through customs without cargo examination and
documentary review. Importers could therefore claim their cargoes immediately. They no longerneeded cargo intervention and documentary review. If pre-arrival entries had been conducted, the
cargo could be released prior to its arrival. If th ey had not been selected for cargo examination the
cargo could be immediately  released without any cargo examination and documentary review. Such
an expedited process was carried out for about 80 % of the air cargo and for about 60 % of the ocean
going cargoes . Turning to the second question on the import/export manifest and the import/export
release notice, the representative underlined that the import/export manifest was now paperless. The
shipping company and the airlines had to transmit thei r data before the arrival of the airplane or the
ship. The data was then transmitted through electronic data interchange. Customs were able conduct
their selectivity based on electronic data. It was no longer necessary to file written manifests. Customs
could review the manifest and conduct cargo selectivity and document review based on the electronicdata shown on the monitor of the computer. The termination of the process was then noticed
electronically. An electronic notice was send from customs to the warehouse owners telling them to
release the cargo. It was therefore no longer necessary to actually send a paper note to the warehouse
owners to release the cargoes. All that was required was to press the button on the computer and send
an electronic measure to the warehouse owners to release the cargoes. It was therefore a paperlessnotice.G/C/M/67
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1.68 The representative of the United States thanked Chinese Taipei for submitting a detailed
paper laying out the innovative techniques they were using. She noted that this had been very helpful
to the discussions of the Council.
1.69 The representative of Pakistan raised a query regarding the establishment of strategic
partnerships and stakeholders. The paper by Chinese Taipei had stated that the customs department
established strategic partnerships with reputable firms and that they worked with the customs
department in combating smuggling and that in return, they would get certain privileges such as lowercargo examination rates and waivers of cargoes escorting.  He wondered if this strategic partnership
resulted in a profiling done by the customs administration, and if that was the case, what treatment
was accorded to firms which did not enjoy this strategic partnership.
1.70 The representative of Chinese Taipei  noted that, as he mentioned earlier, in the 21
st century,
most customs around the world would face major problems. One of these problems was limited
resources. Resources of customs remained at the same level or even decreased. Most customs
administrations around the world would face the same problems. Because of limited resources,governments had to invite businesses to help them. The partnership between customs and business
had become closer and closer, especially the relationship between the customs and the express
consignment carriers because of the short clearance time. Since customs resources were limited it was
necessary to establish a partnership with the businesses. If the businesses enjoyed the facilitation they
also had to share part of the responsibility. The partnership between customs and business was notimplemented for them to enjoy the privileges. Th e main purpose was to have the business community
share part of the responsibility of enforcement and facilitation. In order to encourage them to comply
with the customs laws and the regulations, Chinese Taipei would allow those who met the
requirements of higher compliance rates to enjoy privileges. Those who did not comply with the
customs organizations were encouraged to undertake improvements. These enterprises were undersurveillance by authorities and, thanks to the compliance measurement that was imposed on them to
measure their improvement, they were allowed to enjoy privileges if they headed in the right
direction.
1.71 The representative of Australia joined the United States in congratulating Chinese Taipei for
their paper, which was a very good example of the kinds of innovative practices all Members were
aspiring to achieve. In many ways it provided concrete examples of the principles that had beendiscussed. Looking at a program for the following y ear, it certainly provided some practical examples
of the way ahead. Turning to the question raised by  the representative of the European Communities
on the hidden costs that should be acknowledged, he stressed it did not only imply the costs on the
customs administration in terms of developing new systems or of modernizing older systems but also
the cost on older systems and the cost of complianc e with the new systems for the industry. He noted
that Australia was in the situation where they had had online systems in one way or the other since the
early 1970s, which were now being comprehensively changed and modernized. Such a change
involved certain costs, accounting for about  40-45 million Australian dollars purely from the customs
perspective. While this did not constitute an inconsiderable cost, moving to internet based systems
would entail savings in communication charges. Ther e would also be savings due to more efficient
information processing by customs. He noted that Australia was in the ironic position that the older
systems had worked very well, which was why there was some resistance from their industry clients,
which did not want to change a system that was perfectly adequate for their own needs. But the
Government was planning ahead for the next 10 y ears, and had therefore embarked on these upgrades.
Moving on to the question raised on strategic business partnerships, the representative remarked thatAustralia was looking at a similar program, the accredited client program. One of the issues for them
was the cost of complying with that program. He noted that they had a reasonably sophisticated audit
process and that at this stage only larger companies were involved with that process simply because of
the costs of those audits. Australia was looking at a way to render prices more streamlined so that they
could engage small and medium enterprises. A very good example of a strategic business partnershipG/C/M/67
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process was that of Sweden. Sweden customs had put in place what they called a stairway program.
There were currently five steps in the stairway, covering both large and small companies. He
suggested that if one was searching for examples of su ccessful practices, that was certainly to look at.
He noted that his delegation could furnish some de tails about their own modernization program to the
Group and suggested that members should consult the Australian Customs website(www.customs.gov.au) for this information.
1.72 The representative of the European Commission addressed some further questions to Chinese
Taipei. He noted that the Communities, from the cu stoms angle, were very interested in the paper
from Chinese Taipei, which had touched upon several of the specific points contained in the
compilation document. It was very interesting to look at a set of initiatives which used IT technology
and related techniques. The paper showed that one could effectively get benefits from this technology
across the spectrum of Articles V, VIII and X, and that it kept adding new benefits in terms offacilitation. He noted that, like everybody else, the EC was, more and more recognizing the
opportunities offered by IT technology.
1.73 Referring to a few points indicated by Chinese Taipei, the EC representative stressed that
concrete benefits could and increasingly were actually made available by customs administrations. Inthis context, he highlighted the benefits of exchanging information and entering into a dialogue with
countries on this matter. Countries could learn from these experiences and therefore would not have to
continually reinvent the wheel. As pointed out by Australia, some Members with older systems had
found out that introducing new technologies such as internet and the so-called specialist languages at
a later stage had given them a competitive advantage, since it was much cheaper for these countries to
introduce these tools. Those countries did not have to start from the scratch and did not have the
problem of adjusting previous systems and go through all the stages some other countries had to gothrough, but they could start straight with applying  those new technologies. Therefore, they appeared
to have been well advised to have waited. He wondered where this would lead them in facilitation
terms.
1.74 Turning to what was being done by the European Communities the EC representative
remarked that the EC had realised that in or der to fully profit from information technology
opportunities, it was necessary to look back at their own legislation. The Communities were therefore
currently looking at the possibility of changing thei r own customs laws. In this context, he noted that
it could be very helpful if there was some leadership and guidance in organizations such as the WTO
where one could feel that Members had a common approach. As already noted by Australia, Swedenhad a very good system in that regard, called th e Stairways system, which could be compared with
what Chinese Taipei was doing by offering increased facilitation to operators meeting higher and
higher standards. One point the EC wanted to emphasize was that there was a level of basic
simplification that was available to all. This really was the goal for all Members: having high level
basic simplification to traders who were approved for that purpose. But one could always go beyondthat and, provided the trader was a good pupil or candidate, offer increased facilitation. His delegation
would have a number of questions to Chinese Taipei  about how they assessed partners in that respect.
He remarked that the EC was currently developing a kind of accreditation system. He noted that it
might not be the appropriate time right now to raise all these questions but suggested to do so
informally at a later stage. The EC would certainly like to enter into a dialogue with Chinese Taipei
on how they created these partnerships and how strictly they ran them. In conclusion, he stressed that
his delegation saw great benefits in having some kind of standardized or common views of the ruleswhich were applied by administrations in order to give traders the maximum benefits. He underlined
the EC's readiness to further discuss issues such as simplified procedures, strategic partnerships or
compliance programs.
1.75 The representative of Cuba thanked the delegation of Chinese Taipei for sharing their
experience. He  noted that what had been a positive experience for Chinese Taipei had required a lotG/C/M/67
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of investment, and that the activities had not succeeded only thanks to investments, but also because
of longer time available. This correlated with what had been said on trade facilitation-related technical
assistance and capacity building having to include infrastructure, operations of loading/unloading and
automation. This was what Cuba had said from the very beginning when Members talked about
capacity building.
1.76 The Chairman noted that since there were no further requests for the floor, he would like to
move to the last sub-heading of our first agenda item: technical assistance and capacity building. Here,
the previous meetings had seen Members agreeing on the importance of such assistance, with several
Members outlining the many difficulties encounter ed in their endeavours to facilitate trade.  Members
had also been briefed and updated by a number  of donors on the technical assistance and capacity
building activities they were undertaking, covering both other Members and inter-governmental
organizations such as UNCTAD, the WCO, the OECD and the WTO. One of these Members, theEuropean Communities, had announced the preparation of another submission on this matter, which had
been made available for the present meeting (G /C/W/442). He explained that the paper gave an
overview of trade-related assistance activities undertaken by the EC and its Member countries.
1.77 The representative of the European Commission recalled that the EC had already on previous
occasions set out proposals on how to cooperate regarding technical assistance in the future under a
WTO framework. The present paper was not another proposal but simply a note for the information of
Members. The EC's intention was to inform on what the Communities were doing or planning to do
over the next four or five years in the field of technical assistance for trade facilitation. Referring to
some delegations' previous remarks that they were carrying out trade facilitation measures
autonomously even without there being any WTO rules in place, he  noted that EC was also providing
rather large amounts of technical assistance autono mously and voluntarily even without there being
any WTO rules in place. The representative outlined that the EC paper contained information on their
assistance programs for the next five years, both in terms of short term programming and longer term
development aid. Most of the information contained in the listed programs was about EC funded
programs, but  there was also some information about some of the programs provided by some of
their Member States. He remarked that as they would get more information from other EC Member
States on their programs, this would be added to update the note accordingly. When looking at the
current document Members would see that the geographical scope of the EC aid was quite broad. The
Communities had had provided assistance in this field to countries in every part of the world and at
many levels of development. Referring to the table setting out the EC programming, he noted that it
excluded the aid provided to EU accession candidates. This assistance, which represented a largeinvestment, was carried out through separate programs. The representative noted that the scope of EC
technical assistance programs in this field was not exclusively for customs reform or trade facilitation
in a narrow sense. In a number of cases, the EC provided trade-related  systems across a number of
areas which included trade facilitation, but with the decision as to how much of the assistance flowing
towards customs reform or towards upgrading SPS or TBT infrastructure being largely up to therecipient country. Not all of the programming and the funding would therefore necessarily exclusively
be devoted to customs reform. It really was a choice of the recipients.
1.78 Apart from national programs, a large number of the activities aimed at improving regional
integration. As pointed out during the morning session, the benefits of facilitation measures were
multiplied to the extent that they could be carried out on a multilateral or on a regional basis, rather
than simply nationally. It was a question of common sense that things like trying to upgrade transitregimes or customs border facilities were much more productive when carried out at the regional or
sub-regional level. Therefore, many of the EC programs were developed and implemented hand in
hand with their negotiations of free trade agreements with other regions such as MERCOSUR or with
ACP countries. An effort was therefore made to match regional negotiations and WTO work, with
technical assistance being provided to support both. In addition to the EC funded aid identified in its
paper, the EC had also provided some information on the European Investment Bank regarding softG/C/M/67
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loans for infrastructure as well as information on two or three of their Members States programs. In
addition, the paper also contained a short background note setting out in very simple and perhaps even
simplistic terms what a typical assistance program in trade facilitation looked like. This was a note
used by the EC for internal purposes and send to al l of its delegations in third countries to help them
understanding what trade facilitation was about so as to be better prepared when discussing theprojects with third country governments. This was why delegations would find this short explicative
note attached to the paper.
1.79 Turning to the point made by some delegations that this issue was all about technical
assistance and not so much about rules, he commented that the conclusion of the European
Communities was that it was about both.  One clearly had to avoid a situation in which Members
would negotiate some commitments without having the means to implement them. That would be a
recipe for disaster and a situation all Members wanted to avoid. He was however convinced that the
development of some commitments in the WTO on this subject would be an important catalyst to
ensure technical assistance as such commitments would set some common standards and parameters
to which future aid programs assistance could be directed. Secondly, WTO commitments increased
the likely-hood that trade-related assistance would be effective, because by taking commitments in the
WTO, Members demonstrated a high level of "political will" and seriousness and that both were a
pre-condition for successful implementation of an y kind of aid. Furthermore, if Members could
develop some provisions in the WTO in this area, that would and should lead to higher levels of
assistance being provided both in terms of quantit y and quality. It would increase the interest and the
incentive for the private sector, which already invested heavily in assistance and infrastructure aroundthe world to further invest on an even larger sc ale, as WTO commitments guaranteed the required
basic predictability. The representative noted that there was a very direct relationship between
possible future WTO commitments, the quality and quantity of future systems and the accompaniment
of investment and aid from the private sector. He stressed that the Doha Declaration engaged
Members to provide technical assistance both as part of this process and in the longer term andexpressed his hopes that by tabling this paper he was able to demonstrate that the European
Communities had taken this commitment to provide technical assistance in this important field very
seriously.
1.80 The Chairman noted that if there were no further interventions on this issue, he would like to
take up a matter from the last meeting before closing the discussions on the current agenda item. He
recalled that at the October session, the WCO had presented a compendium of capacity building tools
available at the WCO. The document had been well received by Members, which is why he wanted toseek Members' approval to making it an official CTG document, the way it had been done in the case
of the WCO's previous papers.
1.81 The Council agreed.
1.82 The Chairman observed that Members seemed to have come to an end regarding their
discussions of the first agenda item. He remarked that while it was not his intention to summarize the
discussions, he had noted that regarding GATT Articles V, VIII and X, delegations had reverted to the
previous three sessions, summarizing the discussi ons and highlighting common elements identified in
their course. Several Members had pointed at conclusions drawn and lessons learned from the
exchange of views, and highlighted elements they consider to be of particular importance for
Members' current and future work on the facilitation of trade. As in the past, Members had been inagreement on the importance of trade facilitation with many delegations highlighting the various
benefits of this process. In this context, some delegations had reported on efforts undertaken in their
respective countries in this regard. Delegations had also referred to the previous discussions as a
reference point for future work, with some of them indicating how they would like to pursue work in
2003.G/C/M/67
Page 27
1.83 With respect to the proposals, he noted that several Members had expressed support for the
measures suggested therein, while others had raised and concerns and expressed reservations, both in
terms of the need to clarify and improve the three Articles and feasibility questions for developing
countries in the light of their different levels of development. In this context, the importance of
technical assistance had once again been underlined. Repeated reference had been made to thequestion of whether or not to develop binding rules in this area. Here, the supporters of such rules had
highlighted the need for and the benefits of such ru les and indicated their willingness to grant special
and differential treatment and as well as flexibility with respect to implementation questions. Other
Members had not been convinced that there should be binding rules, calling for a non-binding
approach (such as guidelines or principles). Some Members had even expressed reservations
regarding the need to clarify some of the existing rules.
1.84 Turning to the second sub-item, the identification of trade facilitation needs and priorities, the
chairman observed that there had been an interesting exchange of views on national experiences, with
Members agreeing on the usefulness of such an exercise, which was why the exchange of information
on national experiences would probably be carried forward in the coming phase of the work program.
On the third sub-item, technical assistance and capacity building, Members had been updated onvarious assistance activities carried out by donor countries, especially those undertaken by the
European Communities.
1.85 The representative of Canada thanked the chairman for his summary which had adequately
described in a very factual fashion some of the discussions that had taken place. As regards the
binding issue, he stressed that there was an addi tional dimension. As had been raised by another
delegation, the binding issue was an issue of legal operationalisation of principals. While bindings
would have to be addressed in the context of the finalization of disciplines on trade facilitation, this
was to be done at a later stage. Therefore, there was the possibility of momentarily putting the issue of
binding rules aside without prejudging the outcome of future work, and to continue developing ideason the principles. For the Canadian delegation this was an important aspect to keep in mind as work
progressed.
1.86 The representative of the United States joined Canada in their views expressed. She noted that
the issue of binding versus non binding had been more expressed in summary statements than in the
Group's actual debate. It therefore appeared somewh at premature to engage in that discussion when
Members had still not fully explored and defined the principles. Members were all working
constructively on those principles and there was no need to create a big division in the group bymaking the binding question a major issue. It would surely come up at some point but what was
important for Members right now was to define what issues were important in the trading system.
1.87 The Chairman noted that his summary had only aimed at reflecting the discussions. This issue
had come up in the previous three meetings that Members had had. The discussions on the subject
would have to continue during the coming year. It would be for Members to decide what kind of
approach to adopt. The Chairman noted there would have to be consensus and remarked that the issue
would continue to feature in the ongoing discussions.
1.88 The representative of Australia associated himself with the statements made by Canada and
the United States, and the chairman's recognition of their points made.
1.89 The representative of the Philippines expressed her appreciation for the clarifications
regarding the binding or non-binding issue. Her delegation was not looking at it in this sense because
they wanted to see where they were and, as had been raised by some delegations, Members should not
put a big screen on the discussions because of this very sensitive topic.G/C/M/67
Page 28
1.90 The Chairman noted that, given the current state of work, one was not in a position to judge
what the outcome would be. He stressed that the discussions would have to be carried forth during the
coming year and remarked that things would then perhaps become more clear. One would see what
kind of consensus would be achieved, and how Members would approach this particular subject in
Cancún.
1.91 The Council took note of the statements made.
II. TRADE FACILITATION: ORGANISATION OF FUTURE WORK
2.1 The Chairman recalled that when adopting the Trade Facilitation Work Program, Members had
agreed that the last meeting should "be a forum for an overall discussion of items (i) - (iii) and also
serve to discuss the organisation of future work." In line with this work program, Members would
now take up this matter, which involved an agr eement on how to structure work in 2003, both in
terms of number and duration of meetings, as well as of their core agenda items. In the light of the
upcoming Fifth Ministerial, which would set the stage for post-Cancún trade facilitation work, "future
work" would have to be interpreted in the sense of a reference to the pre-Cancún period. Members
should therefore try to agree on a Work Program for the time from January to September 2003. He
noted that when Members had met to agree on an work program for 2002, the situation had been more
difficult, as there had not been any reference point at that stage. Now, with the experience of the 2002
Work Program, consensus might be a bit easier, as it could provide some valuable reference and
guidance as to how Members would like to organize work next year. He was hopeful that delegationswould be able to get an agreement on this matter at the current session.
2.2 The Chairman noted that based on consultations with a fairly large number of delegations on
this matter he had detected convergence of views to hold at least two meetings in 2003, and to review,
after the second meeting, whether or not there was a need for a third session. There was also the
shared view that the duration of the meetings should be the same as the ones held over the course of
the current year, which had lasted 2 days of which one and a half days had been devoted to trade
facilitation, with the remaining half dedicated to normal CTG items. He informed delegations that, ina situation where it was necessary to book meeting rooms well in advance, the Secretariat had acted to
tentatively reserve certain days, which could be used for that purpose. The first such date was 12
March 2003, with the room being reserved starting in the afternoon and continuing over 13 March.
The other half the meeting – where Members would have the option to take up "normal" CTG
business would have to be held on the afternoon of 14
th. He explained that the meeting could not be
held on the morning of the 14th as it had not been possible to get a room for that time. In his view, this
should however not pose a problem for delegations as the officials coming for trade facilitation
matters were normally different from those attending the meetings on the normal CTG items. As
regards the second meeting, he had sensed a preference for it to held in May in the course of his
consultations, but unfortunately it had not been possible to find an appropriate day in May due to the
heavy overall meeting schedule. However, the Secretariat had managed to reserve a slot for the 2nd
and 3rd of June, of which the first day and the morning of the second day could be used for trade
facilitation, with the afternoon of 3 June being reserved for "normal" CTG business. Finally, if it was
to be agreed by Members that delegations should meet for a third time, there where two options for
such a third session in the month of July. It could either take place on the 3rd and 4th of July, or be held
on the 29th and 30th of July. These were the two possibilities.
2.3 As regards the agenda, the chairman noted he had received the impression that most
delegations agreed to follow the 2002 Work Program,  dealing with GATT Articles V, VIII and X in a
first agenda item, the identification of trade facilitation  needs and priorities in a second item and
technical assistance and capacity building as a third agenda item. This was the understanding he had
detected in the course of his consultations. He expressed his hope that the suggested approach wasG/C/M/67
Page 29
acceptable to all Members, both in terms of the number and duration of the meetings as well as
regards the agenda items to be taken up.
2.4 The representative of the United States stated that her delegation could generally go along
with the meetings schedule. Regarding the dates for the possible third meeting, she noted that it would
not be the first 4 July on her delegation would have worked, but she was not sure whether holding a
meeting only a month after the previous meeting would leave sufficient time for preparation. On the
other hand,  by the end of July Members might be in a crisis mode at the WTO. Therefore, therepresentative would like to hear the views of other delegations on this issue, noting that the U.S.
would be agnostic in this regard. With respect to the agenda items, Members had talked about
discussing the identification of needs and priorities specifically with respect to each article, so that, for
example, when proposals would be discussed with regard to Article X, there would be a direct
opportunity in the agenda item for delegations to raise questions as to what kinds of needs could flowfrom the implementation of such principles. The United States thought it would be a constructive way
forward if Members had it specifically included in the agenda when they talked about the articles in
question. It would be consistent with the mandate itself which saw these issues moving
simultaneously.
2.5 The representative of Canada stated that his delegation could agree with the proposed
organization of work. It seemed to be going in the right direction. Canada could accept having two
meetings, but would like to underline that there might be a need for a third one. Regarding the dates,he thought that a meeting in March followed by one  at the beginning of June would allow Members to
maintain the momentum and to have enough time betw een meetings to do their work in their capitals
and to solidify their understanding of the different proposals. He expressed his delegation's
reservation with regard to the date in July. He noted that he could imagine the logistical challenge of
planning meetings for July, bearing in mind the events in September. Canada's only fear would be thatat the end of July a number of delegations might be under considerable pressure in other fields of
activities. But if Members considered it wise to block dates in July, his delegation would have a slight
preference for the end of  July. Finally, he noted that the Canadian delegation subscribed to what had
been said by the United States regarding the identification of needs and priorities. This would have to
be considered in relation to specific articles as well in order to get a more global view. The way
Members had worked so far had allowed for some flexibility in that regard. Members could continue
their work the same way.
2.6 The representative of Pakistan first wanted to express his delegation's thanks to the European
Communities for the information they had shared with respect to their trade-related technical
assistance programs. Pakistan had found the document very informative and, although it was not a
proposal and was more for information purposes, his delegation had picked up good ideas from that
paper. Turning to the organization of future work, he stated that his delegation supported the generalthrust of the Secretariat's proposal of having two meetings and, if needed, a third one. Regarding the
third meeting, Pakistan's preference would be to have it held by the end of July as in case of an early
July session, the time between the second and third meeting would be too short. He expressed his
hopes that by the end of July matters would be much clearer in Members' minds and that Members
were allowed to have more time to prepare themselves for Cancun. The representative stressed the
importance of keeping the Doha mandate in mind, with called for the review of the three articles. He
had no intention to get into a discussion on what the mandate was about and that his delegation hadnot felt the need to redefine the mandate in any manner. Regarding the structure of the discussions,
Pakistan thought that the current structure had worked fairly well in this first year. After numerous
discussions Members had agreed to this structure and it would be more fruitful and constructive if
Members would stick to in their work over the next year.G/C/M/67
Page 30
2.7 He noted that he had been a little bit perturbed by the intervention from the United States
regarding confining the trade facilitation needs and pr iorities only to the three articles. In Pakistan's
view, as expressed in their previous interventions and as shared by many developing countries, the
trade and developmental needs of developing countri es and the LDC's in terms of technical assistance
and capacity-building went beyond the three articles. After having heard the intervention by Canadahe was less concerned since their representative had indicated that it was not only about the three
articles. Flexibility had of course been the key word in their discussions. He stressed that Pakistan as
well as the developing countries and LDC's had the flexibility to indicate their developmental needs,
not only in terms of those three articles but more globally. This was his delegation's understanding
and also the way it had worked in the past. Pakistan wished to go forward the same way as regards
future work. His delegation was comfortable with the current work structure so far. His only query
was that the previous structure with each of the three articles having been especially taken up at oneparticular meeting might not work for the coming year, where there might only be two sessions. It was
his understanding that all three articles should be on the table at each of the coming  meetings, along
side with agenda items 2 and 3 which basically dealt with technical assistance, capacity-building and
the needs and priorities of Members. He asked for clarification on whether Members would follow a
work program that would give Members the flexibility to make proposals or comment on any of thethree articles under discussion, or whether there would be some divisions in terms of the structure of
the work program.
2.8 The representative of Japan stated that his delegation could go along with the proposal. Japan
was of the view that there should be at least two meetings. He would have preferred to have another
one, but if there was consensus that the decision on that issue should be taken during the second
meeting, Japan could go along with that. Regarding the July meeting, Japan did not have any
preference as to whether to hold it on the 3rd and 4th or the 29th and 30th of July. Regarding the agenda,
the Japanese representative noted that the interventions by Pakistan and the U.S. had been very
interesting. Members now had a compilation from th e Secretariat that specified the specific issues
regarding the three articles. The compilation paper would help Members to identify needs and
priorities that could cover both positive and negative elements. Negative did not sound good, but the
identification of concerns and difficulties was also important. He suggested that, with the compilation
paper, Members would be able to have more precise and focused discussions on needs and priorities
with regard to GATT Articles V, VIII and X. He noted that this suggestion did not intend to restrict
the identification of needs and priorities only to the three articles. He continued that Members were
free to also express their views and their needs and priorities beyond GATT Articles V, VIII and X.With regards to these three articles, he suggested a more precise focus in the future discussions.
2.9 The representative of the European Communities noted that the EC could also go along with
the proposed work program for the coming year, as well as with the eventuality of having two
meetings and a possible third one if Member felt there was a need for such a third session before
Cancún. The group had reached a reasonable level of understanding on the components of the wholedebate and was aware of what was and was not on the table. Two additional meetings and a possible
third one would be adequate to complete the understanding of what Members were discussing.
Turning to the dates issue for the July session, he ex pressed concern that a third meeting in late July
was going to run into difficulties, given the proximity to Cancún. The EC therefore had a slight
preference for the earlier date, but if there were consensus to schedule it rather for the end of July, the
Communities would go along with that. The EC agreed with Pakistan that at each of the coming
meetings that Members should be given the opportunity to raise, or not raise, points relating to allthree articles. No meeting should be exclusively devoted to one of the three provisions.
2.10 The representative of the United States responded to the question raised by the delegation of
Pakistan. She noted that it had not been her intention to restrict the identification of Members trade
facilitation needs and priorities to the three Articles. The only thing she had suggested was to  ensure
that there was some kind of a hook so that Members' discussions could be focussed on their needs andG/C/M/67
Page 31
priorities with respect to any changes that could be  contemplated in order to have a richer debate on
those points.
2.11 The Chairman noted that such a clarification had been very useful and observed that Members
generally seemed to agree on the organization of future work. He had not detected any disagreement
with the approach he had suggested. Members had reached an agreement on the fact that there would
be two meetings and that during the second one they would, according to the needs, decide whether to
hold a third meeting. He also noted that no Member had raised objections regarding the duration of
the meetings. Therefore, the format followed duri ng 2002 would be maintained. No difficulties had
been encountered as regards the dates of the first two meetings, but there had been slight divergences
with regard to whether the third one should be held in the beginning or the end of July. Overall, he
had had the impression that there was a preference to hold it at the end of July. He had taken due noteof the comment made by the European Communities on the number of issues which could come up in
the run up to Cancún. But he also had got the impression that the European Communities were quite
flexible on this issue. Therefore, with the understandi ng of the EC, he would like to suggest that if a
third meeting was to be held, it would take place on 29-30 July. The Chairman noted that it had been
very difficult to reserve dates for the future meetin gs due to the heavy overall meeting schedule of the
WTO, which was why it had been necessary to make early reservations and to be flexible. He had
been told by the Conference Office that it was necessary to finalize these reservations by the end of
this day.
2.12 As regards the agenda, he had sensed that Members had agreed on keeping the current
structure while trying to have a more focussed discussion. All three articles would be discussed at
each session since it was not certain whether there would be a third meeting, which made it
impossible to maintain the previous format of the discussions. With this small exception, the current
structure with the three agenda items (i) GATT Articles V, VIII and X, (ii) the identification of trade
facilitation needs and priorities and (iii) technical assistance and capacity-building would be kept. Thediscussions could be carried out in a focussed way so that when Members were discussing the articles,
they could indicate the kind of technical assistance requirements they would need in relation to the
latter. He took it that all Members agreed to adopt his suggestion in terms of the number of meetings,
their duration, the timing as well as the structure of the agenda.
2.13 The Council took note of the statements made and agreed
 to proceed on that basis.
III. OTHER BUSINESS
3.1 The Chairman raised the matter of the date of  the next meeting. He informed delegations that
a slot for the next meeting of the CTG had been scheduled for the afternoon of Thursday 23 January
2003 in case there would be agenda items to discuss. The agenda for that meeting would close on
Monday 13 January 2003. Otherwise, the first meeting of the CTG would be held in the after noon of 12
March, continuing through March 13 and then the afternoon of 14 March 2003.
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