WORLD TRADE  
ORGANIZATION  G/L/699 
13 October 2004 
 (04-4289) 
 
 
REPORT (2004) OF THE COMMITTEE ON MARKET ACCESS 
 
 1. Since the last review
1, the Committee on Market Access has held four formal meetings (5 
December 2003 (resumed meeting) 2 April 2004, 2 July 2004 and 22 September 2004), and one 
informal meeting (5 December 2003).  The minutes of the formal meetings are contained in documents G/MA/M/35, G/MA/M/36, G/MA/M/37 and G/MA/M/38
2.  In addition, two periodic 
reports giving an overview of the issues discussed  in the Committee and providing factual information 
related to waiver requests concerning the introduc tion of HS96 changes are contained in documents 
G/MA/153 and G/MA/154.  2. At its meeting of 2 July 2004, the Committee took note of the nomination of 
Dr Magdi Farahat (Egypt) as Chairman of the Co mmittee for the current year and elected him by 
acclamation.  At that meeting, it was agreed that informal consultations would be carried out in order 
to elect a Vice-Chair for the current year.  At its meeting of 22 September 2004, the Committee 
elected Mr. William Tagliani (US) as Vice-Chair for the Committee.  
A. 
INTRODUCTION OF HS96  CHANGES TO SCHEDULES OF CONCESSIONS  
3. At its formal meetings in 2004, the Committee examined the s ituation related to the submission 
of HS96 documentation set out in documents G/MA/T AR/2/Rev.32-34.  At its meeting of 22 September 
2004, the Committee noted that the submissions of five Members remained pending due to ongoing 
consultations and/or negotiations.   B. 
INTRODUCTION OF HS2002  CHANGES TO SCHEDULES OF CONCESSIONS  
4. At its formal meetings in 2004, the Comm ittee took note of documents G/MA/TAR/4/Rev.5-7 
containing information on documents circulated in connection with the procedures to introduce 
HS2002 changes to schedules of concessions.  At its meeting of 2 July 2004, the Committee agreed to 
hold informal consultations on the Chairman's proposal  for the Secretariat to update the schedules in 
the CTS database into the HS2002 nomenclature.  At its meeting of 22 September 2004, the Committee 
took note of the Chairman's report on those informal  consultations.  On this subject the Committee 
agreed that: (1) the Chairman would hold informal co nsultations with key donor Members to see to what 
extent such a project could be funded by them and other sources; (2) the Secretariat should prepare a first 
draft of simplified procedures based on a flow chart which was circulated at the informal consultations regarding this transposition exercise; (3) an inform al briefing would be provided by the Secretariat to 
Geneva-based delegations on the technical aspects of this exercise as laid out in JOB(04)/95; (4) a 
workshop on the same subject would be organized for capital-based representatives if funding could be 
found. It was agreed to suspend th e meeting on this sub-agenda item. 
 5. On the HS2002 "collective waiver",  and at its meeting of 22 September 2004, the Committee 
agreed that a draft decision extending this waiver should be prepared and circulated to Members for 
comments. One delegation indicated that it was not in favour of "collective" waivers, and was 
concerned by a third renewal of this waiver. It inte nded to look carefully at the draft decision to be 
circulated by the Secretariat.  
                                                     
 
1 G/L/658 (dated 13 November 2003). 
2 To be issued. G/L/699 
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 C. D
ATABASES  
6. With reference to the modalities and opera tion of the Integrated Data Base (IDB), the 
Committee, at its formal meetings in 2004, examined  the status of IDB submissions on the basis of 
documents G/MA/IDB/2/Rev.18-20.  At these meetings , the Secretariat presented an oral report on 
the status of IDB dissemination, use of IDB information, IDB technical assistance, status of 
submissions, and the status of software devel opment (IDB reporting tools and internet analysis 
facility).   At its meeting of 22 September 2004, at the request of a delegation, the Secretariat agreed 
to organize a hands-on workshop on the IDB internet analysis facility.  7. At its formal meetings in 2004, the Committe e took note of the Secretariat's reports on the 
status of the Consolidated Tariff Schedules Database  Project which included the status of CTS files 
for both the tariff and agricultural commitments for Members. The software development status for 
dissemination and analytical facilities was also presented.  8. At its meeting of 2 April 2004, the Committee noted that the document entitled "Tariff Line 
of information contained in the Consolidated Tari ff Schedules Database with Information contained in 
the Integrated Data Base – Some technical and pro cedural issues for discussion" (JOB(03)/217/Rev.1) 
was considered approved as no objections had be en received concerning that document by the 
deadline of 19 March 2004.   9. During 2004,  the Committee agreed to the requests for access to the IDB and CTS databases 
from the United Nations Economic and Social Co mmission for Asia and the Pacific (UNESCAP) 
(G/MA/W/53), the Caribbean Regional Negotiati ng Machinery (G/MA/W/54) and the CARICOM 
Secretariat (G/MA/W/55), the United Nations Ec onomic Commission for Europe (G/MA/W/57), the 
Pacific Islands Forum Secretariat (G/MA/W/59), the ANDEAN Community Secretariat (G/MA/W/61) and the Commonwealth Secretariat (G /MA/W/63).  All organizations had undertaken 
to use and publish the information contained in  these databases in accordance with the terms and 
conditions laid out in the document G/MA/115.   
 
D. 
PARAGRAPH 18 OF THE PROTOCOL OF ACCESSION OF THE PEOPLE 'S REPUBLIC OF  
 CHINA – CHINA 'S TRANSITIONAL REVIEW MECHANISM  
10. The Committee completed the transitional revi ew under Paragraph 18 of the Protocol of 
Accession of the People's Republic of China.  Chin a submitted information pursuant to Annex 1 of 
the Protocol (G/MA/W/64) and submitted questions  to the EC and Turkey (G/MA/W/62 and Add.1, 
respectively). Questions/comments were subm itted to China by the European Communities 
(G/MA/W/56), Japan (G/MA/W/60, Add.1 and Add.1/Corr.1) and the United States (G/MA/W/58).  The Committee's report to the Council for Trade in Goods on the review was circulated as document 
G/MA/155. 
 
E. S
TATUS OF NOTIFICATIONS ON QUANTITATIVE RESTRICTIONS AND REVERSE 
NOTIFICATIONS OF NON-TARIFF MEASURES  
11. At its meeting of 2 April 2004, the Committee took note of the status of notifications made 
under the "Decision on Notification Procedures for Quantitative Restrictions" (G/L/59) and the 
Decision on Reverse Notifications of Non-Tariff Measures (G/L/60) on the basis of Secretariat 
documents G/MA/NTM/QR/3 and G/MA/NTM/W/3/Rev.1 , respectively.   The Committee agreed to 
conduct the review foreseen in the former Decision based on a summary document to be prepared by 
the Secretariat.    At its meeting of 2 July 2 004, the Committee took note of the Secretariat document 
entitled "Summary Tables of Notified Quantitative R estrictions" (JOB(04)/92).  At its meeting of 
22 September 2004, a delegation pointed out that  as not all Members had complied with their 
notification obligations under the decision G/L/59, the Secretariat document could be misconstrued.   G/L/699 
 Page 3 
 
 
 In light of such concerns, the Committee agreed  that once a comparable and representative set of 
notifications was received the document would be re-i ssued.   Another Member stated that this might 
be the appropriate time to re-energize the pr ocess of notifications under the decision G/L/59. 
  
F. OTHER ACTIVITIES  
12. At its meeting of 2 April 2004, the Committe e took note of document G/MA/TAR/3/Rev.9 
which contained a revised and updated list of  tariffs available to the Secretariat.  
 13. At that meeting, the EC provided informati on on the Expanding Exports Helpdesk which is an 
online resource set up by the Commission to supply  relevant information required by developing 
country exporters interested in exporting to the EU market.  
 
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