WORLD TRADE
ORGANIZATIONG/RO/N/23
5 October 1998
(98-3847)
Committee on Rules of Origin
NOTIFICATIONS UNDER ARTICLE 5 AND PARAGRAPH 4 OF ANNEX II OF
THE AGREEMENT ON RULES OF ORIGIN
A. NON-PREFERENTIAL RULES OF ORIGIN
1. Article 5.1 of the Agreement on Rules of Origin envisages that each Member shall provide to
the Secretariat, within 90 days after the date of en try into force of the WTO Agreement for it, its rules
of origin, judicial decisions and administrative rulings of general application relating to rules of origin
in effect on that date.  If by inadvertence a rule of origin has not been provided, the Member
concerned shall provide it immediately after this fact becomes known.  Lists of information received
and available within the Secretariat shall be circulated to the Members by the Secretariat.
2. Article 5.2 of the Agreement on Rules of Origin provides that during the period referred to in
Article 2, Members introducing modifications, other than de minimis  modifications, to their rules of
origin or introducing new rules of origin, which, for the purpose of this Article, shall include any rule
of origin referred to in paragraph 1 and not provided to the Secretariat, shall publish a notice to that
effect at least 60 days before the entry into force of the modified or new rule in such a manner as toenable interested parties to become acquainted with  the intention to modify a rule of origin or to
introduce a new rule of origin, unless exceptional circumstances arise or threaten to arise for a
Member.  In these exceptional cases, the Member shall publish the modified or new rule as soon as
possible.
3. Previous notifications received are listed in th e G/RO/N/- series.  Further notifications have
been received as follows
1:
PANAMA
(Notification in Spanish)
Panama, in its legislation, does not have judicial decisions or administrative rulings relating to
non-preferential rules of origin.
B. PREFERENTIAL RULES OF ORIGIN
1. Paragraph 4 of Annex II of the Agreement on Rules of Origin envisages that Members shall
provide to the Secretariat promptly their preferential rules of origin, including a listing of the preferential
arrangements to which they apply, judicial decisi ons, and administrative rulings of general application
relating to their preferential rules of origin in effect on the date of entry into force of the WTO
Agreement for the Member concerned.  Members sha ll provide any modifications to their preferential
rules of origin or new preferential rules of origin  as soon as possible to the Secretariat.  Lists of
information received and available within the Secr etariat shall be circulated to Members by the
Secretariat.
                                                     
1 The notifications are available for consultation in the Secretariat (Market Access Division).G/RO/N/23
Page 2
2. Previous notifications received are listed in the G/RO/N/- series.  Further notifications have
been received as follows2:
EUROPEAN COMMUNITIES, BULGARIA, THE CZECH REPUBLIC, HUNGARY, ICELAND,
LIECHTENSTEIN, NORWAY, POLAND, ROMANIA, THE SLOVAK REPUBLIC, SLOVENIA
AND SWITZERLAND(Notification in English)
1. On 1 July 1998, the delegations of the European Communities, Bulgaria, the Czech Republic,
Hungary, Iceland, Liechtenstein, Norway, Poland,  Romania, the Slovak Republic, Slovenia and
Switzerland submitted a joint notification on the system of European Cumulation of Origin
3.
2. Following that joint communication, the Eur opean Communities wishes to inform the WTO
of the European Communities’ agreements to which the system of European Cumulation of Origin
applies.
The annexed material2
 provides copies of the European Communities’ agreements in question,
information on the entry into force of the new cumulation rules and the date of publication in the
Official Journal of the European Communities.  The European Communities is making this material
available for the information of other WTO Members, in view of the obligation under paragraph 4 of
Annex II of the WTO Agreement on Rules of Origin to provide the WTO Secretariat with informationon any modifications of preferential rules of origin.
3. This information is provided by the European Communities and also on behalf of its partners
in the Agreements concerned.  We would be grateful if you would circulate this information to WTO
Members.
4. A copy of this information is also being sent to the Committee on Regional Trade Agreements
(CRTA) for information.
List of annexed documents:I. Origin Protocols which entered into force during the first half of 1997:
Country concerned Date of publication in
Official Journal (OJ)OJ reference Date of entry into force
Czech Republic 31.12.96 L343 1.1.97
Slovak Republic 5.8.97 L212 1.1.97
Hungary 7.4.97 L92 1.7.97
Poland 11.8.97 L221 1.7.97
Bulgaria 24.5.97 L134 1.1.97
Romania 24.2.97 L54 31.1.97
Estonia 28.4.97 L111 1.4.97
Latvia 28.4.97 L111 1.4.97
Lithuania 27.5.97 L136 1.4.97
EEA 23.1.97 L21 1.12.96
Switzerland 23.7.97 L195 1.1.97
Iceland 23.7.97 L195 1.1.97
                                                     
2 The notifications are available for consultation in the Secretariat (Market Access Division).
3 See document G/RO/N/22.  See also communications to the CRTA (WT/REG1, 2, 12, 13, 15,
16/N/1).G/RO/N/23
Page 3
Country concerned Date of publication in
Official Journal (OJ)OJ reference Date of entry into force
Norway 23.7.97 L195 1.1.97
II. Explanatory notes concerning the definiti on of “originating products” and methods of
administrative cooperation in the context of Protocol 4 to the Europe Agreements with the Central andEast European countries.
III. Communication by the European Commission purs uant to Article 4(4) of Protocol 4 to the
Europe Agreements and pursuant to Article 4(4) of Protocol 3 to the Free Trade Agreements with
Iceland, Norway and Switzerland and pursuant to Ar ticle 3(4) of Protocol 4 to the EEA Agreement.
PANAMA
(Notification in Spanish)
Preferential rules of origin provided for under bilateral preferential trade agreements
concluded between Panama and the following countries:
Colombia, Costa Rica, the Dominican Republic, El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras, Mexico
and Nicaragua.
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