./.RESTRICTEDWORLD TRADE
ORGANIZATIONTCA/TSC/2
1 November 2000
(00-4569)
Technical Sub-Committee of the
Committee on Trade in Civil Aircraft
NOTE BY THE CHAIRPERSON
Mr. Didier Chambovey (Switzerland)
1. The Technical Sub-Committee of the Committee on Trade in Civil Aircraft (the "Technical
Sub-Committee") met on 24 October 2000 to consid er the update of Harmonized System ("HS")
headings in the Product Coverage Annex of the 1979 Agreement on Trade in Civil Aircraft (the
"Agreement") and the expansion of product coverage of the Annex.  The draft revised Protocol and
Product Coverage Annex in document TCA/W/5/Rev.1 formed the basis of the discussions.
2. The discussion was divided into two parts:  first, the changes to be made to the Product
Coverage Annex; and second, the timing and modalities  for the entry into force of the Protocol and
Product Coverage Annex.
3. With respect to the Product Coverage Annex, the Technical Sub-Committee agreed to
recommend to the Committee on Trade in Civil Aircraft that various changes be made to the text.
These concerned, inter alia , the deletion of references to the Customs Cooperation Nomenclature
(revised) and consequential changes;  the replacement of the generic term Harmonized System
"codes" with the more precise technical terms Harmonized System "headings and subheadings"; the
replacement of the term "text" with the term "des cription" in the third column of the Product
Coverage Annex; and changes relating to Harmonized System subheadings 8414.51, 8471.41,
8471.49, 8471.50, 8471.60, 8471.70, 8479.89, 8483.40, 8502.11, 8502.12, 8502.13, 8502.39, 8521.10,
9025.11, 9025.19, 9025.80, 9025.90, 9029.90, 9030.83, 9030.89, 9030.90, 9031.80, 9109.19 and
9109.90.  At the next meeting of the Technical Sub-Committee on 14 November 2000, the TechnicalSub-Committee will revert to consideration of se veral matters, including the proposed insertion of
"aircraft ground maintenance simulators" at three points on page 4 of the draft document, and issues
relating to HS subheadings 8471.30 and 8502.31.  The Signatories concerned will be asked whether
they are in a position to confirm their ad referendum  agreement relating to subheadings 8522.90,
8525.40 and 8543.89.
4. With respect to the timing and modalities for the entry into force of the Protocol and Product
Coverage Annex, one delegation stated that while it supported this process and it had no
administrative difficulty as its customs authorities already in fact applied the HS 1996 changes that
the Technical Sub-Committee was discussing, the tim ing for that delegation's formal acceptance of
the draft revised Protocol and Product Coverage Annex would depend on its domestic parliamentaryprocedures.  That delegation signalled that it might not be in a position to accept the Protocol in the
timeframe now envisaged, and might therefore need to request the Committee to extend the timeframe
for acceptance of the Protocol by Signatories.  The Chairperson indicated that the Committee could
hold a meeting within the timeframe currently envisa ged if it became necessary to consider the need
to take a decision concerning extension of the timeframe.  One Signatory stated that, in its view, therevised Protocol and Product Coverage Annex would constitute an amendment to the Agreement
within the meaning of Article 9.5 of the Agreement.   That Signatory observed that most Signatories
were already in fact applying the HS 1996 change s but that the new Protocol, should any Signatory
fail to accept it, opened the legal possibility of two differing levels of obligation among Signatories.TCA/TSC/2
Page 2
That Signatory wished to avoid such a situation.  Another Signatory agreed with this view and
expressed concern that if the Committee was not able to extend the timeframe for acceptance of the
Protocol, that Signatory might never be in a position formally to accept it.  The Chairperson
underlined that although this process opened the remote possibility of different levels of obligation
among Signatories, it was his understanding that Sign atories' intention was to avoid different levels of
obligation.  While some flexibility might be needed, the ultimate goal remained a unified system of
rights and obligations.  One Signatory stated that while it was sympathetic to the idea of revising the
Product Coverage Annex, it had concerns about the abi lity of its delegation to adopt a Protocol that, in
its view, raised questions concerning the rela tionship between the Agreement and other WTO
Agreements.  The Chairperson emphasized that it was his understanding that this exercise of
transposition of the Harmonized System 1996 chan ges into the Product Coverage Annex and the
extension of product coverage of the Annex was being conducted under the understanding that thiswas a neutral exercise that would not change the existing relationship of the Agreement with other
WTO Agreements, including the Agreement on Subsidies and Countervailing Measures.  The
Chairperson stated that an understanding among the Signatories that the adoption of the Protocol does
not change the existing relationship of the Agreement with other WTO Agreements, including the
Agreement on Subsidies and Countervailing Measures , could be reflected in the minutes of the
meeting at which the Committee adopted the Protocol, or could be reflected in another manner that
Signatories might suggest.
5. The Technical Sub-Committee took note of the statements made and agreed to instruct the
Secretariat to produce a further revised draft Protocol and Product Coverage Annex
1, taking into
account the results of the meeting, for consideration at the next meeting of the Technical Sub-Committee on 14 November 2000.
6. One Signatory raised the issue of whether the Committee should also immediately consider
transposing into the Product Coverage Annex the changes to the Harmonized System that will enter
into force on 1 January 2002.  Another Signatory raised the issue whether the Committee would need
to consider whether Article 1 of the Agreement on Trade in Civil Aircraft should be amended so as tolist explicitly "aircraft ground maintenance simulators" (which the Committee had agreed to include
in the draft revised Product Coverage Annex at its meeting on 17 December 1999).  The Technical
Sub-Committee took note of these statements.  These items will be placed on the agenda for
discussion at the next regular meeting of the Committee on 15 November 2000.
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1 Circulated as document TCA/W/5/Rev. 2.