WORLD TRADE  
ORGANIZATION  G/C/W/500 
15 November 2004 
 (04-4825) 
  
 
 
 
INTRODUCTION OF HARMONIZED SYSTEM 2002   CHANGES INTO 
WTO SCHEDULES OF TARIFF CONCESSIONS  
 
Decision of ....1 
 
 
 The General Council,   Having regard  to Articles IV:2 and IX:3 of the Ma rrakesh Agreement establishing the World 
Trade Organization (the "WTO Agreement"); 
 
 Considering that the General Council, by  its Decisions of 13 May 2002
2 and 8 July 20023, 
acting pursuant to the provisions of Articles IV:2  and IX:3 of the WTO Agreement, suspended the 
application of the provisions of Arti cle II of GATT 1994 for certain Me mbers for periods up to one year 
for each respective Member  to the extent necessary to implem ent domestically the "HS2002 changes"4 
pending incorporation of such changes into their Schedules of Concession s, subject to certain 
conditions; 
  Considering that the General C ouncil, by its Decisi ons of 12 December 2002
5 and 11 February 
20046, acting pursuant to the provisions of Articles IV:2 and IX:3 of the WTO Agreement, suspended 
the application of the provisions  of Article II of GATT 1994 for a  further periods until 31 December 
2004 for those Members listed in the  Annexes to those  Decisions, and any other Member who fulfilled 
certain conditions7, to the extent necessary to implemen t domestically the HS2002 changes pending 
incorporation of such changes into their Schedule s of Concessions, subject to certain conditions; 
   Noting  that the same Members, who are listed in the Annex to the present Decision, have 
requested an extension of their respective waivers; 
 
 Considering  that the Members listed in the Annex to the present Decision would need more 
time to proceed with consultations and/ or possible Article XXVIII negotiations; 
 
                                                     
 
1 Adopted in accordance with th e Decision-Making Procedures und er Articles IX and XII of the 
WTO Agreement agreed by the General Council in November 1995 (WT/L/93). 
2 WT/L/469 in respect of 23 Members. 
3 WT/L/477 in respect of Romania.  
4 "HS2002 changes" are defined as the amendments to the Harmonized Commodity Description and 
Coding System recommended by the Council of the World Customs Organization in its Recommendation 
adopted on 25 June 1999 which came into force on 1 January 2002.  "Harmonized System" refers to 
Harmonized Commodity Description and Coding System. 
5 WT/L/511. 
6 WT/L/562. 
7See in this regard the notificatio n by Brazil (G/SECRET/HS02/BRA/1),  Chinese Taipei 
(G/SECRET/HS02/TPKM/1 and G/MA/152),  Costa Rica (G/SECRET/HS02/CRI/1) and El Salvador 
(G/SECRET/HS02/SLV/1).  G/C/W/500 
Page 2  
 
  Considering that other Members not listed in the An nex to this Decision may already have 
implemented domestically the HS2002 changes, or ma y intend to do so, pending incorporation of such 
changes into their Schedules of Concessions, and ma y also desire to be c overed by this waiver; 
  Decides, in view of the exceptional circumstances, to suspend the application of the provisions 
of Article II of GATT 1994: 
  (a) for those Members listed in the Annex for a further year until 31 December 2005; and   (b) for any other Member not listed in th e Annex who desires to  be covered by the 
present waiver and who implements domes tically the HS2002 changes, and notifies 
the Committee on Market Access accordingly, for the period from the date of implementation of the HS2002 changes for that Member until 31 December 2005;  
 to the extent necessary for the purpose of enab ling such Members to implement domestically the 
recommended amendments to the Harmonized System  nomenclature pending incorporation of such 
changes into their Schedules of Concessi ons, subject to the following conditions: 
  (i) Members not listed in the Annex to this  Decision wishing to be covered by this 
waiver shall submit the documentation requi red under paragraph 1 of the Procedures 
in Attachment B (read along with Section 2 of Attachment A) adopted by the General 
Council to implement HS2002 changes to Schedules of Concessions
8, prior to 
submitting their respective notification to the Committee on Market Access of their 
desire to be covered by the present  waiver; 
  (ii) Members covered by paragraphs (a) and (b) of this Decision shall, where necessary, 
promptly enter into negotiations and/or consultations with interested Members 
pursuant to paragraphs 1-3 of Article XXVIII of GATT 1994;  
  (iii) The negotiations and/or consultations me ntioned above shall, to the extent possible, 
be completed by 31 December 2005; and 
 
 (iv) In accordance with the provisions of Article XXVIII:3 of  GATT 1994, applied 
mutatis mutandis  to the present waiver, pending the entry into force of the results of the 
negotiations and/or consultatio ns mentioned above, the other Members will be free to 
suspend concessions initially negotiated with the Member concerned to the extent that they consider that adequate compensation is not offered by the Member concerned. 
                                                     
 
8 WT/L/407.  G/C/W/500 
 Page 3 
 
 
  
ANNEX 
 
Members covered by the waiver granted in this Decision  
 
1. Argentina      
2. Australia 
3. Brazil      
4. Bulgaria      
5. Canada     
6. China 
7. Chinese Taipei  
8. Costa Rica 
9. Croatia 
10. El Salvador 
11. European Communities 
12. Hong Kong, China 
13. Iceland 
14. India 
15. Republic of Korea 
16. Macao, China 
17. Mexico 
18. Nicaragua 
19. Norway 
20. Romania 
21. Singapore 
22. Switzerland 
23. Thailand 
24. United States 
25. Uruguay 
 
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