WORLD TRADE
ORGANIZATIONWT/L/544
13 November 2003
(03-6092)
REPORT (2003) OF THE COMMITTEE ON
TRADE IN CIVIL AIRCRAFT
1. This report is submitted under Article 8.2 of the Agreement on Trade in Civil Aircraft
(hereinafter the "Agreement") and Article IV.8 of the Marrakesh Agreement Establishing the World
Trade Organization.  It sets out the activities of the Committee since November 2002.
2. There are 30 Signatories to the Agreement:  Bulgaria, Canada, the European Communities,
Austria, Belgium, Denmark, France, Germany, Greece, Ireland, Italy, Luxembourg, the Netherlands,
Portugal, Spain, Sweden, the United Kingdom, Egyp t, Estonia, Georgia, Japan, Latvia, Lithuania,
Macau, Malta, Norway, Romania, Switzerland and the United States.  Those WTO Members with
observer status in the Committee are: Argentina, Australia, Bangladesh, Brazil, Cameroon, China,Colombia, the Czech Republic, Finland, Gabon, Ghana, India, Indonesia, Israel, the Republic of
Korea, Mauritius, Nigeria, Oman, Poland, Singapore, the Slovak Republic, Sri Lanka, Chinese Taipei,
Trinidad and Tobago, Tunisia and Turkey.  In addition, the Russian Federation and Saudi Arabia are
also observers.  The IMF and UNCTAD are also observers.
3. Since its last Annual Report to the General Council (WT/L/500), the Committee on Trade in
Civil Aircraft held two regular meetings, on 4 June 2003 and 12 November 2003.
4. The agenda and minutes of the 4 June 2003 meeting can be found in document TCA/M/16,
which was circulated on 16 July 2003.  At that meeting, the Committee considered the following
matters on its agenda:  the status of the 1979 Agreement on Trade in Civil Aircraft under the WTO;
"end-use" customs administration, including the propo sal by one Signatory concerning the definition
of "civil" vs. "military" aircraft based on initial certification; and the date of the next regular meeting.
Under "other business", one Signatory made a statement regarding inducements and the Chairpersonraised the issue of the report to the General Council as the Committee's input to the Cancún
Ministerial Conference.
5. At the 12 November 2003 meeting, the Committee considered the following matters on its
agenda: the status of the 1979 Agreement on Trade in Civil Aircraft under the WTO; "end-use"
customs administration, including a revised proposal  by one Signatory concerning the definition of
"civil" vs. "military" aircraft based on initial certification; matters concerning improved operation of
Article 4, with regard to inducements, and it was proposed that the Committee identify factors that
could facilitate the effectiveness of Article 4, including a better mechanism for communication among
Signatories; the date of the next regular meeting; and the adoption of this annual report.  The
following item was raised under "other business": Article 9 relating to the possible accession to theAgreement of future members of the European Communities. The agenda and minutes of this meeting
will be issued as document TCA/M/17.
6. The Technical Sub-Committee of the Committee on Trade in Civil Aircraft did not meet
during the period under review and neither did the Sub-Committee of the Committee on Trade in
Civil Aircraft.
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