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WT/REG/M/106  
 
17 April 2023  
(23-2706) Page: 1/5 
Committee on Regional Trade Agreements  
Hundredth  and Sixth  Session    
 
 
NOTE ON THE MEETING OF 27 MARCH 2023  
Chair: Ambassador H.E. Ms. Clare KELLY (New Zealand)  
A. ADOPTION OF THE AGENDA  
1.1.  The 106th Session of the Committee on Regional Trade Agreements (hereinafter "CRTA" or the 
"Committee") was convened in Airgram WTO/AIR/RTA/31/Rev.1 dated 17 March 2023.  
1.2.  Since the previous Chair of the Committee, Ambassador Taeho L ee of the Republic of Korea, 
had a lready left Geneva and could not hand over to the incoming Chair, the meeting was opened by 
the Director of the Trade Polic ies Review Division.  He welcomed Members  to the 106th Session of 
the CRTA  and reminded them  that the meeting was subject to a hybrid approach, with some 
Members in the room and others connecting remotely through Interprefy . The Airgram set out the 
draft agenda.  
1.3.   The Committee adopted  the following agenda :  
 Adoption of the Agenda  
 Election of Officers  
 Early announcements ( http://rtais.wto.org ) 
 Notification of Regional Trade Agreements  
(I) Free Trade Agreement between Colombia and Israel, goods and services 
(WT/REG468/N/1 – S/C/N/1133)  
(II) Comprehensive and Progressive Agreement for Trans -Pacific 
Partnership (CPTPP), goods and services – entry into force for Chile 
(WT/REG395/N/4) – S/C/N/920/Add.3)  
(III)  Comprehensive and Progressive Agreement for Trans -Pacific 
Partnership (CPTPP), goods and services – entry into force for Malaysia 
(WT/REG395/N/3 – S/C/N /920/ADD.2)  
(IV) ASEAN Framework Agreement on Services (AFAS) (S/C/N/1125)  
(V) Protocol to Amend the Agreement on Comprehensive Economic 
Partnership among Japan and Member States of the Association of 
Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN), services (S/C/N/1117)  
(VI) Free Trad e Agreement between Iceland, Liechtenstein and Norway and 
the United Kingdom, goods and services – entry into force for Iceland 
(WT/REG459/N/2 - S/C/N/1072/Add.2)  
(VII)  Free Trade Agreement between the United Kingdom, Norway and 
Iceland (WT/REG430/N/2) – Notific ation of Termination  WT/REG/M/106  
 
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 Notification of Changes to existing RTAs  
(I) Free Trade Agreement between Iceland, Liechtenstein and Norway and 
the United Kingdom, goods and services (WT/REG459/N/1/Add.1 -
S/C/N/1072/add.1)  
 Non-notified RTA s (WT/REG/W/175)  
 Status on the pr eparation of factual presentations (WT/REG/W/176)  
 Implementation Reports under Paragraph 15 of the Transparency Mechanism 
for RTAs - (WT/REG/W/177)  
 Consideration of Regional Trade Agreements  
(I) Economic Partnership Agreement between the Eastern and Southern 
Africa States and the United Kingdom , goods (WT/REG427/N/1), 
WT/REG427/1, WT/REG427/2)  
(II) Comprehensive Economic Partnership Agreement between the United 
Kingdom and Japan , goods and services (WT/REG441/N/1 - 
S/C/N/1036, WT/REG441/1, WT/REG441/2)  
(III)  Trade and Cooperation Agreement between the European Union (EU) 
and the United Kingdom (UK),  goods and services (WT/REG447/N/1 - 
S/C/N/1041, WT/REG447/1, WT/REG447/2)  
(IV) Comprehensive Economic Cooperation and Partnership Agreement 
(CECPA) between India and Mauri tius, Services  (S/C/N/1053, 
WT/REG467/1, WT/REG467/2)  
 Consideration of Regional Trade Agreements with Non -members  
(I) Free Trade Agreement between Türkiye and Serbia, Services 
(S/C/N/1073, WT/REG288/3, WT/REG288/4)  
 Communication from the United States – Consid eration of Improvements to the 
functioning of the CRTA to better serve Members  (WT/REG/W/174) and 
comments from members (JOB/REG/6)  
 Other Business  
B.  ELECTION OF OFFICERS  
1.4.  Following the General Council meeting held on  6-7 March 2023, it was pr oposed that t he 
Committee elect, by acclamation, Ambassador H.E. Ms Clare KELLY  (New Zealand) , as the Chair of 
the CRTA.   
1.5.  The Chair thanked delegations for their support and trust in electing her as the Chair of CRTA. 
She also thanked the outgoing Chair , on behalf of the Committee , for the excellent work 
accomplished during his Chairmanship and requested the delegation of the Republic of Korea to pass 
on her best wishes  to Ambassador Lee. She noted that the Committee would face a challenging year 
ahead, a s not only did regional trade agreements continue to proliferate, but the Committee was 
embark ing on, she hoped,  a substantive discussion on its working methods within the overarching 
reform of WTO bodies.  
C. EARLY ANNOUNCEMENTS  
1.6.  The Chair indicated that n o early announcements had been received since 2019. She invited 
all Members that were active in negotiating RTAs to accordingly inform the Committee of recent WT/REG/M/106  
 
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  developments. She also reminded Members to inform the Secretariat of any changes in the status 
of early announcements.  
D. NOTIFICATION OF REGIONAL TRADE AGREEMENTS  
1.7.  The Chair indicated that seven notifications had been received since the 106th Session of the 
CRTA. Of these  three were new RTAs, three referred to the entry into force of an existing agree ment 
for a given Party, and the last was about the termination of an agreement. The notifications were as 
follows , and she opened the floor separately for each Agreement : 
I Free Trade Agreement between Colombia and Israel ( WT/REG468/N/1 –S/C/N/1133 ). 
II  Entry into force for Chile of the Comprehensive and Progressive Agreement for Trans -
Pacific Partnership (CPTPP), goods and services  (WT/REG395/N/4 –S/C/N/920/Add.3 ). 
III Entry into force of the Agreement for Malaysia,  of the Comprehensive and Progressive 
Agreement for Trans -Pacific Partnership (CPTPP), goods and services  
(WT/REG395/N/3 – S/C/N/920/Add.2 ).  
 IV ASEAN Framework Agreement on Services (AFAS) (S/C/N/1125 ).  
V Protocol to Amend the Agreement on Comprehensive Economic Partnership among 
Japan and Member States of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) , 
services  (S/C/N/1117 ).   
VI Entry into force for Iceland of the Free Trade Agreement between Iceland,  Liechtenstein 
and Norway, and the United Kingdom, goods and services  (WT/REG459/N/2 -
S/C/N/1072/Add.2 ).  
VII Termination of the Free Trade Agreement between the United Kingdom, Norway and 
Iceland ( WT/REG430/N/2 ).  
E. NOTIFICATION OF CHANGES TO EXISTING RTAS  
1.8.  The Chair indicated that only one notification of changes had been received since the 
105th Session of the CRTA.  
I Free Trade Agreement between Iceland, Liechtenstein and Norway, and the United 
Kingdom, goods and services (WT/REG459/N/1/Add.1 -S/C/N/1072/Add.1).  
F. NON-NOTIFIED  RTAS  
1.9.  The Chair stated that an updated list of non -notified RTAs had been recently circulated as 
WT/REG/W/175. The list contained 57 RTAs issued in factual presentations up to 15 March 2023.  
Compared to the list issued in  November 2022 (WT/REG/W/172), two RTAs had been removed while 
one had been added.  
G. STATUS ON THE PREPARATION OF FACTUAL PRESENTATIONS  
1.10.  As regards the preparation of factual presentations under the remit of the CRTA – in the case 
of RTAs involving WTO Members only – there were 51 RTAs for which a factual presentation had to 
be prepared, counting goods and services separately.  Factual presentations on a further 37 RTAs 
involving non -members were to be prepared, counting goods  and services separately, as previously 
agreed by the Committee. The factual presentations for seven other services agreements were on 
hold, pending the negotiation of services commitments. Of th ese, one involved non -WTO members. 
An updated list of all suc h RTAs had been recently circulated as document WT/REG/W/176 . 
1.11.  The Chair passed the floor to the Secretariat to provide the Committee with more detail  on 
the status of the preparation of factual presentations.  WT/REG/M/106  
 
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  1.12.  A representative of the Secretariat  provided the following information.   
1.13.  Concerning Agreements among Members, comments from the Parties had been received and 
the factual presentations would be cir culated for the next meeting  for ASEAN -Hong Kong, China, 
Türkiye -EFTA, Peru's ratification of the CPTPP, and UK -North Macedonia (all goods and services ). 
For UK -Central America ( goods and services ) and UK -SACU, Mozambique ( goods ), draft factual 
presentatio ns had been sent to the Parties for comment. The factual presentations were being 
drafted for UK -Moldova, UK -Viet Nam, and EFTA -Ecuador (all goods and services ). For 
EFTA-Indonesia , data had recently been received  and the Secretariat would start to draft t he factual 
presentation. For EU -Papua New Guinea , Fiji, ( goods ) data was awaited from Fiji but with regard to 
the accession to this agreement by Samoa and the Solomon Islands, data had been received. For 
ECOWAS ( goods ), some data had been received from some of the Parties . For the ASEAN FTA 
(goods ) and the ASEAN Framework Agreement on Services , most of the data had been received 
from the Parties and the Secretariat would start to draft the factual presentation. For India -UAE 
(services ), data had been  due on  13 February 2023  and had been received . For EFTA -GCC, data had 
been due on 23 December 2022, and had been received from EFTA only. For the GCC ( goods ), 
responses were awaited from the Parties to questions  raised by Members .  
1.14.  With regard to agreements involving  the U nited Kingdom , data was complete for some 
agreement s, however, as agreed with the United Kingdom, the Secretariat would wait before starting 
to draft factual presentations on these. For a number of other agreements involving the U nited 
Kingdom , data had been received from the UK but not from the other partners. Data requests had 
also been sent for the most recent notifications. They were due on 17 April and 4 May respectively  
for the ratifications by Malaysia and Chile of the CPTPP , and by 3 August for Israel -Colombia ( goods 
and services ).  
1.15.  With regard to factual presentations involving non -WTO members,  the Secretariat had 
received comments on the factual presentation for UK -Serbia and it would be circulated shortly. The 
Secretariat  was currently drafting the factual presentation for PACER Plus ( goods ). For the CIS 
Agreement ( goods ) some comments had been received but not from all the Parties. For the 
EAEU -Iran Agreement ( goods ), data had been due on 22 June 2020 and no data had been received  
from any of the Parties . For the EAEU -Serbia Agreement ( goods ) data had been received only from 
Serbia. For the accession of the Comoros to the EU -ESA Agreement data had been  due on 30 March 
2021 and  had been received only from the EU. For UK -Faeroe Islands, UK -Lebanon, and 
UK-Cariforum, data had been due on 5 May 2021,  and was still awaited from the non -UK parties. 
For UK -Palestine, data had been due on 10 May 2021 and had been received only from the UK . For 
Türkiye -Kosovo and UK -Kosovo data had been received. For Türkiye -Faeroe Islands, data had been 
due on 12 January,  and was still due from the Faeroe Islands.  
1.16.  For the following agreements data was not complete: EFTA -Lebanon, Türkiye -Syria, 
Ukraine -Azerbaijan, Ukraine -Turkmenistan, and the Russian Federation -Turkmenistan (all goods ). 
The data requests had been made a few years ago.  
H. IMPLEMENTATION REPORTS UNDER PARAGRAPH 15 OF THE TRANSPARENCY 
MECHANISM FOR RTAS (WT/REG/177)  
1.17.  The Chair stated that a n updated schedule for the submission of implementation reports had 
been distributed by the Secretariat (WT/REG/W/177). As of 1 March 2023, implementation reports 
were due for 194 RTAs, and the end of implementation for 16 RTAs was in 2023. The end of 
implementation for 111 RTAs was from 2024 onwards, while for 1 RTA the final year of 
implementation was not available. She noted that since the circulation of the document, no 
implementation report s had been received by the Secretariat.  She encouraged all Members to 
comply with their obligations and submit implementation reports in a timely manner.  
I. CONSIDERATION OF REGIONAL TRADE AGREEMENTS  
ITEM I.I 
(The minutes of the consideration of this Agree ment were being distributed as a separate document 
WT/REG 427/M/1) WT/REG/M/106  
 
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  ITEM I.II  
(The minutes of the consideration of this Agreement were being distributed as a separate document 
WT/REG 441/M/1)  
 
ITEM I.III 
(The minutes of the consideration of this Agreement we re being distributed as a separate document 
WT/REG 447/M/1)  
 
ITEM I.IV 
(The minutes of the consideration of this Agreement were being distributed as a separate document 
WT/REG 426/M/1)  
 
J. CONSIDERATION OF REGIONAL TRADE AGREEMENTS WITH NON -MEMBERS  
ITEM J.I 
(The minutes of the consideration of this Agreement were being distributed as a separate document 
WT/REG 288/M/2) 
 
K. COMMUNICATION FROM THE UNITED STATES – CONSIDERATION OF 
IMPROVEMENTS TO THE FUNCTIONING OF THE CRTA TO BETTER  SERVE MEMBERS 
(WT/REG/W/17 4) AND COMMENTS FROM MEMBERS (JOB/REG/6)  
1.18.  The Chair recalled that at the last Committee meeting in November 2022 the representative 
of the United States had indicated that his delegation would table a submission regarding 
improvements in the con text of the CRTA, as part of WTO reform efforts. The communication from 
the United States entitled "Consideration of improvements to the functioning of the CRTA to better 
serve Members" had been  circulated as WT/REG/W/174 .  
1.19.  The United States had included six thought -provoking questions in its communication . It had  
invited Members to submit their views in writing and asked the Secretariat to circulate a compilation 
of the written comments with a view to informing future discussions. The compilation  had been 
distributed as JOB/REG/6 and was available in the three languages. Comments had been  received 
from ten Members – Australia, Canada, China, the European Union, New Zealand, Republic of Korea, 
Singapore, the Separate Customs Territory of Taiwan, Pe nghu, Kinmen, and Matsu, United Kingdom 
and the United States.  
1.20.  She noted that the discussions on the responses that had been received so far were just the 
beginning of a rich discussion on the topic. In order to facilitate the discussion, she proposed to 
move the Meeting into an informal mode, and upon conclusion of the discussion, to revert to formal 
mode and propose follow -ups. 
1.21.  Moving back into formal mode, she noted that Members had had a really interesting first 
debate around the questions proposed by t he representative of the United States and replies 
received from a number of Members. She thanked delegations that had contributed  to the discussion 
and looked forward to hearing from others in due course. She did not intend to summarize the 
discussions at  that stage,  but did  however, note that there was a lot of interest in making sure that 
the Members got most out of the extraordinary resources of the CRTA.  As time was short,  she 
planned to  move ahead with the idea of informal consultations very soon . She counted on the 
involvement of all Members including those that had not yet had an opportunity to send replies or 
participate actively in the discussions. She was sure that the work undertak en by Members would 
equip them with a more dynamic CRTA that me t their collective objectives.   
L. OTHER BUSINESS  
1.22.  1.28. The Chair informed the Committee that the next CRTA meeting s were tentatively 
scheduled for 3-4 July and 25 -26 September 2023.  
1.23.  The Commi ttee took note of all the comments made  during the meeting . 
__________