RESTRICTEDWORLD TRADE
ORGANIZATIONWT/REG/W/38
20 June 2000
(00-2476)
Committee on Regional Trade Agreements
FURTHER WORK ON SYSTEMIC ISSUES
Chairman's Guidelines
1. The Terms of Reference of the Committee on Regional Trade Agreements include the task of
considering "the systemic implications of such agreements and regional initiatives for the multilateraltrading system and the relationship between them, and make appropriate recommendations to the
General Council".
1
2. At its 13th Session (September 1997), the Committee agreed to deal with systemic issues
under a three-pronged approach, encompassing (i) legal analyses of relevant WTO provisions;
(ii) horizontal comparisons of RTAs;  and (iii) a debate on the context and economic aspects of RTAs.
3. A recollection of the work performed by the Committee under that mandate is contained in
the Secretariat's Synopsis of "Systemic" Issues Related to Regional Trade Agreements .2  I n  s u m ,  i t
consisted of the following:
• Consideration of "systemic issues" arising from WTO rules on regional trade
agreements (RTAs), with particular emphasis on legal analyses.  This has advanced
significantly, though some points identified by delegations as requiring scrutiny in
this context are still to be thoroughly debated.
• Preliminary consideration, during the 17th Session (May 1998),3 of thematic,
horizontal comparisons of RTA provisions, based on the Secretariat's Inventory of
Non-Tariff Provisions in Regional Trade Agreements .4
4. There has scarcely been any exchange of view s within the Committee so far on the context
and economic aspects of RTAs.
5. In the light of the above, it is proposed that further consideration of systemic issues within the
Committee proceed at this stage on the basis of:
• Written submissions by interested delegations under any of the three areas;  and
• Background papers by the Secretariat providing the Committee with basic material
for a detailed horizontal exploration of the treatment of various policy provisions or
measures in RTAs.
                                                     
1 Document WT/L/127, paragraph 1(d).
2 Document WT/REG/W/37 (2 March 2000).
3 Document WT/REG/M/17 (12 June 1998)
4 Document WT/REG/W/26 (5 May 1998).WT/REG/W/38
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6. The Secretariat's papers would consist of thematic surveys of RTA provisions, based on
available information, so as to enable the Committ ee to identify patterns and, whenever appropriate,
to compare RTA provisions across the RTA universe and vis-à-vis the relevant multilateral
disciplines.
7. The Committee will establish priorities for them es to be treated by the Secretariat in its
background papers.  An illustrative list of possible themes is shown in the Annex.
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ANNEX
Illustrative list of themes for surveys of RTA provisions
The themes below apply to RTAs in both the goods area and the services area, except when
specifically noted:  (*) only applicable to RTAs in the area of goods; and (**) only applicable to
RTAs in the area of services.
1. Internal trade liberalization
i. Coverage and exceptions
ii. Rules of origin regime (*)
iii. Denial-of-benefit rules (**)
iv. Liberalization process and transitional provisions
2. Trade-regulatory provisions
i. Anti-dumping (*)
ii. Countervailing duties (*)
iii. Technical barriers to trade (*)
iv. Sanitary and phytosanitary regulations (*)
v. Safeguards (global and intra-RTA)
vi. Subsidies and state aid
3. Other provisions
i. Government procurement
ii. Intellectual property
iii. Competition policy
iv. Investment
v. Development
4. Institutional framework
i. Decision-making
ii. Accession
iii. Dispute settlement provisions
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