RESTRICTED  WORLD TRADE  
ORGANIZATION  G/IT/M/36 
24 June 2004 
 (04-2729) 
Committee of Participants on the Expansion of 
Trade in Information Technology Products  
 
  
MINUTES OF THE MEETING OF 16 JULY 2003 
Chairman: Mr. H. Yoshikawa (Japan)
 
Agenda of the Meeting            P a g e  
 
1. Review of the Status of Implementation of the Ministerial Declaration on Trade in 
Information Technology Pro ducts (G/IT/1/Rev.28)...........................................................1 
2. Non-tariff Measures Work Programme (G/IT/SPEC/Q4/24, G/IT/SPEC/Q4/25, 
G/IT/SPEC/Q4/19/Rev.2 and G/IT/SPEC/Q2/11/Rev.1) ...................................................1 
3. EMC/EMI P ilot Project....................................................................................................... .4 
4. Divergences in Classifying Information Technology Products (G/IT/14/Rev.1/Add.1, 
G/IT/W/6/Rev.2)................................................................................................................ ....5 
5. New Participants ............................................................................................................ .......6 
6. Other Business.............................................................................................................. .........8 
 
  The Chairman
 stated that the proposed agenda for this meeting was circulated in 
WTO/AIR/2141 on 4 July 2003, and a corrigendu m, WTO/AIR/2141/ Corr.1 on 11 July 2003. With 
reference to the agenda, two items would be taken up under "Other Business": "review of product 
coverage", and the "date of the next meeting". The agenda was adopted  with these additions. 
 
1. Review of the Status of Implementation of  the Ministerial Declaration on Trade in 
Information Technology Products (G/IT/1/Rev.28) 
1.1        The Chairman  stated that an overview of implementation of the Ministerial Declaration on 
Trade in Information Technology Products was c ontained in document G/IT/1/Rev.28.  This 
document showed both the participants and the implementation issues pertaining to the WTO 
procedures for implementation.          1.2 The delegate of Japan
 stated that with regard to the on -going issue regarding digital cameras 
which had been reported at the previous two ITA me etings, Japan was continuing bilateral talks with 
the country concerned and they hoped to reach an early settlement on the issue. 
           1.3 The Committee took note
 of the statement made. 
 2. Non-tariff Measures Work Programme (G/IT/SPEC/Q4/24, G/IT/SPEC/Q4/25, 
G/IT/SPEC/Q4/19/Rev.2 and G/IT/SPEC/Q2/11/Rev.1) 
2.1 The Chairman
 stated that the Committee had continue d with its work in three areas: (1) the 
NTM Work Programme, but noting the EMC/EMI Pilo t Project would be addressed separately under 
the next agenda item; (2) the EMC/EMI Survey and (3) submissions on analysis and ways to proceed 
with the NTM Work Programme. 
 2.2 He recalled that at the last meeting of the Committee, it was agreed th at the Secretariat would 
update the two overview papers as they related to the work under this agenda item.  The Committee G/IT/M/36 
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now had before it the updated paper on the overview of responses to the EMC/EMI Survey, as 
contained in document G/IT/SPEC/Q4/19/Rev.2, an d the overview of proposals to the NTM Work 
Programme, in document G/IT/SPEC/Q2/11/Rev.1.  With  respect to the latter document, he noted that 
it had not been updated since the last meeting due to  the fact there had been no further submissions, 
and therefore there was nothing to update in the inte rim.  Additionally, he noted that there had been 
two additional formal replies to the survey received and circulated since the last meeting, those were 
responses from Romania and the United States, and we re circulated in documents G/IT/SPEC/Q4/24, 
and G/IT/SPEC/Q4/25, respectively.  Thus, there we re now 24 responses to the survey on EMC/EMI.  
With respect to the overall Work Programme, there had been 11 original submissions from 
participants on identification of NTMs which we re circulated in the G/IT/SPEC/Q2 series of 
documents, and there had been four submissions on analysis and ways to proceed which were 
circulated in the G/IT/SPEC/Q3 series. He enco uraged all delegations to continue to make 
contributions to the Work Programme to the extent they had not already done so, or if they had additional information, to so contribute.  He also  encouraged a full response to the EMC/EMI survey, 
so that the Committee could benefit from th e information of all participants.   
 
2.3 The delegate of Romania
 stated that they had transmitted their answers to the EMC/EMI 
Survey.  They considered that it would be very beneficial to the Committee if more participants 
presented their responses. It had not been very diffi cult for Romania to do so because all its rules and 
regulations concerning the two aspec ts were in total conformity w ith the international standards 
established by ITU. It was Romania's opinion that it would be useful to continue to hold Workshops 
on different aspects related to NTBs because for a country like Romania, which was a developing 
country, an exchange of information and views on  how these products were really treated in all 
countries could be of great use.  2.4 The delegate of the United States
 stated that they welcomed Romania's recent submission and 
noted that their own submission had been circ ulated to the Committee. On the NTB Work 
Programme, like Romania, they would like to see a dditional Workshops focused on some of the issues 
identified. The EMI/EMC Workshop had been a very u seful event in terms of trying to ensure that 
there was an active dialogue between regulators and policy makers.  It had also been useful as a means of helping Committee participants avoid so me of the problems which a number of Members 
had spent years resolving, in what was a technical  but very important area. They appreciated the 
opportunity to go into more depth on some of the is sues in an informal workshop environment. They 
welcomed input from participants on which ways c ould be most appropriate for next steps. The 
United States had raised a question at the last meeting about how the Committee might assist the non-
agricultural market access negotiations as possible expert s in this particular field, without touching on 
delicate institutional questions. In this respect, Am bassador Girard had outlined his own approach to 
addressing NTBs in the context of the NAMA negotia tions and a number of other ideas had been put 
on the table. She was not suggesting that the Commi ttee should be negotiating in that forum, but she 
was interested in exploring how it might assist that  process, should it be called upon to do so since 
many IT products were going to be addressed in those discussions. There might be some role for the 
Committee, particularly if the concept of a vertical  approach were to be advanced and accepted by the 
membership. While the suggestion might be a bit premature, she stated it would be unusual for the 
Committee to focus on NTBs that affected the IT  sector in isolation from the very important 
negotiating process that all Member governments we re undertaking. She invited reactions to the 
suggestion for informal discussion to be held on how the Committee might proceed, as a first step. 
 2.5 The delegate of the European Communities
 thanked Romania and the United States for their 
submissions with regard to the EMC/EMI Survey which were very helpful and would enhance the 
Secretariat's overview paper. He encouraged all t hose who had not yet done so to also submit their 
replies to the questionnaire as it would be bene ficial for the entire Co mmittee membership. The 
European Communities was very pl eased with the EMC/EMI Workshop. It had given participants a 
lot of insight into the issue and had provided a very  useful exchange of information among experts. It 
had also broadened the European Communities' view with regard to the various existing procedures in  G/IT/M/36 
 Page 3 
 
 
respect to EMC/EMI, whether it was on the harmonisation side of standards where they had understood that a large degree of convergence alread y existed or whether it was on the certification 
side where some work still remained to be done. Following the good experience of the EMC/EMI 
Workshop, they requested that si milar events could be organised  on other issues which were of 
interest with respect to IT products. Regarding the point raised by the United States on the role of the 
Committee in the NAMA negotiations, there would need to be some thought given to how the 
Committee could coordinate its work with the ove rall work on NTBs in the NGMA. It would be 
necessary to bear in mind that the IT sector, while a very important one, was only a very small part of the trade universe. The Committee could be discussing NTBs which were also applied in the same or 
similar manner for other products, therefore, it woul d have to avoid duplication of work. He suggested 
that the Committee reflect on how to proceed on that  issue. The European Communities did not have 
an immediate specific approach but it would be wort hwhile to focus on the issue and arrive at an 
integrated solution.  2.6 The delegate of Australia
 thanked Romania and the United States for their submissions. With 
regard to the points made by the United States and the European Communities about the NTB Work 
Programme, he stated that the mandate  in the Doha Ministerial Declaration for the NGMA to negotiate to reduce and/or eliminate NTBs was a very broad mandate and there was potential for the 
work in the ITA Committee to comp lement that broader work. All participants should probably be 
aware that there had been some progress in the NGMA towards a commitment from all Members to submit a more detailed list of NTBs.  There would be much complementarity in the work that the 
Members were undertaking in that fora and the NTBs that were notified to the ITA Committee. 
Australia strongly endorsed the suggestion that the Committee needed to avoid duplication in its work 
and that it needed to look creatively at how th e expertise that existed within the group could 
contribute to the broader work of the NGMA to fulfill the very important mandate in the Doha 
Ministerial Declaration. 
 
2.7 The delegate of India
 joined other delegations in thanking the United States and Romania for 
their EMC/EMI responses. Regarding the proposal made by United States and the European Communities, his delegation would like to reflect on it and revert to the issue at a later date. 
 2.8 The delegate of the United States
 stated that possible next steps on NTBs could be an issue 
for the Committee to reflect upon, and it could co nsider having another event like the EMC/EMI 
Workshop. She said that it would be helpful for th e Committee to go back to  the original document 
listing key NTBs and try to see if they could de velop some proposals that would help move the 
process forward, having carried out the fi rst step with the EMC/EMI Workshop.  
 
2.9 This delegate of Canada  thanked the United States and Romania for their responses to the 
survey and they repeated that it was very important  that as many participants to the ITA as possible 
complete the questionnaire. With respect to the ne xt step in the NTBs Work Programme, it was true 
that there was a certain relevance of what the ITA Committee was doing in light of the negotiations 
taking place under NAMA. He whole-heartedly subscr ibed to what the United States, European 
Communities, and Australia had said about the need to  find a right way to complement that work and 
avoid overlap and duplication. It s hould be kept in mind that the ITA Committee was a tool that could 
be used in the NAMA negotiations. In that regard , and if there were NTBs that needed to be 
considered in the NAMA context and that require d the expertise of the ITA Committee, then the 
Committee should be there for that purpose. On the other hand, in terms of furthering the Committee's 
Work Programme, which pre-predated the NAMA di scussions on NTBs, the work being carried out 
by the Committee could have relevance for the NG MA negotiations on NTBs. In that context, he 
agreed with the United States' view about the n eed for the Committee to reflect on its next steps 
because this needed to be a par ticipant-driven exercise, like the NAMA negotiations. The Committee 
could only make progress on its Work Programme if  delegations were coming forward with ideas. 
Reference had been made earlier to the 11 submissi ons on identification of NTBs that the Committee 
could address. It could be useful to have more  concrete ideas on how to implement Romania's G/IT/M/36 
Page 4  
 
suggestion for additional workshops. It would be useful to have a certain sense of which elements 
could be good candidates for further examination.  The main conclusion they drew from the EMC/EMI 
Pilot Project experience was that taking a specific ex ample helped to show what needed to be done 
and how it could be achieved. It could be useful to take some other examples and see how the 
Committee could make concrete progress on them, b earing in mind the collective workload in the 
WTO.  
 2.10 The Committee took note
 of the statements made.  
 
3. EMC/EMI Pilot Project  
3.1          The Chairman  stated that an EMC/EMI Workshop  had been held on 23-24 April, 
immediately prior to the last formal meeting.  The Workshop had emanated from a proposal by 
Canada as contained in document G/IT/SPEC/Q3/4, on the Pilot Project.  There had been a request at the last meeting to have the Chairman’s Summary Statement issued as a formal document in order for 
participants to refer to it and perhaps take further steps on the matter as part of the Pilot Project. This 
document had since been issued as G/IT/23. He wa s reverting to the matter now, since delegations 
would have had further time to reflect on it, in or der to see what steps the Committee could take to 
advance the issue, if participants so desired.   3.2 The delegate of Canada
 stated that they were very pleased with the outcome of the EMC/EMI 
Pilot Project Workshop. He supported what had been said by the delegate of the European 
Communities, that it was a very good opportunity to bring together the EMC/EMI experts and that it 
illustrated the potential for further harmonisation. It had been an insightful ex perience to see that the 
real differences were not as great as might first ha d been imagined, but it also showed the importance 
of regulatory cooperation to address remaining NTBs that may impede the trade of IT products. In 
terms of the next steps, at the end of the work shop his delegation had indicated that it would be 
willing to work with other delegations to draft a pa per on best practices. They  were currently carrying 
out this work and Canadian experts were wo rking with their US counterparts on making a 
contribution in that regard, which they hoped to provide by the time of the next meeting. 
 3.3 The delegate of the United States
 stated that they found the EMC/EMI Workshop very useful 
and that the representatives of the private sector as well as the regulatory agencies were very pleased 
to have been invited to participate in the event. Fo r this particular industry, it had been of very real 
benefit to have the inclusion of people in the room  who had some practical experience, as they had an 
appreciation for what the Committee was trying to achi eve. It had been appropriate to have a format 
that included a component of dialogue with the bus iness community.  They welcomed the information 
that Canada would follow through on their 'best practices' proposal as it was a proposal that the 
United States was also very interested in pursuing an d they would be very interested in working with 
Canada on that work.   3.4 With regard to the Workshop, they had made a number of observations which might be useful 
in terms of proceeding with future work. They were of  the view that in looking at the particular issue 
it was important not to overlook administrative proc esses that were really barriers to manufacturers. 
They also shared Canada's view, as expressed at th e last meeting, that the Committee should avoid 
unnecessary regulation and instead discuss a number of re gulatory alternatives that were available. It 
was important to try to find a way to build on th e experience of participants who had gone through a 
regulatory experience where they put in place burde nsome processes which they then had to spend 
years trying to undo. A number of governments ha d good experiences in deregulating without losing 
regulator jobs, which was of concern for many. It woul d be useful to keep that issue in mind and try to 
figure out how to move forward on some of those points that might come up in the 'best practices' area. It was also important that the Committee addres s the challenge that a number of delegations had 
expressed, i.e., that with the lack of product liabilit y or consumer safety legislation it was hard for 
them to undertake some of the deregulation that others were proposing.  The Committee should see if  G/IT/M/36 
 Page 5 
 
 
there was some way that it might suggest to do th at in a less burdensome way. The United States 
wanted to ensure, with regard to  the private sector in the IT industry, that the Committee's proposals 
would be pragmatic, timely and not a case of 'too l ittle too late'. The United States remained very 
interested in the sector and wanted to continue  working with others as they believed that the 
Committee could make a lot of difference.   
 
3.5 The delegate of Romania  stated that the Workshop had been very useful and interesting for 
her and for their specialists from capital because they not only had the opportunity to see how these 
things were dealt with in other countries, unfortuna tely only 22 at the moment, but at the same time to 
better understand what the Committee w as trying to do with regard to trade principles, rules, and 
decisions that it could take. They believed that a further Workshop on EMC/EMI could be useful 
when an greater number of countries had submitted answers to the questionn aire. She agreed with 
Canada that there were not so many differences be tween the answers already submitted, but they were 
not yet sure if there was a discernable pattern emer ging. They also supported Canada's proposal to 
prepare a paper on 'best practices' and were looking fo rward to working on such a project. She agreed 
with Canada's proposal of identifying very specifi c technical issues related to IT products, which 
could form the subject of the next project. It was very important for a country such as Romania, which did not have too many regulations and therefore di d not have to deregulate so much. The only reason 
behind regulations should be safety and protection of the environment,  and it would be beneficial if 
the regulations they were establishing could r eally encourage trade in those products.   
 
3.6 The delegate of th e European Communities
 stated that they had continuing interest in the 
EMC/EMI matter. Their perception from the Workshop was that most of the problems were in the 
administrative processes and they were rather confid ent to learn from the different regulators that  
quite a high degree of harmonisation already existed. However, this did not mean that they would not 
have to do something about the administrative process es, as they were the most important part of the 
problem. They had also seen that there were many reasons for the various and different administrative 
processes. The United States had already highlighted some of them, the fear of existing regulators 
losing their jobs and the absence of any product li ability legislation.  He also added another one, 
which was a functioning, after-mark et surveillance mechanism which was also very important. They 
were prepared to work actively on the matter because they believed that the products really 
represented very low risk, and it should be possible to  come to a solution which would facilitate trade 
and also facilitate administrative procedures and proc esses. In this regard, they looked forward to the 
paper which was being prepared by Canada, in cooper ation with the United States, so that it could be 
discussed at the next meeting.   3.7 The delegate of Chinese Taipei
 thanked Canada for their propo sal and thanked the Secretariat 
for organising the EMC/EMI Workshop. It had been a great honour for his delegation to make a 
presentation on conformity assessment during the Wo rkshop. They agreed that the Workshop had 
turned out to be a good success. Based on th e success of the EMC/EMI Workshop they would 
welcome further steps in the future work and th ey supported the United States' suggestion of the 
possibility of identifyi ng other specific elements to be  discussed in the near future. 
 
3.8 The Committee took note  of the statements made. 
 
4. Divergences in Classifying Information Technology Products (G/IT/14/Rev.1/Add.1, 
G/IT/W/6/Rev.2)  
4.1 The Chairman  stated that at the previous meeting the Committee had briefly taken up the report 
of the customs experts, which reflected the work that had taken place in their meeting of May last year.  
The report, which had been circulat ed in document G/IT/ 14/Rev.1/Add.1, gave an overview of the 
classification issues discussed by the experts.  At the last meeting, participants preferred to have more time to examine this document and also requested that the Secretariat update its overview document, 
listing the outcome by va rious categories.  This had been provi ded in document G/IT/W/6/Rev.2.  By G/IT/M/36 
Page 6  
 
means of an overview, he highlighted that a lo t of good work had been accomplished and that the 
Committee should not lose sight of this.  There were many items that had reached consensus of one or more classifications, and there were some important items that had been referred to the formal Committee for consideration.  He also noted that there was one item that was recommended to be sent to the WCO for its classification opinion.  Theref ore, he suggested that the Committ ee revert to the report and the 
overview document in order to make progress on classification divergences.   
 4.2 The delegate of the European Communities
 stated that in his opinion the customs experts had 
taken the work as far as they could for the time be ing.   He proposed a means of moving forward on 
those items in Lists 1(A) and 1(B) in the overview document. For Lists 1(A) and 1(B), he said that 
there was a consensus emerging among the customs expe rts participating at the meetings that one or 
more classifications were the correct ones. However,  not all the participants were present during this 
work and it would be necessary to get feedback from them. He suggested that one way to move 
forward would be to have a procedure whereby the classifications were considered to be acceptable, 
even by those participants who were not present, if  they did not react before the next meeting. If 
however, they thought it would be a good idea to re visit the issues, then the European Communities 
would be in favour of having an informal meeting or  a customs expert meeting in advance to clean up 
any remaining issues for items contained in Lists 1(A)  and 1(B).   With regard to the item mentioned 
for referral to the WCO, he suggested that the Committee follow the same procedure as on previous 
occasions, where the Chair wrote to the WCO and asked for the Harmonized System Committee's  
views on the matter.  The European Communities coul d assist the Chairman in preparing such a letter 
or in providing some product examples of the type of product under considera tion. Other delegations 
particularly interested in the issu e might also wish to do the same.  
 4.3 The delegate of Japan
 stated that they appreciated the efforts made by the Secretariat to 
prepare the minutes of the classification experts meet ing which took place in May last year. Based on 
the outcome of that meeting, Japan found that the discussions on classification divergences made 
further progress.  4.4 The delegate of the United States
 thanked the delegate of the European Communities for the 
practical ideas on moving forward the on the issue of classification divergences. She had no formal 
reaction to the suggestion made, but it would be u seful to see if a pragmatic approach such as the 
European Communities had suggested could be used. It  made sense to use some form of procedure to 
ensure that participants at least could indicate wh ere they might have problems. That would help the 
Committee to focus its efforts. A logical next step  would be to try to use a procedure such as the 
European Communities had outlined. While she unders tood the objective of trying to make progress  
by a silent procedure, it would be necessary to  confirm that the US Customs authorities were 
comfortable with such an approach. It could be possi ble to take the first step and then find a way to 
confirm that outcome with one final step afterwards.  4.5 The delegate of India
 stated that their customs experts we re examining the issue and that they 
needed more time to do so. He agreed that the Comm ittee needed a pragmatic approach but they 
needed to look further at the issue of a silent procedure. 
 
4.6 The Committee took note  of the statements made.  
 
5. New Participants  
5.1 The Chairman  stated that there had been new one schedule submitted to the Committee for 
consideration at the meeting, that of the Kingdom of Bahrain .  The schedule of Bahrain had been 
circulated to all participants on 7 July in order to be taken up at the July meeting.  The Secretariat had performed the electronic verificati on of the schedule which had shown th at there were no discrepancies.  
That information had also been circulated along with the schedule.  He believed that the Committee was now in a position to take up the schedule of Bahrain for approval.   G/IT/M/36 
 Page 7 
 
 
 5.2 The delegate of Bahrain
 thanked the Chairman and all th e participants, especially the 
Secretariat, for their valuable assistance and coopera tion during the drafting of their schedule. Bahrain 
was a very small country but it actively participat ed in the WTO activities and meetings and they 
looked forward to participating in the work of  the ITA Committee in the future. They strongly 
believed that liberalisation of the trade would grea tly stimulate the growth of the world economy and 
this would be reflected positively in all countries'  economies irrespective of their size. Bahrain had 
recently took a step forward by reducing its custom s duties on all products, including IT products. The 
development of their IT sector and the desire to increase its world market share, including the inputs 
of such products to their industry, were the real reasons for Bahrain's request to join the ITA. They 
asked the Chairman and the Committe e to consider Bahrain's schedule of commitments for their IT 
products as it had been circulated. They woul d assume all responsibility and commit to its 
implementation by starting the reduction as soon as the formality of joining the Committee had been 
completed. Furthermore, they proposed a staging period of five years for tariff reductions to zero percent by 1 January 2008. They were willing to  respond to any inquiries or questions from the 
Committee participants. 
 5.3 The delegate of the European Communities
 stated that they were very pleased that Bahrain 
had decided to become a participant to the ITA and they fully supported Bahrain's request to be 
admitted to the ITA Committee.  
5.4 The delegate of the United States
 stated that they were very pleased that Bahrain had taken 
this step and they were very encouraged with thei r initial review the documentation. They were going 
through an internal clearance process and the initi al responses were quite positive, therefore they 
hoped that they could get back directly to the governme nt of Bahrain. They did not expect to have any 
questions, but as yet there was no final decision. In ge neral, they very much welcomed the step which 
had been taken by Bahrain and would continue to support it. 
 5.5 The delegate of Egypt
 stated that Egypt supported Bahrain's decision and welcomed Bahrain 
as a participant to the Ministerial Declaration on the Expansion of Trade in Information Technology 
Products.  
5.6 The delegate of Oman
 welcomed Bahrain as a new particip ant to the ITA agreement. Bahrain 
was the second GCC member to become a particip ant in the agreement after Oman. They expressed 
their full support to the delegation of Bahrain and were willing to work closely and cooperate with 
them in the work of the Committee.  
5.7 The delegate of Romania
 stated it had great pleasure in welcoming Bahrain into the ITA 
Committee and they were prepared to  work closely with Bahrain to f acilitate and develop trade in IT 
products.  5.8 The delegate of Canada
 expressed their thanks to Bahrain fo r their interest in the ITA and for 
the submission of their draft schedule. Canada was favourably impressed in terms of its coverage and 
the staging of implementation of the ITA products. It was a clear indication of Bahrain's commitment 
to tariff liberalisation and its willingness to use tariff elimination as a way to attract investment. It was 
a very positive step demonstrating how sectoral appr oaches to tariff liberalisation could be used as a 
tool for economic development. They looked forward to  Bahrain's future participation in the work of 
the Committee and to working closely with them  on issues related to trade in IT products. 
 
5.9 The delegate of Chinese Taipei  stated that Bahrain's schedule was a good one and found it 
acceptable. In that regard, they welcom ed Bahrain to join the ITA Committee. 
 5.10 The delegate of Japan
 stated that on behalf of the Japanese government, he welcomed Bahrain 
as a new participant to the ITA Committee. G/IT/M/36 
Page 8  
 
 5.11 The Chairman
 stated that since one participant was not ready to approve Bahrain's schedule 
today, the Committee should take up the issue at the next meeting.  5.12 The delegate of the United States
 asked if there was some other mechanism by which they 
could notify their clearance on Bahrain's schedule, wh ich they expected very soon, as they would not 
want to hold up the process.  If there was a problem with the schedule, that would have to be indicated, but they did not anticipate that happening.   5.13 The Chairman
 stated that the approval could be given, but subject to confirmation from the 
United States. 
 5.14 The Committee agreed
 to approve the schedule of the Kingdom of Bahrain to the ITA 
Committee, pending confirmation from the United States.  
5.15 The Chairman
 welcomed the Kingdom of Bahrain as the 60 th participant to the Committee.  He 
said that in looking ahead, there were likely to be mo re schedules to be taken up under this agenda item at 
the next meeting, as there had been at least one new schedule submitted to the Secretariat for verification purposes.  It was foreseen that this would be taken up at the next meeting. 
 5.16  After the meeting, a letter  was received from the US delegatio n, dated 16 July  2003, whereby 
they confirmed  formal approval of Bahrain's ITA schedule.  A fax was se nt to all participants on 21 July 
2003, positively confirming Bahrain' s participation in the Committee. 
 
6. Other Business 
6.1 The Chairman
 stated that the issue of the "Review of Product Coverage" continued to be a matter 
under consultation and he encouraged dele gations to continue their efforts. 
 6.2 The delegate of the United States
 expressed her uncertainty as to whether the review of 
product coverage was indeed being actively pursued or whether there were some problems that were 
preventing discussions from advancing. She suggested that the Committee may n eed to step back and 
think about how they could move this particular issue forward.   
 
6.3 The delegate of the European Communities  stated that he was perhaps one of the few who 
were participating in the discussions of the IT A II on the expansion of the product coverage. The 
European Communities remained very  interested in the subject and there could be new possibilities 
arising in the near future, depending on the outco me in Cancun. This could give the Committee new 
possibilities and therefore it could be in a position to revisit the work that had already been carried out 
some time ago, and see whether it was still up to date . However, for the moment it would be better to 
wait and see what would happen in Cancun and the Comm ittee could then discuss the issue at a future 
meeting.  6.4 The Chairman
 stated that the date of the next meeting had originally been scheduled for 
16 October 2003 but due to other factors and schedu ling of meetings, he proposed that the Committee 
hold its next meeting in early November, and that the exact date of the next meeting be settled in 
consultation with delegations and also in li ght of the scheduling of other meetings.  
  
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