RESTRICTED
WORLD TRADE G/MA/M/8
27March 1997
ORGANIZATION(97-1270)
Committee onMarket Access
MINUTES OFTHE MEETING OF3MARCH 1997
Chairman: Mr.Jean Saint-Jacques (Canada)
Agenda oftheMeeting Page
1. Observer status ofinternational intergovernmental organizations 1
1.1 International intergovernmental organizations having observer status
onanadhocbasis 1
1.2 International intergovernmental organizations which requested observer status 2
2. Submission ofdocumentation related toHS96 changes 2
3. Establishment ofloose-leaf schedules 4
4. Integrated DataBase 4
5. Submission ofnational tariffs for1997 5
6. Notification ofquantitative restrictions 6
7. Introduction offuture changes intheHarmonized System 6
8. Other Business 7
8.1 Dateofthenextmeeting oftheCommittee 7
9. Election ofofficers 8
Introduction
Theabove agenda, which wascontained inWTO/AIR/512 dated 4February 1997, andCorr.1
andCorr.2, wasadopted without anychange.
1. Observer status ofinternational intergovernmental organizations
1.1. International intergovernmental organizations having observer status onanadhocbasis
TheChairman drew theCommittee 'sattention toPartIofdocument G/MA/W/11 which
contained thelistofinternational intergovernmental organizations having observer status onanadhoc
basisintheCommittee,i.e.theFAO,IMF,ITCB,UNCTAD,WCOandtheWorldBank.Hereminded
theCommittee thattheAgreements established inDecember 1996 between theWTO andtheWorldG/MA/M/8
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Bank andIMFprovided thattheWTO would invite theseorganizations tosendamember oftheirstaff
tothemeetings ofWTO bodies onareciprocity basis. Itappeared therefore thatobserver status was
already granted tothose organizations byvirtue ofthese agreements andheasked theCommittee to
takenoteofthisfact. Concerning theFAO, ITCB, UNCTAD andtheWCO, given thefactthatthey
already hadbeengranted observer status onanadhocbasis, theChairman proposed thattheCommittee
grant observer status tothese international organizations.
TheCommittee soagreed .
1.2 International intergovernmental organizations which requested observer status
TheChairman referred toPartIIofdocument G/MA/W/11 which indicated thatrequests for
observer status intheCommittee hadbeenreceived from theAfrican, Caribbean andPacific Group
ofStates (ACP Group) andfromtheInter-American Development Bank. Heinformed theCommittee
thatthesetwoorganizations hadbeengranted observer status intheGATT 1947Council andproposed
that,unless anobjection were raised, these twoorganizations should beinvited toparticipate inthe
formal meetings oftheCommittee asobservers.
TheCommittee soagreed .
2. Submission ofdocumentation related toHS96 changes
TheChairman referred totheprovisions contained intheDecision oftheGeneral Council
of18July1996 (document WT/L/173) extending thetime-limit ofthewaiver granted toMembers
having requested tobeconsidered under thewaiver until30April 1997.TheMembers concerned
hadbeenexpected tosubmit thecomplete documentation required fortheintroduction oftheHS96
changes intotheir WTO schedules by30September 1996.Ascould benoted from document
G/MA/TAR/2/Rev.7,givingthepresentsituationregardingthesubmissionoftherequireddocumentation,
outofthe37Members covered bythewaiver, 10Members hadeither submitted onlysome preliminary
dataornothing atall.Healsonoted thatoutofthe32HSsubmissions received, twohadbeenapproved,
andfor27submissions theSecretariat hadreceived reservations. Heurged allMembers which were
covered bythewaiver andhadnotyetsubmitted therequired documentation todosoasearlyaspossible.
Hereminded theMembers concerned thatthewaivers would expire on30April 1997.
Therepresentative ofElSalvador informed theMembers oftheCommittee thatherauthorities
were stillfaced withtechnical difficulties toimplement HS96 which wasthereason fornothaving
yetsubmitted therequired documentation. According totheinformation received from capital, the
changes would beimplemented inthefirstpartoftheyear; consequently hercountry would needto
request anextension ofthewaiver.
Therepresentative ofSwitzerland stated that,under thedecision ontheintroduction ofHS96
changesintoWTOschedulesoftariffconcessions,individualwaivers,whichwereforoperationalreasons
grouped intoonesingle decision, hadbeengranted tosuspend theapplication oftheprovisions of
Article IIofGATT 1994 foranother period of10months until30April 1997. Thepurpose wasto
enable Members listed intheAnnex oftheDecision toimplement on1January 1996therecommended
amendments totheHSnomenclature, oncondition thatinteralianegotiations andconsultations based
onreservations made onsubmissions ofHS96 changes becompleted notlaterthan30April 1997.
Herecalled thatSwitzerland hadsubmitted itsconsolidated loose-leaf schedule containing theproposed
HS96 changes inDecember 1995, which hadthenbeencirculated toWTO Members on16January
1996withdocument G/SECRET/HS96/10 fulfilling thustherequirement under theCouncil Decision
of13December 1995(WT/L/124). Switzerland hadreceived general reservations fromfourMembers.
Thereservations, except one,hadbeen made without further specifications, andnosubstantiveG/MA/M/8
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explanation hadbeensupplied. Consequently, theSwiss delegation could notenter intonegotiations
andconsultations withtheinterested Members, asrequired under theDecision. Heexpressed concern
about those general reservations andhehoped thattheMembers concerned would specify their
reservations without further delay inorder toenable hiscountry tocomplete negotiations orconsultations
notlaterthan30April 1997. Herequested theChairman tocarry outconsultations onthismatter
andadded thatfailing progress, hisdelegation would raisethematter formally atthenextmeeting of
theCouncil forTrade inGoods.
Therepresentative ofRomania informed theCommittee thathiscountry hadimplemented
theHS96 changes asof1January 1997, Romania having become aContracting Party totheHS
Convention onlyinautumn 1996. InAugust 1996, i.e.wellbefore theimplementation date,Romania
hadsubmitted therequired documentation indocument G/SECRET/HS96/24. Bytheexpiration of
the90dayperiod, Romania hadreceived onlyonereservation ofageneral nature anditsdelegation
wasready toholdthenecessary consultations. Inthese circumstances, andinviewofthefactthat
theRomanian schedule containing theHS96 changes could notbecertified priortotheimplementation
ofHS96, andwithreference tothefactthatatthemeeting oftheCommittee on13June1996 ithad
beenagreed thatanyother member could alsobecovered bythewaiver, heinformed theCommittee
thatRomania requested tobecovered bythewaiver.
Thedelegate ofVenezuela stated thattheposition ofhisgovernment wassimilar tothatof
Switzerland since hisdelegation hadsubmitted aconsolidated loose-leaf schedule containing theHS96
changes towards themiddle of1996 andtodate, hisdelegation hadreceived onlyonereservation of
general nature which didnotprovide anyexplanation forthereservation. Heappealed tothedelegation
concerned tospecify thereasons forthereservation. Hereiterated hisdelegation 'swillingness toconduct
consultations ontheVenezuelan schedule inorder toavoid being involuntarily forced torequest an
extension ofthewaiver.
Thedelegate oftheEuropean Communities supported thecomments made bySwitzerland
andVenezuela andstressed theimportance ofconcluding theverification process related tothis
transposition exercise inviewoftheheavy workload faced bytheCommittee during thisyear, e.g.the
work ontheloose-leaf schedules andtheupdate oftheIDB.
Therepresentative ofNorway fullysupported theECstatement andexpressed concern about
thelackofprogress onthesubmission ofdocumentation related toHS96 amendments. Asrecalled
bytheSwiss delegation, theindividual waivers granted under asingle decision were expiring on
30April 1997. Hereferred tohisdelegation 'sstatement made atthemeeting oftheCommittee of
June1996when Norway requested theCommittee toundertake areview ofthestatus ofimplementation
byMembers ofHS96 change andoftheneedfortheextension ofwaivers. Hisdelegation wasextremely
concerned about theuseofgeneral reservations: Norway hadsubmitted itsHS96 documentation in
January 1996andwasstillexpecting specifications withregard togeneral reservations made byKorea
andtheUnited States. Hisdelegation hoped toreceive thenecessary specifications before 30April
andavoid having torequest anextension ofthewaiver.
Therepresentative ofEgypt stated thathisauthorities hadtechnical difficulties preparing the
amendments related totheHS96 changes. Hisdelegation wasworking withtheSecretariat tosolve
these difficulties. Egypt would needtorequest anextension ofthewaiver.
Thedelegate ofMexico recalled thathisdelegation hadsofaronlysubmitted the1996national
tariffindicating where HS96 changes hadbeenintroduced. Hisdelegation hoped tohavethenecessary
documentation ready verysoon. Hisdelegation would needtorequest anextension ofthewaiver beyond
30April 1997.G/MA/M/8
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Therepresentative ofHungary indicated thatherdelegation, likeother delegations, wasfaced
withtheproblem oftheuseofgeneral reservations. Shestressed theneedtoconclude theverification
process bythedeadline of30April.
Thedelegate ofArgentina stated thathisdelegation hadsubmitted thenecessary documentation
intimeandhadreceived three general andonemore specific reservation. Hisdelegation wasalso
concerned thatnospecifications forthose reservations hadbeenprovided; Argentina would beobliged
torequest anextension ofthewaiver.
Thedelegate ofBrazil informed theCommittee thatwork related onthedocumentation had
beenfinalized; thedocumentation should arrive inGeneva during theforthcoming week.
Therepresentative ofKorea ,referring tothestatement bythedelegate ofNorway, promised
toclearKorea 'sgeneral reservation before theendofApril. Atthesame time, herequested thetwo
major trading countries thathadsubmitted general reservations ontheKorean schedule tospecify the
general reservations assoonaspossible.
Thedelegate ofAustralia endorsed thecomments made about general reservations andsaid
thathercountry would beobliged torequest anextension ofthewaiver.
Onbehalf oftheCzech andSlovak Republics, therepresentative ofSlovakia informed the
Committee thattheirdelegations hadreceived three reservations, oneofthem ofageneral nature.
Hejoined intheconcern expressed byother delegations.
TheChairman tooknoteofthestatements andurged alldelegations having submitted general
reservations tosubmit thenecessary specifications asquickly aspossible sothatnegotiations could
beconcluded intheshortest possible time.
3. Establishment ofloose-leaf schedules
TheChairman recalled thattheDecision regarding theestablishment ofconsolidated loose-leaf
schedules, approved bytheCouncil forTrade inGoods atitsmeeting of29November 1996, was
contained indocument G/L/138. Hereminded theCommittee thattheschedules ofseveral Members
containing boththeinformation needed intheloose-leaf schedules andtheHS96 changes hadalready
beensubmitted andasmentioned byanumber ofdelegations, practically forallofthem, general
reservations hadbeenreceived. Heurged those delegations thathadsubmitted reservations toproceed
withtheverification oftheschedules thathadbeensubmitted asquickly aspossible.
4. Integrated Data Base
TheChairman stated that,asconcerned theIntegrated DataBase, since October 1995, the
Statistics andInformation Division hadreceived fromMembers eightfullsubmissions (tariff andimport
data),seventariffsubmissions,fiveimportsubmissionwithavailabletariffs,andnineimportsubmissions
withnoavailable tariff. Information ontwenty-six tariffs hadbeenobtained fromother WTO divisions
(Market Access andTrade Policy Review). Finally, 14tariffs hadbeen processed from national
publications. Heregretted tonotethattheinformation wasnotascomplete asitshould be.
Herecalled further thatinOctober 1995 (G/MA/M/3) theCommittee hadagreed thatthe
Secretariat would conduct astudy onthe"downsizing" oftheIntegrated DataBase(IDB) from the
mainframe toaPCenvironment andthattheIDBbemade operational withbasicinformation ontariffs
andimports before broadening itsscope byincluding non-tariff measures andothertypes ofrestrictions.
Thisstudy, which hadbeencarried outbyanoutside consultant, hadbeencompleted andresulted inG/MA/M/8
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adocument ofsome 450pages. Asummary ofthereport containing themain conclusions and
recommendations hadbeen prepared bytheSecretariat andhadbeen circulated indocument
G/MA/IDB/W/2. Because thisdocument hadbeencirculated onlyveryrecently, theChairman expected
thatMembers would needadditional timetoexamine itbefore proceeding toadiscussion inaformal
Committee meeting. Italsoappeared thatinformal consultations would berequired onthesubject
before thematter could betaken upintheCommittee. Headded thatthefullreport would beavailable
onrequest from theSecretariat Statistics andInformation Division.
Asconcerned thedissemination oftheIDB, theChairman drew adistinction between the
IDBdatagenerally available which included tariffs andtrade information, andthedatathatmight be
obtained during negotiating rounds, e.g.theoffers submitted byMembers. Forthepurpose ofthis
discussion, hewasnotreferring tooffers during negotiating rounds butsimply tothenormal trade
andtariff information contained intheIDB. Asaresult oftheDecision bytheCommittee in
October 1995, theIDBfilesweredisseminated toWTO Members andtointernational organizations
oncomputer tapes anddiskettes, aswellasonaCDROM withanapplication system. Other
organizations haddatabases containing similar dataandthisinformation wasdisseminated notonly
tothemembers ofthose organizations buttothepublic onacostrecovery basis. TheChairman
suggested thattheCommittee reflect onthepossibility ofmaking theinformation contained intheIDB
available tothepublic onacostrecovery basis. Inorder tohaveWTO considered asoneofthemajor
sources ofinformation usedfortrade purposes, either fortrade negotiations oranalyses, itwould be
veryuseful toallow theSecretariat todisseminate thisinformation. Thisissue would needfurther
reflection andtheCommittee should revert toitatafuture meeting.
Therepresentative oftheEuropean Communities pointed outthat,while hisdelegation did
nothaveanyproblem asconcerned thedissemination oftheinformation, thequestion was:whatwould
bedisseminated andhowreliable would theinformation beifthedatabasedidnotcontain awidecountry
coverage. Hedidnotthink thatresearchers ortrade people would invest anymoney inbuying
information fromtheIDBifitdidnotrepresent animportant share ofworld market trade; thesame
applied fortariffinformation. Thistypeofservice wasalready provided byseveral companies around
theworld andapplied tariffs could bepurchased from those companies intheyearwhen tariffs were
applied andnotyears lateraswasthecasewiththeIDB. Insummary, hisdelegation would nothave
anyobjection todisseminate IDBinformation ifitwasreliable anditwasensured thattheproduct
wasavalid one.
Inreplytoanenquiry oftherepresentative ofNewZealand ,therepresentative oftheSecretariat
saidthatwithregard tothepossibility ofapproaching directly theauthorities concerned inthevarious
countries inorder toobtain trade datadirectly from capitals, contacts hadbeenestablish witheight
totencapitals andforhalfofthemthecontacts hadbeenveryfruitful. Ithadbeenpossible toestablish
alistofnames ofindividuals inthecapitals responsible forthepreparation ofimport andtariff data
andtheSecretariat intended usethesecontacts again inthefuture togetupdated information. Concerning
New Zealand, while successful contacts hadbeen established which permitted toobtain updated
information onstatistics, problems hadbeenencountered ingetting updated tariff information.
5. Submission ofnational tariffs for1997
TheChairman pointed outthattheSecretariat hadprepared fortheinformation ofCommittee
Members arevision ofdocument G/MA/TAR/3 showing thepresent situation relating tothesubmission
ofnational tariffs byMembers. Heurged Members thathadnotyetsupplied thisinformation todo
soasquickly aspossible inviewofitsimportance forthework oftheOrganization andalsoinview
ofdeveloping theWTO statistical basis.G/MA/M/8
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Therepresentative ofCuba informed theMembers oftheCommittee thatasof1January 1997
theRepublic ofCuba hadanewtariffateightdigitlevelwhich would behanded overtotheSecretariat
verysoon.
TherepresentativeofIndiaindicatedthatthenationaltariffofIndiafor1996hadbeensubmitted
totheTrade Policy Review Division. AstheIndian financial yearstarted inApril, the1997 tariff
would beforwarded soonthereafter.
6. Notification ofquantitative restrictions
TheChairman recalled thattheCommittee haddiscussed ontheadvisability ofpreparing a
format forthenotification ofquantitative restrictions. Atthattime, itwasfeltthatsince thenumber
ofnotifications received hadbeenquitelimited itwould bebetter towaituntilmore notifications would
bereceived inorder totakeintoaccount thevarious types ofinformation contained inthenotifications.
AlsotheChairman oftheWorking Party onNotification Obligations andProcedures hadrequested
thisCommittee tolookintothisquestion andtheCommittee hadauthorized theChairman toreply
indicating thattheCommittee would keepthematter under review. TheSecretariat hadreceived by
nowalarger number ofnotifications andhadprepared document contained inG/MA/NTM/QR/Add.3
showing theadditional notifications submitted, aswellasadraftformat forfuture notifications. The
Chairman explained thatnodecision needed tobetaken bytheCommittee atthismeeting, butheasked
Members toexamine thedraftformat which, inhisview, would beuseful forfuture notifications.
IftheCommittee would agree tothisatasubsequent meeting, theSecretariat would issueitasaformal
document andtheinformation contained inthedocument, aswellasthedocumentation already submitted
totheSecretariat, would bepresented inthisformat.
Replying toaquestion raised bytherepresentative oftheEuropean Communities astowhether
therewasanyelectronic format foreseen forthenotification ofquantitative restrictions, theChairman
saidthatthisquestion could beexamined.
Therepresentative ofNew Zealand ,noting thatanumber ofnotifications onquantitative
restrictions made sofarwasquitelimited, wondered whether countries which nothaveanynotifiable
quantitative restrictions should notnotify thisfact.
TheChairman tooknoteofthecomments made bythedelegate ofNewZealand andurged
delegations thathadnotyetsubmitted theirnotifications onquantitative restrictions todosoassoon
aspossible, keeping inmind theproposed draftformat.
7. Introduction offuture changes intheHarmonized System
Therepresentative oftheWorld Customs Organization (Mr. Kusahara, Director of
Nomenclature andClassification Directorate) informed theCommittee thattodatethere were
88Contracting Parties totheHSConvention andthatmore than80percentoftheContracting Parties
hadalready implemented theHS96 changes intheirnational tariffs. Onlyabout 10countries hadnot
yetimplemented those changes, most ofthem having financial problems toprint theirnewtariffs.
Headded thattheWCO would beprepared toassist anycountry inorder toexpedite itsArticle XXVIII
procedures fortheimplementation ofHS96.
Asregards thefuture amendments totheHarmonized System, Mr.Kusahara, referring tothe
details ofprovisional amendments already circulated, explained thattheWCO HSCommittee hadbeen
dealing withthose amendments forabout twoyears. Inthisconnection, hepointed tothefactthat
thepredecessor oftheHarmonized System, theCustoms Co-operation Council Nomenclature (CCCN),
hadbeenreviewed every sixyears sinceitsentry intoforce in1959. However, inthe1970s, itbecameG/MA/M/8
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apparent tomany countries thattheCCCN wasnolonger uptodate. Thisgaverisetotheestablishment
oftheHarmonized System which, isnotkeptuptodate,would quickly become obsolete anduseless.
TheWCO hadtheresponsibility ofkeeping thisnomenclature aliveanduseful. According toArticle 16
oftheHSConvention, theWCO hadtoprepare arecommendation containing amendments totheHS
andnotify ittotheContracting Parties. Ifanyobjection toaspecific amendment wasnotified bya
Contracting Party within sixmonths, theamendment would bedropped. Allother amendments for
which there werenoobjections weredeemed tobeaccepted sixmonths afterthedateofnotification
bytheCouncil andwould besubsequently implemented. Asconcerned thedateofimplementation,
Article 16,para. 4(b),saidthat"where therecommended amendment isnotified onorafter1April,
thedateshallbethefirstofJanuary ofthethirdyearfollowing thedateofsuchnotification"; this
meant that,iftheWCO adopted arecommendation inJune1997andnotified ittotheadministrations
inJuly1997, theamendment would come intoforce on1January 2000. Bythattime, according to
theprocedures ofArticle 16,theContracting Parties totheConvention would hadtheobligation to
bring theirtariff nomenclatures intoconformity withtheHSamendment. Asregards thefrequency
oftheHSamendments, theWCO Council atits1988 meeting hadendorsed theHSCommittee 's
conclusion toreview theHarmonized System atregular intervals ofthree tofouryears. Sofarthe
HShadbeenamended every fouryears: itentered intoforce in1988, itwasamended firstin1992,
andasecond timein1996. Asconcerned thethirdamendment, theHSCommittee tookaprovisional
decision atitsmeeting ofNovember 1996toimplement iton1January 2002, i.e.atasixyearinterval
instead offouryears. Thismeant thattheWCO would adopt andnotify thenextHSamendment
recommendation in1999. Thisdecision, taken onaprovisional basis, would betaken upandfinalized
atthenextmeeting oftheHSCommittee inApril 1997.
Regardingthemagnitudeofamendments,Mr.Kusaharaexplainedthatthefirstsetofamendments
comprisedabout200amendments,mostofthembeingofeditorialnature.Thesecondsetofamendments
comprised approximately 400,some ofthem being substantive. Thethirdsetofamendments sofar
provisionally adopted would consist oftwotypes: purely editorial andotheramendments. Asconcerned
those other amendments, theycould beclassified intothree categories: (a)waste andscrap (for
environmental reasons); (b)clarification oflegaltextswithout substantive changes, and(c)other (a
fewitems only). Theprinciples applied bytheWCO toamend HSwere thefollowing: when a
sub-heading wastobecreated ordeleted, twobasic criteria wereapplied: (1)thethreshold value (the
trade value needed tobeimportant enough tojustify asub-heading), and(2)theneed foraclear
distinction. There were, however, exceptions tothose basic rules when dealing withenvironmental
orsocial concerns orgoods ofspecial interest todeveloping countries. Inthose cases, thecriterion
oftradevalue wasnotapplied rigidly andsome flexibility wasintroduced. Then, Mr.Kusahara gave
anoutline ofthethree categories (a),(b)and(c)oftheamendments sofarprovisionally adopted and
therelatively small magnitude ofsubstantive amendments inrelation togoods oftrade importance.
TheCommittee tooknoteoftheexplanations given byMr.Kusahara.
8. Other Business
8.1 Dateofthenextmeeting oftheCommittee
TheChairman pointed outtotheCommittee thatinviewofthefactthatrequests forextension
ofwaivers which expired on30April 1997 would havetobeconsidered bytheCommittee before
being submitted totheCouncil forTrade inGoods andforwarded totheGeneral Council, thenext
meeting oftheCommittee would takeplace on8April 1997.
Itwassoagreed .G/MA/M/8
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9. Election ofofficers
Election ofChairperson
TheChairman stated thatastheMembers wereaware, theChairman oftheCouncil forTrade
inGoods, pursuant toparagraph 6.3ofthe"Guidelines forAppointment ofOfficers toWTO Bodies",
hadcarried outinformal consultations onaslateofnames forappointment aschairpersons tothedifferent
subsidiary bodies oftheCouncil forTrade inGoods. Theproposed nominations hadbeentaken note
ofbytheCouncil forTrade inGoods atitsmeeting on12February 1997.
Hestated that,withrespect tothisCommittee, theChairman oftheCouncil forTrade inGoods
hadproposed thatMr.Moha Ouali Tagma ofMorocco betheChairman andunless there wasany
objection itwould beagreed thatMr.Tagma waselected asChairman forthisyear.
Thiswasagreed bytheCommittee.
HeaddedthatthequestionoftheelectionofaVice-Chairpersonwouldbethesubjectofinformal
consultations andwould betaken upatthenextmeeting oftheCommittee.
TheCommittee soagreed .