WORLD TRADE WT/REG/4
11March 1998
ORGANIZATION(98-0978)
Committee onRegional Trade Agreements
REPORTING ONREGIONAL TRADE AGREEMENTS
Recommendations bytheCommittee onRegional Trade Agreements
totheCouncil forTrade inGoods
Infulfilmentofitsmandateunderitem1(b)ofitstermsofreference,1theCommitteeonRegional
Trade Agreements (CRTA) adopted, on20February 1998, recommendations totheCouncil forTrade
inGoods withrespect tohowtherequired reporting ontheoperation ofregional trade agreements
(RTAs) should becarried out.These recommendations arecontained intheAnnex tothisdocument.
Thenature oftheserecommendations isessentially procedural andtheirimplementation would
notentail anychange inMembers 'legalrights andobligations. Therecommendations aregeared toward
standardizing, asmuch aspossible, thepresentation ofreports onRTAs toWTO Members; ensuring
theprovision ofconsistent information totheCRTA ondevelopments insuchagreements, which may
beuseful totheCommittee 'swork under itsterms ofreference; andmaking operational the
implementation ofreporting requirements contained inWTO legaltexts.
TheCRTA maysubmit further recommendations inlight oftheexperience gathered in
implementing therecommended procedures.
1"[T]o consider howtherequired reporting ontheoperation ofsuch[regional trade] agreements should be
carried outandmake appropriate recommendations totherelevant body"(WT/L/127).WT/REG/4
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ANNEX
REPORTING ONREGIONAL TRADE AGREEMENTS
Recommendations bytheCommittee onRegional Trade Agreements
totheCouncil forTrade inGoods
TheCommittee onRegional Trade Agreements recommends, inthecontext ofitem1(b)of
itsterms ofreference, thattheCouncil forTrade inGoods adopt thefollowing procedures, asgeneral
guidelines, withrespect tobiennial reports/information onregional tradeagreements submitted toit:1
1. Such reports/information willalsobemade available totheCommittee onRegional Trade
Agreements, since theyaredeemed tobeparticularly relevant toitsspecialized tasks. Thiswillserve
toenhance transparency onhowregional trade agreements areproceeding andasaninput tothe
Committee 'swork under item1(d)ofitsterms ofreference.
2. Where appropriate, thereports should include adescription ofdevelopments intheagreements
notcontained intheinformation previously presented totheGATT/WTO2andtradestatistics covering
thelastrepresentative period, forbothtrade among parties totheagreements andtrade withthird
parties.3,4
3. Where appropriate, parties totheagreements maymake use,inthepresentation ofreports,
oftheStandard Format forInformation onRegional Trade Agreements (document WT/REG/W/6).
1Regional trade agreements (RTAs) whose parties mustreport totheCouncil forTrade inGoods arecustoms
unions, free-trade areas andinterim agreements leading totheformation ofacustoms union orafree-trade area,
notified under Article XXIV:7(a) oftheGATT 1994. After theexamination oftheRTAs inaccordance with
paragraph 7oftheUnderstanding ontheInterpretation ofArticle XXIV oftheGATT 1994 (theUnderstanding),
carried outbytheCommittee onRegional Trade Agreements, parties totheagreements arerequired toprovide
additional information/reports inthefollowing cases:
-Inthecaseofinterim agreements undergoing "substantial changes" intheplanandschedule, parties should
notify those changes (paragraph 9oftheUnderstanding).
-Inthecaseofcustoms unions andfree-trade areas, biennial reports aredueonthe"operation oftherelevant
agreement" (first sentence ofparagraph 11oftheUnderstanding).
-Inthecaseofcustoms unions andfree-trade areas, "[a]ny significant changes and/or developments" areto
bereported "astheyoccur" (lastsentence ofparagraph 11oftheUnderstanding).
Furthermore, inthecaseofinterim agreements forwhich afurther review isforeseen (under paragraph 8
oftheUnderstanding), parties might alsoberequired tosupply supporting information.
2Particular attention should begiven totheinternal process ofliberalization; tochanges introduced with
respect tothetreatment ofthird parties; andtomodifications totherules oftheagreements.
3Incaseparticular products were excluded from, orpartially covered by,theregional liberalization process,
therelevant datashould alsobeprovided.
4Statistical information could bebased onrelevant annual datasubmitted totheSecretariat bytheparties
inaccordance withtheGeneral Council Decision on16July1997 (WT/L/225).WT/REG/4
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Thiswould facilitate boththetaskofparties inreporting ontheiragreements andthetaskofWTO
Members inconsidering thereports.
4. TheCouncilforTradeinGoodsandtheCommitteeonRegionalTradeAgreementswillregularly
receive anupdated time-table forthesubmission ofbiennial reports onregional trade agreements, to
beprepared bytheSecretariat incoordination withtheMembers involved.
Theabove procedures willnotinanywayaffect thelegal rights andobligations ofWTO
Members.
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