RESTRICTED
WORLD TRADE G/MA/M/9
7May1997
ORGANIZATION(97-1973)
Committee onMarket Access
MINUTES OFTHE MEETING OF8APRIL 1997
Chairman: Mr.Moha Ouali Tagma (Morocco)
Agenda oftheMeeting Page
1. Election ofVice-Chairperson 1
2. Periodic report oftheCommittee totheCouncil forTrade inGoods including
factual information onwaivers expiring on30April 1997 1
3. Submission ofHS96 Documentation 3
4. Proposed format forthenotification ofquantitative restrictions 3
5. Other Business 3
5.3 Verification ofLoose-leaf Schedules 3
5.5 Integrated DataBase 4
5.19 Dateofthenextmeeting 6
Introduction
Theabove agenda, which wascontained inWTO/AIR/557 dated 26March 1997, wasadopted
without anychange.
1. Election ofVice-Chairperson
Mrs. Simona Valceanu ofRomania waselected asVice-Chairperson oftheCommittee.
2. Periodic report oftheCommittee totheCouncil forTrade inGoods including
factual information onwaivers expiring on30April 1997
2.1 TheChairman ,referring tothePeriodic Report oftheCommittee totheCouncil forTrade
inGoods, ascontained inG/MA/SPEC/4, noted thatthereweretwogroups ofMembers under waiver
thatwould expire on30April 1997--those concerned withtheintroduction oftheHS96 changes, and
those forthetransposition oftheirschedules intotheHarmonized System. With respect tothefirst
group, adraftdecision ontheextension ofthewaivers hadbeencirculated inG/MA/W/12; henoted
thattherequest foranextension ofthewaiver wasrecently received alsofrom Venezuela andthus
Venezuela should beadded tothelistofMembers contained intheannex tothedraftdecision.G/MA/M/9
Page2
2.2 Thedelegations ofNorway ,Switzerland ,Singapore (onbehalf ofASEAN), andHungary
stated thatwhile theydidnotoppose theextension ofthewaiver, theyhadconcerns about thequasi
automatic extension ofthewaivers duetotheuseofgeneral reservations bycertain Members. Norway
andSwitzerland intended toraisethatmatter atthenextmeeting oftheCouncil forTrade inGoods
andtheyexpressedthehopethatinformalconsultationsonArticleXXVIIIprocedureswouldbeconvened
toaddress theproblem asearly aspossible.
2.3 TheCommitteetooknoteofthecommentsmadeandagreedtoforwardtherequestsforextension
ofthewaivers totheCouncil forTrade inGoods forapproval.
Asconcerned thesecond category ofwaivers, theChairman pointed outthatthecountries
requesting extensions totheirwaiver were listed inAnnex 2ofG/MA/SPEC/4.
2.4 Thedelegate ofNewZealand pointed outconcerns hisdelegation hadwiththeextension of
thewaiver forSriLanka. Specifically, despite ofrepeated efforts, NewZealand hadnotbeenable
toenter intonegotiations onsubstance withSriLanka andtherefore could notjoininaconsensus for
theextension ofthewaiver.
2.5 Inresponse tothestatement byNewZealand, thedelegate ofSriLanka tookthefloortoprovide
background details ontherequest foranextension ofthewaiver. Hepointed outthatSriLanka 'soriginal
request dated backto1989, andthatArticle XXVIII negotiations withmostcountries didnotstartuntil
theendofUruguay Round negotiations because mostcountries werebusywithother important issues
relating totheRound. Therefore, itshould benoted thatthese negotiations didnotcommence until
1995, which wasanimportant given theoriginal dateofrequest ofSriLanka forextension concerning
these negotiations.
2.6 SriLanka 'sArticle XXVIII negotiations initially covered fivetrading partners. Ofthese, there
werenow3which wereatvarious stages ofsettlement. Since thelastextension, SriLanka hadbilateral
consultations withtwooftheconcerned trading partners, including New Zealand. SriLanka had
respondedtobothcountrieswithcounter-proposals.Already,NewZealandhadrespondedtoSriLanka's
latest proposal during thelatter partofFebruary thisyear. Atpresent, theproposal byNewZealand
wasbeing studied indepth bytheappropriate authorities inSriLanka.
2.7 With respect tothenegotiations withNewZealand, asticking point hadbeenthedifferences
overoneparticular product which wasimported milkpowder onwhich NewZealand currently enjoyed
amonopoly position inthemarket. Thecontinuing escalation ofthepriceinmilkpowder, particularly
oflate,hadbeenahighly sensitive political issue. Although theGovernment atpresent imported milk
powder ataverylowlevelofduty, thelong-term development policy oftheGovernment wastosee
thatSriLanka catered toitsbasic domestic milkneeds, forfoodsecurity purposes. SriLanka was
anagricultural economy anddairyfarming wasstillanimportant livelihood oftheruralpoor. Although
there wasnolarge scalemilkproduction inthecountry, homestead farms which wereengaged inthe
production offresh milkforimmediate consumption waspopular. Itformed animportant source of
nutrition aswellasasupplementary income oftheirdailybudget. Furthermore, SriLanka 'scapacity
tocontinue todepend purely onimports onavitalfooditemsuchasmilk could notbesustained in
thelongterminthecontext ofitsrecurring balance ofpayments problems. Withthecountry presently
engaged inaprotracted separatist warwhich accounted foralmost aquarter ofitsannual budget,
SriLanka 'sproblems werecompounded when attempting tofindsolutions tosensitive economic issues
thataffected large sections ofthepopulation. However, SriLanka wasmindful ofitsinternational
obligations andwasoptimistic thatitwould beabletoarrive atasuitable solution fairly soonwhich
would takecareoftheconcerns ofallitsalltrading partners involved inthese negotiations including
those ofNewZealand. Inthecircumstances, SriLanka would require another extension ofsixmonths
from 1stMay1997 to31stOctober 1997, toconclude these negotiations.G/MA/M/9
Page3
2.8 Thedelegate ofNewZealand pointed outhisauthorities hadtriedtoenter intoconsultations
withSriLanka onanumber ofoccasions, buthadnotreceived asubstantial reply. Hereaffirmed
theposition thatNewZealand could notsupport anextension ofthiswaiver.
2.9 TheChairman noted thatthePeriodic Report oftheCommittee would beamended toreflect
thediscussions.
3. Submission ofHS96 documentation
3.1 TheChairman ,referring todocument G/MA/TAR/Rev.8 which provided thecurrent situation
withrespect tosubmission ofHS96 documentation, saidthataftertheissuance ofthedocument Brazil,
Costa Rica, andIceland hadsubmitted HS96 documentation. Thus, seven countries hadnotsubmitted
thenecessary documentation. Itwasnoted thatcountries which werenotabletosubmit thenecessary
documentation andrequired technical assistance, could request theSecretariat toprovide assistance.
Additionally itwasnoted thattheelectronic verification ofschedules hadmade some progress.
4. Proposed format forthenotification ofquantitative restrictions
4.1 TheChairman recalled thatatthelastmeeting oftheCommittee on3March 1997, aproposed
draftformat forthenotification ofquantitative restrictions hadbeendistributed andithadbeenagreed
theMembers would haveanopportunity tocomment onthatdraftattoday'smeeting.
4.2 Thedelegate ofNewZealand ,while agreeing withtheformat, suggested thatacover note
explaining howtofillouttheform would beuseful. Additionally, hesuggested thatanotification
bythose Members having noquantitative restrictions, i.e.anilnotification, might beuseful asthis
would provide transparency andcompleteness.
4.3 Thedelegate ofArgentina requested clarification onwhythereport referred to"quantitative
restrictions notnotified elsewhere".
4.4 TheSecretariat clarified thatthelastpageofthenotification provided forthecross reference
ofquantitative restrictions notified elsewhere inthecontext ofWTO obligations, thusproviding an
overall picture ofquantitative restrictions inforce.
4.5 TheChairman summarized thatthedocument would berevised totakeintoaccount technical
modifications andthenbeissued asaformal document forconsideration bytheCommittee atitsnext
meeting.
5. Other business
5.1 Thedelegate ofSwitzerland indicated thathisdelegation would beincontact withdelegations
todiscuss INRs.
5.2 Thedelegate oftheUnited States referred toareclassification issuethathadarisen withKorea.
Shepointed outthatreclassification ofcertain products, e.g.potato flakes andachemical product,
hadresulted intheraising ofthetariff rateandshehoped thatthisissuecould beresolved bilaterally.
5.3 Verification ofLoose-leaf Schedules
TheChairman noted that16delegations hadsubmitted loose-leaf schedules, some having been
submitted overayearago. Herequested thatdelegations proceed withthemanual verification of
schedules untilasuitable electronic verification could beestablished.G/MA/M/9
Page4
5.4 Thedelegations oftheEuropean Communities andtheUnited States ,while supporting the
statement made bytheChairman, voiced theirpreference fortheelectronic verification ofschedules.
5.5 Integrated DataBase
TheChairman stated thatwithrespect totheIDB, there werethree problems thatneeded to
beaddressed: 1)examination oftheconsultants study onthe"downsizing" oftheIDB, 2)obtaining
data, and3)distribution ofdatatothepublic.
5.6 Mr.LegeroftheStatisticsandInformationSystemsDivisionprovidedthefollowingbackground
onthepresent situation oftheIDB: theIDBcontained information oncustoms tariffs, product
descriptions andimport statistics linked atthetariff linelevel. Inorder toprepare andprocess the
information contained therein, anumber ofapplication systems hadbeendeveloped overtheyears
bytheSecretariat. These applications provided facilities toprepare submissions innational capitals,
tovalidate thecontents ofsubmissions, toconvert thenational country andquantity unitcodes provided
insubmissions tostandard codes, toreconcile thenomenclature usedinthetariffs andimport statistics
since theycovered different years, toconvert national import currency values toUSdollars, tostore
theinformation inthedatabase, andtodisseminate theIDBinformation viatheIDBCD-ROM, standard
reports andfilecopies.
5.7 Today, mostoftheIDBapplications operated fromthemainframe computer attheInternational
Computing Centre. However, inthepastfewyears, anumber ofPCapplications hadbeendeveloped
tofacilitate thesubmission, preparation andformatting, andtodopartoftheconversion processing.
TheIDBCD-ROM application wasalsodeveloped toprovide IDBinformation andanalysis toolsfor
PCusers. TheIDBapplication programs werewritten inseveral mainframe andPCprogramming
languages. There weremore than500programs intheIDBcontaining some 450,000 linesofprogram
code. Concerning files, there were hundreds offilesofdifferent formats required forthesystems
operations andalsotensofthousands ofindividual countries datafilesstored ondiskandtapes. In
summary, theIDBwaslarge andcomplex andthemanagement ofallthese systems components was
difficult.
5.8 Thedownsizing oftheIDBentailed theredesign ofthedatabase andthere-development of
theapplications tooperate inthePCenvironment using client-sever technology. Theobjective was
tohaveaflexible, accessible, productive, easytousesystem thatwould serve theanalytical requirements
ofMembers andoftheSecretariat. Thestudy prepared bytheconsultant provided anoverall framework
forundertaking thedownsizing andcovered anumber ofissues andrequirements. Thefirstrequirement
ofthestudy wastheidentification oftheinformation toberecorded inthenewIDB. Thedataelements
were established from theinformation currently recorded intheIDBforcustoms tariffs, product
descriptions andimport statistics. Those elements which werenotconsidered essential wereindicated
along withthepurpose fortheirinitial inclusion intheIDB. These dataelements would needtobe
reviewed byMembers todetermine thecontents ofthenewIDB.
5.9 Thesecond requirement ofthestudy concerned proposals forthedesign ofthenewIDB. The
study recommended thattwodifferent databases becreated fortheIDB-the"Work" database and
the"User" database. TheWork database would beusedforupdating purposes andwould berestricted
totheSecretariat staffresponsible forthemaintenance oftheIDB. TheUserdatabase would befor
dissemination purposes andwould beaccessed byapplication programs written bytheSecretariat was
aswellasthird-party tools suchasExcel, Microsoft Access, Lotus andreport andquery tools.
5.10 Thethirdrequirement concerned theapplications forthenewIDB. Anin-depth analysis of
theexisting processing andoperations wascarried outandthestudy determined thatmost functions
provided inthecurrent infrastructure werestillrequired. However, there wasscope forsimplifyingG/MA/M/9
Page5
theseprocesses byrevising theexisting validation ruleswhich wererather stringent andbyredesigning
theinput formats.
5.11 Inthisregard, thestudy recommended thedevelopment ofthreeprincipal software applications.
First, thesubmission preparation application would include features toformat andimport datafrom
external files,dataentry andcorrection features, andthevalidation andprocessing ofimport statistics.
Second, theconversion, validation andupdate processing would beaccomplished using anon-line PC
application. Third, thedissemination application would provide standards reports suchasdetailed
tariff inlistings, tariff averages, tariff andtrade profiles, aswellasfeatures fortheextraction ofraw
orsummary data. Users would befurnished withanenhanced version oftheIDBCD-ROM. In
addition, anIDBInternet Websitecould beestablished todistribute standard pre-compiled reports,
upgrades oftheCD-ROM software andnewdataastheybecame available. Inaddition, thestudy
recommended thatinthelonger term, anIDBInternet application could becreated toprovide similar
functionalities totheCD-ROM butusing Internet technology. Lastly, other requirements ofthestudy
covered thehardware andsoftware platform forthedownsized IDBandcostaspects. Thestudy
recommended thatthenewIDBbedeveloped using Windows NT(32-bit operating system), Sybase
andPowerbuilder forsoftware development.
5.12 Thestudy alsoprovided atimeframe forthedownsizing. Itestimated thatitwould takein
totalaround fiveandahalfwork years. Thiscould translate intotwotothreeandahalfelapsed years,
depending ontheresources allocated forproject development, andtheextent ofthefunctionalities
contained intheapplications. Thestudy alsoestimated thatthedownsizing would costsapproximately
SwF210,000 ifnoexternal resources wereused. Ifconsultants wereused, itwould costanadditional
SwF540,000. More accurate estimates fordevelopment andcostswould bedeveloped oncetheexact
contents ofthedatabase andapplication features hadbeenestablished. Thestudy provided anumber
ofstrategies fordevelopment andimplementation. Itrecommended thatthesubmission preparation
application bedeveloped first, followed bytheapplications related totheuserdatabase andthenthe
conversion andupdate applications. Italsorecommended thatintheinitial development, the
functionalities contained intheapplications berestricted tothatrequired fortrade negotiations.
5.13 Inconclusion, thedownsizing oftheIDBwould notbeasimple exercise because ofthe
complexity oftheIDBandthediverse requirements ofusers, therewriting ofapplications, andthe
move toaclient-server environment. However, thebenefits tobegained bydownsizing would be
areduction inoperational costsoverthelong-term; increased flexibility andaccessibility; andincreased
productivity coupled witheasier management andmaintenance. Copies ofthefull670-page consultant
study were available tointerested delegations inpaper orelectronic form.
5.14 Thedelegate oftheUnited States pointed outthatinprevious meetings ofthisCommittee,
herdelegation hadtriedtoidentify possible directions fortheIDB. These suggestions hadbeenbased
onpractical experience witharegional arrangement inwhich 35Members oftheWTO participated.
Inthespace ofabout oneyearatrade andtariff database hadbeen developed, designed, and
implemented. Itshould alsobenoted thatthisinitiative hadnotrequired large amounts ofresources
andwasaccomplishedusingexistingPCsoftware.Inthatcontext,theUSdelegationcirculatedinformally
apaper thatfurther clarifies theissues.
5.15 TheUnited States delegate further pointed outthattheexisting information under thecurrent
IDB,evenasdownsized intheconsultants report, would stillhavetogothrough acomplicated coding
process inorder forittobeused, sinceitwasdeveloped foramainframe computer. Therefore, attention
should bedirected todeveloping anewsystem instead oftrying tomaintain asystem thatwasoutdated;
theexistingIDBshouldbediscontinuedandtheresources,bothhumanandfinancial,shouldberedirected
toanewWTO database. ThenewWDB would beaPCbased database thatwould beeasily acceptable
andusable bydelegations. Sheproposed thatthisnewdatabase could beoperational bytheendofG/MA/M/9
Page6
thecurrent yearifexisting PC-based technologies were being used. Shesuggested thatatthenext
meeting oftheCommittee theSecretariat might advise theCommittee onthekeyelements ofsuch
anewdatabase system.
5.16 Thedelegate oftheEuropean Communities pointed totheproblem ofdatacollection and
wasconcerned thattheconsultant didnotcontact anyMembers forcomment withrespect tothisaspect.
Furthermore, hesuggested thatthefocus oftheCommittee should firstbeonsimplification ofthedata
basewithaclearmandate onuserrequirements, whereas theconsultant 'sstudy focused toomuch on
thecurrent system. Hepointed totheneedforfurther discussions andbrainstorming onthematter,
especially astotheelements tobecontained inthedatabase, andtheformat forsubmissions.
5.17 Thedelegate ofZimbabwe stressed theneedforfurther consultations onthematter.
5.18 TheChairman stated thatthiswasacomplex issuethateveryone should consider withaview
toarriving atasolution which satisfied theobjective ofhaving anoperational datasystem. Hewould
rapidly organize informal consultations onthematter thatcould basethemselves ontheinformal
USpaper, thediscussions oftoday'smeeting, aswellastheearlier statement byMr.Leger. Toinitiate
thisprocess, itwasimportant toidentify theneeds andtoconsider thequestion raised bytheEUwith
respect toformat. Thequestion ofdissemination ofthedatatothepublic would alsohavetobe
addressed.
5.19 Dateofthenextmeeting
TheChairman pointed outthatthenextmeeting oftheCommittee wasscheduled for
24June1997.