RESTRICTED  WORLD TRADE  
ORGANIZATION  WT/REG/M/38 
3 December 2004 
 
 (04-5302) 
Committee on Regional Trade Agreements  
  Thirty-Eighth Session 
 
 
NOTE ON THE MEETIN G OF 11 NOVEMBER 2004 
 
Chairman: Mr. R. Saborío Soto (Costa Rica)  
  
A. A
DOPTION OF THE AGENDA  
1. The Thirty-Eighth Session of the Committee on Regional Trade Agre ements (CRTA or 
Committee) was convened in Airgram WT O/AIR/2430, dated 29 October 2004.   
2. The Chairman  announced that he would request the Secretariat under "Other Business" to 
present details of technical assistance activities rela ted to regional trade agreements undertaken during 
2004.   
3. The following Agenda was adopted: 
 A. Adoption of the Agenda 
 B. Procedures for Improving the Examination Process  C. Examination of Regional Trade Agreements   - Agreements terminated following th e Enlargement of the European Union 
   (WT/REG/GEN/N/3) 
 D. Annual Report (2004) to the General Council (WT/REG/W/50)   E. Other Business  4. The Chairman
 recalled that the Latin American Integration Association (LAIA) had been 
granted observer status to the CRTA on an ad hoc  basis and sought confirmation to extend an 
invitation to LAIA to attend the Committee's next meeting.  It was so agreed . 
5. The Chairman  asked delegations to provide copies of written statements to the Secretariat to 
facilitate the work of interpreters.   
B. PROCEDURES FOR IMPROVING THE EXAMINATION PROCESS  
6. The Chairman  recalled that during the last meeting of the CRTA held on 7-8 October he had 
provided information on an idea which had surfa ced in the Negotiating Group on Rules (NGR) 
according to which the Committee could implemen t on a temporary and voluntary basis a new 
examination process for notified regional trade ag reements (RTAs).  As the Committee was aware, 
the idea was to give the option to the Parties to an RTA under examination to have the Secretariat 
prepare a factual presentation on the Agreement in re placement of the Standard Format provided by 
the Parties.  This matter had been discussed in formally among delegations which had expressed the 
desire to see a text outlining how th is could be put into practice.  In  a fax of 29 October, the Chairman 
had sent a draft document drawn up as an Addendum to the official Note by the Chairman, document WT/REG/W/15, which provided a detailed descripti on of the changes required in the examination 
process of RTAs in the CRTA.  As spelt out in f ootnote 1, this document would not require formal WT/REG/M/38 
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 approval by the Committee, it merely had to be taken note of.  He asked delegations for their 
comments on both form and substance of the document. 
7. The representative of the United States
 said she understood that the draft was not for formal 
approval by the Committee, but nonetheless she wanted  to ensure that the guidelines remained as 
strong as they were before.  Her delegation supported the use of the Secretariat's factual presentation 
on a trial basis, but the wording in paragraph 7 seemed to encourage only the Secretariat's factual 
presentation and seemed to lose the in centive to provide the Standard Fo rmat that existed previously.  
From her delegation's perspective this would lose something.  In addition, the text referring to 
"gaining experience in the use of  Secretariat's factual presentations" seemed to be more a policy 
concern of the NGR than the CRTA, so she thought not hing would be lost by keeping the text as it 
was, but simply adding option 2 to option 1.  It could read, "Though voluntary, the choice of options 1 
or 2 above by the Parties is strongly encouraged  as a means of supplying initial information on RTAs 
in a structured and comprehensive way".   
8. The representative of India  said that there had been broad s upport to include paragraph 6(i) in 
the guidelines and his delegation was willing to suppor t it.  He noted that there were other small 
changes in other paragraphs and he understood from th e Secretariat that such changes were textual  
and there was no implication to ch ange the process to supply information to the Secretariat in the 
Standard Format.  He suggested that  the word "presentation" in para graph 6(ii) could be replaced with 
"communication" which would better fit standard prac tice as it currently existed.  He requested that 
the representative of the United States provide her suggestion on paragraph 7 in writing.  The 
representative of the United States  replied that her suggestion was to keep the original text as it was, 
and to add an option 2.  Her delegation did not wa nt to lose the Chairman's guideline to present the 
Standard Format which was not an obligation as su ch, but something which had been undertaken as a 
matter of practice. 
9.  The representative of Turkey  supported the use of the factual presentation by the Secretariat 
as a means of providing more information and improving the transparency of regional trade 
agreements.  At the meeting of the NGR on 4 No vember, Members of the Committee might recall that 
her delegation had made a proposal for encouragin g the use of the factual presentation by providing 
faster examination by those who made use of it.  She said that her delegation was preparing a written 
proposal which would be submitted as a fo rmal document in the near future. 
10. Following up on the suggestion by the representa tive of the United States, the representative 
of Canada  asked the Secretariat to clarify if the St andard Format was optional under the current 
guidelines.  A representative of the Secretariat  replied that at the time of drafting the first guidelines, 
the usual procedure was written que stions and replies, and the Standard Format presentation or 
communication was added as another option.  Since then, no Parties had used written questions and replies procedures.  
11. The representative of Switzerland
 said that the proposed factual presentation by the 
Secretariat was a purely experimental step.  Nothi ng had been decided in the NGR and the discussions 
were still evolving.  Thus his de legation was wondering if it was a goo d idea to make a formal change 
to the guidelines.  Many questions were still open, such as the resources available in the Secretariat to 
provide such factual presentations in human, as well as, financial te rms.  His delegation was of the 
view that the current guidelines contained sufficien t flexibility to experiment with other forms of 
factual analysis without making formal changes at  this point.  His question was whether there was 
anything in the current guidelines which would prevent delegations from proceeding with the 
experiment. 
12.  The Chairman  explained that the during the consul tations which had taken place during the 
informal discussion at the last meeting, the Co mmittee had taken note that the negotiations in the  WT/REG/M/38 
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 NGR continued and that there was not yet a cons ensus.  The Committee had also taken note of a 
request made by the NGR that the factual presentation be used on an experimental basis in the CRTA.  
During the consultations, the Chairman had suggested that this modification be made to the guidelines 
precisely because the guidelines existed as a Note by  the Chairman.  Furthermore, the CRTA as was 
clear from the first sentence of the guidelines, had the mandate "to develop, as appropriate, procedures 
to facilitate and improve the examination proces s".  He thought it was appropriate the reflect the 
suggestions of the NGR in the Committee's guideline s which were not binding.  This would show a  
clear commitment by the CRTA to comply favourably with the work of the Negotiating Group without 
it necessarily representing a commitme nt which would prejudge the final outcome of the negotiations.   
13. A representative of the Secretariat  said that the preparation of factual presentations by the 
Secretariat would result in an increased workload for the RTA Section in the Trade Policy Review 
Division.  He said that he had aske d for and had received approval for a modest increase in resources, 30 
per cent of one post which would be financed comple tely from within the resources of the Secretariat 
and possibly from the internal resources of the Trade Policy Review Division.   There was, therefore, at present, no immediate implicati on for an increased resource base for the institution.    
14. The representative of Hong Kong, China
 said she understood the concern of the US 
delegation about not wanting to lose sight of the use of the Standard Format, but the purpose of 
amending the guideline was to encourage RTA parties to use the Secretariat's factual presentation.  
Thus she wondered if just by adding option 2, the emphasis on the use of the factual presentation by the Secretariat might be lost.  A possible alternative was to keep paragraph 7 as it was, but to add a sentence at the end encouraging the use of op tion 2.  Regarding the comments made by the 
representative of Switzerland as to whether it was necessary to amend the guidelines, she said the 
current guidelines referred to the Standard Format or written questions and replies, and it was highly 
desirable and necessary to include reference to a factual presentation on RTAs by the Secretariat. 
15. The representative of Chile
 said that it was her delegation's view that the proposed changes to 
the guidelines were necessary in order to carry out the experiment discussed at the last meeting.  It 
should be seen as a draft of a temporary nature, as a st ep in the negotiation process, to see if work was 
improved as a result of it.  The current practice includ ed the Standard Format and  written replies, not 
one or the other.  Thus, perhaps the text shoul d read alternatively option 1 or 2 and option 3. 
16. The representative of Uruguay  supported what had been said by the Chairman and by the 
representative of Chile on the need for the guidelines on procedures to include the factual presentation 
prepared by the Secretariat.  Of course, this w as understood by all as a pilot experiment and that the 
idea was that the CRTA cooperate w ith the NGR in the area of regiona l trade agreements.  It did not 
prejudge the final outcome in any way.   
17. The representative of the European Communities  reminded Members that this subject was 
being discussed because the Committee had made the collective assessment that current guidelines did 
not work and were not satisfactory.  He agreed with the representative of Switzerland that the CRTA 
should in no way prejudge the outcome of the negotia tions currently underway in the NGR.  This was 
why the CRTA needed to be pragmatic and give this  idea a try.  The Committee was not bound by this 
experience.  Should it turn out to be a failure or a disappointment, each delegation would have to draw 
its own conclusions.  But his delega tion was willing to give it a go.  While he had no problem with the 
suggestion made by the representative of India, he agreed with the representative of Hong Kong, 
China that the text should remain as it was with a cl ear indication that preference was to be given to 
the factual presentation prepared by the Secretariat.  Again, giving encouragement did not prejudge 
the final outcome. 
18. The representative of Switzerland  made it clear that his delegation was not against the 
experiment, but wondered if it was useful to ch ange the guidelines every time the Committee tried WT/REG/M/38 
Page 4  
 
 something out.  Having said that, he said he coul d go along with others given that these were pilot 
guidelines.  To make it clearer, perhaps something c ould be added to paragraph 6(i) to indicate its 
experimental basis. 
19. The representative of Japan
 concurred with idea that the Committee should give the 
experiment a try.  As to the language used in th e guidelines, he concurred with the representative of 
Hong Kong, China that the use of the factual pres entation should be encouraged by adding language 
to paragraph 7.  He understood the concern e xpressed by the US delegation on not belittling the 
importance of the Standard Format.  The gist of  the message should be that absent the use by a 
Member of the factual presentation by the Secret ariat, then the Standard Format should be 
encouraged.  Members had the choice to present e ither.  He also proposed leaving out the word 
"voluntary" from paragraph 7.   
20. The representative of New Zealand  asked if a representative of the Secretariat could read out 
the current paragraph 7 without the proposed chang es.  At the moment, the way it was drafted the 
word "optional" was in italics and it was not clear  if the word "optional" was in the original 
guidelines.  In response, the Chairman  said that after consultation with the Secretariat he had the 
following proposal to make on paragraph 7.  "Though optional, the choice of option 1 above by the 
Parties is encouraged, though not precluding opti ons 2 and 3 as a means of supplying initial 
information on RTAs in a structured and comprehens ive way".  With regard to paragraph 6(ii), he 
added that the representative of India ha d suggested substituting "presentation" with 
"communication".   
21. The representative of Canada  remarked that the representative of Switzerland had made a 
suggestion on paragraph 6(i) refe rring to the experimental aspect a nd he wondered if this should be 
included.  In response to the request by the Chai rman for specific wording for paragraph 6(i), the 
representative of Switzerland  replied that he would rather leave this to English-speaking delegations.  
Perhaps the sentence could start with "On an experi mental basis, a factual presentation of the RTA..." 
22. The representative of New Zealand  wondered if it might be better to use a footnote to explain 
the origin of the request and its experime ntal basis.  In response, the Chairman  suggested a 
compromise drafted by the Secretariat which might be considered as a bridge between what had been proposed by the representatives of Switzerland and New Zealand, namely to amend the existing 
footnote and add the following:  "The Committee on  Regional Trade Agreements, at its meeting on xx, 
took note of these amended Guidelin es on an experimental basis". 
23. The representative of Chile
 replied that in her view the sugg estion of the representative of New 
Zealand was better as the experiment related only to the factua l presentation.  The guidelines would 
probably undergo changes after the negotiations.  In her view the footnote approach to explain the 
experimental nature of the factual presentation, as suggested by the representative of New Zealand, was 
the best approach. 
24.  The Chairman  said that the footnote after paragraph 6( i) would read, "This option is introduced 
on an experimental ba sis".  He thanked the Committee for co- operation on this issue and said that the 
amendment to the process was important to make the work of the CRTA more significant.  Now it had to be put into practice.  He invited RTA Parties in  the first phase of their examination to put it into 
practice according to the proposed option.  RTA Part ies wishing to make use of  the factual presentation 
prepared by the Secretariat could i ndicate their willingness to do so either by contacting the Chairman or 
the Secretariat.  He acknowledged that the process was experimental and refl ected the efforts of the 
NGR.  He expressed his satisfaction with the resu lt thus far and expressed his hope that the final 
outcome would enable the CRTA to operate better with results that would enrich Members' understanding of regional  trade agreements.    WT/REG/M/38 
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 C. EXAMINATION OF REGIONAL TRADE AGREEMENTS  
25. The Chairman  said that under this Agenda Item, the Co mmittee was to consider the status of 
RTAs which had lapsed following the recent enlargem ent of the EC to 25 countries.  He drew the 
Committee's attention to document WT/REG/GEN/N /3 which clarified that 65 RTAs had been 
terminated, 60 of which were in various stages of examination within the CRTA.  During the previous 
meeting of the Committee, some dele gations had asked for time to reflect more deeply on what should 
be done with these Agreements, in particular, whethe r the termination of such RTAs should result in 
the end of their consideration within the Committee.   He asked whether Members agreed that these 
agreements should no longer be examined.  In the absence of comments from Members, he asked the 
Secretariat to make the required changes and conf irmed that these agreements would no longer be 
subject to examination. 
26. The Chairman  informed the Committee of the status of two ongoing examinations, namely 
MERCOSUR and the customs union between the EC a nd Turkey.  The Secretariat had informed him 
that in both instances the calculation of general inci dence was in the final stage thanks to the co-
operation shown by the Parties to solve technical pr oblems.  Finally, he pr oposed dates for meetings 
in 2005 and invited delegations which had trouble with these dat es to inform the Secretariat as soon as 
possible.  Given the accumulating backlog and the increasing number of notifications, he suggested that the Committee meet three times in 2005:  17 - 18 February, 11 - 12 July, and 6 - 7 October.     
D. A
NNUAL REPORT (2004)  TO THE GENERAL COUNCIL  
27. The Chairman  said that a draft of the Annual Report (2004) to the General Council had been 
circulated to the Committee in document WT /REG/W/50 dated 25 October 2004.  He asked 
delegations for comments and suggestions on the draft.  He added that the Secretariat had circulated in 
the room an amended Annex II to this document, wh ich contained mistakes in the sequencing of the 
numbers in the footnotes.  He asked Members to ta ke the new layout into account in their comments. 
28. The representative of the United States  suggested that line 3 of paragraph 8 should read "the 
enlargement of the European Union to include 10 new Member States" otherwise it would suggest 
that there were only ten Member St ates in all.  In paragraph 9, the word "differed" should read 
"deferred".   
29. The representative of th e European Communities  said that paragraph 8 should read "these ten 
acceding countries have become, or are in the proces s of becoming, Parties", which was the language 
used in the notification.    
30. The representative of Venezuela  said that he assumed that footnote 7 in Section V would be 
changed to reflect the modifications agreed in the day's meeting. 
31. The Chairman  thanked delegations for their commen ts and proposed that the Committee 
entrust the Secretariat with the task of modifying the report with the agreed changes, and that the 
Committee agree ad referendum  with its Annual Report, which w ould be submitted to the General 
Council.  It was so agreed . 
E. OTHER BUSINESS  
32. The Chairman  recalled that in its Thirty-Second Session, the Committee had requested the 
Secretariat to inform periodically on activities of technical assistance undertaken related to regional 
trade agreements.  He gave the floor to a representati ve of the Secretariat to provide details of such 
activities undertaken throughout 2004 and those planned for 2005. WT/REG/M/38 
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 33. A representative of the Secretariat
 said that there had been considerable demand during the 
year for technical assistance by the Secretariat on the topic of RTAs.  The Secretariat had responded to virtually all such requests with the result that a total of 19 such activities would be conducted by the 
end of 2004.  In addition, nine activities were alre ady scheduled for 2005, of which four were to be 
RTA-specific regional seminars for Anglophone A frica, Francophone Africa, Latin America, and 
Asia Pacific.  Five additional activities were part  of regional trade policy courses.  Other technical 
assistance activities for 2005 would include participati on in Stability Pact meetings and a seminar to 
be organized in Geneva on the topic of RTAs.  Tw o such seminars had already been held which had 
been highly successful and the Secretariat hoped to hold  another seminar on RTAs in the latter part of 
2005.   The activities had, in general, been fina nced by the WTO regular budget, by donations from 
Member countries or by the Global Trust Fund unde r the Doha Development Agenda.  For some of 
the seminars, participation had been financed by  the host institution.  The aim of technical co-
operation varied from raising awareness on RTA dyna mics in global trade, to training and advising 
government officials on rules and procedures rela ted to RTAs.  The overarching objective in all 
activities was to try and ensure that RTAs were estab lished in line with the rules and disciplines of the 
WTO, while concurrently ensuring that these RTAs  were beneficial to Members who engaged in 
them.  Since Doha, the RTA Section had been entrusted with additional technical assistance tasks of clarifying issues related to negotiations on RTAs an d there was a lot of activity day-to-day on that 
topic.  Members requested such aid frequently, th e Trade Policy Review Division seeked to meet all 
these requests and the RTA Section was particularly responsive to such requests. 
34. The Chairman
 thanked the representative of the S ecretariat for his report on technical 
assistance. 
35. The Committee took note  of the comments made. 
 
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