. /.WORLD TRADE
ORGANIZATIONG/L/490
9 October 2001
(01-4894)
REPORT (2001) OF THE COMMITTEE ON RULES OF ORIGIN
TO THE COUNCIL FOR TRADE IN GOODS1
1. This report is being submitted to the CTG in accordance with Article 6.1 of the Agreement on
Rules of Origin (the Agreement), which provides as follows:
"The Committee shall review annually the implementation and operation of Parts II and III
of this Agreement having regard to its objectives (emphasis added). The Committee shall
annually inform the Council for Trade in Good s of developments during the period covered
by such reviews."
2. Since its regular report to the CTG made on 3 November 2000 (G/L/413), the Committee on
Rules of Origin (CRO) held four meetings on 1 December 2000, 16 March/4 April, 18 May, 23 July
and 8 October 2001 (G/RO/M/34-37).  The CRO elect ed Mr. Ho-Young Ahn (Korea) as Chairman for
2001 and Mr. Stefan Moser (Switzerland) as Vice-Ch airman at its meetings in March and May 2001,
respectively.  Observer governments in the General Council of the WTO have observer status in the
CRO.  In addition, representatives of the ACP,  EFTA, IADB, IMF, ITCB, OECD, UNCTAD, WCO
and the World Bank attend meetings of the CRO in the  capacity of observers.
3. With regard to the work under Part II  of the Agreement on Rules of Origin (the Agreement),
the CRO, at its meeting in May 2000, discussed an issue "United States information on aspects of
Germany's policy pertaining to certificates of origin.  The Members concerned informed the CRO that
informal consultations were ongoing.  The Chairman stated that for purposes of transparency the CRO
would benefit from the report by the related part ies to the CRO on the outcome of the consultations
(G/RO/M/36, paragraphs 5.1-5.3).
4. With regard to the work under Part III  of the Agreement, the CRO:
- at each meeting, took note of the notifications under Article 5 and paragraph 4 of Annex II of
the Agreement.  To date 77 Members have made notifications of non-preferential rules of
origin and 79 Members have made notifications of preferential rules of origin.  The Chairman
expressed concern that a number of Members had not yet complied with the notification
requirements.  He urged Members who had not yet notified to do so as early as possible
(G/RO/M/34-37);
- at its meeting in December 2000, discussed an issue "responsibilities of the Technical
Committee on Rules of Origin (TCRO )".  The Chairman recalled that although the CRO had
discussed this issue at the meetings in April and November 2000, there was no common view
on a response to be given to the questions raised by the TCRO (G/RO/M/34, paragraphs 7.1-7.2).  The Chairman transmitted an interim response stating this factual situation to the
Chairman of the TCRO (G/RO/46).
[To be completed in light of the discussion at the meeting on 8 October 2001.]
                                                     
1 This report covers the period December 2000-October 2001.G/L/490
Page 2
5. Apart from the above-summarized implementation and operation under Parts II and III  of
the Agreement, most of the CRO’s formal and informal sessions were devoted to its work under
Part IV,  namely the Harmonization Work Programme (HWP).  The Chairman of the Committee made
a report to the General Council on the progress of the HWP at every regular sessions of the GeneralCouncil, as well as the General Council’s Special Session on Implementation held on 3 October 2001.
The CTG may wish to refer to the record of those reports contained in the minutes of the General
Council (WT/GC/M/63, paragraphs 152-155;  WT/GC/M/65, paragraphs 152-157 and Annex 1;
WT/GC/M/66, paragraphs 155-182 and Annex 1; and G/RO/48).
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