RESTRICTED
WORLD TRADE WT/REG/W/12
10February 1997
ORGANIZATION(97-0480)
Committee onRegional Trade Agreements
Eighth Session
19-24 February 1997
CHECKLIST OFSYSTEMIC ISSUES IDENTIFIED INTHE CONTEXT OF
THE EXAMINATION OFREGIONAL TRADE AGREEMENTS
Note bytheSecretariat
1. Inthereport oftheCommittee onRegional Trade Agreements totheGeneral Council under
item1(d)ofitsTerms ofReference, theSecretariat wasrequested toupdate theevolving checklist
ofsystemic issues identified inthecontext oftheexamination ofregional tradeagreements.1ThisNote
contains issues which weresingled outbyMembers inthecontext oftheexamination ofregional trade
agreements (RTAs) asissues tobeincluded inthisexpanded checklist. Thespecific meetings where
theissues wereidentified areindicated inbrackets.2Thechecklist isorganized insuchawayasto
listtheissues according tothechronological order oftheexaminations. TheSecretariat stands ready
toaddto,orotherwise modify, thisnoteasthought necessary.
Systemic Issues
2. Differences intheWTO regulatory framework forcustoms unions andFTAs ascontained in
Article XXIV:5 andtheUnderstanding ontheInterpretation ofArticle XXIV oftheGATT 1994
(herewith referred toasthe"Understanding") (seeexaminations ofNAFTA, July1996; ECAgreements
withBulgaria, Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania andRomania, November 1996; EC-Turkey Customs Union,
November 1996):
(a) with respect totariffs :paragraph 2oftheUnderstanding elaborates on
ArticleXXIV:5(a)byspecifying,interalia,that"duties...imposed"bycustomsunions
and"duties ...applicable" byitsmembers prior tothecreation oftheunion areto
beunderstood asthe"applied rates ofduty". Thecorresponding terms "duties ...
maintained"and"duties...existing"usedinArticleXXIV:5(b)withrespecttofree-trade
area(FTAs) are,however, notclarified;
(b) withrespecttoothermeasures:nodisciplinesexistwithrespecttocertaincharacteristics
ofFTAs, suchasrules oforigin.
1Seeparagraphs 13and23oftheReport (1996) oftheCommittee onRegional Trade Agreements tothe
General Council (WT/REG/2, 6November 1996).
2Inafewinstances, issues raised intheexaminations, rather thanthediscussion ofsystemic implications,
havebeenincluded ifspecifically requested bytheMember concerned. Inthese cases, thereference inbrackets
relates totheCRTA meeting where thearequest wasmade.WT/REG/W/12
Page2
3. Theprinciples setoutinArticle XXIV:4 andtheir relationship withother provisions in
Article XXIV (ECEnlargement, July1996; NAFTA, July1996).
4. Interrelationship between theprovisions contained inparagraph 7(a)ofArticle XXIV and
paragraph 7oftheUnderstanding withrespect tonotification, supply ofinformation, examination,
andappropriate recommendations byWTO Members (ECEnlargement, July1996).
5. Therelationship between Article XXIV:8(a)(ii) requirements and:
(a) Article XXIV:6 compensatory negotiations andtheprocedures fornegotiations under
Article XXVIII (ECEnlargement, July1996);
(b) theapplicationbynewmembersofacustomsunionofanti-dumping/safeguardmeasures
already inplace within theunion (ECEnlargement, July1996); and,
(c) themethodology toaggregate and/or negotiate non-tariff agricultural commitments
(domestic support andexport subsidy) when establishing/enlarging acustoms union
(ECEnlargement, July1996).
6. Whether, inthecontext ofparagraph 5(b)ofArticle XXIV, theduties andother regulations
ofcommerce ofanewFTA canbecompared withthose ofapre-existing FTA withoverlapping
membership (NAFTA, July1996).
7. Modalities toimprove themechanism ofexamining RTAs (NAFTA, July1996).
8. Trade diversion occurring incases where amember ofaFTAmaintains high, and/or increases,
thelevels ofMFN protection, evenwithin thebound tariff rates(NAFTA, July1996).
9. Overlapping dispute settlement systems thatcould leadtoconflicting jurisprudence (NAFTA,
July1996).
10. Thelength oftransitional periods forinterim agreements (NAFTA, July1996).
11. Questions related tooverlapping membership ofRTAs -e.g.legalimplications, rulesoforigin,
parallel disciplines, margins ofpreference, etc.(ECAgreements withtheCzech Republic, Hungary,
Poland, Slovak Republic, September 1996; EFTA Agreements with Israel, Hungary Poland,
September 1996; EFTA Agreement withBulgaria, November 1996).
12. Thescope ofcompensation tothird parties foranyinjury caused bythecreation ofRTAs,
astheeffect ofRTAs onthirdparties isbased onanassessment ofthechanges inaverage tariff rates
(discussion onSystemic Implications, September 1996).
13. Themeaning ofthephrase "plan andschedule" ofaninterim agreement, asstipulated in
paragraph 5(c)ofArticle XXIV (discussion onSystemic Implications, September 1996).
14. Themeaning of"duties andother restrictive regulations ofcommerce" inparagraphs 8(a)(i)
and8(b)ofArticle XXIV (discussion onSystemic Implications, September 1996).
15. Theevaluation ofthegeneral incidence ofduties andother restrictive regulations ofcommerce
before andaftertheformation ofaRTA (discussion onSystemic Implications, September 1996).WT/REG/W/12
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16. Thenotification ofFTAs under theEnabling Clause (discussion onSystemic Implications,
September 1996).
17. Meaning of"substantially allthetrade" inparagraphs 8(a)(i) and8(b)ofArticle XXIV, in
terms ofsectors (inparticular withrespect toagriculture), volume orvalue (EFTA Agreement with
Bulgaria, November 1996; EC-Turkey Customs Union, November 1996).
18. Assessment oftheconsistency ofaRTA withWTO rules when atleastoneofitsparties is
notaWTO Member (ECAgreements withBulgaria, Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, November 1996).
19. Thequestion ofwhich statistics should beprovided relating totrade among parties toaRTA
(EFTA Agreements withBulgaria, Romania, Slovenia, November 1996).
20. Theapplication ofsafeguard andanti-dumping measures among members ofaFTA
(EFTA Agreement withRomania, November 1996).
21. Introductionofnewquantitativerestrictionsinthecontextofparagraphs5and8ofArticleXXIV
(EC-Turkey Customs Union, November 1996).
22. Therelationship between Article XXIV oftheGATT 1994 andother provisions of
WTO Agreements (EC-Turkey Customs Union, November 1996).