RESTRICTEDWORLD TRADE
ORGANIZATIONG/C/M/57
6 December 2001
(01-6224)
Council for Trade in Goods
14 November 2001
MINUTES OF THE MEETING
Held in Doha on 14 November 2001
Chairman:  Ambassador I. Major (Hungary)
1. The Chairman said that this Special Meeting of the Council for Trade in Goods had been
convened at short notice under Rule 2 of the Rules of Procedure by airgram WT0/AIR/1669 at the
request of the European Communities.  The item proposed for its agenda was contained in the
proposed agenda in document G/C/W/341.  He re called that Rule 26 of the General Council
Procedures enabled the CTG to take action in respect of an item for which documentation had not
been circulated ten days in advance.  The agenda was adopted.
2. The Chairperson of the Working Party, Mrs. Margaret Liang, making the report on her own
responsibility, said the Working Party was established with the following terms of reference:  to
examine, under the relevant provisions of the WTO, the requests for a waiver concerning the new
ACP/EC Partnership Agreement and to report to the Council for Trade in Goods.  Since the Working
Party was set up at the meeting of the Council for Trade in Goods on 5 October 2001, a good deal of
work had been done.  In her previous report to the CTG, made on 2 November 2001, she detailed a
number of important developments that had occurre d.  These covered the questions addressed to the
EC/ACP countries by eleven Members, the re sponses by the EC and ACP, and the detailed
discussions that were held regarding both the questions and answers, as well as the document tabledby the EC concerning a revised draft decision for a GATT Article 1 waiver.  It was her view that the
work of the Working Party had been intensive and focussed and testified to the seriousness and
diligence which all concerned delegations applied to the examination of the waiver request regarding
GATT Articles 1 and XIII.  It was her impression that there had been useful exchanges which went a
considerable way to clarifying the issues under examination.  The Working Party had helped identifypossible elements that could form the basis of a solution which would be acceptable to all concerned
parties.  She had been informed by the concerned delegations that it had been possible, in further
consultations, to build on the work of the Working Party by developing those elements that could
form the basis of agreement on the waiver request for GATT Article I (contained in document
G/C/W/187/Add.2/Rev.2) and GATT Article XIII (contained in document G/C/W/269/Rev.1).Consequently, she was pleased that she was now in a position to signal concensus among Members of
the Working Party on the text of the draft waiver decisions contained in the documents cited.  This
concluded her report to the Council.
3. The representative of the European Commun ities thanked the Chairperson of the Working
Party for all the efforts she and all the particip ants in this Working Party had undertaken in a
constructive spirit.  Further to recent discussions between his delegation and the delegations of
Thailand and Philippines, on the subject of canned tuna, he confirmed the EC's readiness to enter
expeditiously into full consultations with the Philippines and Thailand pursuant to GATT/WTO
provisions, procedures and customary practices.  Such  consultations, to be initiated within four weeks
of the date of this meeting, would examine the extent to which the legitimate interests of the
Philippines and Thailand were being unduly impaired as the result of the implementation of theG/C/M/57
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preferential tariff treatment of canned tuna originating in ACP states and would consider means by
which the Philippines' and Thailand's legitimate interests could be addressed.  These consultations
would be completed by 30 April 2002.  Upon thei r completion, the Commission would report to the
EU Council of Ministers with a view to taking an appropriate decision.  They had also agreed on
procedures concerning the outcome of these consultations which were further described in a letter,which would be circulated by the Philippines and Thailand.
4. The representative of Argentina appreciated th at the rules applied for this meeting and the
meetings of the Working Party were flexible with re spect to the rules of procedure.  He thought that
these procedures should remain of an exceptional character.
5. The representative of Thailand said on behalf of Thailand and the Philippines, his delegation
had always supported wholeheartedly the preference being given to the ACP countries under the new
ACP/EC Partnership Agreement.  Thailand never had any intention to obstruct the concensus building
process.  Its concern lay in the fact that it needed some arrangement to ensure that its national interests
were duly protected.  Thailand has worked out this arrangement with the EC which had been gracious
enough to supply it with a letter of comfort although it should be noted that the arrangement achieveddid not fully meet Thailand's concern.  It had to make a very difficult decision to accept it for two
main reasons:  namely, first, to show solidarity with brothers in the SAP countries and equally
importantly to enable the new round of negotiations to be launched at this fourth Ministerial
Conference.
6. The representative of the Philippines said his government had always shared the same
developmental aspirations as friends in the ACP me mbership.  The path was not always smooth, as in
this case where so many divergent interests were at stake.  The Philippines had always approached the
deliberations in the CTG, as well as in the Working Party subsequently convoked, with good faith,
flexibility and perhaps a behaviour too benign.  The path which led here required a lot of generosity,not only from the Philippines, but also from other developing countries.  The Philippines demurred
from invoking rights and also demurred from exercising certain options because it recognised that the
ACP group was an important trading partner, not only for the Philippines, but for all.  More
importantly, the occasion warranted that his government go the extra mile and exceed the level of
good will and flexibility which was required in order for Members to hopefully come out of this
Ministerial Conference with something of which could truly be labelled as developmental in
character.  He reiterated the congratulations to the ACP for finally achieving this milestone.
7. The representative of Costa Rica said the delegation of Costa Rica wished to congratulate the
various delegations which had been making efforts ov er the past few days to try and solve outstanding
differences thus opening the way for the approval of this waiver.  His Government congratulated the
Chairperson of this Working Party as well as the various parties concerned.  The countries concerned,the ACP and the EC and Costa Rica believed that this was a very important event for the achievement
of the multilateral trading system.
8. The representative of Kenya congratulated the Chairperson of the Working Party on behalf of
the ACP countries and all of those who had been involved in the process.  He expressed his profound
satisfaction that this process was about to come to a satisfactory conclusion and he assured the
Council that the ACP states intended to support the granting of a waiver for the EU/GSP drugs regime
requested by the EC.
9. The representative of Dominica also thanked the Chairperson for bringing this work to a
successful conclusion and also thanked all the countrie s and delegations involved in this process.  The
ACP had throughout the work shown great understandin g and solidarity, bearing in mind that for the
majority of them the waiver might have been obtainable a long time ago had it not been for the banana
question.  The EU had shown understanding of the special problems effecting the banana producingG/C/M/57
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countries.  The waiver was of great importance to a country like Dominica as the uncertainties
surrounding the granting of the waiver had already led to severe disruption and degradation.  He
hoped that with the granting of this waiver some confidence would be restored and that Dominica
could look forward to a period of growth  and recovery in the banana industry.
10. The representative of the United States thanked the Chairperson and the Secretariat for all of
their persistence.  The US welcomed the spirit of compromise and applauded all of those delegations,
especially developing country delegations that had valid concerns, including concerns that the US also
entertained.  The US supported preferences to help developing countries to build their economies and
he hoped that these benefits would not have to face unnecessary perils in the future and that all
delegations look favourably in the future on waiver requests that the US puts forward because the EC
was not the only one that provided preferences.
11. The Chairman said that in the light of the report by the Chairperson of the Working Party,
there was concensus on the waiver requests.  He proposed that in accordance with the decision-
making procedures under Article IX of the WTO Agreement, the Council for Trade in Goods first
take note of the report of the Chairperson of the Working Party and of the statements made andsecondly, recommend that the draft decision contained in document G/C/W/187/Add.2/Rev.2 with
respect to the waiving of GATT Article 1 and the draft decision contained in document
G/C/W/269/Rev.1 with respect to the waiving of GATT Article XIII be forwarded to the Ministerial
Conference for adoption.
It was so agreed.
The meeting was concluded.
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