RESTRICTED  WORLD TRADE  
ORGANIZATION  WT/REG/M/36 
7 April 2004 
 
 (04-1575) 
Committee on Regional Trade Agreements 
Thirty-Sixth Session  
 
 
 
NOTE ON THE MEETING OF 29-30 MARCH 2004 
 
Chairmen: Mr. J. Meetoo (Mauritius) and Mr. R. Saborío Soto (Costa Rica)  
 
 
A. ADOPTION OF THE AGENDA  
1. The Thirty-Sixth Session of the Committee on Regional Trade Agreements (CRTA) was 
convened in Airgram WTO/AIR/2276/Rev.1, dated 19 Ma rch.  An annotated draft agenda had been 
distributed in January 2004. 
2. The Chairman  announced that he would raise the question of the work programme for the 
next session of the CRTA under "Other Business". 
3. The following Agenda was adopted: 
 A. Adoption of the Agenda 
 B. Election of Officers  C. Examination of Regional Trade Agreements 
  I. Status Report on the Examination Work 
II.  European Community – Croatia Interim Agreement 
  III. European Communities – Jord an Euro-Mediterranean Agreement  
IV. Free Trade Area between the United States and Jordan, Goods and Services  V. Free Trade Agreement between the EFTA States and Mexico 
VI. Free Trade Agreement between Chile and Mexico, Goods and Services  
VII. Free Trade Agreement between Israel and Mexico VIII. European Communities – Bulgar ia Europe Agreement, Services  
IX. European Communities – Czech Republic Europe Agreement, Services  X. European Communities – Romania Europe Agreement, Services 
 D. 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  
B. ELECTION OF OFFICERS  
5. The Chairman  proposed that the Committee elect, by acclamation, Ambassador Ronald 
Saborío Soto, from Costa Rica, as the Chai rman of the CRTA.  It was so agreed . 
6. The outgoing Chairman  thanked the Committee and the Secr etariat for their help and support 
during the year 2003.  In particular, he had appreci ated Members' active participation and guidance  
during his chairmanship, which had allowed him to  learn a lot on the question of regional trade 
agreements (RTAs). WT/REG/M/36 
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 7. The newly elected Chairman
 thanked his predecessor, Ambassador Meetoo, for the very good 
work he had accomplished during the past year a nd wished him success in his Chairmanship of the 
Working Group on Trade and Transfer of Technology.   He thanked delegations for having elected 
him for this task.  The results of the CRTA's work  had been limited, and a significant amount of work 
remained to be done in order to achieve the objectiv es set out at the time of the establishment of the 
Committee some years ago.  He was however convin ced that Members were willing to put an end to 
the blockages faced by the CRTA.  The DDA negotia tions on disciplines and procedures applying to 
RTAs had recently restarted, and it would seem that Members were committed to achieve a rapid progress on a new "RTAs' Transparency" package that would help in revitalizing the CRTA's work.   
In that context, he invited Members to cooperate  in advancing the work of the Negotiating Group on 
Rules.  He also stressed that tr ansparency in the CRTA could be improved even within the framework 
of current rules and procedures;  he urged Member s to abide by the deadlin es for the submission of 
information and to be as transparent and comprehe nsive as possible in the provision of the needed 
information, so as to allow the Committee to discharge  its work in a meaningful manner.  Finally, he 
informed the Committee that Ambassador Weston fro m Trinidad and Tobago, Dr. Notis from Greece 
and Mr. Dalela from India would retain thei r positions as Vice-Chairpersons of the CRTA. 
8. Various delegations thanke d the outgoing Chairman for the work accomplished and 
complimented the new Chairman for his election. 
C. E
XAMINATION OF REGIONAL TRADE AGREEMENTS  
I. Status Report on the Examination Work 
9. The Chairman  said that he would like to report on the informal consultations that his 
predecessor, Ambassador Meetoo, had carried out on 30 January 2004 concerning the CRTA backlog.  
Under these consultations, the following issues had been discussed: agreements with non-Members;  
agreements which would probably be  superseded or modified at the occasion of the forthcoming EC 
enlargement;  services agreements without defined specific commitments;  and agreements on which 
the "factual" examination process had not advanced in the last few years,  either because necessary 
information was lacking or because the parties had requested a delay.   Regarding RTAs involving 
non-Members, Members had expressed their views on how to deal with such agreements and had 
requested the Secretariat to distribute a note on the drafting history of paragraph 10 of Article XXIV, 
which one delegation had referred to  as being relevant to the issue at stake.  The Secretariat had 
informed him that this note would be circulat ed soon, as a Job number document.  Following its 
circulation, it was his intention to carry out a furt her round of consultations on how to deal with these 
agreements.  Regarding agreements superseded  or modified following the forthcoming EC 
enlargement, the representative of the European Communities had clarified during the consultations 
that the trade-related aspects of these agreements woul d be absorbed by the EC external trade policy, 
and that the preferences under these agreements woul d be substituted.  It had been generally agreed 
that the examination of agreements that would be su perseded should not be initiated.  The need for  a 
more structured but also pragmatic discussion on this entire question had been noted, and it was his 
intention to deal also with this at a further round of informal consultations.  In between, the 
notification of the EC enlargement might have ta ken place and some of the issues clarified.   
10. Regarding agreements without defined specific commitments, the Chairman  noted that a 
consensus appeared to have emerged to adopt th e following practical solution: in cases where such 
agreements had been notified to the Council for Tr ade in Services and transmitted to the CRTA for 
examination, the CRTA would keep them in a "to do  list" until it was informed by the parties that  
specific commitments had been negotiated.   Only then would the CRTA proceed with the first round of examination.  The Chairman proposed that th e Committee adopt this procedure, and it was so 
agreed
.   WT/REG/M/36 
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 11. The Chairman  finally stated that various interes ting ideas had been discussed regarding the 
long-standing RTA examinations.  It had been ge nerally felt that the Committee should conclude 
these examinations by a given time-frame, in princi ple not later than a year from that date.  The 
Secretariat was in contact with the parties to thes e agreements so as to clarify pending issues;  once 
the pending information had been distributed, a precise target date would be set.  The Chairman 
sought confirmation on this procedure, and it was so agreed .  
12. The representative of India  thanked the Chairman for his report and the outgoing Chairman 
for his leadership and guidance in the past twelve months.  His delegation was looking forward to the 
note being prepared by the Secretariat on GATT Artic le XXIV:10, and to further consultations on that 
issue. 
C.II.-X. (The minutes of the examination of the Agre ements listed under agenda items C.II-X are 
being distributed as separate documents.) 
D. OTHER  BUSINESS  
13. The Chairman  informed the Committee that, following a request made by the parties to the 
EFTA-Singapore Free Trade Agreement, and given th at a number of agreements foreseen to be 
examined in this Session had not been included in  the agenda due to lack of information, the 
Secretariat had modified the work programme of the next Session of the CRTA, to take place on 7-8 October 2004.  Copies of this revised work progra mme had been made available in the room.  He 
stressed that the deadline for s ubmission of information was Friday, 3 September 2004.  He also 
recalled that, in accordance with the calendar for the submission of biennial reports distributed in 
document WT/REG/W/48, reports on th e operation of 19 agreements were due to reach the Secretariat 
by 31 July 2004;  these reports would also be in the agenda of the Fall Session of the CRTA.  In any 
case, a draft annotated agenda for the next CRTA session would be submitted to delegations during 
the month of July.  
14. The Committee took note
 of the comments made. 
__________