RESTRICTED
WORLD TRADE G/RO/M/14
6April 1998
ORGANIZATION(98-1360)
Committee onRules ofOrigin
MINUTES OFTHE MEETING OF16-27 MARCH 1998
Chairman: Mr.R.Wells (Australia)
Theagenda proposed forthemeeting, contained inWTO/AIR/788, wasadopted bythe
Committee onRules ofOrigin (CRO) asfollows:
Page
1. Election ofofficers .....................................1
2. Update oforigin rules adopted bytheCRO (G/RO/W/22/Rev.2) ........1
3. Implementation ofArticle 2(h)oftheAgreement onRules ofOrigin ......2
4. Endorsement ofbasket 1decisions contained intheTenth Report ofthe
Technical Committee onRules ofOrigin (TCRO) totheCRO
(G/RO/22 andG/RO/22/Add.1) .............................2
5. Examination ofproduct-specific rules oforigin ...................2
- Chapters 1-24(agricultural products) (G/RO/22/Add.1)
- Chapters 50-63 (textiles) (WCO docs. 42.215 and42.212,
G/RO/W/25)
6. Other business
- Dateofthenextmeeting ............................4
1. Election ofofficers
1.1 TheCommittee elected Mr.RicWells (Australia) asChairman, andMr.Rossman Ithnain
(Singapore) asVice-Chairman oftheCRO for1998.
2. Update oforigin rules adopted bytheCRO (G/RO/W/22/Rev.2)
2.1 TheChairman stated thattheSecretariat hadcirculated, indocument G/RO/W/22/Rev.2, an
updated listoftheorigin rulesendorsed bytheCROatitsmeeting from2-6February 1998. Herecalled
thattheCRO, atitsmeeting on3October 1997, agreed thattherulescontained inthisdocument should
notbereopened, keeping inmind that,inaccordance withArticle 9.3(b) oftheAgreement, theCROG/RO/M/14
Page2
would finally consider theresults oftheHarmonization Work Programme interms oftheiroverall
coherence.
2.2 TheCRO tooknoteoftheupdated document.
3. Implementation ofArticle 2(h)oftheAgreement onRules ofOrigin
3.1 TheChairman recalled that,atthemeeting on3October 1997, theCRO hadmandated the
Secretariat toconduct abriefsurvey onmethods andprocedures applied byMembers forthepurpose
ofimplementing Article 2(h)aswellasparagraph 3(d)ofAnnex IIoftheAgreement. TheSecretariat
hadsentoutanotedated 8October 1997inwhich Members wererequested toprovide theSecretariat,
totheextent possible, withcertain categorized information concerning thissurvey by1December 1997.
TheSecretariat, on8January 1998, hadsentreminders tothose Members whohadnotyetresponded
bythatdate. Todate, 28Members hadprovided theinformation.
3.2 TheChairman urged Members whohadnotyetresponded tothesurvey todosoassoonas
possible andstated thathewould holdinformal consultations onthisissue inthenearfuture.
3.3 TheCommittee tooknoteofthestatements made andagreed torevert tothisissue afterthe
informal consultations.
4. Endorsement ofbasket 1decisions contained intheTenth Report oftheTCRO totheCRO
(G/RO/22 andG/RO/22/Add.1)
4.1 TheChairman recalled thattheCRO, atthemeeting from2-6February 1998, agreed totake
upthisagenda itemattoday'smeeting, onthegrounds thattheTenth Report oftheTCRO hadnot
yetbeenapproved. TheTCRO, atitsmeeting from9-27February 1998, formally adopted theReport
ontheTenth Session oftheTCRO towhich theTenth Report totheCRO isannexed. TheTCRO
alsocorrected amistake inthebasket 1decisions concerning heading 22.01 onpage220ofdocument
G/RO/22/Add.1: theorigin criteria oftheheading should nowread"theorigin ofgoods shallbethe
country inwhich thewater, iceorsnow classified inthisheading areobtained intheirnatural state".
4.2 TheCRO, inaccordance withArticle 9.3(a) oftheAgreement, endorsed therules oforigin
forproducts classifiable inChapters 2-12and17-24 which were indicated asbasket 1decisions in
paragraph 5oftheTenth Report totheCRO(G/RO/22) andthetemplate (G/RO/22/Add.1), asamended
bytheTCRO.
4.3 TheCRO confirmed thatthese basket 1items should notbereopened attheleveloftheCRO,
keeping inmind however that,inaccordance withArticle 9.3(b) oftheAgreement, theCRO would
finally consider theresults oftheHarmonization Work Programme interms oftheiroverall coherence.
5. Examination ofproduct-specific rulesoforigin concerning Chapters 1-24(agricultural products)
(G/RO/22/Add.1)
5.1 Following thediscussion attheinformal meetings oftheCRO on20and27March 1998, the
CRO agreed asfollows:
"The Committee examined unresolved issues onagricultural products submitted totheCommittee.
(1) TheCommittee reached consensus onOption AinIssue forDecision No.26,onOption B
inIssues forDecision Nos. 34,38,41and52.G/RO/M/14
Page3
Therefore:
- Theorigin criteria forsubheading 0601.20, onpage131ofdocument G/RO/22/Add.1, should
read"CTSH".
- Column Bofsplitheading ex0902(a), onpage146ofdocument G/RO/22/Add.1, should now
read"Blended", andex0902(b) and(c)should bedeleted.
- Splitheading 1211(c), onpage155ofdocument G/RO/22/Add.1 andsplitsubheading ex
1401.20(a), onpage159,should bedeleted.
- "CTH" and"CTSH" incolumn Cofsubheading 1701.91, onpage 193ofdocument
G/RO/22/Add.1 should bedeleted.
(2) There wasemerging consensus onOption CinIssue forDecision No.14,andonOption B
inIssues forDecision Nos. 27and42.Malaysia reserved itsposition onthese issues.
(3) Asconcerns sugar:
- many delegations indicated thattheywould liketoshow flexibility onIssue forDecision No.
51butwerereluctant todosoinlightoftheimplication thismayhaveonotherissues. Many delegations
expressed interest inaproposal suggesting thatMembers show flexibility onthisissue, inexchange
forflexibility inIssues forDecision Nos. 55and56.
- most delegations sawnoneedforthetwosplitheadings, 1702(b) and1702(c).
(4) Asconcerns coffee andtea:
- some questions regarding thisissue havebeenclarified.
(5) Asconcerns dairy products:
- there wasconsensus thatOption BinIssue forDecision Nos. 16and18,andOption Cin
Issue forDecision No.96 should bedeleted.
(6) Asconcerns fish:
- there wasconsensus thatIssue forDecision No.8(III) concerning aproposal forvalue-added
testandOption BinIssue forDecision No.4 (ii)should bedeleted.
- therewasagrowingconsensusonheadings1603-1605towards"CTH"andonIssueforDecision
No.7 (concerning splitheadings ex0305(e), ex0306(d) andex0307(d)) towards Option A.
(7) Asconcerns liveanimals andmeat:
- Fivedelegations were abletoagree totheformulation ofonecommon criterion forOption
AinIssue forDecision No.1.Thefinalformulation ofthatcriterion iscurrently under examination.
Onedelegation declared tobeprepared toexamine thepossibility tojointhatonecommon criterion
atalaterstage.G/RO/M/14
Page4
- Inrelation toIssueforDecision No.2,thesamefivedelegations expressed flexibility toexamine
theformulation ofacommon criterion forOption Bandtorestrict theadditional requirement toonly
afattening period.
- ForIssues forDecision Nos. 7and43,flexibility wasexpressed byseveral delegations to
examine other options.
- ForIssues forDecision Nos. 3and5,examination isgoing onastowhether Option Apresents
adifferent approach thanOption B,orwhether thismight beaquestion ofterminology.
(8) Asconcerns wine:
- some questions onMembers 'positions were clarified."
5.2 TheChairman stated thattheplurilateral process withtherapporteurs, incombination with
bilateral discussions wherever considered necessary, hadworked well, andurged therapporteurs to
continue intheirroleandtrytomove theprocess intheirproduct groups forward, totheextent possible,
inparticular alsobetween meetings oftheCommittee.
Chapters 50-63 (textile products)
5.3 Therepresentatives ofEgypt, theEuropean Communities, Japan, Mexico, NewZealand, the
Pakistan, thePhilippines, Switzerland andtheUnited States stated thatmany questions regarding textile
products hadbeenclarified during thebilateral andplurilateral meetings, andthatatthenextstage
plurilateral meetings fortextile products should beorganized.
5.4 Therepresentative ofIndiaproposed thattheSecretariat prepare apaper which briefly analyzes
theimpact ofthemajor proposals concerning origin criteria oftextile products ontherights and
obligations ofMembers under theWTO Agreements, suchastheAgreement onTextiles andClothing,
theAgreement onSubsidies andCountervailing Measures, theAgreement onImplementation of
Article VIofGATT 1994, andorigin-marking requirements. Therepresentatives oftheDominican
Republic, Pakistan andSriLanka supported India'sproposal. Therepresentative ofMalaysia stated
thatIndia'sproposalmeritedfurtherconsideration.TheChairmanrequestedthatIndiasubmititsproposal
inwriting.
5.5 Therepresentative oftheUnited States stated thathisdelegation 'sproposal onIssues 12and
13withregard totextile products, which hadbeencirculated indocument G/RO/W/25, should be
reflected inthetemplate oftextile products.
5.6 Therepresentative ofKorea stated thattheissue ofdyeing orprinting ofyarnshould besplit
fromtheissueofdyeing orprinting offabrics. TheChairman requested thatKorea submit itsproposal
forconsideration bytheCRO.
5.7 TheCRO tooknoteofthestatements made.
6. Other business
- Dateofthenextmeeting
6.1 Itwasagreed thattheCRO holditsnextmeeting from 27April-1 May1998.
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