WORLD TRADE WT/REG/3
28November 1997
ORGANIZATION(97-5244)
Committee onRegional Trade Agreements
REPORT (1997) OFTHE
COMMITTEE ONREGIONAL TRADE AGREEMENTS
TOTHE GENERAL COUNCIL
Chairman: Mr.JohnWeekes (Canada)
INTRODUCTION
1. In1997, theCommittee onRegional Trade Agreements (CRTA) continued tobechaired by
Mr.J.Weekes (Canada). Mr.M.-J. Berthet (Uruguay), Mr.S.Harbinson (Hong Kong, China)
Mr.J.Ravaloson (Madagascar) andMr.L.Willems (Belgium) served asVice-Chairmen, with
Mr.C.Bouah-Kamon (Côte d'Ivoire) andMr.J.-M. Noirfalisse (Belgium) replacing Mr.Ravaloson
andMr.Willems inthelatter partoftheyear.
2. Bytheyear'send,theCommittee willhaveheldeight meetings. Minutes arecontained in
documents WT/REG/M/8-15. There hasalsobeenaseries ofinformal consultations.
3. TheCommittee continued itswork in1997 inaccordance withitsterms ofreference1.
EXAMINATION OFREGIONAL TRADE AGREEMENTS
Procedures tofacilitate andimprove theexamination process
4. Foritem(c)ofitsterms ofreference, theCommittee worked tofacilitate andstandardize the
provision ofinformation fortheexamination ofRTAs liberalizing tradeinservices. AtitsTenth Session
theCommittee tooknoteofthenon-binding, voluntary Chairman 'sGuidelines assetoutinthe"Standard
Format forInformation onEconomic Integration Agreements"2.Thisdocument closely mirrors the
"Standard Format forInformation onRegional Trade Agreements"3,which theCommittee hadtaken
noteofin1996. Eversince theCommittee tooknoteoftheStandard Formats, parties tomostRTAs
under examination haveopted topresent information inthisform, allowing amore structured and
streamlined examination process.
1DocumentWT/L/127containstheDecisionoftheGeneralCouncilwhichestablishedtheCommittee
onRegional Trade Agreements andprovided itsterms ofreference.
2WT/REG/W/14.
3WT/REG/W/6.WT/REG/3
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5. AlsoattheTenth Session, theCommittee tooknoteofanon-binding, voluntary Chairman 's
document on"Guidelines onProcedures toFacilitate andImprove theExamination Process"4.The
GuidelinesstresstheimportanceofanearlyandcontinuedflowofinformationonRTAstotheCommittee
andsetoutanumber ofyardsticks toguide theprocess. They alsospelloutanewapproach toreports
onexaminations, whereby reports aretoconsist ofbotha"factual record", based onsummary records
ofstatements bydelegations inthecourse ofanexamination, aswellastheCommittee 's"conclusions",
inaccordance withtheterms ofreference oftheexamination.
Progress incarrying outexaminations
6. Under item(a)ofitsterms ofreference, theCommittee ismandated toexamine regional trade
agreements (RTAs) referred toitbytheCouncil forTrade inGoods (CTG), theCouncil forTrade
inServices (CTS) ortheCommittee onTrade andDevelopment (CTD), depending onthetypeof
agreement.
7. In1997, theCommittee made headway in"clearing thebacklog" aswellasinhandling new
agreements referred toit.Ofthe45RTAs referred toitsofar5,theCommittee hascompleted factual
examinations for26agreements andiswellalong intheprocess foranother 12;theremaining seven,
havingbeenreferredtotheCommitteeforexaminationonlyintheautumn,arescheduledforexamination
nextyear. (SeeAttachment.)
8. Theprocess ofelaborating conclusions hasnowbegun for20oftheRTAs whose factual
examinations arecomplete.
REPORTING ONTHE OPERATION OFAGREEMENTS
9. Tofulfil item(b)ofitsterms ofreference, theCommittee hashelddiscussions onthebasis
ofanInformal Note bytheSecretariat andafollow-up Chairman 'sProposal toconsider howRTA
reporting might bestbeactivated. Discussion istocontinue attheCommittee 'sDecember Session.
SYSTEMIC IMPLICATIONS OFREGIONAL TRADE AGREEMENTS AND INITIATIVES FOR
THE MULTILATERAL TRADING SYSTEM AND THE RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN THEM
10. Inlinewithitem(d)ofitsterms ofreference, theCommittee 'swork during thefirstpartof
theyearfocused onidentifying systemic issues astheyemerged from RTA examinations, systemic
discussionsorwrittensubmissions.Havingearmarkedtheseissuesforinclusioninanevolvingchecklist6,
theCommittee thenbegan considering approaches foranalysing them. After aseries ofinformal
consultations, theCommittee atitsThirteenth Session agreed tothefollowing approach7:first, the
Secretariat istocompile anddistribute factual information onRTAs; second, theCommittee willtackle
4WT/REG/W/15.
5Todate,37RTAs havebeenreferred totheCommittee bytheCTG, seven bytheCTSandone
bytheCTD.
6WT/REG/W/12 andCorr.1 andWT/REG/W/16.
7SeeWT/REG/M/13, paragraphs 5and6.WT/REG/3
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thesystemic issues withathree-pronged approach, encompassing legal analyses ofrelevant WTO
provisions, horizontal comparisons ofRTAs anddebate onthecontext andeconomic aspects ofRTAs.
Documents prepared byMembers andtheSecretariat aretoserve asthebasis forthese discussions.
Attherequest oftheCommittee, theSecretariat prepared alistofRTAs notified totheGATT/WTO
which arecurrently inforce.
11. AttheFourteenth Session, debate waslaunched ontheconcepts of"other regulations of
commerce" and"substantially allthetrade". Twodelegations presented papers onthese issues, and
theSecretariat provided background notes onthequestion ofother regulations ofcommerce.8For
future meetings, airgrams willindicate what issues andsub-issues areontheagenda, toencourage
Members toprepare fordeeper discussion.
CONCLUSION
12. TheCommittee hasmade progress incarrying outitsmandate. Much ofitstimehasbeen
allocated tothedetailed examination ofindividual RTAs. Here, theuseoftheStandard Formats and
oftheGuidelines hasledtoamore efficient useoftimeandresources, allowing theCommittee to
make greatstrides inclearing thebacklog (carrying outthework ofthe32working parties itreplaced)
andtotakeonanother 13examinations aswell. Initswork onsystemic issues, theCommittee has
laidasolid foundation onwhich itwillcontinue tobuild.
8WT/REG/W/17 andAdd.1 (Notes bytheSecretariat), WT/REG/W/18 (Australia) and
WT/REG/W/19 (Hong Kong, China).WT/REG/3
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ATTACHMENT
Status ofExamination ofRTAs
RTAs examined in1997 (38)
Agreement Status ofExamination
ECEnlargement -Goods Factual examination inprocess
EC-Czech Republic Factual examination completed
EC-Hungary Factual examination completed
EC-Poland Factual examination completed
EC-Slovak Republic Factual examination completed
EC-Bulgaria Factual examination completed
EC-Romania Factual examination completed
EC-Estonia Factual examination completed
EC-Latvia Factual examination completed
EC-Lithuania Factual examination completed
EC-Turkey Factual examination inprocess
EC-Faroe Islands Factual examination inprocess
EFTA-Hungary Factual examination completed
EFTA-Israel Factual examination completed
EFTA-Poland Factual examination completed
EFTA-Bulgaria Factual examination completed
EFTA-Romania Factual examination completed
EFTA-Slovenia Factual examination completed
EFTA-Estonia Factual examination completed
EFTA-Latvia Factual examination completed
EFTA-Lithuania Factual examination completed
NAFTA- Goods Factual examination completed
MERCOSUR Factual examination inprocess
Canada-Israel Factual examination completed
Iceland-Faroe Islands Factual examination completed
Norway-Faroe Islands Factual examination completed
Switzerland-Faroe Islands Factual examination completedWT/REG/3
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Agreement Status ofExamination
CEFTA9Factual examination inprocess
Slovenia-Bulgaria Factual examination inprocess
Czech Republic-Bulgaria Factual examination inprocess
Slovak Republic-Bulgaria Factual examination inprocess
NAFTA- Services Factual examination completed
ANZCERTA- Services Factual examination inprocess
European Union- Services Factual examination inprocess
ECEnlargement-Services Factual examination inprocess
EC-Hungary- Services Factual examination inprocess
EC-Poland- Services Factual examination inprocess
EC-Slovak Republic- Services Factual examination inprocess
Other RTAs under examination (7)
Agreement Status ofExamination
EC-Slovenia Factual examination notyetcommenced
EC-The Palestine Liberation
OrganizationFactual examination notyetcommenced
Canada-Chile Factual examination notyetcommenced
Czech Republic-Latvia Factual examination notyetcommenced
Czech Republic-Lithuania Factual examination notyetcommenced
Slovenia-Estonia Factual examination notyetcommenced
Romania-Moldova Factual examination notyetcommenced
9With theaccession ofSlovenia andRomania totheCEFTA, thefollowing bilateral agreements,
previously notified totheWTO, arenomore inforce: Slovenia-Czech Republic, Slovenia-Hungary,
Slovenia-Slovak Republic, Czech Republic-Romania andSlovak Republic-Romania.