RESTRICTED  
  
TCA/M/41  
 
30 November 2023  
(23-8123) Page: 1/3 
Committee on Trade in Civil Aircraft    
 
  
MINUTES OF THE REGULAR MEETING  
HELD ON 17 NOVEMBER 2023  
CHAIRPERSON: MR JEAN -MARIE MERALDI (SWITZERLAND)  
1. At the outset of the meeting, the Chair explained that the meeting was held both in -person 
as well as remotely.  
2. No request was made by Signatories for any item to be taken up under "Other business", and 
so the Committee on Trade and Civil Aircraft ("Committee") adopted the agenda contained in 
document WTO/AIR/TCA/12 . 
1  APPLICATION FROM BRAZIL FOR ITS ACCESSION TO THE AGREEMENT  
3. The delegation of Brazil  stated that it had submitted on 16 December 2022 the proposed list 
of tariff commitments of Brazil in its GATT schedule under the obligations o f the Agreement on Trade 
in Civil Aircraft ("Agreement"), as expressed in HS2007. This proposed list of tariff commitments 
was contained in the annex of document TCA/19/Add.1/Rev.1 . Brazil further explained that if the 
Committee agreed to this  proposal, Brazil would submit the Agreement with this proposed list of 
tariff commitments to the National Congress of Brazil, and once it has been approved by the 
National  Congress, Brazil would inform the Chair so that the Committee could hold a formal m eeting 
to give consent to Brazil to deposit the instrument of accession.  
4. The delegations of the United States , the European Union , Canada , Switzerland , Japan , 
Chinese Taipei , and the United Kingdom  each took the floor to congratulate and commend Brazil for  
its efforts and commitments, and stated that they could agree to the Committee taking a decision 
agreeing to Brazil's terms of accession. They also stated that they looked forward to Brazil's 
completing its domestic process.  
5. The Chair proposed that the Co mmittee take note of Brazil's explanation and that it takes a 
decision agreeing to the terms of accession as proposed by Brazil in document TCA/19/Add.1/Rev.1 . 
The Chair also proposed that when Brazil notifies the Committee that the National C ongress of Brazil 
has approved the Agreement with the commitments contained in document TCA/19/Add.1/Rev.1 , 
the Chair would ask the Committee to promptly grant the consent, as described in paragraph 5 of 
the Guidance Note, contained in document TCA/17 . Such consent shall state that Brazil can deposit 
the instrument of accession once the relev ant procedures for modification and rectification of 
schedules of tariff concessions under the GATT 1994 have been completed.  
6. The Committee took note  of Brazil's explanation, the Signatories' statements, as well as the 
Chair's explanation, and agreed  both to the terms of accession as proposed by Brazil in document 
TCA/19/Add.1/Rev.1  and to the procedure proposed by the Chair for granting consent to deposit the 
instrument of accession.  
7. Brazil  thanked the Signatories for their trust and deliberat ion on Brazil's accession. This 
Agreement was a key agreement for Brazil. Acceding to this Agreement was a demonstration of 
Brazil's unequivocal commitment to the WTO. Currently, Brazil was the only major aircraft producer 
and original member of the WTO th at was not party to the Agreement. Participation in this 
Committee would bring benefit to Brazil in various manners. Brazil was very proud of Embraer, which 
was the 3rd largest commercial jet manufacturing company in the world. Another unequivocal 
commitme nt of the Brazilian government was to sustainable development, in its three aspects: 
environmental, economic and social. Brazil had a history of leadership in the production and use of 
biofuels.  TCA/M/41  
 
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  8. Brazil noted that this was a result of hard work by the Comm ittee and by officials both in 
Geneva and in Brasilia. The process also entailed long consultations with Mercosur partners. 
Leadership of the Vice -President and Trade and Industry Minister of Brazil , Mr.  Geraldo  Alckmin, 
was important in this process. Thi s initiative was a clear message that Brazil believed in more 
integration. Brazil reconfirmed its commitment to the WTO and expressed its willingness to engage 
in fruitful discussions on the current and future challenges of this strategic sector.  
9. The Commi ttee took note  of Brazil's statement.  
2  TRANSPOSITION EXERCISE OF THE PRODUCT COVERAGE ANNEX  
10. The Chair recalled that on 13 July 2023 the Secretariat circulated a revised technical note 
outlining the extent to which the Product Coverage Annex of the Agreement  may need to be updated 
or revised in the light of the changes introduced in HS2012, HS2017 and HS2022. He explained that 
the Committee would continue to discuss this draft in an informal meeting to take place immediately 
after the present regular meeting.  
11. The Committee took note  of the Chair's statements.  
3  IMPLEMENTATION OF THE AGREEMENT – TRANSPARENCY AND POSSIBLE 
COMPLEMENTARY MEANS  
12. The Chair recalled the background of this issue by quoting from the minutes of the regular 
meeting held in 2021 as follows:  
13. "The Chair recalled that she had been reporting at every recent regular meeting that there 
were very few Participants that have submitted an instrument of acceptance of the 2015 Protocol. 
The situation was basically the same for the 2001 Protocol. In order to have a better understanding 
of the situation, she organized two informal meetings. […] At the two informal meetings, several 
interesting comments were made. For example, several Participants indicated that even though they 
did not undertake the domestic procedure to ratify the Protocols, they still used them as a basis to 
modify their schedules accordingly. Some Participants also mentioned that the procedures used in 
other Committees such as the ITA Committee or the Committee on Market Access could offer some 
ideas on how to improve transparency and how to devise possible complementary means to the 
Protocol. The Chair understood that the Par ticipants were interested in pursuing discussions on: 
(i) how to strengthen transparency and/or (ii) a possible complementary means to be devised 
through the Committee in light of the fact that few Participants have submitted letters of 
acceptance."1 
14. The Chair further explained that the then -chair wrapped up this item by stating that the Chair 
would continue consultations on possible concrete ideas and on the way forward. The Chair clarified 
that he did not have, at present, any concrete ideas on how to pr oceed with this matter. He stated 
that he was presuming that work on the transposition of the Product Annex should proceed first 
before the Committee could address this matter.  
15. The United States  stated that it supported a complementary approach to the Prot ocol and 
submissions of instruments of acceptance to include taking a formal Committee decision on an 
updated product list. This would allow Participants to show support and consensus for the 
Agreement's product coverage in more current nomenclature, and p rovide needed clarity to the 
traders. The United States looked forward to continuing discussing these and other ideas with other 
Signatories, especially as the Committee's work on transposing the product coverage into updated 
nomenclature advances and conc ludes, ideally in 2024. The United States also welcomed an informal 
transparency exercise that would help Signatories better understand how the Agreement's 
commitments were reflected in their bound schedules, per Paragraph 2.1.3 of the Agreement, and 
applied schedules especially any end -use systems, as per paragraph 2.2 of the Agreement. The 
United States looked forward to engaging with other Participants on the format of a potential 
transparency exercise.  
16. The European Union  considered the transparency exer cise necessary, as it was important that 
all participants had the same understanding of the coverage in terms of HS codes and, when 
necessary, ex -outs, since these were key in terms of legal certainty. Such an exercise would be 
 
1 See TCA/M/38 , paragraph  12. TCA/M/41  
 
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  essential to ensure that the  scope of the Agreement would not change. European Union supported 
the Chair's idea that work on the transposition of the Product Annex should proceed first before the 
Committee could address this matter. The European Union welcomed hearing Members' views on 
any alternative approaches to ensure transparency.  
17. The United Kingdom  thanked the Secretariat for its work in producing the technical note, and 
noted that several Signatories had commented on it. The United  Kingdom would submit its 
comments in due cours e. In that context, the United Kingdom asked whether the transposition 
exercise was meant to eliminate any new sub -headings which appeared as a result of the evolution 
of the subheading, if such sub -headings were not relevant to the manufacturing or repair  of civil 
aircrafts.  
18. Chinese Taipei  endorsed the Chair's proposal to prioritize the transposition exercise. 
Acknowledging the existing challenges with the 2001 and 2015 Protocols, Chinese Taipei recognized 
that significant change may not occur soon. Althou gh there was currently no specific idea for the 
way forward, Chinese Taipei looked forward to future discussions on improving transparency.  
19. Switzerland  agreed with the Chair that work on the transposition of the Product Annex should 
proceed first before th e Committee could address this matter.  
20. Referring to the question posed by the United Kingdom, the Chair stated that the question 
would be best addressed, given its technical nature, in the informal meeting that would start 
immediately after the regular mee ting. 
21. The Committee took note  of the statements.  
4  FUNCTIONING OF THE COMMITTEE  
22. The Chair explained that this issue was related to "WTO Reform". In line with an item in the 
MC12 Outcome Document, the General Council and its subsidiary bodies were instructed to "conduct 
the work, review progress, and consider decisions, as appropriate, to be submitted to the next 
Ministerial Conference". This Committee needed to keep the General Council informed of its activities 
on a regular basis. This is provided for in Art icle IV:8 of the Marrakesh Agreement Establishing the 
World Trade Organization . He had placed this item on the agenda of the meeting in this light. In his 
communication sent on 6  October  2023, he had asked Signatories who wished to express their views 
on this issue to contact the Chair or the Secretariat by close of business of Friday, 27  October  2023. 
No comments were received. The Chair stated that he did not have any ideas to table, but was 
willing to hear any comments.  
23. No delegation took the floor on th is issue.  
24. The Committee took note  of the Chair's statement.  
5  OTHER BUSINESS  
25. There was no issue raised under this agenda item.  
6  DATE OF NEXT REGULAR MEETING  
26. The Committee agreed  to hold its next regular meeting in the end of October or early 
November 2024, with the exact date to be confirmed in due course.  
7  ADOPTION OF THE ANNUAL REPORT FOR 2023  
27. The Chair suggested that with the help of the Secretariat, he would complete the draft  of the 
annual report2 and send the updated final draft to all the Signatories. If no objection was received 
by the deadline, the final draft would be taken as final and circulated.3 
28. The meeting was adjourned . 
__________  
 
2 Document RD/TCA/17 . 
3 The final report, adopted on 20  November  2023, was circulated as WT/L/1177 -TCA/21 .