G/L/1377  
 
19 November 2020  
(20-8356) Page: 1/4 
    
 
 
REPORT (2020) OF THE COMMITTEE ON MARKET ACCESS  
TO THE COUNCIL FOR TRADE IN GOODS1 
1. Since the last review2, the Committee on Market Access has held two formal meetings 
(8 June 2020 and 12 & 16 November  2020) and four informal meetings ( 28 February , 20 May, 
10 July and 16  October  2020). The minutes of the formal meetings are contained in 
documents  G/MA/M/72  and G/MA/M/73 (to be issued).   
2. On 10  December  2019, the Secretariat informed Members that the Chairperson, 
Mr. Fernando  ESCOBAR (Bolivia), had relinquished his post in Geneva.  Accordingly, as set out in 
Rule 14 of the Rules of Procedure for Meetings of the Committee on Market Access (G/L/148), the 
vice-Chairperson, Mr. Christopher O'TOOLE (Canada) , became the Chairperson  effective from t hat 
date.   
3. At its formal meeting of 8 June 2020, the Committee took note that the consultations in the 
Council for Trade in Goods concerning the Chairpersons of the subsidiary bodies remained ongoing, 
and agreed that, once the issue had been resolved, the Secretariat would send a communication 
with the proposed candidate and set a deadline for objections. On 27 July 2020, the Secretariat 
informed Members  that Mr  Anatoly CHAPLIN  (Russian Federation ) had been nominated , and on 
30 July 2020 a second communication confirmed that he had been elected. At its meeting of 
12 & 16 November  2020, the Committee elected  Mrs Elisa Maria OLMEDA DE ALEJANDRO (Mexico) 
as Vice -Chairperson.  
1  WAIVERS  
4. At its formal meeting of 12 & 16 November  2020, the Committee approved the extension of the 
HS2002  "collective" waiver (G/C/W/782), the HS2007 "collective" waiver (G/C/W/783), the HS2012 
"collective" waiver (G/C/W/784), and the HS2017 "collective" waiver (G/C/W/785). The Committee 
agreed to forward the draf t waiver decisions to the General Council, through the Council for Trade 
in Goods, for appropriate action.  
2  INTRODUCTION OF HARMONIZED SYSTEM CHANGES TO SCHEDULES OF CONCESSIONS  
5. At the meeting of 12 & 16 November  2020, the Committee took note of a revise d report by the 
Secretariat (G/MA/W/158/Rev.1) which provides a  broad overview of all HS transposition exercises .   
2.1  Introduction of Harmonized System 1996 (HS1996) changes to schedules of 
concessions  
6. At its meetings in 2020, the Committee took note of t he status of work concerning the introduction 
HS96  changes to schedules of concessions. The Chairperson informed that the Schedules of 
concessions of all the 64  Members that were listed in the Annex of the Decision of 27  May 2009 
(WT/L/756) had been succes sfully transposed into HS96 and certified. Technical work under the 
previous transposition procedures (GATT  document  L/6905) remained pending for one Member.  
 
1 As agreed by the Committee on 16 November 2020, a draft report was sent to Members which included 
a deadline for objections (i.e. close of business of 18 November 2020).   Since no objection was received, the 
report was approved on 18 December 2020.   
2 G/L/1338, dated 15 November 2019 . G/L/1377  
 
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  2.2  Introduction of Harmonized System 2002 (HS2002) Changes to schedules of 
concessions  
7. At its meet ings in 2020, the Committee took note of the status of work concerning the introduction 
of HS2002  changes to schedules of concessions using the CTS database (WT/L/605 and WT/L/807), 
as well as the outcomes of the informal dedicated sessions of the Committe e during which the files 
containing the HS2002  changes of Members had been examined. At the formal meeting of 
12 & 16 November  2020, the Chairperson announced that 116  Schedules of concessions had been 
transposed into HS2002 and circulated for certificatio n. Technical work remained pending for 
one Member.  
2.3  Introduction of Harmonized System 2007 (HS2007) changes to schedules of 
concessions  
8. At its meetings in 2020, the Committee took note of the status of work concerning the introduction 
of HS2007 changes to schedules of concessions using the CTS  database (WT/L/673 and WT/L/830), 
as well as the outcomes of the informal dedicated sessions o f the Committee during which the files 
containing the HS2007  changes of Members had been examined. At the formal meeting of 
12 & 16 November  2020, the Chairperson announced that 109  Schedules of concessions had been 
transposed into HS2007 and circulated fo r certification.  
2.4  Introduction of Harmonized System 2012 (HS2012) changes to schedules of 
concessions  
9. At its meetings in 2020, the Committee took note of the status of work concerning the introduction 
of HS2012  changes to schedules of concessions using t he CTS database (WT/L/831), as well as the 
outcomes of the informal dedicated sessions of the Committee during which the files containing the 
HS2012  changes of Members had been examined. At the formal meeting of 
12 & 16 November  2020, the Chairperson annou nced that 99  Schedules of concessions had been 
transposed into HS2012 and circulated for certification.  
2.5  Introduction of Harmonized System 2017 (HS2017) changes to schedules of 
concessions  
10. At its meetings in 2020, the Committee took note of the status o f work concerning the 
introduction of HS2017  changes to schedules of concessions using the CTS  database (WT/L/995), 
as well as the outcomes of the informal dedicated sessions of the Committee during which the files 
containing the HS2017  changes of Members had been examined. At the formal meeting of 
12 & 16 November  2020, the Chairperson announced that 39  Schedules of concessions had been 
transposed into HS2017 and circulated for certification.  
2.6  Introduction of Harmonized System 2022 (HS2022) changes to schedules of 
concessions  
11. At the meeting of 8 June 2012, a representative of the World Customs Organization made a 
presentation to introduce the main changes that will result from the introduction of the HS2022 
amendment.3 At its meeting of 12 & 16 November  2020, the Committee heard a presentation by the 
World Customs Organization on the HS2022 correlation tables4, and requested the Secretariat to 
prepare a draft Decision for the HS2022 Transposition based on the " Procedure for the Introduction 
of Harm onized System 2017 changes to Schedules of Concessions using the Consolidated Tariff 
Schedules (CTS) database", document WT/L/995.    
3  DECISION ON NOTIFICATION PROCEDURES FOR QUANTITATIVE RESTRICTIONS 
("QR  DECISION")  
12. At its meetings in 2020, the Committe e examined new QR notifications which had been submitted 
by 35 Members: Albania; Australia; Brazil; Bangladesh; Canada ; Colombia; Costa Rica; Cuba; 
Egypt; the  European Union; Georgia; Hong Kong, China; Israel; Japan; Kazakhstan; Korea, Republic 
of; Kyrgyz  Republic; Macao,  China; Malaysia ; Mauritius; Moldova; Montenegro; North Macedonia; 
Norway; Paraguay; Peru; Kingdom of Saudi Arabia; Switzerland; Chinese  Taipei ; Thailand; Turkey ; 
 
3 Room documents RD/MA/67 and RD/MA/70.  
4 Room document RD/MA/74 . G/L/1377  
 
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  Ukraine; the United States; Uruguay; and Viet Nam. The Committee also continu ed 
reviewing  notifications which had been previously submitted by other Members. At its meeting of 
12 & 16 November  2020, the Committee took note of a report by the Secretariat with the status of 
QR notifications (G/MA/QR/9) . 
13. At the informal meeting of  16 October 2020, the Secretariat informed Members that a revised 
version of the Quantitative Restrictions Database had been finalized5 and asked Members to provide 
comments before it was released to the public.  
4  DATABASES  
14. At its formal meetings in 20 20, the Secretariat reported on the status of work concerning the 
Integrated Data Base (IDB) and the Consolidated Tariff Schedules (CTS) database. The reports 
provided information on inter alia  the use of information in the databases, the status of software 
development and technical assistance. The Committee also took note of the documents which 
reflected the status of submissions to the IDB (G/MA/IDB/2/Rev.51, and G/MA/IDB/2/Rev.52).   
15. At it s meeting s of 2020, the Committee took note of a report prepared by the Secretariat 
pursuant to paragraph 16 of the "Decision on Modalities and Operation of the Integrated Database 
(IDB)"6, which requires it to maintain a list of official websites in whic h tariff information or import 
data are publicly available ( G/MA/IDB/W/13/Rev.1, G/MA/IDB/W/13/Rev.2, 
G/MA/IDB/W/13/Rev.3 ). 
5  OTHER ACTIVITIES  
16. At its meeting of 8  June 2020, the Committee took note of a report by the Secretariat listing all 
notifications  which had been submitted by Members to the Committee on Market Access relating to 
COVID -19 (G/MA/W/157), and discussed 11 communications by Members with information on 
unilateral measures to facilitate trade in certain products: Australia  (G/MA/W/152), Ba ngladesh 
(G/MA/W/156), Canada (G/MA/W/145 and G/MA/W/153), Chile (G/MA/W/148 and 
G/MA/W/148/Add.1), Colombia (G/MA/W/146 and G/MA/W/146/Corr.17), Costa Rica (G/MA/W/155), 
Dominican Republic (G/MA/W/149 and G/MA/W/149/Add.1), Korea (G/MA/W/147), New Zealan d 
(G/MA/W/150), S ingapore ( G/MA/W/151) and Switzerland (G/MA/W/154).   It also took note of a 
presentation by a representative of the WCO concerning the work undertaken by the WCO 
Secretariat concerning the disaster response phase of the Pandemic8. At its meeting of 
12 & 16 November  2020, the Committee took note of a revised list of COVID -19 related 
communications (G/MA/W/157/Rev.1), and discussed three additional communications: Australia  
(G/MA/W/152/Add.1 ); Bangladesh  (G/MA/W/159 ); and Colombia ( G/MA/W/146/Add.1) .  The 
Committee requested the Secretariat to include additional factual information in future versions of 
the report, based on these communications and notifications. Finally, a representative of the WCO 
Secretariat described the work undertake n in the disaster response phase of the COVID -19 pandemic 
(G/MA/W/162).  
17. At the request of the Committee, the Secretariats of the World Trade Organization and the World 
Customs Organization organized a Capacity Building Workshop on the  Harmonized System  
Convention , which took place on 3 September 2020.  More than 300 Geneva and capital -based 
official participated virtually in the workshop.  
18. On 5  June 2020, the Secretariat informed Members that the Goods Schedules e -Library, which 
is an online platfor m that facilitates access to the legal instruments that embody the WTO Schedules 
of concessions , had been finalized.9 Following the receipt of comments from Members, it was 
released to the public on 17  September  2020.10 
19. At its meeting of 8 June 2020, the Committee took note of the Secretariat document entitled 
"Situation of Schedules of WTO  Members" (G/MA/W/23/Rev.16), which lists all legal instruments 
relating to each Member's Schedule of concessions. It also took note o f the Secretariat document 
entitled "Factual Report on the Status of Renegotiations under Article  XXVIII of the GATT  1994" 
 
5 https://QR.wto.org/ .   
6 Decision of 28 May 2019, G/MA/367.  
7 The corrigendum is in Spanish o nly. 
8 Room document RD/MA/68.  
9 https://goods -schedules.wto.org/ .   
10 https://www.wto.org/english/news_e/news20_e/mark_17sep20_e.htm .  G/L/1377  
 
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  (G/MA/W/123/Rev.6).  At its meeting of 12 & 16 November  2020, it took note of an updated version 
of the latter (G/MA/W/123/Rev.7).  
20. At its meeting of 8  June and 12 & 16 November  2020 the Committee  discussed a document by 
the Russian Federation on "Enhancing Transparency in Applied Tariffs" (JOB/MA/138).   At its meeting 
of 12 & 16 November  2020, it also discussed a document by Austral ia, Brazil and Canada entitled 
"Transparency in Tariff Rate Changes, and the Treatment of Shipments en route : Members Practices 
and Perspectives" (G/MA/W/ 160). 
21. At its meeting of 8  June 2020, the Committee took note of a document by the Secretariat entitled 
"Trade in Pharmaceutical Products: Consolidated List of products covered by the Sectoral Pharma 
Agreement " (JOB/MA/142) , and of a presentation on the same topic.11 
22. At the informal meeting of 16 October 2020, the Committee requested  the Secretariat to develop 
a pilot project to test the possibility of adopting an e -agenda system. It also considered the possibility 
of derestricting the Uruguay Round negotiating materials and agreed to hold consultations on the 
issue.  
23. At its 8 June and 12 & 16 November  2020 meetings, the Committee took note of the following 
specific trade concerns:  
Issue12 Raised by13: 
1. Angola – Import Restriction Practices  Russian Federation and the United States  
2. China - Customs Duties on Certain Integrated 
Circuits  European Union, Japan, and Chinese Taipei  
3. European Union - Carbon Border Adjustment 
Mechanism (The European Green Deal of December 
2019)  China and the Russian Federation  
4. Enlargement of the European Union to include 
Croatia - Negotiations under Article XXIV:6 of the 
GATT 1994  Russian Federation  
5. European Union – Renegotiation of Tariff Rate 
Quotas under Article  XXVIII of the GATT 1994  Russian Federation  
6. India – Customs Dut ies on Telecommunication and 
Other Products  China and Chinese Taipei  
7. India - Import Policies on Tyres, Television Sets, 
and Air Conditioners  European Union and Thailand  
8. India – Quantitative Restrictions on Imports of 
Certain Pulses  Australia, Canada, the European Union, Russian 
Federation, and the United States  
9. Indonesia - Customs Duties on Certain 
Telecommunication Products  United States  
10. Mongolia – Quantitative Restrictions on the 
Importation of Certain Agricultural Products  Russian Federat ion 
11. Nepal's Import Ban on Energy Drinks  Thailand  
12. Panama – Import Restrictive Practices  Costa Rica  
13. Russian Federation - Draft Decree Restricting 
Imports by Certain Entities  European Union  
14. Russian Federation – Import Restrictions on Refined 
Fuel Products  European Union  
15. Russian Federation - Track and Trace Regime  United States  
16. Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, Kingdom of Bahrain, and 
the United Arab Emirates – Selective Tax on Certain 
Imported Products  European Union, Switzerland, and the United 
States  
17. Sri Lanka – Import Ban on Various Products  European Union  
18. United Kingdom - Rectifications and Modifications of 
Schedule XIX  Russian Federation  
19. United Kingdom - Renegotiation of Tariff Rate 
Quotas under Article XXVIII of the GATT 1994  Russian Fede ration  
 
__________  
 
11 Room document RD/MA/69.  
12 Includes items raised under "other business".  
13 The column lists the Member (s) that raised the issue in any or all the formal meetings that are covered 
by this report.