JOB/GC/219  
 
25 July  2019 
(19-4925) Page: 1/2 
General Council    
 
AGENDA ITEM 2 : IMPLEMENTATION OF TH E BALI, NAIROBI AND BUENOS AIRES 
OUTCOMES – STATEMENT  BY THE CHAIR  
TUESDAY, 23 JULY 201 9 
1.1.  This item remains on the agenda so that the General Council can continue to follow up on the 
decisions adopted in Bali, Nairobi and Buenos Aires – and do so in a horizontal and transparent 
manner.  
1.2.  On 17 July, in preparation for this General Council meeting, I held a meeting with the Chairs 
of Regular Bodies and we had a useful discussion on a range of horizontal issues. The ir reports and 
updates on the implementation of the Ministerial mandates are the basis of my statement under this 
item today.  
1.3.  Let me also point out that matters related to the Work Programmes on Small Economies and 
on Electronic Commerce as well as the Ai d for Trade Global Review 2019 will be taken up separately 
in the next two items of our agenda.  
1.4.  Regarding TRIPS Non -Violation and Situation Complaints, under the Buenos Aires Ministerial 
Decision, the TRIPS Council is directed to continue its examination o f scope and modalities for such 
complaints, and to make recommendations by December 2019, when the moratorium on bringing 
such complaints will expire. Members' discussions at the TRIPS Council meetings in February and 
June have shown signs of increased act ivity, but little change in Members' principled positions on 
this matter. The TRIPS Council Chair will resume focused discussions on this issue after the summer 
break.  
1.5.  Moving now to some of the Ministerial outcomes on Agriculture, the fourth annual dedicat ed 
discussion pursuant to the Nairobi Decision on Export Competition took place at the June meeting 
of the Committee on Agriculture. With respect to the implementation of the Decision by Members 
with scheduled export subsidies commitments, ten Members  have their revised schedules certified1; 
three Members have circulated draft revised schedules2; and three other Members3 updated the 
Committee on the steps taken to implement the Decision.  
1.6.  Regarding the review of the Bali Decision on TRQ Administration, the G eneral Council is 
expected to take decision on the recommendations arising from the Review, normally no later than 
31 December 2019 - unless Members agree otherwise. The objective of the Review is to promote 
improvement in the utilization of TRQs and to sp ecifically consider the issue of the future operation 
of paragraph 4 of the Underfill Mechanism. The discussions have been ongoing in the Committee on 
Agriculture towards the finalization of report of the Review and draft recommendations for the 
General Co uncil. The Review report could not be finalized at the June meeting as initially foreseen, 
and the Committee agreed to extend the timeline to October 2019. The Chairperson will organize 
additional informal meetings and consultations to enable Members reach  an agreement on the report 
of the Review by October 2019.  
                                                
1 Australia, Colombia, Iceland, Israel, Mexico, Norway, South Africa, Switzerland, the United States and 
Uruguay.  
2 Canada, the European Union, and Turkey.  
3 Brazil, Indonesia and the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela.  JOB/GC/219  
 
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  1.7.  Turning to the LDC Services Waiver, the Council for Trade in Services continued its discussions 
on the at its meeting in June, and this was preceded by various rounds of informal consultations to 
discuss the organi zation of the dedicated session to review the operation of the preferences notified 
under the Waiver.   
1.8.  During those consultations, broad convergence was found to organize the dedicated session in 
two parts, namely a workshop and a dedicate d formal meeting of the Services Council, to be held 
on 29 and 30 October, respectively.  The Secretariat was asked to prepare a draft programme outline 
for the workshop, and the Chairman issued a note that outlines the suggested agenda items for the 
dedica ted meeting and also provides some context and guidance for Members to assist them with 
their preparations.  At its June meeting, the Services Council formally agreed to the suggested 
approach, and to the draft programme for the workshop and the proposed ag enda for the formal 
dedicated meeting.  
1.9.  With respect to Preferential Rules of Origin for LDCs, in the first half of 2019, the Committee 
on Rules of Origin furthered understanding of origin requirements applied in the context of non -
reciprocal trade preferen ces for LDCs. Members took note of progress in the implementation of self -
certification for registered exporters under some specific trade preferences.  Members also continued 
to discuss rules of origin based on the tariff classification criterion , and they examined preference 
utilization rates to identify specific rules of origin or origin requirements which might be operating 
as trade barriers in specific markets or sectors. A full report will be forwarded to the General Council 
at the end of 2019.  
1.10.   The sit uation concerning the Bali Decision on the Monitoring Mechanism as well as the Bali 
Decision on Duty -Free Quota -Free market access for LDCs has not changed since my previous report. 
The CTD Chair intends to continue reaching out  informally to Members on th ese issues.  
1.11.   And lastly, a very quick update on the Trade Facilitation Agreement, where 145 Members 
have now domestically ratified the Agreement, which is more than 86% of the total. Additionally, 
the overall implementation rate, which is measured as the s um of implementation commitments, 
currently stands at 62.5%.  
 
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