JOB/GC/82  
 
29 July 2015  
(15-3909)  Page: 1/3  
General Council    
 
 AGENDA ITEM 4: IMPLEMENTATION OF THE BALI OUTCOMES 
STATEMENT BY THE CHAIRMAN 
TUESDAY, 28 JULY 2015 
1.1.  Delegations will recall that we have had this agenda item on implementation of the Bali 
outcomes since July last year, to have an opportunity to assess the work taking place in those regular bodies which are directly working on the various Bali Decisions. 
1.2.  I am keeping an on-going dialogue with the Chairs of regular bodies that have Bali 
implementation mandates and held another produc tive meeting with them on Monday last week, 
20 July. Let me give you a brief overview of where things stand. 
1.3.  Regarding the so-called Decisions on "regular work", we have separate agenda items for 
three of them: Aid for Trade — where the DG has just provided a report — the Work programme 
on Small Economies and E-commerce, and we will hear relevant updates under those items. 
1.4.  Concerning TRIPS non-violation and situat ion complaints, at MC9, Ministers directed the 
TRIPS Council to continue its examination of the scope and modalities for complaints of so-called 
non-violation and situation complaints to TRIPS Agreement and make recommendations to their next Session. It was agreed that, in the meanti me, Members will not initiate such complaints 
under the TRIPS Agreement. Since then, the Council for TRIPS has discussed the matter at each of 
its formal meetings. As agreed at the Council's meeting in June, the Chair is currently holding consultations with Members with a view to enabling the Council to agree, at its next meeting in October, on its recommendations to MC10. 
1.5.  Concerning the Decision on Trade and Transf er of Technology, at the meeting of the Working 
Group in June, Members underscored the linkage be tween trade and transfer of technology and 
highlighted the role of innovation and technology  generation in improving productivity, export 
promotion and economic growth, as well as in realizing other broader development aspirations of 
developing countries and LDCs. The Working Group received three useful briefings — from Ecuador, the Philippines and Chinese Taipei — on some of their experiences in the area of trade 
and transfer of technology. In addition, Members continue to discuss possible recommendations on 
the basis of a non-paper titled "Facilitating Access to Information on Appropriate Technology Sourcing — Steps to Increase Flows of Technology to Developing Countries", tabled by a group of developing countries. 
1.6.  Moving now to the Bali Package, and starting with Agriculture. 
1.7.  The 77th regular meeting the Committee on Agriculture held on 4 June included the second 
dedicated discussion on Export Competition. For this discussion the Secretariat issued a report 
based on Members' replies to the Export Competition questionnaire contained in the Annex of 
Ministerial Declaration on Export Competition. A revision of this report was circulated last week, concluding the 2015 dedicated discussion exercise. 
1.8.  The CoA is also responsible for the review and monitoring of the implementation of Members' 
obligations under the Bali Decision on TRQ Admini stration. Members have begun reporting fill rate 
information in their notifications as called for by this decision. The underfill mechanism, which can JOB/GC/82 
 
- 2 - 
 
  be triggered by low fill rates or in situations where fill rates have not been notified, has not been 
invoked. 
1.9.  Regarding Development and LDC issues, I would begin with some updates on DFQF market 
access for LDCs. At the CTD meeting on 9 June, a request was made by the LDC Coordinator 
(Bangladesh) — and supported by some other LDCs — for a dedicated session of the CTD to 
discuss implementation of DFQF market access for LDCs. Two formal communications have been circulated by Bangladesh, as requested by Members. The Chairperson has held consultations with 
Members on the holding of a dedicated session on this issue. I understand that such a session may 
be held after the summer break. As for the CTD's annual DFQF review, this will take place at the Committee's final meeting of 2015, for which a Secretariat report on Members' DFQF market access to LDCs will be prepared in accordance with the Bali Decision." 
1.10.  Concerning the Monitoring Mechanism on Special and Differential Treatment , the Decision 
stipulates that the Mechanism, which operates in a Dedicated Session of the CTD, is to serve as a focal point within the WTO to analyse and review the implementation of S&D provisions. Three 
meetings of the Dedicated Session have been held since Bali. However, no written submissions 
from Members have yet been received. The next meeting of the Monitoring Mechanism is scheduled for November. 
1.11.  On the LDC Services Waiver, at the meetin g of the Council for Trade in Services held on 
3 June, Members addressed the notification of preferences submitted by Australia
1. The notification 
covers the mode 4 category of "contractual service suppliers", as well as a range of subsectors in the fields of tourism services; transport services; computer and related services and a range of 
business services. These elements respond to area s identified in the LDC collective request as 
being of particular export interest to LDC supp liers. The preferential treatment was announced to 
be put in effect from 1 June 2015 and is intended to be maintained for the duration of the Waiver. 
1.12.  At the meeting, the LDC Group responded positively to the format and content of the 
Australian notification, which, as far as they could tell, seemed to go beyond what Australia had announced at the High-Level Meeting in February and urged other delegations to follow the 
Australian approach. 
1.13.  In response to the plea by LDCs to respect the target date of end July for the notification of 
preferences, 16 delegations updated the Counci l on progress in the preparation of their 
notifications, indicating that, subject to the comple tion of domestic approval processes, they aimed 
to notify by that indicative timeframe. LDCs indicated they would assess all the notifications 
received and suggest a future course of action. 
1.14.  As of 28 July, six additional notifications have been submitted to the Council for Trade in 
Services, from Norway
2; Korea3; China4, Hong Kong, China5; Chinese Taipei6; Singapore7. An 
additional notification from New Zealand8 has just been received. Let me take this opportunity to 
urge Members to submit their notifications of  preferences within the indicated time-frame. 
1.15.  Concerning Preferential Rules of Origin for LDCs, at the request of the LDC Group, the 
Committee on Rules of Origin (CRO) held an informal dedicated session on 23 and 24 July to discuss preferential rules of origin for LDCs. During the session, Members learned more about existing rules which apply to LDCs under trade preferences and how some rules may hinder 
market access opportunities for the LDCs. The LDCs also made reference to the Bali Ministerial 
Decision and presented concrete recommendations for the further implementation of that Decision by preference-granting Members. The discussions were lively and both Members benefiting and 
those granting preferences found the meeting ve ry useful. The Chairman of the Committee will 
prepare a summary and report of these discussions to be presented at the next CRO meeting in 
                                               
1 S/C/N/805. 
2 S/C/N/806. 
3 S/C/N/808. 
4 S/C/N/809. 
5 S/C/N/810. 
6 S/C/N/811. 
7 S/C/N/812. 
8 S/C/N/813. JOB/GC/82 
 
- 3 - 
 
  October. In addition, at its next meeting, the Committee will conduct a review of new 
developments related to rules of origin for LDCs and prepare a report to the General Council as required by the Bali Ministerial Decision. 
1.16.  And finally, on Trade Facilitation, progress on  work in this area has been sustained since the 
last meeting. The Committee has received addition al Category A notifications bringing the current 
total to 67. At the PCTF meeting on 11 June, Members were encouraged to ratify the TFA by highlighting two support programmes: the TFA Facility and the notification database. The 
Committee further shared their experiences on the establishment of national trade facilitation 
committees and on the domestic TFA ratification proc ess. In relation to this process, I am pleased 
to inform you that four additional Members — Malaysia, Japan, Australia and Botswana — have recently ratified the TFA. It should be noted that although we have increased the number of 
ratifications to eight, this is still far from the re quired threshold of acceptance which is two thirds 
of the Membership. I therefore encourage those Me mbers who have not yet ratified the TFA to do 
so especially now that MC10 is fast approaching. 
__________