WT/COMTD/W/218  
 
28 June 2016  
(16-3483)  Page: 1/3  
Committee on Trade and Development  Original: English  
 
 DRAFT TERMS OF REFERENCE  FOR THE CLINICAL EXAMINAT ION OF IMPLEMENTATION 
OF THE DECISION ON THE DUTY-FREE AND QUOTA-FREE (DFQF)  
MARKET ACCESS FOR LDCS 
SUBMISSION BY THE DELEGATION OF BENIN ON BEHALF  
OF THE LEAST DEVELOPED COUNTRIES (LDCS) 
The following communication, dated 27 June 2016, is being circulated at the request of the 
delegation of Benin on behalf of the LDC Group. 
 
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1   BACKGROUND 
Under paragraphs (a)(i), (ii) and (b) of Decision 36 on Measures in Favour of Least Developed 
Countries, contained in Annex F of the Hong Kong Ministerial Declaration of 2005: 
 
"Members should provide duty-free and quota-fr ee market access on a lasting basis, for all 
products originating from all LDCs by 2008 or no la ter than the start of the implementation period 
in a manner that ensures stability, security and predictability  
 
Members facing difficulties at this time to prov ide market access as set out above shall provide 
duty-free and quota-free market access for at least 97% of products originating from LDCs, defined at the tariff line level, by 2008 or no la ter than the start of the implementation period. 
In addition, these Members shall take steps to progressively achieve compliance with the 
obligations set out above, taking into account the impact on other developing countries at similar levels of development, and, as appropriate, by incrementally building on the initial list of covered 
products 
 
Members shall notify the implementation of the sch emes adopted under this decision every year to 
the Committee on Trade and Development. The Committee on Trade and Development shall 
annually review the steps taken to provide duty-f ree and quota-free market access to the LDCs 
and report to the General Council for appropriate action" . 
 
The Bali Ministerial Decision (WT/L/919 of 7 December 2013) reiterated these objectives.  
 
It is important to recall that members are at different stages of implementation of the Ministerial 
Decisions on Duty Free and Quota Free Market Access for LDCs. The LDC Group continues to 
experience divisions on how the implementation of DFQF will affect their garment industry.  
 
During the 96th Session of the WTO Committee on Trade and Development, held on 
23 September 2015, Members agreed that a clinical examination would be conducted by the WTO Secretariat on the implementation of the decisi on on duty-free and quota-free market access for 
LDCs. During the session, the Chairman said that it would be necessary to define the parameters 
of the proposed study to be conducted by the Secr etariat. He indicated that a draft outline of the 
study would need to be prepared as soon as possible, after which informal consultations would be held. 
 
At the Committee's session on regional trade agreements, held on 16 March 2016, the Chairperson provided an update on the implementation of th e Committee's decision that the Secretariat would 
carry out the clinical examination. During this session, the chairman reaffirmed that a written WT/COMTD/W/218 
 
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  proposal from the LDC Group on the parameters of the secretariat study would help to move the 
process forward.   
 
The delegation of Benin, on behalf of the LDC Group, stated that the Group would submit draft 
terms of reference for the clinical examination at  the July session of the Committee on Trade and 
Development.  
 
2  SCOPE AND PARAMETERS OF THE CLINICAL EXAMINATION 
The clinical examination will be carried out on the basis of the following parameters: 
 
1. Diagnosis of the fundamental problem in implementing the decision on DFQF market access 
for LDCs with a view to establish why has ther e been a problem in the implementation since 
Hong Kong more than 10 years ago 
 
2. An examination of the level of implementation of the Ministerial Decision on DFQF Market 
access by preference granting countries for LDCs. 
 
3. Major global and regional markets of LDCs’ expo rts and export revenues of individual LDC to 
each market. 
  
4. Number of MFN tariff lines dutiable in all of those countries, distribution of dutiable lines 
over HS chapters and averag e tariff faced by the LDCs. 
 
5. An identification of textile and clothing export  of individual LDCs to major export markets 
between 2000-2015. 
 
6. An identification of major worldwide importers of textile and Clothing products and a 
comparison of the market shares in textile and clothing products at HS heading and sub-heading levels in these markets, of suppliers, including LDCs, for the period 2000-2015. 
 
7. Establishing why have textiles and garments been a problem in the implementation of the 
decision on DFQF Market Access. 
 
8. The overall contribution of DFQF MA to the Gross Domestic Product (GDP) of LDCs, and in 
particular the contribution of textile exports to th e GDP of LDCs as a proportion of total exports.  
 
9. A comparison of most exported tariff lines from LDCs to the USA market not covered by 
current US DFQF arrangements with the tariff lines that are currently covered by other arrangements such as AGOA, HELP and HOPE with MFN tariffs ranked by value of US imports.  
 
10. A comparison of tariff lines for clothing products most exported from AGOA, HELP and HOPE 
beneficiaries with the TPP list of tariff concession by the USA to TPP countries ranked by value of 
exports and tariff phase down.  
 
11. Based on last experiences of the negative im pact of the expiration of the Multifiber 
Agreement on the LDCs exports, evaluate the impa ct of these liberalization trends on exports and 
export diversification in textile and apparel in particular from AGOA/HELP/HOPE LDC beneficiaries.    
3  APPROACH 
The Secretariat should also identify the medium- and long-term development trends for exports on 
the global market as from the implementation  of the decision on DFQF MA for LDCs.  
 
The statistical and trade information provided by Members, as well as the information available 
from the databases of the WTO Secretariat, UNCT AD, the ITC, the World Bank, USITC, the OECD 
and all other official sources of documentation, could be used for this study.   
 
4  TIMETABLE 
The results of the study shall be made available as soon as possible but in any case not later than 
two months from the July Session of the Committee on Trade and Development. 
 WT/COMTD/W/218 
 
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  The Committee on Trade and Development will revi ew the study with a view to identifying the 
problems hindering implementation of the DFQF Market access decision for LDCs, and coming up with recommendations.  
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