WORLD TRADE  
ORGANIZATION  RESTRICTED 
G/RO/M/58 
10 September 2012 
 (12-4804) 
Committee on Rules of Origin  
  
 
MINUTES OF THE MEETING OF 6 JUNE 2012 
 
Chairman:  Mr Daniel Owoko (Kenya) 
  
Subjects Discussed
1 
 
I.  REPORT OF THE WORK OF THE TECHNICAL  COMMITTEE ON RULES OF ORIGIN .... 1  
II.  TECHNICAL ISSUES IN TH E HARMONIZATION WORK PROGRAMME – REPORTING 
OF THE INFORMAL CONSULTATIONS ......................................................................................... 2  
A.  OVERALL ARCHITECTURE  ......................................................................................................................... 2  
1.  Rule 1(e)  .............................................................................................................................. ....... 2 
2.  Rule 1(i)  .............................................................................................................................. ....... 3 
3.  Rule 2 (c)  .............................................................................................................................. ...... 3 
B.  TECHNICAL ISSUES RAISED BY MEMBERS IN PREVIOUS CONSULTATIONS  .................................................. 3  
1.  Chapter 30  .............................................................................................................................. .... 3 
2.  Chapters 28-32  ........................................................................................................................... 4  
3.  Chapters on Machinery  ............................................................................................................. 4  
III.  TRANSPOSITION OF THE RESULTS OF THE HARMONIZATION WORK PROGRAMME 
TO MORE RECENT VERSIONS OF THE HARMONIZED SYSTEM OF NOMENCLATURE 4  
IV.  NOTIFICATIONS TO THE CRO UNDER ARTICLE 5 AND UNDER PARAGRAPH 4 OF ANNEX II OF THE AGREEMENT ON RULES OF ORIGIN ......................................................... 5
 
V.  ELECTION OF OFFICERS .......................................................................................................... ....... 6 
VI.  COST SAVINGS IN DOCUMENT PRODUCTION AND MEETINGS .......................................... 6  
VII. DATES AND AGENDA OF TH E NEXT CRO MEETING ............................................................... 7  
 
 
I. REPORT OF THE WORK OF THE TEC HNICAL COMMITTEE ON RULES OF 
ORIGIN 
1.1 A representative of the Technical Committ ee on Rules of Origin (TCRO) at the World 
Customs Organization (WCO) updated the WTO Committee on Rules of Origin (CRO) on the 
activities conducted by that Committee since April 2011.  
1.2 On non-preferential rules of origin, the TCRO held its 30th Session on 17 January 2012 at the 
WCO Headquarters in Brussels.  The meeting was chaired by Mr. Liu Ping (China).  Within the framework of its permanent responsibilities, the TCRO adopted the 13
th Periodic Report and the 13th 
Annual Review on technical aspects and implemen tation of the Agreement for 2011.  The Annual 
                                                      
1 The Proposed Agenda was circulated in document WTO/AIR/3948. G/RO/M/58 
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  Review was short since the Agreement had not yet been implemented in practice and to date no 
problems or specific questions had been referred to the TCRO. 
1.3 On preferential rules of origin, the TCRO a dopted a procedure for the publication of TCRO 
documents on the WCO Public website.  In additi on, in August 2011, the WCO Secretariat published 
a new study on methods of verification and control of origin in Member Customs Administrations.  
The TCRO also heard from the WCO Secretariat about the state of play of the Guidelines on Origin 
Verification in the Revenue Package Action Plan.  Th e guidelines were to be adopted at the June 2012 
session of the WCO Council. 
1.4 Finally, the representative of the WCO also mentioned that the Secretariat had undertaken a 
large number of technical assistance activities relatin g to harmonization of non -preferential rules of 
origin and questions concerning the application of preferential rules. 
1.5 The CRO took note of the report and expressed appreciation for the TCRO's continued 
valuable work. 
II. TECHNICAL ISSUES IN THE HARM ONIZATION WORK PROGRAMME – 
REPORTING OF THE INFORMAL CONSULTATIONS 
2.1 Based on informal consultations with the Me mbers concerned, the Chairman summarised the 
discussions as follows: 
A. OVERALL ARCHITECTURE  
2.2 The Chairman noted that the 2010 non-proposal put forward by the Chairman for Appendix 2 
remained unchanged pending discussions on three Residual Rules:  Rule 1(e); Rule 1(i) and Rule 2(c). 
1. Rule 1(e) 
2.3 The Chairman recalled that, during the Committee's last meeting in October 2011, some 
delegations had pointed out that Rule 1(e) was usef ul in cases in which the good and the material were 
classified in different tariff subdivisions and in wh ich the primary rule contained some exceptions (for 
instance, "CTH, except for heading 58.11").  It had also  been noted that this rule would be useful to 
supplement the rules of about 20 primary rules whic h contained exceptions, largely in the textiles and 
in the agricultural sectors.  At the same meeting, th e WTO Secretariat confirmed that, in light of Rules 
2(b) and 2(c), the second sentence of Rule 1(e) c ould indeed be redundant and many delegations had 
supported the Chairman's proposals of keeping Rul es 2(b) and 2(c) unchange d and deleting the second 
sentence of Rule 1(e).  One delegation preferred to keep the second sentence of the rule in order to 
cover all possible circumstances. 
2.4 The representative of the United States supported this rule as a primary rule, not as a residual 
rule; therefore, they preferred keeping the second se ntence of Rule 1(e), noting that it should apply to 
both originating and non-originating materials.  The US also stated th at, because the rule was 
proposed as a primary rule, 2(c) would not apply.   The representative of Korea supported that 
Residual Rule 1(e) appear before Rule 1(f).  Th e representative of the European Union recalled their 
preference that Rule 1(e) should not prevail over Ch apter rules, so Rule 1(f) should be placed before 
1(e).  The EU also preferred the original language  of the rule, which referred only to non-originating 
materials.  The EU further noted that the 20 or so  cases for which Rule 1(e) was useful could be dealt 
with through Chapter rules. 
2.5 The Chairman proposed to revert to th is issue at the next meeting of the CRO.  G/RO/M/58 
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  2. Rule 1(i) 
2.6 The Chairman noted that, at the last CRO m eeting, some delegations had noted that they 
could accept this Rule as proposed by the Chairman but one delegation mentioned that it could not 
accept it.  The Chairman further recalled that th e representative of Chinese Taipei had offered the 
following new language for that Rule: 
 " where the criterion specified for the application of Rule 1(h) is weight or volume, and 
neither of these criteria can be used to determ ine the country of origin, the criterion of value 
shall be used; where the criterion specified for th e application of Rule 1(h) is value and this 
criterion cannot be used to determine the country of origin, the criterion of weight or volume, 
as appropriate, shall be used ". 
2.7 The representatives of the US and China stated  that they would study the new language and 
express their views at a later stage.  The representa tive of the US also reminded members that as, a 
general matter, they continued to have concerns about using value criterion when criterion of weight 
or volume did not allow for origin to be determined. 
2.8 The Chairman proposed to revert to th is issue again at the next CRO meeting. 
3. Rule 2 (c) 
2.9 The Chairman reminded delegations that the i ssue with respect to this Rule was that some 
delegations believed it was not needed.  In this contex t, the Chairman drew attention to the fact that 
both originating materials and non-originating materi als should be taken into account when Rule 1(h) 
applied and that Rule 1(h) referred to only "mater ials".  Since material meant both originating and 
non-originating materials, it might be concluded that  Rule 2(c) was not necessary in connection with 
Rule 1(h). 
2.10 The representative of the European Union stat ed that they could only agree to a reference to 
both originating and non-originating materials in th e context of Rule 1(h) (major portion rule). 
2.11 The Chairman proposed to revert to this  issue at the next meeting of the Committee. 
B. TECHNICAL ISSUES RAISED BY MEMBERS IN PREVIOUS CONSULTATIONS  
1. Chapter 30 
2.12 The Chairman recalled that, at the last meeting of the CRO in October 2011, Switzerland had 
revised its proposal for Chapter 30, taking into  account comments previously received from other 
delegations. The representative of Switzerland propo sed to add a Chapter Note 7 to Chapter 30, 
conferring origin upon the country where cells were isolated before producing immunological 
products.  As a consequence, ther e would be no amendment to the list of wholly obtained goods in 
Appendix 1.  Regarding measured doses of immunol ogical products in head ing 30.02, Switzerland 
had withdrawn its previous proposal to amend R esidual Rule 1 in Chapter 30 and proposed a new 
solution.  Several delegations we lcomed Switzerland's flexible appr oach and it was agreed to solve 
this issue in the context of th e HS 2012 transposition exercise. 
2.13 The Chairman concluded that the CRO would discuss this matter again in the context of the 
HS 2012 transposition exercise. G/RO/M/58 
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  2. Chapters 28-32 
2.14 The Chairman noted that the outstanding issu e concerned whether or not the Residual rules of 
Chapters 28-32 were needed, insofar as some delegati ons deemed them to be similar to the "criterion 
to apply Appendix 2, Rule 1(h)".  At the Oct ober 2011 meeting, two delegations stated that the 
residual rules were sufficiently distinct and specifi c and concluded that they should be maintained. 
2.15 The Chairman proposed to return to this issue again at the next meeting of the Committee. 
3. Chapters on Machinery 
2.16 The Chairman stated that a discussion of  the Chinese proposal to apply the "value added 
criteria" instead of "5 parts rule" for machin ery was still pending.  The representative of China 
confirmed that it was flexible and that its proposal  aimed merely at simplifying the current text.  
The US reiterated that a written paper from Ch ina would facilitate the process of conducting 
consultations on this matter. 
2.17 The Chairman proposed to continue to treat this as an open matter. 
III. TRANSPOSITION OF THE RESULTS OF THE HARMONIZATION WORK 
PROGRAMME TO MORE RECENT VERSIONS OF THE HARMONIZED SYSTEM 
OF NOMENCLATURE 
3.1 On the issue of the transposition of the draft harmonized rules of origin (document 
G/RO/W/111/Rev.6) into more recent versions of the Harmonized System (HS), the Chairman 
recalled that the Secretariat had finalised the fi rst instalment of this exercise, that is, the 
HS 1996-2002 transposition, and presented the results  for review by Members (document JOB/RO/2). 
The results of the HS 1996-2002 transposition exercise were also presented to Members during a 
dedicated, informal workshop. 
3.2 Many delegations thanked the Secretariat for efficiently delivering the results of the 
1996-2002 transposition exercise.  The representatives of Japan, Chinese Taipei, the EU and the US 
stated that additional time was ne eded to analyse JOB/RO/2, so the document should not be validated 
for the time being.  The representative of Thailand stated that his government would submit its 
comments soon.  Several delegations were of the view  that they should be able to submit comments at 
any time during the transposition exercise. Several delegations argued that the Secretariat should 
proceed with the HS 2002-2007 transposition work as s oon as possible in order to complete the full 
transposition of all rules as soon as possible. 
3.3 The representative of the WCO mentioned that Members of the TCRO wished to participate 
more actively in the transposition exercise, by pr oposing solutions for co mplex transposition cases 
with a view to ensuring that the final rules re mained simple and could be implemented by customs 
officers. 
3.4 The representative of the European Union st ressed that the collaboration between the CRO 
and the TCRO and between the Secretariats of the WTO and the WCO should be fully transparent.  In 
that sense, her delegation proposed that a letter be  sent to the Chairman of the TCRO inviting the 
Committee's active collaboration in the transposition ex ercise.  The representatives of the Philippines 
and Pakistan agreed and added that it was important  to have a confirmation from the TCRO that the 
transposed rules could be implemented easily in practice. 
3.5 The representative of Japan proposed that the Committee consider a mechanism to conduct 
the transposition of the harmonized rules beyond the HS 2012 version. He reminded the Committee 
that Article 6.3 of the WTO Agreement on Rules of  Origin mandated the CRO to establish a similar  G/RO/M/58 
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  mechanism in the time of completing the Harmonization Work Programme.  The representative of 
Korea supported the proposal from Japan. 
3.6 The representative of India expressed dissatisfac tion at the fact that the General Council had 
not yet provided guidelines about the "core policy issues" which the CRO had referred to it.  
His delegation recalled that the CRO could not con tinue its work until there was clarity about the 
implications issue, the core policy issues and the dual rule approach fo r machinery.  He proposed that 
the CRO send a reminder to the General Council about this issue.  
3.7 As a response, the Chairman recalled that the discussions about whether to write to the 
General Council about the core policy issues had proved to be highly divisive in the CRO in the past. 
He proposed, as a result, to leave that option aside for the moment. 
3.8 In conclusion, the Chairman proposed that: 
- the final result of the transposition exercise should be a revised draft consolidated text 
(G/RO/W/111) containing harmonized rules transposed to the HS 2012 nomenclature. This was the only document that would require some  form of formal validation by the CRO; 
- the WTO Secretariat should immediately initiate work to transpose draft harmonized rules to 
the HS 2007 nomenclature; the CRO should be kept informed of progress made by:  (i) email; 
(ii) through the Members' website; and (iii) th rough a dedicated workshop, to be organised 
back to back with the next CRO meeting; 
- WTO Members, the WCO Secretariat and the TCRO should submit comments on the results 
of the transposition (2002, 2007 and 2012) at any time, but as soon as possible, to avoid delays; 
- to that effect, the Chairman of the CRO woul d write a letter to the Chairman of the TCRO 
inviting comments on document JOB/RO/2 and any future document prepared by the 
WTO Secretariat concerning the transposition exercise; and 
- the WTO Secretariat should prepare a note detailing possible options to carry out the 
transposition of draft harmonized rules of origin into future versions of the HS nomenclature 
(HS2017 and beyond).  The CRO would discuss such options at its next meeting. 
3.9 The CRO took note of the statements and of the Chairman's conclusions. 
IV. NOTIFICATIONS TO THE CRO UNDER ARTICLE 5 AND UNDER PARAGRAPH 4 
OF ANNEX II OF THE AGREEMENT ON RULES OF ORIGIN 
4.1 The Chairman reported to the CRO that, sin ce the last review of notifications by the 
Committee in 2011, the Secretariat had circulated four new notifications:  Rwanda (G/RO/N/75 on 
preferential rules); Ukraine (G/RO/N/76 on prefer ential rules); Peru (G/RO/N/77 on both preferential 
and non-preferential rules); and Brazil (G/RO/ N/78 on non-preferential rules of origin). 
4.2 In light of these new submissions, the situ ation was the following: 41 Members applied non-
preferential rules of origin; 41 Members did not apply non-preferential rules of origin and 44 
Members had not submitted any information to th e CRO under Article 5 of the Agreement.  In 
addition, six Members of the WTO did not apply a ny preferential rules of origin while all other 
Members had preferential rules in place. 
4.3 In conclusion, the Chairman expressed concern over the fact that a number of Members had 
not yet complied with their notification obligations under the Agreement and urged them to do so as 
early as possible. 
4.4 The Committee took note of the report made. G/RO/M/58 
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  V. ELECTION OF OFFICERS 
5.1 The CRO elected Mr. CHANGSHENG LI, of China, by acclamation as Chairman of the 
Committee for 2012. 
VI. COST SAVINGS IN DOCUMENT PRODUCTION AND MEETINGS 
6.1 The CRO, under "Other business" took note of  the recommendations in paragraphs 29-31 of 
document WT/BFA/128 and agreed to adopt the recommendations contained in that document 
whenever possible as follows: 
"1. In view of fact that the 2012-2013 biennial budget only provides sufficient funding for a 
document production process with a maximum input volume2 of 22.8 million words in 2012 
and 21.7 million words in 2013, it is necessary to have more effective controls on this input 
volume by all WTO bodies.  To this end, all WTO bodies should undertake efforts with a 
view towards achieving a reduction in the overa ll volume of official documents by 5 per cent 
in 2012 and by a further 5 per cent in 2013.  Accordingly, we direct that: 
 (a) In order to remain within this gl obal limit, the Chairs of all WTO bodies are 
instructed to work with their Members to reduce the overall volume of official 
documents submitted for production.   These measures may include, inter alia , 
reducing the length of reports, annexes a nd statements without jeopardizing their 
content or the appropriate reflection of sp ecific Members' positions.  It is recognized 
that each body would have to devise ways to  achieve reductions that are consistent 
with its particular work and mandate. 
 (b) The Secretariat shall continue to  further enhance its document processing 
productivity while retaining some flexib ility to accommodate sudden changes in 
volume. 
2. It is also necessary to undertake various meas ures aimed at substantially reducing the printing 
and distribution of documents.  To achieve this objective, the Secretariat is instructed to 
undertake the following changes in the 2012-2013 biennium: 
 (a) Discontinue the internal distribution with in the Secretariat of official documents in 
printed form as of 1 January 2012. 
 (b) Review the list of subscribers of offici al documents in printed form and the number 
of copies dispatched to each subscriber w ith the objective of creating an electronic 
subscription model as of 1 April 2012.  In revising such lists, the Secretariat will base its revisions on information obtained from Members. 
 (c) Provide ad hoc services to Members to subscribe to electronic distribution of 
documents or obtain specific documents on request in printed form. 
 (d) Establish common practices and tools fo r all committee secret aries to feed the 
electronic "Docs for Meetings" module so as  to enable delegations to obtain timely 
download of electronic packs containing a ll the documents for specific meetings. 
 (e) After consulting with Members, discon tinue the distribution of certain document 
series in printed form as early as practicable in 2012:  including TBT and SPS notifications and any other documents acceptable to Members for electronic distribution.  Committee Chairs shall also  take steps to move towards the online 
submission and distribution of notifications. 
                                                      
2 The "input volume" is the number of words in the original language submitted for translation, printing 
and distribution. 
  G/RO/M/58 
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   (f) Discontinue the distribution of official documents, previously circulated, in meeting 
rooms and at the document centre as of 1 January 2012. 
 The General Council also requests that all Chairs systematically seek to improve the 
scheduling and conduct of meetings with a view towards reducing the overall number and 
length of such meetings and optimizing the use of existing resources supporting official 
meetings." 
VII. DATES AND AGENDA OF THE NEXT CRO MEETING 
7.1 The Committee agreed that the next meetings of the CRO be held in November 2012. 
_________