RESTRICTED  
  
WT/REG/M/89  
 
25 June 2018  
(18-3979) Page: 1/6 
Committee on Regional Trade Agreements  
Eighty -ninth Session    
 
NOTE ON THE MEETING OF 19-20 JUNE 2018 
Chairm an: Ambassador Julian Braithwaite  (United Kingdom)  
A.  ADOPTION OF THE AGENDA  
1.1.  The 8 9th Session of the Committee on Regional Trade Agreements (hereinafter 'CRTA' or the 
'Committee') was convened in Airgram WTO/AIR/RTA/1 /Rev.1  dated 7 June 2018.  
1.2.  The Chairman  welcomed Members to the 8 9th Session of the CRTA .  
1.3.  The representative of the United States  indicated that, although  it did not have any 
objection s to the adoption of the agenda  her delegation wanted to note that the fax accompanying 
the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC)  Customs Union  factual presentation had indicated that the 
agreement would appear on the agenda of the  meeting. The United States had submitted 
questions to the Parties on elements of that agreement with that expectation  and was  
disappointed to see that the GCC Customs U nion had been removed from the agenda. She stated 
that the review of this agreement had languished from many years. The United States urged the 
Parties to this agreement to expeditiously fulfil their obligations to the rest of the WTO 
membership to undergo the mandated review in a timely manner. She noted tha t at least one 
Party to this agreement had undertaken a commitment in its accession Protocol to have the 
agreement reviewed in the CRTA. She indicated that the United States had no desire to disrupt the 
day's meeting but wanted to indicate that they expect ed further discussion on this review at an 
early and appropriate time.  
1.4.  The representative of Canada  indicated that her delegation had no  objection to the adoption 
of the agenda but would appreciate receiving cl arifications as to why the GCC Custom s Union w as 
not on the agenda and when the consideration of the factual presentation would take place. She 
encouraged the Parties to the GCC to abide by their obligations under the Transparency 
Mechanism.   
1.5.  The representative of the European Union  indicated that the  EU had been  encouraged to see 
that the factual presentation on the GCC as well as  the WTO Secretariat's calculation of the 
general incidence as laid down in GATT Article XXIV had been circulated to Members with a view  to 
a discussion o f the GCC Customs U nion at the June CRTA meeting. To this en d the EU had also 
submitted advance  questions to the Parties  and regretted that the item had been removed from 
the day's agenda . The EU  also look ed forward to further discussions on a path forward for this long 
stand ing issue.  
1.6.  The Chairman  inform ed Members that as the GCC Customs Union was notified under both 
Article XXIV of the GATT and the Enabling Clause and that it had been under discussion in the 
Council for Trade and Development (CTD)  for several years, he intended to consult the Chair of the 
CTD to try and find a way forward so  that the GCC Customs Union could  be considered as 
appropriate.  
1.7.  The Committee took note  of the comments made and adopted  the following Agenda:  
 Adoption of the agenda  A.WT/REG/M/89  
 
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   Implementation of the RTA Transparency Mechanism - Status Report on the B.
Committee's Work: 
(I) Early A nnouncements ( http://rtais.wto.org ) 
(II) Notifications received pursuant to Gatt Article XXIV:7(a), and GATS 
Article  V:7(A) 
 Free Trade Agreement between China and Georgia, goods and  services 
(WT/REG391/N/1, S/C/N/900)  
Free Trade Agreement between the EFTA States and Georgia, goods and 
services  (WT/REG386/N/2, S/C/ N/891/ADD.1)  
(III)  Non-notified RTAS (WT/REG/W/130)  
(IV) Status on the preparation of factual presentations ( including delays in the 
receipt of data and comments) ( WT/REG/W/132) 
 Communication from the European Union – European Union follow -up C.
questions to LAIA Member countries (WT/REG/W/124)  
 Procedures to facilitate and impro ve the examination process  D.
(I) Proposed modifications to the template for notifying changes to an existing 
RTA – Informal note by the S ecretariat (WT/REG/W/125/R ev.1) 
 Consideration of Regional Trade Agreements  E.
(I) Comprehensive Economic and Trade Agreement  between Canada and the 
European Union,  goods and services (WT/REG389/N/1, S/C/N/896, 
WT/REG389/1, WT/REG389/2)  
(II) Free Trade Agreement between Canada and Ukraine , Goods 
(WT/REG388/N/1/Rev .1, WT/REG388/1, WT/REG388/2)  
(III)  Free Trade Agreement between Costa Rica a nd Colombia, good s and 
services (WT/REG376/N/1, S/C/N/870, WT/REG376/1, WT/REG376/2)  
 Consideration of Regional Trade Agreements involving WTO Non-Members  F.
(I) The Cooperation and Customs Union Agreement between the European 
Union and the Republic of San Marino,  goods (WT/REG280/N/1, 
WT/REG280/1, WT/REG280/2)  
 Follow up on MC10  G.
B. IMPLEMENTATION OF TH E RTA TRANSPARENCY M ECHANISM - STATUS REPORT ON 
THE COMMITTEE'S WORK : 
1.8.  The Chairman  provided an update on the Committee's work and the implementation of  the 
Transpare ncy Mechanism . In order to better reflect the Committee's work , these had been divided 
into separate elements, i.e. early announcements, notifications received sinc e the last S ession of 
the CRTA, non -notified RTAs and status of the preparation of factual p resentations (including 
delays in the receipt of data and comments).  
B.I  Early Announcements  
1.9.  The Chairman  indicated that a  total of 39  early announcements were currently on the WTO 
website (not counting those which had been subsequently notified). He thanked Members who had WT/REG/M/89  
 
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  submitted information in line with the requirements of the Transparency Mechanism  and 
encouraged others to do so. He also reminded Members to inform the Secretariat of any changes 
in the status of early announcements.  
B.II Notifications received pursuant to GATT Article  XXIV:7(a), and GATS  Article  V:7(a)   
1.10.   The Chairman  informed the Committee that t wo notifications had been received since the 
last meeting – the Free Trade Agreement between  China and Georgia (circulated in docum ent 
WT/REG39 1/N/1 and S/C/N/ 900) and the ratification by Switzerland and Liechtenstein of the Free 
Trade Agreement between the EFTA States and Georgia (in document WT/REG386/N/2 and 
S/C/N/891/Add.1).  
B.III Non-Notified RTAs (WT/REG/W/1 30) 
 
1.11.   The Chairman  recalled that a n updated list of non -notified RTAs had been circulated  on 7 
June in document WT/REG/W/1 30 and contained 75  RTAs issued i n factual presentations up to 5 
June 2018. One RTA (the Community of Sahel -Saharan States, CEN -SAD) had been removed fr om 
the list and four had been added: CARICOM – Cuba, CARICOM – Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela , 
Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela  – Guyana, and Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela  – Trinidad and 
Tobago . 
1.12.   With regard to the F ree Trade Agreement  between China and Georgia, which had been  
submitted before the last CRTA meeting , the representative of China  informed the Committee that 
detailed statistics w ould be provid ed by the deadline of 24 August . 
1.13.   The representative of Argentina  reaffirmed that i t was wrong to include in the list of non -
notified Agreement s (WT/REG/W/130) the agreement s concluded in the context of the Treaty of 
Montevideo, as these agreements had been notified  to the WTO in conformity with the 
Transparency M echanism . This  had been reaffirmed in document s WT/COMTD/W/217 and 
WT/COMTD/W/220 circulated by the LAIA members. He also stated that, as already indicated on 
previous occasion s, the examination of these agreements was not to take place in the context of 
the work of the CRTA but rather in the CTD, which had competen ce in addressing RTAs notified 
under the Enabling Clause.  
1.14.   The representative s of Brazil , the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela , and Uruguay  supported 
the previous statement made by Argentina.   
1.15.   The representative of  the European Community  reiterate d the importance that the EU 
attached to transparency and for Members to comply with their notification obligations. The EU 
considered the list to be very useful in this regard and would revert to the matter under another 
point of the agenda with regard to the LAIA Agreements.  
1.16.   The Committee took note  of the comments made.  
B.IV STATUS ON THE PREPARATION OF FACTUAL PRESENTATIONS (INCLUDING DELAYS 
IN THE RECEIPT OF DATA AND COMMENTS (WT/REG/W/132) 
1.17.   As regards the preparation of the factual presentations under the remit of the CRTA, the 
Chairman  indicated that, in the case of RTAs involving WTO Members only, there were currently 34 
RTAs for which a factual presentation had to be prepared, counting goo ds and services separately. 
He recalled that , at the Committee's 52nd Session held on 4 March 2009, Members had agreed to 
begin considering RTAs involving non -members  under the Transparency Mechanism 's procedures. 
Thus, factual presentations on a further 3 6 RTAs involving non -members were to be prepared. 
Members had agreed that those RTAs notified since 14 December 2006, including future 
notifications, should be taken up before the others. Data requests for RTAs notified since the 
adoption of the Transparen cy Mechanism had been sent to the relevant Parties.  
1.18.   Regarding the backlog due to late receipt of data necessary for the preparation and drafting 
of factual presentations and comments on factual presentations, the Chairman  informed the 
Committee that he  had continued consultations with a number of delegations and hope d that WT/REG/M/89  
 
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  delegations would  provide missing information as soon as possible. An updated list of all such RTAs 
had been recently circulated in document  WT/REG/W/132.  
1.19.   A representative of the  Secreta riat provided the Committee with more details on th e status 
of the preparation of Factual P resentations  (FP) as follows : with respect to RTAs involving WTO 
Members  for GCC-Singapore ( services ) and Chile -Thailand ( goods & services ) no comments had 
been received. For Hong Kong China -Macao, China and Ecuador's accession to the EU-Peru-
Colombia ( both g oods & services ), and Panama's accession to the CACM ( goods) the FPs had been 
sent to the Parties and comments were awaited.  For the Pacific Alliance ( goods & services ), the FP 
was being drafted and w ould be sent shortly to the Parties for comments. For Armenia -Kazakhstan 
(goods) the Secretariat was  waiting to hear if the RTA was  still in force  and if the Secretariat 
needed to prepare an FP. For EU-Camero on, EU-Papua New Guinea , Fiji, Korea - ASEAN, Korea -
India and  EU-SADC (all goods), data was not complete . For EU -Ghana ( goods) comments had 
been received but the Secretariat was  still missing some data from Ghana.  For the accession of 
Seychelles  to SADC  (goods) comments had been received and the FP would  be issued shortly.  For 
EFTA-Georgia ( goods & services) data was  due by 6 July.  For China - Georgia ( goods & services ), 
data was due by 24 August.  
1.20.   In the case of RTAs involving non -Members, f or the EAEU ( goods & services ) comments had 
been received and the FP w ould be issued shortly.  The FPs on the accessions of Armenia and the 
Kyrgyz Republic to the EAEU had been sent to the Parties.  For the EAEU -Vietnam ( goods & 
services ) and  CEFTA e nlargement ( goods), the FPs were being drafted.  For the CIS Agreement 
(goods), the data request had been sent to the Parties and data were  due on 31 October 2018.  
Data was not complete for  EFTA-Lebanon, Turkey -Syria, Ukraine -Azerbaijan, Ukraine -
Turkmenistan, the Common Economic  Zone, the Russian Fed eration -Turkmenistan and the GUA M 
Agreement.  
1.21.   A third category concerned the Agreements that were not in force for all Parties. For these 
Agreements, the Secretariat was waiting until the RTAs had entered into force to start drafting t he 
FP. The Agreements concerned were: EU-Central America;  and ASEAN -Japan, although the 
Secretariat understood  that the latter Agreement was now in force for all P arties and hoped that a 
notification would  be issued shortly.  
C. COMMUNICATION FROM T HE EUROPEAN UNION – EUROPEAN UNION FOLLO W-UP 
QUESTIONS TO LAIA ME MBER COUNTRIES (WT/R EG/W/124)  
1.22.   The European Union had asked that its follow up questions to LAIA member countries , 
issued in document WT/REG/W/124 , be kept on the Agenda. The Chairman  passed the floor to the 
European Union.  
1.23.   The representative of the European Union  recalled the outstanding replies to its list of 
follow -up questions submitted in October 2017 to LAIA members in document WT/REG/W/124. 
The EU look ed forward to receiving detailed replie s to these questions from LAIA members. The EU 
was also interested in seeing the replies to related questions submitted by the United States 
circulated in document WT/REG/W/126. She indicated that, as the  its key issues had not been 
clarified, the EU would  continue to raise its concerns in th e Committee. She also recall ed that the 
EU could not accept to have a discussion in the CTD only. However, considering that the forum for 
this discussion was of concern to LAIA countries, the EU was open to discuss thes e issues also, but 
not exclusively at the CTD. The EU could also envisage scheduling an ad hoc meeting on LAIA 
Agreements to move ahead on this issue in the future.  
1.24.   The representatives of the United States  supported the intervention by the EU and looked 
forward to receiving responses from the LAIA members on the U.S.  questions as well.  
1.25.   The representatives of Chile thanked the EU for its questions and informed the Committee 
that these questions were being reviewed in capital. The responses woul d be examined at the CTD 
in due course.  
1.26.   The representative  of Japan  supported the intervention made by the EU and the United 
States. He indicated that answers to the EU's questions would help the Committee to understand 
the state of play on this issue and could facilitate discussion on what constitute d a new RTA in the WT/REG/M/89  
 
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  meaning of section B of the Transparency Mechanism and what could be subsequent modifications  
of a notified RTA. Japan look ed forward to the responses from the LAIA members to the questions 
from the EU and the United States.  
1.27.   The representatives of Mexico  thanked the EU for the interest it had shown in understanding 
the functioning and structure of LAIA. LAIA members were working to draft the ir responses to the 
EU's follow -up questions. Like other LAIA members, Mexico considered that the Committee on 
Trade and Development in its dedicated sessions for RTAs was the proper Committee to analyse 
the questions and responses on RTA that fell under the Enabling Clause.  
1.28.   The representative  of Argentina  thanked the EU for its interest and questions. He confirmed 
that Argentina was in favour of transparency. As other Members had indicated, he considered that 
the document should be discussed in the CTD as it related to Agreements notified under the 
Enabling Clause.   
1.29.   The representative of Uruguay  informed the Committee that the capital was working on the 
replies, which would  be conveyed to the Committee. He underli ned also that it was under the remit 
of the CTD to analyse the replies to these questions.  
1.30.   The representative of the  Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela  supported the previous 
delegations and indicted that the issue should be discussed in the CTD, confirming  also that the 
LAIA members were working on drafting replies to the questions posed by the EU.  
1.31.   The representative of Paraguay , reiterated the position that the CRTA was not the 
appropriate forum for a discussion on the basis of document WT/REG/W/124 . She h oped that, 
however, a new communication on the consideration of the questions by the EU could be issued 
together with the other LAIA on the occasion of the next session of the CTD.  
1.32.   The representative of Brazil  thanked the EU for its questions and indicated  that his 
delegation was working on preparing the replies and hoped that the matter could be addressed 
very soon in the appropriate CTD meeting.  
1.33.   The representative of Cuba joined the previous speakers in stating that the most 
appropriate forum for transmit ting the replies to the questions submitted by the EU and to have  a 
debate on them was the CTD. The LAIA members were working toward s providing responses to 
the questions that ha d been submitted.  
1.34.   The Committee took note  of the comments made.  
D. PROCEDURES  TO FACILITATE AND IMPROVE THE EXAMINAT ION PROCESS  
D.I  Proposed modifications to the template for notifying chang es to an exist ing RTA – 
informal note by the S ecretariat  (WT/REG/W/125 /Rev.1 ) 
1.35.   The Chairman  recalled  that the proposed modifications to the template for notifying changes 
to an existing RTA had been  discussed  at the Committee's last meeting . Comments made by 
delegations on the template had been incorporated by the Secretariat and circulated in document 
WT/REG/W/125/Rev.1. The Chairman reminded the Committee that the proposed template would 
be used for all RTAs regardless of how they were notified.  
1.36.   The representatives of the European Union , Japan , Canada , the United States , and Australia  
expressed their su pport for the proposed modifications.  
1.37.   The Committee adopted the proposed modifications to the template as contained in 
document WT/REG/W/125/Rev.1. The template would be sent to , the Council for Trade in Goods , 
the Council for Trade in Services , and the  Committee for Trade and Development  for adoption . The 
Chairman clarified that this was to maintain the same procedure as th at followed in 2006 when the 
Committee had adopted the format for notifications of new RTAs.  
 WT/REG/M/89  
 
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  E. CONSIDERATION OF REGI ONAL TRADE AGREEMENT S  
ITEM E.I  
(The minutes of the consideration of this Agreement are being distributed as a separate 
document.)  
ITEM E.II  
 
(The minutes of the consideration of this Agreement are being distributed as a separate 
document.)  
ITEM E .III  
 
(The minutes of the consideration of this Agreement are being distributed as a separate 
document.)  
F. CONSIDERATION OF REG IONAL TRADE AGREEMEN TS INVOLVING WTO NON -
MEMBERS   
ITEM F.I 
(The minutes of the consideration of this Agreement  are being distributed as a separate 
document.)  
G. FOLLOW UP ON MC10 
1.38.   The Chairman  recalled that the Nairobi Ministerial declaration instructed the CRTA to discuss 
the systemic implications of RTAs for the multilateral trading system and their relationship with 
WTO rules. The declaration also called for work to transform the provisional Transparency 
Mechanism  into a permanent mechanism in accordance with the General Council Decision of 
14 December 2006, without prejudice to questions related to notification requirements. He had 
indicated at the last meeting that he  intended  to consult with delegations to see how to bring 
forward the issue and that if this was not the case, he would take it off the agenda. Since  no 
delegation had proposed consultations , he therefore intended to take th e item off the agenda. He 
nevertheless noted that issues relating to the systemic relationship between RTAs and the WTO as 
well as the proper functioning of the Committee were being discussed under other agenda items 
and he  hoped that this could be continued in the future.  
1.39.   The Committee  took note . 
H. OTHER BUSINESS  
1.40.   The Chairman  informed  the Members of the tentative dates scheduled for the CRTA's 
meetings in 2018. Th ese would be held on 19-20 September and 12 -13 November 201 8. 
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