WT/COMTD/W/210/Add.1  
 
14 July 2015  
(15-3616)  Page: 1/2  
Committee on Trade and Development  Original: English  
 
 REQUEST FOR A DEDICATED SESSION OF THE CTD  
ON IMPLEMENTATION OF BALI DFQF DECISION 
Addendum 
The following communication, dated 9 July 2015, is being circulated at the request of the 
LDC Coordinator, the Ambassador and Permanent Representative of Bangladesh.1 
 
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1.  In the Bali Ministerial Decision (WT/MIN(13)/44), Ministers agreed that developed-country 
Members and developing-country Members, declaring themselves in a position to do so, shall seek 
to improve their existing duty-free and quota-free  (DFQF) coverage for such products, so as to 
provide increasingly greater market access to least developed countries (LDCs), prior to the next Ministerial Conference. 
2.  The Decision represents a political commitm ent of WTO Members to assist LDCs for a better 
integration into the multilateral trading system. Moreover, in the context of the Post-Bali Work 
Program, Ministers had instructed Members to furt her build on the LDC issues and to prioritize 
issues where legally binding outcomes could not be achieved at Bali. There is also a General 
Council decision in November  2014 taken in this regard. 
3.  Many Members, including most of the developed Members, had already provided significant 
DFQF market access to LDC products even before  Bali. Since the Bali Ministerial Conference, the 
Committee on Trade and Development (CTD), which is responsible to report to the General Council 
on this matter, had convened several sessions, where some Members have notified their improvement/introduction of their DFQF schemes and others have shown their willingness towards 
a full implementation of the DFQF Bali Decision wi thin the agreed timeframe. Notwithstanding this 
progress, gaps still remain in achieving the objective of providing increasingly greater market access for LDC products as agreed. 
4.  In this context, a dedicated session of th e CTD would provide an opportunity to discuss the 
state of play on DFQF market access and to co nsider what could be done to build on the Bali 
Ministerial Decision with a view to realizing at least 97% DFQF coverage at the tariff line level. Such a session of the CTD will give Members the opportunity to exchange views and to make an 
assessment of remaining gaps in the implementation of DFQF mandated by the Bali Ministerial 
Decision. 
5.  In addition, the session can serve as a platform for Members to have an in-depth discussion of 
all pertinent issues surrounding the implementation of DFQF for LDC products, the current 
challenges they face to implement the Decision an d to identify possible ways and alternatives to 
overcome those challenges taking into account the interest of all stakeholders with a view to 
ultimately identifying the elements that could form part of the Post-Bali Work Program, as well as 
in the context of an outcome at the Tenth Ministerial Conference (MC10). 
                                               
1 This document is submitted in view of the request made by some Members at the informal 
consultation held on 18 June 2015, for additional details concerning the dedicated session of the CTD on implementation of Bali DFQF Decision. WT/COMTD/W/210/Add.1 
 
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  6.  The request for a dedicated session of the CTD was first tabled at Director-General's 
consultations on LDC issues towards the end of May in presence of all important stakeholders.  Later this request was made at the CTD, and subseq uently in view of a request of one delegation, 
it was formally circulated to Members (WT/COMTD/W/210). It may be noted that there was no 
divergent view on holding the dedicated session from any Member in informal consultations on 
LDC issues undertaken by the Director-General. 
 
PROPOSED AGENDA 
Item 1:   
a. Review of steps taken so far by Members to provide DFQF market access to LDCs, including 
what is needed to reach the initial threshold of 97% DFQF coverage in developed countries. 
b. Review of the current state of play of DFQF  market access, including challenges faced by 
Members in implementing the Bali Decision on DFQF market access for LDCs. 
c. Elements/Issues in relation to the implemen tation of DFQF market access for LDC products, 
including the estimated benefit of full  implementation of DFQF for LDCs. 
Item 2: 
Meaningful recommendations with a view to building on the Bali Decision on DFQF market access 
to LDCs, in the context of Post-Bali Work Program as well as the forthcoming MC10. 
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