RESTRICTED  
  
G/RO/W/180  
 
10 October 2018 
(18-6278) Page: 1/2 
Committee on  Rules of Origin    
 
DRAFT  
REPORT (201 8) OF THE COMMITTEE ON RULES OF ORIGIN  TO THE GENERAL COUNCIL  
ON PREFERENTIAL RULE S OF ORIGIN FOR LEAST DEVELOPED COUN TRIES  
1. This report is being submitted by the Committee on Rules of Origin (CRO) to the General 
Council  in accordance with the requirements of Paragraph 1.10 of the Ministerial Decision of 
7 December 2013 (WT/L/917 , the "Bali Ministerial Decision" ) and of Paragraph 4.4 of the Ministerial 
Decision of 15 December  2015 (WT/L/917/Add.1 , the "Nairobi Ministerial Decision" ) on Preferen tial 
Rules of Origin for Least Developed C ountries (LDCs).   According to both provisions , the Committee 
on Rules of Origin (CRO) "shall annually review the developments in pref erential rules of origin 
applicable to imports from LDCs" and report to the General Council.   
2. The CRO therefore discussed issues related to preferential rules of origin for L DCs in its two 
meetings  held in  2018 and conducted a review of recent developments at its formal meeting of 
15 and 16  October  2018. The following are some of the recent developments of which Members took 
note:  
 Almost all preference -granting Members ha ve submitted their preferential rules of origin using 
the template  agreed t o by the Committee (G/RO/84) . Members now had access to detailed 
and standardised information on the origin requirements of most preferences for LDCs . On the 
basis of this information, the Committee can move forward with a detailed and technical 
examinatio n of current requirements. The Committee therefore considered rules of origin 
based on the tariff classification criterion on the basis of a background note by the Secretariat 
and a presentation by the LDC group;  
 The Committee noted however, that four Memb ers ha ve not yet submitted their  origin 
requirements using the agreed template : Iceland; Kyrgyz Republic; Tajikistan; and Turkey.  
In addition, Armenia and Montenegro still need to submit i nformation about their preferenc e 
scheme  for LDCs (to the CTD)  and t he relevant rules of origin  (to the CRO) . The Secretariat 
has contacted the se delegations to assist them with the preparation of their notification s and 
achiev e full coverage of information regarding preferential rules of origin f or LDCs;  
 With regard  to the dissemination of information contained in these notifications, two significant 
developments were reported by the Secretariat . First, all origin requirements notified to the 
Secretariat were now available on the WTO  Preferential Trade Arrangements data base and in 
the WTO's three  official languages ( http://ptadb.wto.org ). Second, the Secretariat had 
collaborated with the International Trade Centre (ITC) to integrate these notifications into the  
ITC search tools. As a result, origin requirements are now available and can be retrieved at 
the tariff line level using the ITC -WTO-WCO "Origin Facilitator" tool 
(https://findrulesoforigin.org ); 
 Members also took note of the status of implementation of the self -certification system for 
registered exporters being implemented by the European Union ( Registered Exporter system , 
REX);  
 Tariff and trade data concerning non -reciprocal trade preferences for LDCs has greatly 
improved since the  adoption of the Bali and Nairobi Ministerial Decisions. This is a significant 
development  as it enables Members to examine trade patterns and understand the impact 
that current origin requirements have on the ability of LDC exporters to effectively use th e 
preferences available to them.  Some significant gaps remain, nonetheless : tariff and/or trade 
data is still missing for ten preference -granting Members: Armenia; China; Iceland; G/RO/W/180  
 
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  Kazakhstan; Kyrgyz Republic; Montenegro; New Zealand; Russian Federation; Tajikistan; and 
Turkey . Document G/RO/ W/163/Rev.4 contains a full report of  the latest status of available 
information ; 
 On the basis of the available tariff and trade information, the Secretariat prepared a new 
report on utilization rates. The report, considered by the Committee at its 15 October meeting, 
moves forward with the identification of "pockets of underutilization" to assess more 
specifically the origin requirements which may need simplification and reform.  
3. The representative of Tanzania, on behalf of the LDC group, said that the implementation of 
the Ministerial Decisions is an ongoing process and that there is still scope  to simplify and reform 
the preferential rules of origin of all preference -granting Members. LDC exporters continued to face 
specific and multiple challenges because of their limited capacity to meet many of the origin 
requirements of preference -granting M embers.  
4. In concluding the annual review, t he Chairperson thanked Members for their constructive 
engagement and proposed that the Committee continue its technical and focused  discussion about 
the implementation of the Ministerial Decisions in order to continue monitoring progress made in 
trade facilitation for LDCs .  
 
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