RESTRICTED  
  
TCA/M/30  
 
4 December 2014  
(14-7075)  Page: 1/2  
Committee on Trade in Civil Aircraft    
 
MINUTES OF THE MEETING 
HELD ON 4 NOVEMBER 2014 
CHAIRPERSON: MR HSIAO-YIN WU (CHINESE TAIPEI) 
1. ELECTION OF CHAIRPERSON 
1. Mr Johann Human, Director of the Rules Division, opened the meeting. He referred to the 
proposed agenda contained in document WTO/AIR/4383. No requests were made by Signatories 
for "Other business" items. The Committee adopted the agenda contained in document 
WTO/AIR/4383. 
2. Mr Human informed Signatories that the previous Chair, Mr William Kendall (Canada), was 
no longer in Geneva. Therefore, the Committee was tasked with electing its Chair. From 
consultations carried out by the Secretariat, he was in a position to propose Mr Hsiao-Yin WU 
(Chinese Taipei) for election as Chair of the Committee. 
3. The Committee elected Mr Hsiao-Yin WU (Chinese Taipei) Chairperson of the Committee. 
2. REVISION OF THE PRODUCT COVERAGE ANNEX OF THE 1979 AGREEMENT ON 
TRADE IN CIVIL AIRCRAFT 
4. The Chairperson recalled that since the regular meeting of November 2007, this Committee 
had been working to reach consensus on modifications to the Product Coverage Annex (PCA) of 
the Trade in Civil Aircraft Agreement to bring it into conformity with the Harmonized Coding and Description System that entered into force in 2007. On various occasions, the Committee had instructed the Secretariat to prepare Technical No tes which had served as bases, and continuing 
points of reference, for Signatories' discussions on  the revision of the PCA. At the last meeting, 
progress had been made on achieving a consensus with respect to the modifications needed to bring the PCA into conformity with HS 2007.  
5. According to the minutes of the last regular meeting in November 2013, contained in 
document TCA/M/29, it would appear that the ch anges proposed in November 2012 had provided 
a solid basis for quickly reaching agreement on the revision to the PCA. However, further 
comments were received during the spring of 201 4. In view of those comments, the Secretariat 
had prepared a draft of the Protocol amending th e PCA, identifying the relevant sub-headings and 
summarizing the status of Signatories' comments, as of 29 October 2014. Copies of the draft Protocol were circulated to Signatories. The Chai rperson invited Signatories to express their views, 
either on the substance of the table, or on next steps. 
6. The European Union stated that the draft Protocol was a good basis. However, it needed 
more time to review internally the recently prop osed changes. The European Union suggested that 
the Chair might hold informal consultations with Signatories early in the following year, possibly 
leading to a meeting in April or May 2015 for the final agreement on the revised PCA. This timeline would allow for the completion of the EU internal review process. 
7. The United States noted that it also needed more time to review internally the latest 
changes before a final agreement for the Protocol is reached and that it agreed with the timeline 
proposed by the European Union.  TCA/M/30 
 
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  8. Japan expressed its readiness to work with the Chairperson and other Signatories to reach a 
final agreement on a revised PCA. 
9. The Chairperson noted that there was still some work to be done by the Committee to bring 
the revision of the PCA to a close. Consequently, he agreed to contact Signatories in early 2015 to 
determine whether they could accept the changes pr oposed in the draft Protocol circulated by the 
Secretariat at the meeting. If the changes were not acceptable, he encouraged Signatories to let himself or the Secretariat know as soon as possible. If Signatories needed further instructions, he 
urged them to consult with their capitals as soon as  possible so that they would be in a position to 
accept the revision, or explain what changes were necessary in order to accept the revision, in time for the consultations in early 2015. On the basis of these consultations, he hoped to be in a position to instruct the Secretariat to prepare a final revised PCA, and to call a formal meeting of 
the Committee in the first half of  2015 to finalize the revision.  
10. The Committee took note of the statements and agreed to the Chairman's proposed course 
of action. 
3. OTHER BUSINESS 
11. There were no items under this agenda item. 
4. DATE OF NEXT REGULAR MEETING 
12. The Committee agreed to hold its next regular meeting on Thursday, 5 November 2015. 
5. ADOPTION OF THE ANNUAL REPORT FOR 2014 
13. The Committee adopted the annual report for 2014.1 
14. The meeting was adjourned. 
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1 WT/L/938.