G/RO/87  
 
18 October 2018  
(18-6531) Page: 1/2 
  
 
 
REPORT (2018) OF THE  COMMITTEE ON RULES OF ORIGIN  TO THE GENERAL COUNC IL  
ON PREFERENTIAL RULE S OF ORIGIN FOR LEAS T DEVELOPED COUNTRIE S 
 
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 Countries (LDCs).  According to both provisions, t he Committee 
on Rules of Origin (CRO) "shall annually review the developments in preferential rules of origin 
applicable to imports from LDCs" and report to the Gene ral Council.   
2. The CRO therefore discussed issues related to preferential rules of origin for LDCs 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 to by the Committee (G/RO/84) . Members now had access to detailed 
and standardised informati on 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 
examination 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 Members ha ve not yet submitted their  origin 
requirements using the agreed template : Iceland; Ky rgyz Republic; Tajikistan; and Turkey.  
In addition, Armenia and Montenegro still need to submit information about their preference 
scheme for LDCs (to the CTD) and the relevant rules of origin (to the CRO). The Secretariat 
has contacted the se delegations t o 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 
developmen ts were reported by the Secretariat . First, all origin requirements notified to the 
Secretariat were now available on the WTO Preferential Trade Arrangements database and in 
the WTO's three  official languages ( http://pt adb.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 us ing 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, Norway and Switzerland 
(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 cur rent origin requirements have on the ability of LDC exporters to effectively use the 
preferences available to them.  Some significant gaps remain, nonetheless: tariff and/or trade 
data is still missing for ten preference -granting Members: Armenia; China; I celand; 
Kazakhstan; Kyrgyz Republic; Montenegro; New Zealand; Russian Federation; Tajikistan; and G/RO/87  
 
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  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 informa tion, 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 r ules 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 Members.  
4. In concluding the annual review , the 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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