RESTRICTED  
  
G/RO/W/164  
 
14 September  2016 
(16-4835) Page: 1/2 
   
 
 DRAFT  
 
REPORT OF THE COMMIT TEE ON RULES OF ORIG IN 
TO THE GENERAL COUNCIL  
ON PREFERENTIAL RULE S OF ORIGIN FOR LEAS T-DEVELOPED COUNTRIES  
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) and of Paragraph 4.4 of the Ministerial Decision of 
15 December  2015 (WT/L/917/Add.1) on Preferen tial Rules of Origin for Least Developed 
Countries (LDCs).   According t o these requirements, the following elements can be singled out 
with respect to follow -up work by the CRO and implementation of both Decisions:  
(i) The CRO "shall annually review the developments in preferential rules of origin applicable to 
imports from L DCs, in accordance with" the guidelines set out in the 2013 (Bali) Ministerial 
Decision;  
(ii) Preference -granting Members "shall inform the CRO about the measures being taken to 
implement" the provisions set out in the 2015 (Nairobi) Ministerial Decision;  
(iii) Preference -granting Members shall notify annually data regarding their preferential imports, 
as required by the Transparency Mechanism for Preferential Trade Arrangements  
(PTA Transparency Mechanism, WT/L /806);  
(iv) The CRO shall agree on modalities for the calculation of utilization rates;  and 
(v) The CRO "shall develop a template for the notification o f preferential rules of origin".  
2. Accordingly, discussions on preferential rules of origin for LDCs were held in the CRO under 
dedicated agenda items a nd, in addition, the CRO has conducted a review of developments in 
preferential rules of origin  for LDCs during its formal meeting of 22 September 2016 . 
3. At the meeting, Members considered  the following developments with respect to preferential 
rules of ori gin for LDCs:  
 […]; and  
 No preference -granting Member had yet notified the Committee about the measures being 
made to implement the provisions of the 2015 (Nairobi) Decision.   Developed countries must 
submit such notifications by 31 December 2016.   Developi ng countries providing preferences 
must submit such notifications when they are in a position to undertake the provisions of the 
Decision in accordance with the flexibilities laid out in paragraph 4.1.  
4. With respect to other follow -up elements,  Members con sidered a draft template for the 
notification of preferential rules of origin submitted by Benin on behalf of the LDC group  
(G/RO/W/159) .  With respect to the template, Members deemed that […].  
5. Furthermore , Members also considered a Background Note by the Secretariat describing 
possible methodologies for the calculation of utilization rates. [Members …]. 
6. Members also reviewed the status of notifications of preferential rules of origin and 
preferential trade data (G/RO/W/163).   A total of 21 WTO Members have  notified to the CRO 
and/or to the Committee on Trade and Development (CTD) , and/ or the WTO Integrated Database 
that they apply preferences for LDCs . The level of detail of the information provided by each 
preference -granting Member var ies considerably and  not all preferential schemes and preferential 
rules of origin have been considered under the PTA Transparency Mechanism (these procedures G/RO/W/164  
 
- 2 - 
 
  were adopted in 2010). The WTO database on preferential trade agreements 
(http:// ptadb.wto.org ) is a useful instrument to consult information and legislation about existing 
rules of origin applicable to LDCs and monitor them  
7. Finally, Members heard a presentation by the Secretariat about a new function in the WTO 
Tariff Analysis Online  which will allow Members to consult data about national preferential imports 
(https://tao.wto.org ).  With respect to preferential trade data, information  is available as follows:  
(i) Data is complete for Australia; Cana da; Chile;  the EU ; the Republic of Korea;  Norway and 
the United States;  and 
(ii) Data is not available for China ; Iceland ; India; Japan ; Kazakhstan ; Kyrgyz Republic ; 
Morocco ; New Zealand ; Russian Federation ; Switzerland ; Chinese Taipei ; Tajikistan; 
Thailan d; and Turkey.  
8. In concluding  the review , the Chairman invite d Members to develop or build their individual 
rules of origin in accordance with the guidelines and the provisions provided in both Ministerial 
Decision s.  
__________