RESTRICTED  
  
WT/REG/M/72  
 
16 April 2014  
(14-2384)  Page: 1/5  
Committee on Regional Trade Agreements 
Seventy-second Session   
 
 NOTE ON THE MEETING OF 8 APRIL 2014 
Chairmen: Ambassador Francisco Lima Mena (El Salvador) and  
Ambassador Francisco Pirez Gordillo (Uruguay) 
1  ADOPTION OF THE AGENDA 
1.1.  The 72nd Session of the Committee on Regional Trade Agreements (hereinafter 'CRTA' or the 
'Committee') was convened in Airgram WTO/AIR/4252/REV.1 dated 28 March 2014. 
1.2.  The Chairman welcomed Members to the 72nd Session of the CRTA and said he would inform 
Members of two issues under Other Business: the newly launched e-training course on RTAs; and 
the proposed schedule for CRTA meetings for the rest of the year. 
1.3.  The following Agenda was adopted: 
A. Adoption of the Agenda 
B. Consideration of Regional Trade Agreements 
I. Status Report on the Committee's Work - Non-notified RTAs   Implementation of the RTA Transparency Mechanism 
II. Free Trade Agreement between Chile and Malaysia, goods  
III. Free Trade Agreement between Canada and Jordan, goods IV. Free Trade Agreement between Canada and Panama, goods and services  V. Free Trade Agreement between the Re public of Korea and Turkey, goods 
VI. Free Trade Agreement between Centra l America (Honduras, Nicaragua and 
Guatemala) and Panama, goods and services 
VII. Enlargement of the European Union to 28 Member states - Accession of 
Croatia, goods and services 
C. Consideration of Regional Trade Agreements involving WTO Non-members  
I. Free Trade Agreement between th e European Union and Bosnia and 
Herzegovina, goods 
D. Election of Officers E. Other Business 
 
1.4.  The Chairman recalled that the Latin Amer ican Integration Association (LAIA) had been 
granted observer status to the CRTA on an ad hoc basis and sought confirmation to extend an 
invitation to LAIA to attend the Committee's next session. It was so agreed. 
2  CONSIDERATION OF REGIONAL TRADE AGREEMENTS 
ITEM B.I. STATUS REPORT ON THE COMMITTEE'S WORK - NON NOTIFIED RTAS 
(WT/REG/W/80/REV.1) AND IMPLEMENTATION  OF THE RTA TRANSPARENCY MECHANISM 
(WT/REG/W/81). 
 2.1.  The Chairman provided Members with an update on the Committee's work and the 
implementation of the Transparency Mechanism (TM). A total of 41 early announcements were 
currently on the WTO website  (not counting those which had been subsequently notified). He WT/REG/M/72 
 
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  thanked Members who had submitted information in line with the requirements of the 
Transparency Mechanism and encouraged others to do so. Also he reminded Members to inform the Secretariat of any changes in the status of early announcements.  
2.2.  As regards the preparation of factual presentations under the remit of the CRTA, in the case 
of RTAs involving WTO members only, there were currently 35 RTAs for which a factual 
presentation had to be prepared, counting goods and services separately. Members would recall that at the Committee's 52
nd Session held on 4 March 2009, they had agreed to begin considering 
RTAs involving non-Members under the TM's procedures. Thus, factual presentations on a further 
32 RTAs involving non-Members were to be prepared. Members had agreed that those RTAs notified since 14 December 2006, including future notifications, should be taken up before the others.
 Data requests for RTAs notified since the adoption of the Transparency Mechanism had 
been sent to the relevant Parties.  
2.3.  Regarding the issue of non-notified RTAs, an updated list had been recently circulated as 
WT/REG/W/80/Rev.1 and contained 55 RTAs issued in factual presentations up to 28 March 2014.  
2.4.  Turning to RTAs for which the factual consideration was delayed due to lack of comments 
from parties, Members would recall that at the last meeting he had informed them that he intended to consult with delegations to see what could be done to resolve this issue and reduce the 
number of RTAs on the list (an updated list had been recently circulated as WT/REG/W/81). He 
had been able to consult informally with most of  the delegations whose RTAs appeared on the list. 
He noted that for Peru-Mexico, Mexico had submitted new data. In the case of the other RTAs on that list, it appeared that in most cases progress was being made. The incoming Chair would 
continue with these consultations in advance of the next meeting. 
2.5.  Lastly, regarding implementation reports, Members would recall that the Committee had held 
a discussion on the mock implementation report of  the EU-Chile Association Agreement (issued as 
JOB/REG/5 on 4 October 2013) during its last Session in October last year. It was clear to him 
during that discussion that Members held different views about the format and substance of the implementation report and that further discussion of the mock report would be unlikely to produce 
a consensus view on the issue. He recalled the obligation in paragraph 15 of the Transparency 
Mechanism, namely that, "at the end of the RTA's implementation period, the parties shall submit 
a short written report on the realization of the liberalization commitments in the RTA as originally notified". Therefore, he called on all Members to honour this obligation and, in a spirit of 
pragmatism, submit implementation reports in the format they saw fit. There was already one 
example in the form of the EU-C hile report and the Parties to that Agreement had informed the 
Secretariat that they wanted the mock to be issued  as a formal implementation report. In addition 
there was the outline provided by the Secret ariat (delegations could refer to documents 
JOB/REG/1, 3 and 4 in that regard). Given that the purpose of these implementation reports was 
to increase transparency on the Agreement's implementation, form was less important than 
substance. Annex 1 of JOB/REG/3 contained a detailed list of all RTAs showing the end of 
implementation period and he asked the Secretariat to continue to update and circulate this list on an annual basis. The Secretariat also stood ready to assist on any other technical issues faced by Members during this process.  
2.6.  The representative of the United States said it was committed to this process and looked 
forward to the reviews of each of the Agreem ents in WT/REG/W/81, particularly its own. 
2.7.  The representative of Colombia supported the Chairman's suggestion as she believed it was 
the best way to fulfil the obligation contained in paragraph 15 of the Transparency Mechanism 
which stated that at the end of the implementati on period, the parties should present to the WTO 
a written report on the fulfilment of their obli gations. Her delegation would begin to present 
notifications of four agreements that were pending. 
2.8.  The representative of Mexico agreed with the Chairman on the need to comply with a 
commitment that all Members had agreed to undertake, i.e. notifying how their RTAs had been 
implemented. He supported the Chairman's suggestion that Members notify in the most 
appropriate way and wanted to share a number of ideas on that point. In the Market Access 
Committee when notifications of transposition of harmonized systems were required, delegations 
had the possibility of having the Secretariat prov ide assistance, upon request. In the context of WT/REG/M/72 
 
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  fulfilling paragraph 15 of the TM, it seemed to him that the Secretariat could provide assistance to 
Members if needed.  
2.9.  The Chairman stated that as some delegations had said paragraph 15 was an obligation and 
a commitment that Members had undertaken as part of the Transparency Mechanism. He recalled 
the discussions that had taken place around this particular point. He invited Members to begin 
making such notifications using the different models that were available. Each Member could decide how they wanted to fulfil the obligation. It was the substance that was important, not the 
format. As the representative of Mexico had said, the Secretariat had always been at Members' 
disposal, should they require assistance to draw up these types of reports. That said, he invited Members who were in this situation to begin making notifications under paragraph 15 of the TM as they saw fit and to request any assistance they required from the Secretariat. This was an 
important step in the work of the Committee. 
2.10.  The Committee took note of the comments made. 
2.11.  A representative of the Secretariat said th e status of factual presentations of RTAs between 
WTO Members was as follows: in the case of three RTAs – US-Bahrain, goods and services; 
CAFTA-DR, goods and services; China-Singapore, goods and services; the factual presentations had been sent to the parties in 2009. For China-Singapore, comments had been submitted by 
Singapore only, but none from China. Some commen ts had recently been received on US-Bahrain 
but not on the other RTAs. For ASEAN-China, services, the factual presentation had been sent to the Parties in 2010, but no comments had been re ceived. For US-Colombia, goods and services, 
the factual presentation had been sent to the Parties in 2012. Comments had been received from 
Colombia only. For US-Korea, goods and services, the factual presentation had been sent to the 
Parties in 2012. No comments had been received. For Peru-Mexico, Peru-Costa Rica, Malaysia-Australia, and Ukraine-Montenegro, all goods and services, comments had been received 
from the Parties and the Secretariat expected to  issue these factual presentations shortly. For 
ASEAN-Australia and New Zealand, goods and services, a few comments were still due from ASEAN. For New Zealand-Chinese Taipei, goods and services, the factual presentation had been 
sent to the parties with comments due on 18 April. For Mexico-Uruguay, goods, EU-Colombia and 
Peru, and Chile-Nicaragua, goods and services, da ta had been received and the Secretariat was 
currently drafting the factual presentations. Fo r US-Panama, goods and services, data had been 
received but some issues remained to be clarified. For the Dominican Republic-Central America, 
goods and services, data had been received from all parties except Honduras. For Korea-India, 
services, data had been received from Korea and some data from India. For Korea-ASEAN, services, data had been received from Korea on ly. For Georgia-Russian Federation, goods, some 
data had been received from Georgia. For Mexico-Central America, goods and services, data was 
due by 24 June. 
2.12.  With regard to RTAs involving non-Members, the situation was as follows: for 
Iceland-Faeroe Islands, goods and services, the factual presentation had been sent to the Parties 
in 2009. Comments had been received but some outstanding data from the Faeroe Islands was awaited. For EU-Serbia, services, data had been  received and are the factual presentation was 
being drafted. For EU-San Marino, EFTA-Leban on, Turkey-Syria, CEFTA Enlargement, Ukraine-
Azerbaijan, Ukraine-Turkmenistan, Ukraine-Uz bekistan, the Common Economic Zone, Russian 
Federation-Azerbaijan, Russian Federation-Ser bia, Russian Federation-Belarus-Kazakhstan, 
Russian Federation-Turkmenistan, Russian Federa tion-Uzbekistan, and EU-ESA, all goods, and 
EU-CARIFORUM, goods and servic es, data was not complete.  
2.13.  A third category concerned seven agreements – ASEAN-Japan, EU-Cameroon, 
EU-Cote d'Ivoire, EFTA-Colombia, and EU-Papua New Guinea, Fiji, the new CIS Agreement, all 
goods and EU-Central America, goods and services – for which not all parties had ratified the 
agreement yet. The Secretariat intended to wait before the agreement had entered into force for all the parties before commencing the preparation of factual presentations. She urged the parties 
to notify the Secretariat when their respective agreement entered into force for all the parties. 
Finally, she urged all Members to comply with the deadlines as requested so that the Secretariat 
could adhere to its work programme. The details of  her intervention had been made available to 
Members as a room document as had been requested at the Committee's last meeting. WT/REG/M/72 
 
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  2.14.  The representative of the United States thanked the Secretariat for the update. He echoed 
the views expressed earlier and supported the Chai rman's invitation to submit implementation 
reports, bearing in mind that it was important for Members to figure out a way forward on living up to their obligations. 
2.15.  The representative of China thanked the Se cretariat for its good work. His delegation had 
been working on the comments for the China-Singap ore FTA and hoped to be able to submit them 
soon. In the case of the China-ASEAN FTA, comment s needed to be coordinated by both China and 
ASEAN. China would propose the inclusion of this item in the Agenda of the ASEAN-China Joint 
Committee meeting in order to provide joint feedback.  
ITEM B.II FREE TRADE AGREEMENT BETW EEN CHILE AND MALAYSIA, GOODS  
(The minutes of the consideration of this agreement are being distributed as a separate 
document.) 
 ITEM B.III FREE TRADE AGREEMENT BETW EEN CANADA AND JORDAN, GOODS  
 
(The minutes of the consideration of this agreement are being distributed as a separate document.) 
 
ITEM B.IV FREE TRADE AGREEMENT BETWEEN CANADA AND PANAMA, GOODS AND SERVICES 
 (The minutes of the consideration of this agreement are being distributed as a separate 
document.) 
 ITEM B.V FREE TRADE AGREEMENT BETWEEN TH E REPUBLIC OF KOREA AND TURKEY, GOODS 
 
(The minutes of the consideration of this agreement are being distributed as a separate document.) 
 
ITEM B.VI FREE TRADE AGREEMENT BETWEEN CE NTRAL AMERICA (HONDURAS, NICARAGUA AND 
GUATEMALA) AND PANAMA, GOODS AND SERVICES  
(The minutes of the consideration of this agreement are being distributed as a separate 
document.)  
ITEM B.VII ENLARGEMENT OF THE EUROPEAN UN ION TO 28 MEMBER STATES - ACCESSION OF 
CROATIA, GOODS AND SERVICES   
(The minutes of the consideration of this agreement are being distributed as a separate 
document.)  3  CONSIDERATION OF REGIONAL TRADE AGREEMENTS INVOLVING WTO NON-MEMBERS 
ITEM C.I FREE TRADE AGREEMENT BETWEEN THE EUROPEAN UNION AND BOSNIA AND 
HERZEGOVINA, GOODS  
(The minutes of the consideration of this agreement are being distributed as a separate 
document.) 
 4  ELECTION OF OFFICERS 
4.1.  Under Item D, Election of Officers, following the General Council meeting held on 14 March 
2014, the Chairman proposed that the Committee elect, by acclamation, Mr. Francisco Pirez 
Gordillo of Uruguay, as Chairman of the CRTA. The Committee so agreed. 
4.2.  The representative of Honduras, speaking on behalf of GRULAC, thanked the outgoing 
Chairman for the work he had undertaken in the Committee. GRULAC was proud of the way in 
which the Chairman had led the Committee's discussions over the past year. GRULAC welcomed WT/REG/M/72 
 
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  another of its members as the incoming Chairman, wished him success in his endeavours, and 
declared its full commitment to providing the new Chairman its full support. 
4.3.  The Chairman thanked the representative of Honduras and said he was honoured by his 
warm words. He said it had been his pleasure to lead the highly technical work of the Committee. 
He recognized the hard work of the RTA Section and said it was in everyone's interests to facilitate 
the work of the Secretariat, by presenting notifi cations in time. He thanked Members for the trust 
they had given him. 
4.4.  The newly elected Chairman thanked Members for their support throughout the election 
process and for the trust conferred upon him by asking him to chair this important Committee. He 
extended his thanks to the outgoing Chairman for his dedicated work during the past year, not only in the regular work of the Committee but also his efforts in trying to reduce the number of 
RTAs which were pending consideration under the TM by holding consultations with delegations 
whose comments were long overdue. He added th at he intended to continue holding such 
consultations. In addition he wanted to give attention to another area where the Committee was 
experiencing backlogs, that was the receipt of th e necessary data for the preparation and drafting 
of factual presentations. There were a number of RTAs in such a situation involving Members and non-members of the WTO. He intended to consult with those delegations in the coming weeks to 
see what could be done to de-block the situation.  For the sake of transparency, he would inform 
the Committee of the results of these consultations at the next meeting in June.  
5  OTHER BUSINESS 5.1.  The Chairman informed Members about the re cently launched e-training course on RTAs and 
the WTO which had been developed by the RTA Section in collaboration with the Institute for 
Training and Technical Cooperation. This course might be of interest to capital-based colleagues or those recently arrived in Geneva. More details could be found on the WTO website. 
5.2.  He indicated the dates scheduled for the CRTA's meetings in 2014. These were 23-24 June, 
23-24 September and 10-11 November.  
5.3.  The Committee took note of the comments made.  
__________