RESTRICTED  
  
G/IT/M/59  
 
25 June 2014  
(14-3671)  Page: 1/12  
Committee of Participants on the Expansion of Trade in 
Information Technology Products    
 
 MINUTES OF THE MEETING OF 17 MARCH 2014 
CHAIRMAN: MR AARON FOWLER (CANADA) 
INTRODUCTI ON ............................................................................................................... 1  
1   REVIEW OF THE STATUS OF IMPLEMENTATION OF THE MINISTERIAL 
DECLARATION ON TRADE IN INFO RMATION TECHNOLOGY PRODUCTS 
(G/IT/1/REV.49) ............................................................................................................. 1  
2   REVIEW OF PR ODUCT COVERAGE ................................................................................ 2  
3   NON-TARIFF MEASURES WORK PROGRAMME – DOCU MENTS G/IT/19, 
G/IT/SPEC/Q4/19/RE V.2 AND G/IT/SPEC/ Q2/11/REV.1 .............................................. 8  
4   EMC/EMI PILOT PROJECT – DRAFT LIST OF THE TYPES OF CONFORMITY 
ASSESSMENT PROCEDURES FOR EMC/EMI USED BY ITA PARTICIPANTS 
(G/IT/W/17/REV.11) ...................................................................................................... 9  
5   DIVERGENCES IN CLASSIFYING INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY PRODUCTS 
(G/IT/14/REV.1/ADD.1, G/IT/W/6/REV.3, G/IT/W/33, G/IT/W/34 AND 
G/IT/27) ...................................................................................................................... . 10 
6   NEW PARTICIPANTS ................................................................................................. 11  
Afghanistan ................................................................................................................... . 11 
Azerbaijan .................................................................................................................... .. 11 
7   OTHER BU SINESS ...................................................................................................... 11  
Date of the ne xt meeting .................................................................................................. 11 
 
INTRODUCTION 
The Committee adopted the proposed agenda for the meeting which was circulated in 
document WTO/AIR/4259 dated 7 March 2014. An annotated agenda for the meeting was 
circulated in document JOB/IT/11 dated 10 March 2014. The Chairman stated that he would take 
up the issue of the "date of the next meeting" under Other Business. 
1  REVIEW OF THE STATUS OF IMPLEMENTATION OF THE MINISTERIAL DECLARATION 
ON TRADE IN INFORMATION TECHNO LOGY PRODUCTS (G/IT/1/REV.49) 
1.1.  The Chairman told Participants that an ov erview of the implementation of the Ministerial 
Declaration on Trade in Information Technology Products could be found in 
document G/IT/1/Rev.49. This document gives an update of issues pertaining to WTO procedures 
for implementation. As also indicated in that document, the Chair wished to flag two  pending 
issues: the completion by El Salvador of its domestic legal procedural requirements and the submission by Morocco of its ITA schedule of commitments. 
1.2.  For El Salvador, the completion of its domestic legal procedural requirements was still 
pending. He invited El Salvador to provide the Committee with an update. G/IT/M/59 
 
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  1.3.  The representative of El Salvador informed  the Committee that consultations on how to solve 
this issue with her authorities were in progress; once she had received updated information she 
would share it with the Committee. 
1.4.  The Chairman said that the second issue concerned Morocco and, as he had explained at 
previous meetings of the Committee, Morocco had become a participant to the ITA on 
14 November 2003. However, Morocco had not yet submitted its final ITA schedule of commitments. Although a letter had been sent to the delegation of Morocco by his predecessor, 
dated 14 November 2011, and subsequent contact with the delegation of Morocco regarding the 
status of their ITA schedule notwithstanding, a formal response from the delegation of Morocco remained pending. He noted that the delegation of Morocco was not present, and suggested this issue be taken up at the next meeting of the Committee. In the meantime, he would again follow 
up on this issue with the delegation of Morocco. 
1.5.  The Chairman also stated that the ITA schedules of commitments for both Qatar and the 
Russian Federation were awaiting rectification and modification, as required by the Decision of 
26 March 1980 on Procedures for Modification and Rectification of Schedules of Tariff Concessions. 
He invited participants to provide updates or make comments regarding any implementation matters. 
1.6.  The representative of the United States called upon those new Participants that had not done 
so to submit a modification to their bound tariff schedules that incorporated their 
ITA commitments. He recalled the procedures that are outlined in the Decision of 26 March 1980 on Procedures for Modification and Rectification of Schedules of Tariff Concessions, and 
emphasized that they represent an important final step towards complete ITA participation. 
1.7.  The Chairman once again urged those Participants that had not yet completed the procedures 
for the formal rectification and modification of  schedules to do so as soon as possible. 
1.8.  He suggested that the Committee take note of  the statements made and agreed to revert to 
this issue at its next meeting. 
1.9.  It was so agreed. 
2  REVIEW OF PRODUCT COVERAGE 2.1.  The Chairman recalled that, since the Committee meeting of 15 May 2012, and at the 
request of some delegations, the "review of product coverage" had become a regular agenda item 
in the meetings of the Committee. It provided an opportunity for the Committee to receive reports 
and updates from Participants who were engaged in bilateral and plurilateral consultations related 
to the review of product coverage. He invited delegations who wished to do so, to report or to make statements on this matter. 
2.2.  The representative of Japan reiterated the importance of the conclusion of the ITA expansion 
negotiations, adding that also his Ministers had on many occasions stressed its importance. He 
further stated that, since the end of the Uruguay Round and the conclusion of the first ITA in 1997, 
they had not been able to deliver any serious market access result at the WTO in Geneva. 
Furthermore, the global business community would be deeply disappointed if the Participants failed to deliver a commercially significant result from the ITA product expansion negotiations. The Members involved, as well as the WTO itself, would lose its credibility as a place of serious market 
access negotiations. Participants must take this into serious consideration. As a result of the 
efforts of their negotiators over the past two year s, Participants had been achieving some results. 
They were close to a conclusion. However, he re iterated that, in order to reach a meaningful 
outcome, more effort was required from those Participants with long lists of sensitivities. He also 
mentioned APEC, which had played a key role not only in concluding the current ITA but of course also in launching the initial ITA product expansion negotiations. He expected that China, as this 
year's host of the APEC meetings, would play an important role in the ITA expansion negotiations, 
demonstrating strong leadership. Indeed, he wished to see more initiatives coming from China with a view to concluding the ITA product expansion negotiations. He called for a conclusion of the negotiations by the date of the APEC Trade Minister s' Meeting in China in May. In his view, such an G/IT/M/59 
 
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  outcome would represent a big victory not only for the full WTO community but also for China. He 
looked forward to seeing the efforts an d contribution to come from China. 
2.3.  The representative of the European Union st ated that the EU attached great importance to 
the expansion of the ITA. In his view, this was a rapidly growing and developing sector; the 
expansion was long overdue. If concluded, it would represent by far the biggest goods market 
access agreement ever reached at the WTO for over  a decade and a half. It would give a welcome 
signal that the WTO is still capable of delivering new market access agreements. He said that the 
EU hosted the last round of meetings on the expansion of ITA in November 2013. That round 
lasted around ten days and significant progress was made, as documented in the list that was sent out to Participants on 27 November 2013. During that round, good work was done. Many participants made important efforts to remove outstanding reservations whilst others dropped 
controversial demands. As a consequence, almost all Participants were ready to accept a product 
expansion list which could have been agreed and se nt to Ministers in Bali for approval. However, 
China, the world's biggest exporter of IT goods, maintained a long list of demands for removal of 
products from the list. For many other items on the list China also requested very long staging 
periods, in some cases up to ten or even fifteen years. Most other participants were unable to go along with such requests, arguing that they would create some imbalance in the outcome. 
2.4.  He said that now was the time, and without further delay, to come back to the table to 
finalize the ITA expansion negotiations. After more than 15 years of the ITA, no one could afford to 
leave the situation as it was. Too much work had been done and an agreement needed to be quickly reached to avoid this work being to no avail. Everyone knew what needed to be done, 
therefore the EU would like to call on the delegation of China to give the positive sign that they 
would be willing to move towards the emerging consensus. He urged everyone to finalize internal consultations as needed, and to come back to the table with a fresh mandate so that the 
negotiations could soon be concluded. 
2.5.  The representative of the United States st ated that his country had been a staunch supporter 
and leader in the effort to expand the product coverage of the ITA. While he wished that he was 
taking the floor to announce that they had ac hieved a breakthrough in the ITA expansion 
negotiations, unfortunately the talks remained at an impasse. Despite the state of play, he wished to make clear that completing the ITA expansion negotiations as soon as possible remained a top priority for the United States. He pointed out that, according to some industry sources, the deal 
could boost annual global GDP by 190 billion dollar s per year. Furthermore, it would help continue 
the momentum that WTO Members had achieved at Bali, and show that the WTO was an institution that could deliver meaningful outcomes. It was enticing how close they were to a deal. 
This was a negotiation that was technically advanced and conceptually focused. A deal could be 
finished in a week if all players were ready to make an appropriate contribution. Last November, most ITA participants arrived in Geneva empowered to close a deal. They made great efforts and 
contributions towards finalizing an ITA expansion deal. These efforts involved working to strike 
balanced solutions, making difficult trade-offs, and setting reasonable expectations with domestic stakeholders. Unfortunately, after 11 days of intens e negotiations, their collective efforts fell short 
and the negotiations were suspended for a second time in just a few months. The reason for the 
suspension was straightforward. The level of ambi tion displayed by the world's largest trader in 
ICT products was simply not sufficient to close a deal. China came to the table with a limited mandate and did not provide sufficient space for a meaningful negotiation. At the final meeting on 
ITA expansion of ambassadors in Geneva there was a majority view that there was no reason to 
continue negotiations until China could demonstrate improved ambition and a willingness to compromise. 
2.6.  He wanted to be clear that ambition was no t just a matter of the number of tariff lines in the 
agreement but also the quality of the lines. That is, whether the products on the table reflected a fair balance of Members' individual interests. An outcome where one participant stood to reap the majority of the benefits of a deal while the rest were left to wait for the next ITA expansion would 
not bring us closer to conclusion. While the US fully recognized that no Member would get 
everything it wanted, everyone needed to get enough  out of a deal such that they could sell it at 
home. He emphasized that, for the deal to work for the United States, certain key products would 
need to be included. In November 2013, the US and others demonstrated their flexibility and 
willingness to compromise. They had not yet received  a positive response. The ball was squarely in 
China's court. While they remained disappointed th at they were not able to reach an agreement 
last year, he was optimistic that they could still achieve success. But they could only get there if all G/IT/M/59 
 
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  Members were willing to contribute to a balanced  and, most importantly, mutually acceptable 
outcome. There are some encouraging signs. He recalled then Vice-Minister Yu's statement in 
November 2013 that the suspension of talks was "not the end of the road for ITA expansion". He said that the United States was ready to get back on the horse and to work towards a mutually 
acceptable outcome but they needed a clear signal that their partners were equally willing to work 
with them to achieve that goal. The ITA was an important APEC initiative, and it had been an important APEC agenda item in recent years. China, as was mentioned, was a current Chair of 
APEC. At a recent meeting in China, several APEC  economies called for a successful conclusion of 
an ITA expansion deal in time for the meeting of APEC trade ministers in May. The United States 
thought this was a doable goal, and it encouraged China, as host country, to exercise leadership in helping to achieve this. An ITA success would not only benefit their industry and economies, but it 
would also give a strong boost to the post-Bali credibility of the WTO's ability to deliver 
successfully negotiated outcomes with a conclusion of the first tariff-cutting initiative in 17 years. 
2.7.  The representative of Canada stated that he spoke solely as Permanent Representative of 
Canada as he was fully committed to ensuring the highest standards of objectivity and impartiality 
in assuming his new role as Chairman of the General Council. But from a Canadian perspective, this WTO initiative was anchored, in effect, in a commercial assessment made 17 years ago. And, 
if one looked at global industry today, and the tr emendous changes in the ICT sector, if they were 
to remain relevant in the WTO to creating jobs and growth, Members owed it to themselves to aggressively update the coverage of the ITA. This was because they would not only be creating export opportunities for producers but would also be lowering input costs for manufactures around 
the world, and thus they would be enhancing th e affordability and accessibility of technology 
products to consumers in developing and developed countries alike. So, for technology reasons, for competitive reasons and, ultimately, for development reasons, they really should get on with 
product expansion. As the history of both the Uruguay Round and the Doha Development Agenda 
showed, negotiations could drag on for some ti me. But, as Bali showed, sometimes a looming 
deadline helped to focus negotiators' attention, and thus, although they had failed from time to 
time to meet deadlines, there were some other ta rgets that were worth thinking about. Already, 
Canada had heard from fellow APEC members, the United States and Japan, that the meeting of APEC ministers in May might well serve as a useful target. And this was all the more so because the WTO ITA Agreement was inspired by APEC leadership. And the catalyst that APEC could 
provide, it seemed to him, would neatly bring toge ther a bit of history and a bit of forward vision. 
He said that it was a bit awkward to admit that, although China, as Chair of APEC this year, was exercising some leadership on the APEC agenda ov erall, in the ITA context it remained the country 
with the most significant reservations and the most requests for exclusions. And thus, as other 
representatives had already suggested, it was incumbent upon China to demonstrate greater 
flexibility regarding their sensitivities. That was the only way they could ensure a balanced, 
comprehensive, mutually acceptable and an ambitious outcome. He emphasized that Canada, of 
course, remained more than ready to work collabor atively and cooperatively with China, along with 
every other ITA participant, to achieve such an outcome. 
2.8.  The representative of Korea stressed the need and importance of resuming and concluding 
the negotiations on ITA expansion as soon as possible. If the group could succeed in delivering an 
ITA expansion, it could serve as another boost to  the global economy and the multilateral trading 
system per se , further to the Bali Package success which they had collectively witnessed last 
December. He was appreciative of the contributions and flexibilities shown by all participants, and 
recalled that an agreement on ITA expansion was almost reached last December. He considered it unfortunate that the group failed to reach a final conclusion and that the negotiation had then to 
be suspended. Thus, it needed to renew the momentum. His delegation sincerely hoped that they 
could see substantial progress for the final conclusion of a deal at the APEC Trade Ministers' meeting in China in May. His delegation expected strong leadership from China as the host of APEC 2014, as well as one of the most significant IT traders, to move forward in the ITA expansion 
negotiations. He emphasized that the final outcome should be balanced, and mutually acceptable, 
and then commercially meaningful, which would reflect the key interests of the participants. The final list should include the core IT products, in terms of the trade volume and number of 
supporting participants. 
2.9.  The representative of Hong Kong, China stated that, notwithstanding that discussion was 
suspended, some positive progress was made during the last round. He hoped that new impetus 
could be injected into the negotiations. He strong ly encouraged Members to show more flexibility 
towards building a consolidated product list and to be more realistic in terms of seeking for G/IT/M/59 
 
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  removals or long-staging. In particular, he urged those who still had a long list to further shorten 
their lists, both as much as possible and as soon  as possible. He hoped that everyone could try 
moving forward, such that they could find a landing zone acceptable to all, taking into account others' interests, and with an agreement that at the same time remained balanced and 
commercially credible. He said that it was encouraging to see so many Ambassadors and capital 
colleagues in the room today. This was a clear sign  of willingness to re-engage. He hoped that the 
negotiations would resume as soon as possible, and gave his assurance that Hong Kong, China, 
would continue actively to engage in the process. Hong Kong, China looked forward to working 
with others for an early conclusion of the ITA expansion negotiations. 
2.10.  The representative of Australia stated that his delegation had, from the start, been an 
advocate for an ambitious, balanced and commercia lly significant package to be agreed in these 
ITA expansion negotiations. He would like it to happen as soon as possible and certainly not longer 
than the end of 2014. In order to achieve th at, all Members would need to approach the 
negotiations in a spirit of cooperation and be prepared to make difficult compromises. He noted 
that positive movement had been made last November, but that this had nevertheless not been 
sufficient. He was of the view that, while an ambi tious, balanced and commercially meaningful deal 
was in reach, participants could not actually reach it without real further engagement and 
flexibility from China. Australia hoped that 20 14 would provide a wonderful opportunity during 
China's leadership of APEC to put the ITA expansio n negotiations to bed once and for all, and to 
bring them to a close. So Australia urged others, and joined others to urge, that a way forward to finish these negotiations be found as soon as possible. 
2.11.  The representative of Norway thought that  the ITA was in desperate need of updating and 
expansion, and a credible agreement would be  of tremendous value for the industry. The 
IT industry was a truly global industry. There would be gains for all participants. However, they 
were extremely disappointed that it was not possible to finalize the expansion negotiations before 
Christmas of last year. In 1998, they had tried upda ting the ITA, but they did not succeed. It took 
another 14 years before they even started the negotiation process again. They could not afford a 
similar delay again. There was a sense of urgency for both industry and consumers, and it would 
also represent a success for the multilateral trading system. Norway was ready and willing to negotiate at any time, and the sooner the better. Th ey wanted to build on and to cash in on the 
tremendous amount of work that had been done ov er the past two years. In order to achieve the 
final deal, all parties had to be ready to negotiat e. But China, in particular, had to step up its 
efforts if these negotiations were going to be concluded. It was possible to find solutions and accommodate the interests of the different players, but the result had, as others had been saying, 
to be credible, commercially significant, and realistic. It should be possible to make a cake that is 
edible to all participants. But in order to do so participants needed to have a "candied", candid, and concrete discussion on what the ingredients of that cake should be. 
2.12.  The representative of Chinese Taipei stated that, according to UNCTAD statistics, world 
trade volume of ICT goods stood at almost two tr illion in 2012. These were the top products being 
traded globally today. Unfortunately, while technology continued to develop rapidly, and trade was expanding very fast, the negotiations of ICT seemed to be going nowhere. After 17 years, a 
consensus on the coverage of IT products had still not been reached. After 14 rounds of 
negotiations over the last two years, participants had not managed to reach a conclusion on ITA expansion, and precious opportunities had been missed time and time again. It was all very 
frustrating and unwise. Some participants had shown flexibility. Some progress had been made 
and was much appreciated. However, she encouraged others to follow suit. She said that, while Chinese Taipei was in favour of addressing the interests of each participant in the negotiations, an 
agreement had nevertheless to be practical and flex ible. Considering the very short lifecycles of 
most IT products today, it was clear that any implementation period of more than five years was absolutely meaningless. The list of sensitive products should be limited. The commercial values of sensitive products were higher than all the othe r products supported. It would seriously hamper 
the real interest of the negotiation. She emphas ized that, from the perspective of a developing 
country, the final ITA expansion outcome needed to  be commercially significant and balanced, and 
must reflect the dramatic technological developments that had taken place over the past 17 years. 
She once again urged participants to re-engage and to demonstrate the flexibility and ambition 
needed to get the ITA expansion negotiations moving forward as soon as possible. 
2.13.  The representative of Costa Rica supported the ongoing negotiations for the expansion of 
the ITA. In his view, the successful conclusion would deliver a framework that was up to date with G/IT/M/59 
 
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  evolving technologies and that supported the co ntinued development of this rapidly changing 
industry. The ITA had delivered huge benefits. In the case of his country, it had largely and significantly contributed to diversifying and making more sophisticated their production and exports, as well as to integrating a fair share of the economy in the global value chains of 
advanced manufacturing and offshore services. The ITA had also contributed to improving the 
competitiveness and efficiency of all sectors of the society by facilitating access to new technologies. Costa Rica firmly believed that reaching an agreement on ITA expansion soon was 
extremely important, as its own experience showed that it would deliver substantial gains for both 
developed and developing economies. Furthermore, ITA expansion offered a great opportunity for moving the WTO trade agenda forward. He urged participants in these negotiations to move 
forward so as to allow a balanced, ambitious, and commercially significant result quickly. 
2.14.  The representative of the Philippines spoke on behalf of ASEAN members who were actively 
participating in the current ITA product expansion negotiations, namely, Malaysia, Singapore, 
Thailand, and the Philippines. She looked forwar d to a quick resumption of the talks of the 
negotiations that were unfortunately suspended last November. It would be a big boost to the 
international trading community if these negotiat ions could be concluded as soon as possible, 
maybe by the end of this year, if not earlier. 
2.15.  The representative of Singapore said that what was important now was to look ahead and to 
look forward. The key was to exercise some leadership and to provide certain momentum here at 
the WTO. He stressed the importance of finishing the ITA expansion negotiations, not because the existing ITA Agreement was out of date, but as an important deliverable for the multilateral 
trading system. The 55 WTO Members participating in the expansion work contributed to 90% of 
global trade in those products. In today's integrated supply chain environment, they were not really just talking about tariffs and market access. They were really talking about helping 
themselves and helping the companies to operate wi thin their borders. He also stressed the need 
to have a credible and a commercially meaningful list as an outcome. Although some good work had been done, and there were 130 product lines on the table, something much more credible was 
needed. Precisely, it was because they were racing against the pressure where the existing 
agreement was out of date. The work of the techni cal working group was very critical in building 
confidence if they were to achieve a meaningful outcome. 
2.16.  He further stressed that, as a small delega tion, transparency in the work of the technical 
working group was extremely important. It would be important for his delegation, for all 
participants, to know what was going on. Singapore did not hold any assumptions that small deals could be made on behalf of others. What was important here was that everyone should be able to 
use the platform to speak to each other, to fully understand the concerns, and to find ways 
forward. The group had done that before. He wa s very confident that the group would be in a 
position to do so again. In this kind of context everyone had a role to play, everyone had a 
contribution to that critical mass, and everyone could bring leadership and a contribution to that 
credible list that the group was seeking to produce. 
2.17.  The representative of New Zealand stated that his delegation wanted to see the conclusion 
of a commercially meaningful ITA expansion outcome. For its part, they were in a position to 
conclude the negotiations on the list of products in November 2012, and remained ready to do so. 
The progress that was made and the flexibilities that were shown in late 2013 gave the group hope that a commercially meaningful outcome would indeed be possible. New Zealand was also very 
disappointed and frustrated that it was not possible to conclude the negotiations last year. He 
hoped that those participants that required further time to continue domestic reflection on areas of sensitivity had been able to take those discussion s forward over the past three months and that 
the group would very shortly be able to return to the negotiating table. New Zealand would be 
confident that if the group were able to recapture the spirit shown in the negotiations of late last year, it would be possible to resolve final issues quickly. He hoped that a mid-May conclusion was indeed achievable. 
2.18.  The representative of Switzerland stated  that the ITA expansion negotiations had been 
ongoing for almost two years now, and the negotiations that were meant to be concluded last July 
had been suspended a second time in November 2013. Time was costly for both their industries 
and their consumers. They had been waiting too lo ng. After four months of suspensions, the group 
must come back to the negotiation table with a clear commitment to conclude the ITA expansion and to reach an ambitious, commercially meaningf ul and balanced agreement. Since the beginning G/IT/M/59 
 
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  of the process, participants contributed positively  to the process. They made very constructive 
proposals which allowed the main sensitivities to be addressed in such a way as to find mutually acceptable solutions. However, the current draft list was not acceptable to Switzerland as more than fifty per cent of their export interests were hit by requests for removal. Switzerland was 
willing to make compromises, but without substant ial improvements by some participants it could 
not sign a deal. He supported what was said by Si ngapore on transparency and gave assurances of 
his delegation's continued and active participation. He encouraged China, the main beneficiary of 
the ITA expansion, to show leadership and to be more flexible in order to allow the conclusion of 
the ITA expansion negotiations in the coming months. He was sure that all participants were conscious of the fact that the ITA expansion nego tiations had an impact on the overall market 
access negotiations in the DDA. The WTO urgently needed a successful conclusion to the 
ITA expansion negotiations. 
2.19.  The representative of Malaysia associat ed themselves with the statement made by the 
Philippines. She emphasized that Malaysia also stood committed towards a speedy conclusion of 
the ITA expansion negotiations. Malaysia, as a participant of the current ITA, had benefitted 
significantly from the market opening of this  sector where, in 1996, its exports stood at 
21.7 billion US dollars and, by 2010, it had increa sed to 50.5 billion US dollars with a significant 
annual change of 8%. Therefore, Malaysia would like to see the ITA expansion negotiations 
concluded in a way that would bring greater benefit to developing countries like Malaysia. She supported what was said by Singapore, namely that the process must also be transparent and inclusive and with the participation of all those that were involved as they build up a critical mass. 
She called upon key delegations to provide the necessary leadership and show a way to conclude 
the ITA expansion negotiations as soon as possible. 
2.20.  The representative of China stated that he had listened very carefully and patiently to all 
the statements by his colleagues, and that the messa ge that he received was consistent with that 
of November of last year, namely that, firstly, they wanted a deal; secondly, they wanted a deal 
quickly; thirdly, they wanted China to do more for a deal. He told the meeting that he wished to 
add a fourth point which was not mentioned by his colleagues, namely the issue of what more the 
démandeurs  would do for the conclusion of a deal. 
2.21.  He emphasized that China attached great importance to the ITA expansion negotiations and 
had been working very hard with all participants since the start of the negotiations. As usual 
practice, it was normal that the diplomats from the Mission would attend the regular session of the 
Committee. This time, however, China had arrived with a high-level delegation from Beijing comprising of senior officials and representatives from the Ministry of Commerce and the Ministry 
of Finance. This was a strong signal that demonstrated China's seriousness about and support of 
this issue. Even though the negotiations were suspended last November, China had never stopped 
their work back home. On the contrary, China ha d been quite busy. They had re-evaluated the 
Consolidated List, conducted rounds of inter-agency  co-ordination, and once again talked to their 
key IT & ICT enterprises and stakeholders. 
2.22.  He pointed out that there was an interesting notion circulating that China would get the 
most benefits from the ITA expansion negotiations. He argued that this was simply not true. In the 
eyes of China's domestic stakeholders, despite the fact that China was the largest manufacturing 
country of IT products, China was still at the end of the IT value chain and the real value added in China was rather limited. Therefore, the real and actual benefits of the expansion negotiations for 
China should not be over-estimated or over-stated. 
2.23.  He again stated that China had supported almost 200 items to be included in the expansion 
list. Based on the most recent trade data, from 2012, China was running a trade deficit at nearly 
30 billion US dollars on these IT products. At the moment, China's average tariff for these products 
was 7.1%. However, when negotiations would be concluded, the duties on these products would then be reduced to zero. According to China's Mini stry of Commerce and Ministry of Finance, China 
would lose tariff revenue of over 27 billion US dollars. Meanwhile, the duties that China had to pay 
for its exports into other parties' markets would only be reduced by 3 billion US dollars. The 
difference was therefore between 27 and 3. This should be something called imbalance between 
the cost and the benefit. In addition, as a large developing country, many industries in China were 
at the critical stage of growth and it was reasonable to have some sensitive products either 
excluded or permitted a longer implementation period. Regarding the sensitive products, he said G/IT/M/59 
 
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  that the group could be assured that China had shown the most sufficient flexibilities and the 
endurance capacity of the domestic IT industry had reached its limits. 
2.24.  He further stated that the ITA expansion negotiations had come to their final stage. Like 
other parties, China was expecting to conclude the negotiations as soon as possible. However, the 
request list from some major démandeurs  was still too long to form a basis for the final political 
decision. At this stage, it was unfair and pointless to point fingers at any parties for the unsatisfactory speed of the negotiations. He thought that it was important that all parties in the 
negotiations should share the responsibilities toge ther, the responsibility to move the negotiations 
forward. If all participants took a final step, they would be in a position to conclude the negotiations. As the host of the APEC meetings this year, China would cherish and capture this window of opportunity, seriously working with others to push the negotiations to success, with 
realistic and balanced results. 
2.25.  He finally stated that, although ITA expansion was still in process, still in the pipeline, it was 
an important innovation of the multilateral trading system because the very outcome of the 
negotiations would be implemented on an MFN ba sis. This was no small achievement, as many 
suggested, and it should be regarded as a mileston e in the WTO negotiating history. Hence, it is 
quite logical and reasonable that all parties' concessions on tariffs in the ITA negotiation should be 
incorporated as part of their contributions to the market access negotiation of the DDA in the 
future. 
2.26.  The Chairman thanked those delegations that did take the floor for their reports and their 
interventions. He thought that the large number of delegations who were being represented by 
their Ambassadors or Deputy Permanent Represen tatives was a significant indication of the 
importance being given to these negotiations. He stressed that the issue remained a matter of significant interest to the Committee, and to the Organization more broadly. He suggested that the 
Committee take note of all the statements made and agreed to revert to this matter, as 
appropriate, at its next meeting. 
2.27.  It was so agreed. 
3  NON-TARIFF MEASURES WORK PR OGRAMME – DOCUME NTS G/IT/19, 
G/IT/SPEC/Q4/19/REV.2 AND G/IT/SPEC/Q2/11/REV.1 
3.1.  The Chairman recalled that, at the last  meeting of the Committee, the delegation of 
Switzerland proposed to convene a workshop dedi cated to non-tariff barriers affecting trade in 
IT products in the first half of 2014. The Swiss proposal was supported by many delegations at 
that time. He reported that, during the second half of February 2014, he had undertaken consultations on the organization of the proposed  workshop with nine interested delegations, 
representing a larger number of participants. On the timing of the workshop, although it was 
initially proposed to hold it during the first half of 2014, all of the delegations consulted indicated that they could more easily agree on holding an event of this nature during the second half of 
2014, to allow time for organization and logistics. As for the specific date, two options were 
discussed. The first option was to have the workshop held back-to-back with this year's WTO public forum, which would take place on 1-3 October 2014. There was a view that this might facilitate the participation by private industry and other interested parties. Option 2 was to hold 
the workshop back-to-back with the fall meeting of the Committee, which was most likely to be 
held in the second half of October or the first half of November 2014. A majority of the delegations expressed their preference for the former, that is, back-to-back with the WTO public forum. He 
proposed that, if there were no objections, th e Committee proceed on the basis of that date. 
3.2.  He called upon interested delegations to submit proposals on key themes for discussion at 
the workshop as well as possible names and candidatures for speakers and panellists. These 
should be sent to the Secretariat by the end of April 2014 with a view to having a draft programme 
for the workshop prepared by the Secretariat by 15 May 2014. He then proposed to consult further with delegations on the basis of this draft programm e with a view to finalizing the arrangements to 
the extent possible by the end of June 2014. He invi ted delegations to indicate whether or not this 
proposal was acceptable to them. G/IT/M/59 
 
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  3.3.  The representative of Switzerland thanked the Chairman for holding the consultations and for 
the proposed dates. Her delegation could go al ong with what had been proposed, and would do 
their best to contribute to the programme and also to provide speakers. She also invited Participants to submit potential themes that are globally relevant in order to make the workshop a 
success. 
3.4.  The representative of El Salvador thanked the delegation of Switzerland for its proposal of 
holding a workshop on NTBs for IT products, and agreed with the dates proposed by the Chairman. 
She also thanked the Chair for his invitation to submit themes of interest. She considered that the 
programme of the workshop should be balanced and should bear in mind the outlook for all of the 
members of the Committee, including the problems faced by a number of developing countries in 
order to produce and export products of this type. She hoped to work together with other 
Participants to make the workshop a success. 
3.5.  The representative of Guatemala thanked the delegation of Switzerland for proposing to hold 
the workshop on NTBs for IT products. She stated that Guatemala focussed its attention on the 
non-tariff measures not only in the framework of the Committee but also in the framework of 
other committees as well. She agreed with the delegation of El Salvador. Guatemala also wanted to see a good balance among the themes that wo uld be looked at in the framework of this 
workshop. Guatemala was interested in looking at various themes and some of the barriers that a 
number of countries had encountered, and especially those of countries that had not been able to draw full benefit from the Agreement. She said that  it would be important that one of the themes 
could be proposed by Guatemala, such that Guat emala could send an expert from the capital to 
speak about the specific situation in her country. She suggested that some specific themes should 
be proposed for their consideration and discussion and for their final approval. In her view, this would provide for a very sound preparation and good work on the part of their expert. 
3.6.  The Chairman thanked those delegations wh o intervened and encouraged them to continue 
their engagement on the issue. He suggested th at the Committee take note of the statements 
made and agreed to proceed on the basis of the approach, the time-frame, and the deadlines that 
he had proposed. 
3.7.  It was so agreed. 
4  EMC/EMI PILOT PROJECT – DRAFT LIST OF  THE TYPES OF CONFORMITY ASSESSMENT 
PROCEDURES FOR EMC/EMI USED BY ITA PARTICIPANTS (G/IT/W/17/REV.11) 
4.1.  The Chairman recalled that, at the previous  meeting of the Committee, Participants indicated 
that they found the information contained in this document very useful and wished to have it 
completed. To date, among the 50 ITA Participants, 29 had provided such information, including 
the Survey on EMC/EMI which was recently submitted by the Russian Federation. However, 
including those who had most recently joined this Agreement and this Committee, there were still 21 Participants who had neither submitted a survey response nor a notification regarding the type 
of assessment procedures used by their authorities for EMC/EMI. 
4.2.  He invited the delegations to comment, interv ene, or update the information as contained in 
document G/IT/W/17/Rev.11. He said that this document would again be updated to reflect the newly submitted Survey by the Russian Federation. 
4.3.  He stated that since this information had increased transparency on the types of conformity 
assessment procedures for EMC/EMI used by ITA participants, and since it had facilitated international trade in this important sector, he encouraged those 21 delegations that had not yet 
done so to provide this information to the Secretariat as soon as possible in order to enable the 
Committee to complete this work. He requested those delegations that had any query to contact the Secretariat for detailed information, clarification and assistance. He also asked the Secretariat 
to continue to contact those delegations, in particular those that had joined most recently, with a 
view to providing technical assistance if and as necessary so as to facilitate the preparation of any outstanding survey responses. 
4.4.  He asked Participants once again to reflect upon what steps, if any, they would be prepared 
to consider with a view to maximizing the utility of the information on EMC/EMI conformity G/IT/M/59 
 
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  assessment procedures that had already been provided and that would hopefully be forthcoming in 
the near future. He invited Participants to share th eir insights with him and the Secretariat in this 
regard at any time, or in the Committee now or at its future meeting. As no delegation wanted to comment on his summary and his statement, he suggested that the Committee take note of the 
statements made and revert to this matter at its next meeting. 
4.5.  It was so agreed. 
5  DIVERGENCES IN CLASSIFYING INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY PRODUCTS 
(G/IT/14/REV.1/ADD.1, G/IT/W/6/REV.3, G/IT/W/33, G/IT/W/34 AND G/IT/27) 
5.1.  The Chairman stated that under this agenda item there were two sub-items: (i) the 
implementation of the Decision found in document G/IT/27; and (ii) the Room Document that was 
tabled by Switzerland. On the first sub-item, it was recalled that on 20 July 2013 the Decision 
found in document G/IT/27 regarding the endorsement of List I A items from 
document G/IT/W/6/Rev.3 (as reproduced in docu ment G/IT/W/34) was approved. As required by 
that Decision, each participant should reflect the agreed classifications in its WTO Schedule of 
concessions, as appropriate, following the procedures set forth in the 1980 Decision on Procedures 
for Modification and Rectification of Schedules of Tariff Concessions. Participants were to submit the relevant documentation in connection with such modifications no later than 30 April 2014, as 
specified in the Decision. The WTO Secretariat would provide technical assistance in making such 
modifications to developing country Participants up on request. So far, two such requests had been 
received by the Secretariat. 
5.2.  The Chairman invited the delegation of Sw itzerland to speak on the subject of its Room 
Document. 
5.3.  The representative of Switzerland said that they had made available a revised version of the 
Room Document to delegations, and that an electronic version could also be provided. She recalled 
that, at the last meeting of the Committee, in October 2013, Switzerland had circulated a room 
document on a possible way forward to solving the divergences in classifying IT products. The basic idea of their proposal was to use the model list of the Secretariat as contained in 
document JOB (07)/96, in order to speed up the resolution of classification divergences. Taking 
into account those items agreed in document G/IT/27, there were now only 37 remaining items for which classification had still to be agreed. Firstly, the procedure that was proposed in the revised Room Document asked the Secretariat to prepare, on the basis of Document JOB (07)/96, a short 
and simple list for the remaining 37 items, and their possible classification in HS2007. Secondly, 
the IT participants would be required to indicate the following: (i) for which items the classification diverges from the list prepared by the Secretar iat; and (ii) the relevant HS2007 subheading, that 
is, the HS six-digit level under which they classified the product in question. Thirdly, the 
Secretariat would then compile the answers received in a document that would act as a basis on which to assess the next steps. She said that Switzerland remained open to holding discussions 
with any delegations interested in their proposal. 
5.4.  The representative of the Philippines thanked Switzerland for the Room Document. She 
thought that it gave Participants an idea of how they could move forward on this long-standing 
issue. The Philippines would seriously look into th is paper and might be working with Switzerland 
so that all of the participants could finally achi eve closure on all those products where there were 
currently various classifications. 
5.5.  The representative of the European Union thanked Switzerland for their initiative. He stated 
that there were a number of long-standing divergences and it was good that participants had at 
least a proposal on the table on the basis of which to move forward. He thought that it could be a 
useful way to proceed. He supported the proposal tabled by Switzerland. 
5.6.  The representative of Guatemala thanked the delegation of Switzerland. She thought that the 
proposal was quite good. However, she thought that there might also be a need to take into 
account the decisions that were taken all the time at the WCO. She thought that participants should also give consideration to the latest decisions taken in the WCO. She said that she had 
looked through some of the documents and there were points where there was not yet consensus 
in the WCO. And, as years had now gone by, there might have been new resolutions that solved G/IT/M/59 
 
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  these issues. She thought it would be useful to ha ve the technical basis outlined in this document 
as well. 
5.7.  The representative of Chinese Taipei also  thanked Switzerland and stated that it would 
forward the proposal to capital for further consideration. Chinese Taipei assured Participants of its 
engagement in the future work. 
5.8.  The Chairman thanked Switzerland for tabling the revised paper. He thought that this was an 
important area of the Committee's work and that the paper was very helpful in having ideas tabled 
on how to move forward. He noted that, sinc e the Room Document had just been revised, 
Participants would need more time before sharing their reactions to it. He suggested that the Committee take note of the statements made and agree to revert to this matter at its next meeting. 
5.9.  It was so agreed. 
6  NEW PARTICIPANTS 
Afghanistan 
6.1.  The Chairman informed the Committee that, on 22 February 2014, the Ministry of Commerce 
and Industries of the Islamic Republic of Afghan istan, in a communication to the Secretariat, 
confirmed Afghanistan's commitment to become a participant of the Ministerial Declaration on 
Trade in Information Technology Products upon Af ghanistan's accession to the WTO. On the same 
day, the Secretariat received Afghanistan's draft ITA schedule for circulation to Participants for verification and approval. On 25 February 2014, in the Chairman's fax to Participants, the 
electronic version of the Secretariat-verified ITA schedule of Afghanistan was distributed, and 
Participants were asked to notify their objections, if any, in writing to the Secretariat by noon of 
17 March 2014. As of that date there had been no objection received by the Secretariat. Therefore, the ITA schedule of Afghanistan was approved. A fax would soon be issued to all 
participants confirming the approval of the ITA schedule of Afghanistan, and Afghanistan would 
become an ITA participant upon its accession to the WTO. 
Azerbaijan 
6.2.  The Chairman also informed the Committee that on 12 March 2014 the Secretariat received a 
communication from the Permanent Mission of Azer baijan regarding that delegation's request to 
join the ITA. Azerbaijan's Draft ITA Schedule of Commitments would be circulated for approval by Participants in due course. 
6.3.  The Committee took note of the report by the Chairman. 
7  OTHER BUSINESS 
Date of the next meeting 
7.1.  The representative of Japan, before turning to the date of the next meeting, made 
two comments regarding the agenda items: review  of the status of implementation of the 
Agreement; and divergences in classification. For the review of the status of implementation, he 
urged those participants who had not accurately reflected their ITA commitments in their national 
schedules of tariff concessions to do so as soon as possible. He also urged those participants who had not accurately implemented their concession commitments under the ITA to ensure at least accurate and adequate implementation by their cust oms authorities. On classification divergences, 
Japan welcomed Switzerland's room document and would work together with Switzerland for 
further update. G/IT/M/59 
 
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  7.2.  The Chairman proposed that the exact date of the next meeting would be decided in 
consultation with delegations. 
7.3.  It was so agreed. 
__________