WT/REG/W/109  
 
22 September 2016  
(16-5068) Page: 1/3 
Committee on Regional  Trade Agreements  Original: English  
 
COMMUNICATION FROM T HE EUROPEAN UNION  
 The following communication has been received from the delegation of the European Union 
on 2 August 2016 for circulation to WTO Members.  
 
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Questions from the delegation of the European Union  
 
 The EU would like to thank LAIA member countries for their submission to the CTD and to 
this Committee (WT/REG/W/105).  
 
 Following the discussion held at the 81st CRTA, the EU considers that further clarifications on 
this submission are necessary in order to all ow Members to have a full picture of the legal 
instruments, currently in force, concluded under the umbrella of the 1980 Treaty of Montevideo. 
The EU has two main objectives:  
 
 A. To receive the necessary information for assessing whether all the legal ins truments 
listed in the communication are actually legal acts that merely  implement the Treaty  of 
Montevideo or, alternatively, whether they (or some of them) are legal acts containing 
additional trade related provisions that would require separate notific ations(s) and go 
through the full examination process.  
 
 B. To clearly identify which of the agreements listed in document WT/COMTD/W/217 -
WT/REG/W/105 correspond to the ones contained in document WT/REG/W/104 
 (Secretariat's list of non -notified RTAs).  
 
 With those two main objectives in mind, the EU would like to ask LAIA member countries to 
reply, in detail, to the following questions:  
 
1.1.  The EU would like to ask LAIA member countries to clearly identify which one of the 
agreements listed in Secretariat do cument (WT/REG/W/104) are covered by the Communication at 
stake (WT/REG/W/105). In this respect, the EU would welcome a "correlation table" linking each 
agreement listed in document WT/REG/W/104 (the ones from number 39 to 72) with the relevant 
legal instr ument listed in document WT/REG/W/105. Furthermore, it would be helpful to clearly 
present, for each one of those agreements, the detailed reasons that would justify dropping them 
from the list WT/REG/W/104.  
1.2.  The EU would like to receive detailed informatio n allowing to understand the differences 
among the legal acts classified under the three different columns 'Regional agreements', 'Economic 
complementarity agreements (ACE)', and 'Other agreements'.  
1.3.  With reference to the Regional agreements (AR.) the EU wo uld like to ask LAIA member 
countries to:  
a. Clarify the coverage of each instrument listed under the column (AR) and submit 
information on their main characteristics.  
b. Clarify whether these instruments only contain provisions on trade in goods or whether 
they do cover any additional trade related provisions. In particular, please clarify WT/REG/W/109  
 
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  whether any of the listed legal instruments contain provisions on trade in services. The 
EU would like to note that, should one or more of the listed agreements contain 
provisions on trade in services, they would not fall under the Enabling Clause and should 
be notified under Article V of the GATS and go through the full examination process, 
including factual presentations and discussion in the Committee.  
c. Clarify whether the p rovisions contained in each instrument are equally applicable to all 
LAIA member countries.  
d. Clarify whether there is any link between the legal instruments under the column (AR) 
and the ones under the columns (ACE) and 'other agreements'.  
e. With reference to the agreement: PAR, AR 6, AR 7, AR 8, NAM 1, 2, 3 (accession of 
Panama), the EU has no doubts that, being an accession of a new member to an existing 
agreement, it would fall under the provisions of section B.3 of the Transparency 
Mechanism decision and  therefore they should be subject to the full examination 
process, meaning Factual Presentations and discussion in the relevant committee. As 
LAIA member countries, in paragraph 1.1 of their communication, have declared that 
those acts meet the notificatio n's obligations set in Section D and G of the TM decision, 
the EU would like to ask LAIA member countries to submit sound reasons to justify their 
statement.  
1.4.  With reference to the Economic Complementarity agreements (ACE) the EU would like to ask 
LAIA mem ber countries to:  
a. Clarify the coverage of each instrument listed under the column (ACE) and submit 
information on their main characteristics.  
b. Clarify whether these instruments only contain provisions on trade in goods or whether 
they do cover any additio nal trade related provisions. In particular, please clarify 
whether any of the listed legal instruments contain provisions on trade in services. The 
EU would like to note that, should one or more of the listed agreements contain 
provisions on trade in serv ices, they would not fall under the Enabling Clause and should 
be notified under Article V of the GATS and go through the full examination process, 
including factual presentations and discussion in the Committee.  
c. Clarify whether the provisions contained in  each instrument are equally applicable to all 
LAIA member countries.  
d. For each agreement, the EU would like to ask LAIA member countries to submit details 
on the additional trade preferences granted to the concerned Members on top of the 
ones established under the Treaty of Montevideo, if any . Alternatively, please confirm 
that no additional preferences are granted.  
1.5.  With reference to the Other Agreements the EU would like to ask LAIA member countries to:  
a. Clarify the coverage of each instrument listed unde r the column 'other agreements' and 
submit information on their main characteristics.  
b. Clarify whether these instruments only contain provisions on trade in goods or whether 
they do cover any additional trade related provisions. In particular, please clari fy 
whether any of the listed legal instruments contain provisions on trade in services. The 
EU would like to note that, should one or more of the listed agreements contain 
provisions on trade in services, they would not fall under the Enabling Clause and s hould 
be notified under Article V of the GATS and go through the full examination process, 
including factual presentations and discussion in the Committee.  
c. Clarify whether the provisions contained in each instrument are equally applicable to all 
LAIA membe r countries.  WT/REG/W/109  
 
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  d. Some of them are concluded between LAIA member countries and non LAIA member 
countries (see for example AAP.A25TM 10.1 to 10.3 (MX -Guatemala). In this case, 
please:  
i. clarify the scope of the agreement(s);  
ii. submit sound legal reasons showing th at this type of agreements can fall under the 
Treaty of Montevideo umbrella. In this respect, please also justify how these acts 
meet the notification's obligations set in Section D and G of the TM decision as stated 
in the communication under paragraph 1. 1. 
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