RESTRICTED  
  
TN/RL/31  
 
11 December 2018  
(18-7825) Page: 1/2 
Negotiating Group on Rules   
 
NEGOTIATING GROUP ON  RULES  
FISHERIES SUBSIDIES  
WORK PROGRAMME  
JANUARY – JULY 2019  
Communication from the Chair  
Attached is the work programme for the negotiations on fisheries subsidies in the Negotiating Group 
on Rules which was agreed at the open -ended meeting of the Group on 7 December and distributed 
to all delegations by e -mail later that same day.   
 
• As state d in my e -mail of 7 December, it is important that we start our work as early as 
possible in the New Year . Therefore, the first cluster of m eetings will start on Monday 
14 January with a short plenary meeting with the rest of the day reserved for bilateral  
meetings and other Member organized meetings. Each of the four following mornings is 
reserved for open -ended consultations, with one each for: IUU fishing; overfished stocks; 
overcapacity and overfishing; and cross -cutting issues . 
 
• The cross -cutting issue s include: special and differential treatment ; issues relating to 
disputes ; institutional arrangements ; and notification s and transparency . It is understood 
that the cross -cutting issues are integral to each of the other areas and w ill have to be 
integral parts of the negotiations on each of them . In addition, to ensure they are fully and 
coherently addressed , the cross-cutting issues  need to be taken up in an open -ended 
consultation dedicated to them.  
 
• In addition to Monday afternoon, the afternoons on Tu esday, Wednesday and Thursday are 
reserved for bilateral and other Member organized meetings.  
 
• This first week of meetings in January 2019 is a trial run and the structure may need to be 
adapted  in the following clusters . Therefore, a detailed schedule ha s been agreed only for 
the week beginning 14 January , and the session on Friday afternoon , 18 January will include 
an opportunity for Members to make comments and for us to consider whether to adapt the 
meeting structure, and, if so, how.   
 
• Those delegations that would like to benefit from technical cooperation in the form of 
regional workshops are encouraged to coordinate with other Members in their region and 
get in contact with the Institute for Training and Technical Cooperation in the WT O, bearing 
in mind the dates of the meeting clusters.  
 
• I took good note that several delegations would like to have financial assistance to allow 
them to bring capital -based officials to the clusters of meetings, and that they will be 
pursuing this in othe r fora at the WTO. I have also asked the Secretariat to look into different 
ways for capital -based officials to be more closely involved through communications 
technology.  
 
• Ambassadors will play an important role in the negotiations and I will be meeting t hem on 
Friday 14 December in the morning to inform them of developments and our objectives. I 
will also ask them to give their delegates the instructions to fully engage in negotiations. 
While I wish to involve Ambassadors substantively as soon as feasible , the exact timing for TN/RL/31  
 
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  this will depend on how quickly we can make progress at the technical level in the 
Negotiating Group.  
 
• On Friday 7 December I sent an invitation to all delegations asking for nominations for 
facilitator s. As discussed, there will be one facilitator for each area (that is: one for IUU; one 
for overfished stocks; one for overcapacity and overfishing; and a fourth for cross -cutting 
issues ). Your nominations should be from among delegates that could be available at short 
notice, so presum ably based in Geneva or nearby. In their areas of responsibility, their roles 
will be: to maintain contact with delegations regarding Member -organized work; if invited, 
to sit in on Member -organized meetings; if requested, to offer suggestions and advice; to 
follow discussions at the open -ended consultations; and to advise me on progress in their 
areas of responsibility and otherwise to assist with the work of the Negotiating Group. Of 
course , the facilitators, in their role as such, would have to remain im partial and independent  
although outside of that role these individuals would be free to represent their positions as 
Members . 
 
As outlined above , the schedule for the January cluster of meetings is as follows:  
 
Monday 14 January  
 
10.00 – 11.00  Plenary  
11.00 – 13.00  Bilateral and other Member organized meetings  
15.00 – 18.00  Bilateral and other Member organized meetings  
 
Tuesday 15 January  
 
10.00 – 13.00  Open -ended consultations – IUU fishing  
15.00 – 18.00  Bilateral and other Member organized meetings  
 
Wednesday 16 January  
 
10.00 – 13.00  Open -ended consultations – Overfished stocks  
15.00 – 18.00  Bilateral and other Member organized meetings  
 
Thursday 17 January  
 
10.00 – 13.00  Open -ended consultations – Overcapacity and overfishing  
15.00 – 18.00  Bilateral and other Member organized meetings  
 
Friday 18 January  
 
10.00 – 13.00  Open -ended consultations – Cross -cutting issues (special and differential 
treatment, disputes, institutional arrangements)  
15.00 – 18.00  Plenary – reports from Members on their meetings, stock taking on the 
process and progress of the week , and discussion of a suggested detailed 
programme for the meeting in February.  
 
 
The following clusters w ill be during the weeks beginning 25 February, 25 March , 6 May , 
10 June 2019  (noting that this is a WTO holiday but meeting facilities will be available for bilateral 
and other Member organized events), and 8 July 2019 . Each cluster will be for five days.  
 
 
 
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