RESTRICTED  
  
G/RO/W/166  
 
14 September  2015 
(16-4836) Page: 1/1 
   
 
 DRAFT  
REPORT (201 6) OF THE COMMITTEE O N RULES OF ORIGIN  
TO THE COUNCIL FOR T RADE IN GOODS  
1. This report is being submitted to the Council for Trade in Goods in accordance with 
Article  6.1 of the Agreement on Rules of Origin  (the Agreement) , which provides  that 
"The Committee shall review annually the implementation and operation of Parts II and III of this 
Agreement having regard to its objectives .  The Committee shall annually inform the Council for 
Trade in Goods of developments during the period covered by  such reviews."  
2. The Committee on Rules of Origin (CRO) held two formal meetings in 201 6: on 22 April and 
on 22 September  under the chairmanship  of Mr. Christian WEGENER (Denmark ) and of 
Mr. Chih-Tung CHANG (Chinese Taipei ) respectively .  At its meeting of 22 September , the CRO 
conducted the twenty -second  review of the implementation and operation of the Agreement.  
3. The main objective of the Agreement on Rules of Origin relates to negotiations to harmonize 
non-preferential rules of origin (Harm onization Work Programme, HWP).  These ne gotiations , 
initiated in 1995 and conducted in collaboration with the Technical Committee on Rules of Origin at 
the World Customs Organization  (WCO) , came to a virtual halt in 2007 due to divergences on a 
number of "core policy is sues"  and ha ve since been at a stalemate .  As noted in the 2013 Report 
of the CRO to the Council for Trade in Goods  (G/L/1047) , Members hold different views regarding 
the need to finalize or not  the HWP .  Given  this state of affairs, the implementation and  operation 
of the Agreement is not satisfactory . 
4. In the absence of harmonized rules , Members  agreed to initiate a transparency exercise to 
exchange information about existing non-preferential rules of origin.  As a result, two "information 
sessions" on non -preferential rules of origin were held in 2016 .  During these sessions, Members 
learnt, from private sector representatives, how existing (non -harmonized) national rules of origin 
impacted trade and business operations.  The presentations made were circul ated to Members 
(documents RD/RO/36  to RD/RO/ …].  In addition, summaries of the se sessions were prepared and 
circulated in documents G/RO/W/162 and [G/RO/W/167] respectively.  
5. Furthermore , the Committee reviewed and validated the technical accuracy of the results of 
the transposition exercise conducted by the Secretariat.  All draft harmonized rules of origin have 
now been transposed to the most recent version of the Harmonized System and compiled in a 
single document (JOB/RO/5/Rev.1 and JOB/RO/5/Rev.1/Corr. 1).  The Committee agreed that this 
should remain a working document and that Members could submit comments to the draft 
transposed rules at any time.  
6. With respect to preferential rules of origin, the Committee held dedicated discussions on 
preferential ru les of origin for least -developed countries (LDCs), in particular in light of the 
requirements of the 2013 (Bali) Ministerial Decision (WT/L/917) and the 2015 (Nairobi) Ministerial 
Decision (WT/L/917 /Add.1 ).  In that context, the Committee reviewed the ava ilability of trade data 
regarding preferential trade arrangements  (PTAs), [adopted a methodology for the calculation of 
utilization rates], reviewed the status of notifications of preferential rules of origin and discussed a 
template for the notification o f preferential rules of origin (G/RO/W/159).  As required by both 
Ministerial Decisions, a detailed report on this issue was prepared for the General Council 
(G/RO/W/164)  and an oral report will be delivered at the Sub -Committee on LDCs . 
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