RESTRICTED  
  
G/RO/W/157  
 
2 October 2015  
(15-5147)  Page: 1/4  
Committee on Rules of Origin    
 
 TWENTY FIRST ANNUAL REVIEW OF THE IMPLEMENTATION AND 
OPERATION OF THE AGREEMENT ON RULES OF ORIGIN 
NOTE BY THE SECRETARIAT1 
Article 6.1 of the Agreement on Rules of Origin provides that "the Committee shall review annually 
the implementation and operation of Part II and Pa rt III of this Agreement having regard to its 
objectives".  The outcome of such a review w ill be the Committee's Annual Review to the Council 
for Trade in Goods on the implementation and operation of the Agreement on Rules of Origin. 
This background document is circulated by the Secretariat in preparation for the 21st annual review 
of the implementation and operation of the Agr eement, to be conducted at the meeting of the 
Committee on Rules of Origin on 15 October 2015. 
1. Members and Observers of the Committee on Rules of Origin 
1.1 Government representatives of all WTO Members and Observers are also Members and 
Observers to the CRO. In addition, the following international organizations also have observer 
status at the CRO: ACP, EFTA, IADB, IMF, OECD, UNCTAD, WCO and World Bank. 
2. Officers of the Committee on Rules of Origin 
2.1 Mr. Christian WEGENER (Denmark) was elec ted Chairman of the Committee in April 2015. 
3. Meetings of the Committee on Rules of Origin 
3.1 The Committee on Rules of Origin (CRO) held two formal meetings on 30 April and 
15 October 2015. The minutes of these meetings are contained in documents G/RO/M/64 and [G/RO/M/65] respectively.  An informal meet ing of the Committee was also organized on 
23 and 24 July 2015 to hold dedicated discussion s on preferential rules of origin for 
Least-developed countries (LDCs). In addition, a series of consultations between the Chairman and selected Members have also taken place in 2015. 
4. Notifications 
4.1 With regard to the work under Part III of th e Agreement, the CRO took note of a number of 
new notifications under Article 5. On the basis of notifications received to date, 44 Members 
currently implement some type of non-preferential  rules of origin while 51 other Members do not 
implement rules of origin for non-preferential purposes. Information is still missing from 38 WTO Members.
2 Annex 1 contains the list of all notifications received and the latest relevant document 
symbol (in case several notifications have been received). 
4.2 In addition, a number of notifications of prefer ential rules of origin have also been received 
by the Secretariat, mostly by the Committee on Regional Trade Agreements and the Committee on 
Trade and Development and subsequently circul ated to the CRO.  All Members of the WTO 
currently implement at least one set of preferenti al rules of origin, reflecting the widespread 
participation of Members in regional trade agreements. 
                                               
1 This document has been prepared under the Secret ariat's own responsibility and is without prejudice 
to the positions of Members or to thei r rights and obligations under the WTO. 
2 The EU and its Member states were counted as a single WTO Member in this calculation. G/RO/W/157 
 
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  5. Work of the Committee on Rules of Origin 
5.1 With regard to the Harmonization Work Pr ogramme (HWP) and the work of the Committee 
under Parts II and IV of the Agreement (the harmon ization of non-preferential rules of origin and 
the transitional disciplines), Members continue to  be divided in the Committee about the need to 
finalize the HWP. As a result, the negotiations under the HWP have come to a standstill (see the 
Committee's 2013 Report to the Council for Trade in Goods, G/L/1047). 
5.2  Pending the continuation of the HWP, the Committee agreed to initiate a transparency 
exercise to exchange information about non-preferential rules of origin currently in place.  In fact, 
in the absence of harmonized rules, the only disc iplines that apply to non-preferential rules of 
origin are those of Article 2 of the WTO Agreemen t on Rules of Origin. Therefore, some Members 
presented to the Committee their current non-pr eferential rules of origin. In addition, the 
Committee also heard presentations about the impact of rules of origin on international trade and 
on customs operations from the World Customs Organization (WCO), the International Trade Centre (ITC), the International Chamber of Commerce and the UNCTAD. 
5.3 Furthermore, the Committee reviewed the re sults of the transposition exercise which had 
been 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 took note of that work. 
5.4  Finally, the CRO also conducted a review of new developments in preferential rules of origin 
for LDCs according to the requirements of Ministerial Decision WT/L/917.  In that context, the Committee considered the preferential rules of origin in place in Thailand (G/RO/N/130/Corr.1) and 
in China (G/RO/N/132) and recent modifications made to the rules applied by Japan 
(G/RO/N/131). 
6. Annual Report to the Council for Trade in Goods (CTG) 
6.1 The CRO adopted its report to the CTG (G/RO/W/158). G/RO/W/157 
 
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  ANNEX 1 
A. Members that do not implement no n-preferential rules of origin: 
1. Bolivia, Plurinational State of 19/04/1996 G/RO/N/9 
2. Brunei Darussalam 01/11/1995 G/RO/N/5 
3. Burundi 02/05/2001 G/RO/N/33 
4. Cameroon  18/09/2013 G/RO/N/99 
5. Chad 16/09/1998 G/RO/N/22 
6. Chile 19/12/1995 G/RO/N/6 
7. Congo 18/09/2014 G/RO/N/118 
8. Costa Rica  05/05/1995 G/RO/N/1 
9. Côte d'Ivoire 25/08/2014 G/RO/N/117 
10. Dominica 15/01/1999 G/RO/N/24 
11. Dominican Republic 19/04/1996 G/RO/N/9 
12. El Salvador 16/08/1996 G/RO/N/10 
13. Fiji 10/04/1997 G/RO/N/17 
14. Ghana 06/05/2004 G/RO/N/44 
15. Guatemala 20/07/1998 G/RO/N/21  
16. Guyana 10/12/2003 G/RO/N/42 
17. Haiti 27/07/1998 G/RO/N/20/Rev.1 
18. Honduras 27/07/1995 G/RO/N/3 
19. Iceland 01/11/1995 G/RO/N/5 
20. India  05/05/1995 G/RO/N/1 
21. Indonesia 05/03/1997 G/RO/N/16 
22. Israel 19/11/1996 G/RO/N/13 
23. Jamaica 07/08/1995 G/RO/N/4 
24. Kenya 19/04/1996 G/RO/N/9 
25. Kuwait, the State of 19/09/2013 G/RO/N/100 
26. Macao, China  20/07/1998 G/RO/N/21  
27. Malawi 04/06/2015 G/RO/N/129 
28. Malaysia 19/12/1995 G/RO/N/6 
29. Maldives 16/09/1998 G/RO/N/22 
30. Mali 11/07/2014 G/RO/N/116 
31. Mauritius 09/05/1995 G/RO/N/1 
32. Mongolia 27/07/1998 G/RO/N/20/Rev.1 
33. Namibia 02/09/1999 G/RO/N/26 
34. Nicaragua 16/08/1996 G/RO/N/10 
35. Oman 30/04/2001 G/RO/N/32 
36. Pakistan 05/03/1997 G/RO/N/16 
37. Panama 05/10/1998 G/RO/N/23 
38. Papua New Guinea 30/04/2001 G/RO/N/32 
39. Paraguay 20/07/1998 G/RO/N/21  
40. Philippines 19/12/1995 G/RO/N/6 
41. Samoa  16/05/2013 G/RO/N/97 
42. Saudi Arabia, Kingdom of  08/11/2006 G/RO/N/48 
43. Singapore 27/07/1995 G/RO/N/3 
44. Swaziland 24/04/2015 G/RO/N/128 
45. Thailand 05/05/1995 G/RO/N/1 
46. The Gambia 31/01/2014 G/RO/N/109 
47. Trinidad and Tobago 12/02/1996 G/RO/N/7 
48. Uganda 19/11/1996 G/RO/N/13 
49. United Arab Emirates 10/04/1997 G/RO/N/17 
50. Uruguay 01/10/1996 G/RO/N/12 
51. Viet Nam 01/06/2012 G/RO/N/79 
 
B. Members that currently implement no n-preferential rules of origin 
1. Albania 18/09/2007 G/RO/N/53 HAVE  
2. Argentina  05/03/1997 G/RO/N/16 HAVE  
3. Armenia 21/08/2003 G/RO/N/41 HAVE  
4. Australia 05/05/1995 G/RO/N/1 HAVE  
5. Brazil 16/04/2012 G/RO/N/78 HAVE  
6. Burkina Faso 23/01/1998 G/RO/N/19 HAVE  
7. Canada  05/05/1995 G/RO/N/1 HAVE  G/RO/W/157 
 
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  8. China 04/09/2015 G/RO/N/132 HAVE  
9. Chinese Taipei 02/08/2002 G/RO/N/37/Rev.1 HAVE  
10. Colombia  05/05/1995 G/RO/N/1 HAVE  
11. Cuba 13/01/2015 G/RO/N/125 HAVE  
12. European Union 05/05/1995 G/RO/N/1 HAVE  
13. Georgia 02/08/2002 G/RO/N/37/Rev.1 HAVE  
14. Hong Kong, China  01/10/2012 G/RO/N/86 HAVE  
15. Japan 05/05/1995 G/RO/N/1 HAVE  
16. Jordan 13/02/2001 G/RO/N/30 HAVE  
17. Korea, Republic of 18/09/2009 G/RO/N/63 HAVE  
18. Lao People's Democratic Republic  23/07/2013 G/RO/N/96 HAVE  
19. Lesotho 27/05/2008 G/RO/N/56 HAVE  
20. Liechtenstein 08/04/2009 G/RO/N/60/Rev.1 HAVE  
21. Madagascar 10/09/1996 G/RO/N/11 HAVE  
22. Mexico 01/10/1996 G/RO/N/12 HAVE  
23. Moldova, Republic of 10/10/2014 G/RO/N/110/Add.1 HAVE  
24. Montenegro 20/02/2015 G/RO/N/126 HAVE  
25. Morocco 25/06/1995 G/RO/N/2 HAVE  
26. New Zealand 05/05/1995 G/RO/N/1 HAVE  
27. Niger 23/01/1998 G/RO/N/19 HAVE  
28. Norway 26/05/2009 G/RO/N/62 HAVE  
29. Peru  12/03/2012 G/RO/N/77 HAVE  
30. Qatar 13/04/1999 G/RO/N/25 HAVE  
31. Russian Federation 27/09/2012 G/RO/N/84 HAVE  
32. Rwanda 28/02/2012 G/RO/N/75 HAVE  
33. Senegal 16/08/1996 G/RO/N/10 HAVE  
34. South Africa  27/07/1995 G/RO/N/3 HAVE  
35. Suriname 15/03/2004 G/RO/N/43 HAVE  
36. Switzerland 08/04/2009 G/RO/N/60/Rev.1 HAVE  
37. The former Yugoslav Republic of 
Macedonia 09/11/2004 G/RO/N/45 HAVE  
38. Togo 16/06/2011 G/RO/N/70 HAVE  
39. Tunisia 19/02/2009 G/RO/N/61 HAVE  
40. Turkey 30/05/2000 G/RO/N/28 HAVE  
41. Ukraine 10/08/2012 G/RO/N/81 HAVE  
42. United States of America  01/10/1996 G/RO/N/12 HAVE  
43. Venezuela, Bolivarian Republic of  02/12/1996 G/RO/N/14 HAVE  
44. Zimbabwe 18/07/2012 G/RO/N/80 HAVE  
 
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