. /.  WORLD TRADE  
ORGANIZATION  RESTRICTED 
TCA/M/27 
14 November 2011 
 (11-5856) 
Committee on Trade in Civil Aircraft 
 
 
 
MINUTES OF THE MEETING  
HELD ON 11 NOVEMBER 2011 
 
Chairperson:  Mr Robert Jui-song Fang (Chinese Taipei) 
 
 
Page 
A.  ELECTION OF A NEW CHAIRPERSON  ............................................................................................. 1  
B.  ADOPTION OF AGENDA  ................................................................................................................ 1  
C.  REVISION OF THE PRODUCT COVERAGE ANNEX OF THE 1979  AGREEMENT ON TRADE 
IN CIVIL AIRCRAFT ....................................................................................................................... 1  
D.  DATE OF NEXT REGULAR MEETING .............................................................................................. 2  
E.  ADOPTION OF THE ANNUAL REPORT FOR 2011 ............................................................................ 2  
 
 A. 
ELECTION OF A NEW CHAIRPERSON  
1. Due to the departure of the Committee's Chairp erson since the date of the last Committee 
meeting in November 2010, the Committee meeting w as opened by Mr Johann Human, Director of 
the Rules Division.  Mr Human announced that after having broadly consulted the Signatories, he 
sensed the Committee was in a pos ition to elect a new Chairperson.  Accordingly, Mr Human 
proposed that the Committee elect Mr Robert Jui-song Fang, as the new Chairperson of the 
Committee on Trade in Civil Aircraft, to replace Ms Sylvie Larose, of Canada.  The Committee 
elected Mr Fang as the new Chairperson by acclamation. 
2. The new Chairperson thanked the Committee for being elected and expressed the hope that he 
would be able to help advance the Committee's work  this year, in particular, with respect to the 
revision of the Product Coverage Annex to the Agreement on Trade in Civil Aircraft. 
B. ADOPTION OF AGENDA  
3. The Chairperson referred to the proposed ag enda contained in documents WTO/AIR/3849.  
No requests were made to raise any matter under "other business".     
4. The Committee adopted the agenda c ontained in documents WTO/AIR/3849. 
C. REVISION OF THE PRODUCT COVERAGE ANNEX OF THE 1979  AGREEMENT ON TRADE IN CIVIL 
AIRCRAFT  
5. The Chairperson recalled that over the past four years (since its regular meeting of 
November 2007), the Committee had been working to reach a consensus on the modifications that need 
to be made to the Product Coverage Annex of the Trad e in Civil Aircraft Agreem ent ("PCA") in order to TCA/M/27 
Page 2 
 
 
  bring it into conformity with the latest version of  the Harmonized Coding and Description System that 
entered into force in 2007.  The Chairperson reminded Signatories that the Committee had instructed 
the Secretariat to prepare a series of Technical Notes which have served as the basis, and continuing point of reference, for Signatories' discussions on the changes that may be necessary to the PCA.   
6. The Chairperson reported that since last year 's regular Committee meeting, there had been 
several informal exchanges of views between the Si gnatories, which had resulted in the resolution of 
differences relating to a number of the sub-headi ngs where agreement remained outstanding.  The 
Chairperson noted that a table summarizing the excha nge of views in respect of the outstanding items 
had been circulated to Signatories in advance of th e meeting.  The Chairperson invited Signatories to 
comment upon this table.   
7. One delegation took the floor to report that si nce the summary table had been prepared, it had 
received further input from its Capital indicating th at it could agree to a number of the proposed 
product classifications at issue.  This delegation noted that it had provided a copy of its updated 
positions to the Secretariat.   
8. Two other delegations welcomed the progress th at had been made on the outstanding items 
since last year's Committee meeting and renewed their commitment to bringing the Committee's work 
on this item to a successful conclusion. 
9. The Chairperson suggested that he could undertak e to consult with Signatories with a view to 
resolving the outstanding issues as soon as possible.  The Chairperson suggested that, depending on 
the outcome of his consultations, he could instruct the Secretariat to prepare a final revised PCA, and 
then possibly call another meeting of the Committee in the first half of 2012 with a view to adopting 
the new PCA.  
10. The Committee took note of the exchanges of vi ews and agreed to the Chairperson's proposed 
course of action. 
D. DATE OF NEXT REGULAR MEETING  
11. The Committee agreed to hold its next re gular meeting on Thursday, 8 November 2012. 
E. ADOPTION OF THE ANNUAL REPORT FOR 2011 
12. The Committee adopted the annual report for 2011 ad referendum . 
13. The meeting was adjourned. 
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