WORLD TRADE  
ORGANIZATION  WT/REG266/M/1 
17 December 2010 
 (10-6798) 
Committee on Regional Trade Agreements 
Fifty-ninth Session  
 
 
 
CONSIDERATION OF THE FREE TRADE AGREEMENT BETWEEN  
CHINA AND NEW ZEALAND, GOODS AND SERVICES 
 
Note on the Meeting of 29 and 30 November 2010  
 
Chairman:  Mr A. Suescum (Panama) 
 
 1. The meeting was convened in document WT O/AIR/3643/Rev.1, dated 19 November 2010. 
2. Under Agenda Item D.III of its 59
th Session, the Committee on Regional Trade Agreements 
(hereinafter CRTA or the Committee) considered the Free Trade Agreement between the China and 
New Zealand (hereinafter the 'Agreement'), goods and services.  
3. The Chairman  said that the Agreement had entered into force on 1 October 2008 and had 
been notified by the Parties to the WTO on 21 Ap ril 2009 under Article XXIV:7(a) of the GATT 1994 
and the Understanding on the Interpretation of Article XXIV of GATT 1994 as an Agreement 
establishing a free trade area (document  WT/REG266/N/1) and under GATS Article V:7(a) as an 
Agreement providing for the liberalization of trade in services within the meaning of Article V of the 
GATS (document S/C/N/491).  The text of the Agreem ent was available, together with its Annexes, 
on the Parties' official websites.  The Factual Presentation on the goods and services aspects (document WT/REG266/1, dated 20 September 2010) had been prepared by the Secretariat on its own 
responsibility in full consultation with the Parti es, in accordance with paragraph 7(b) of the 
Transparency Mechanism (TM) fo r Regional Trade Agreements (doc ument WT/L/671).  In addition, 
written questions and replies on the Agreement had been recently distributed in document
 
WT/REG266/2, dated 25 November 2010.  He pr oposed to organize the consideration of the 
Agreement by first asking the Parties and then ot her Members for general comments.  The Committee 
would then turn to the specifics of the Agreement using the Factual Presentation to guide the debate.  
He proposed to go through the Factual Presentation sec tion by section, and then look at the questions 
and replies document.  
4. The Chairman  welcomed the delegations of Ch ina and New Zealand and offered 
New Zealand his condolences for the recent mine tragedy.  
5. The representative of New Zealand  thanked the Chairman for the condolences for the tragic 
incident.  He was pleased to introduce the Agreem ent for consideration by the Committee and thanked 
the Secretariat for the hard work  in the preparation of the documentation for the review and to 
Chinese colleagues for their close coordination.  He  warmly welcomed the Chinese delegate who had 
participated with him in the negotiation of the Ag reement.  The Agreement had been signed in April 
2008, after fifteen rounds of nego tiations, and had entered into fo rce on 1 October 2008.  It was a 
comprehensive, high quality trade agreement cove ring goods, services and investment.  Tariffs on 
goods traded between the Parties were progressively eliminated from entry into force.  By 2016, 
100% of tariff lines and goods imported from China to  New Zealand would be duty-free and, by 2019, 
97% of tariff lines and 96% of goods imported from New Zealand to China.  A special agricultural WT/REG266/M/1 
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  safeguard mechanism had been included in the Agre ement to allow for the gradual adjustment of 
China’s dairy industry to liberalised trade with New Zealand under the Agreement.  The Parties had 
also made substantial commitments on services e xpanding on their respective GATS commitments.  
The Agreement established measures to facilitate  the movement of business people and supported 
foreign direct investment through increased protecti on for investments made in the territory of the 
other Party;  investors of each Party also enjoye d MFN and national treatment .  A range of additional 
protections were also accorded under the investment  chapter to further support bilateral investment.  
The Agreement provided for enhanced economic coopera tion in a number of areas of mutual interest 
and relevance.  Cooperation was cu rrently underway to improve a nd streamline customs measures and 
sanitary and phytosanitary measures and to reduce t echnical barriers to trade.  Dedicated SPS and 
TBT Committees helped to give the obligations practi cal effect and enhance trade flows.  Under the 
Agreement, the Parties reaffirmed their commit ments on intellectual property rights under the TRIPS 
regime and agreed to cooperate to strengthen th eir protection in bilateral trade.  A robust and 
transparent dispute settlement mech anism had been put in place to resolve any disputes arising over 
the interpretation or implementation of the Agreement.   
6. Since entry into force, the Parties had pur sued an active implementation and promotion 
programme.  Mandated Committees had met annuall y, including the overarching FTA Joint 
Commission, and a two-year review of the Agreemen t had just been completed, in which the Parties 
had identified areas for further cooperation to enhanc e trade.  Bilateral trade had grown steadily since 
the Agreement had entered into force:  tota l bilateral merchandise trade in the period 
January-September 2010 amounted to roughly $NZ10 b illion.  This represente d 8% annual growth 
from 2009 and built on growth of over 20% in bi lateral trade between 2008 and 2009.  Trade in 
services also continued to grow, with tourism and education as core sectors;  new areas were starting to develop as businesses in both countries had taken advantage of emerging opportunities.  China’s 
importance to New Zealand as a trading partner had grown in relative and absolute terms since the 
Agreement was signed;  it was at present New Zealand’s second largest individual trading partner, 
both in terms of imports and exports.  New direct investments had been made  in areas as diverse as 
agriculture, white-ware manufacturing and speciali sed technology.  These exchanges would enhance 
technology transfer between the Parties and th e competitiveness of the companies involved.  
Alongside the Agreement, binding Cooperation Agre ements on Labour and the Environment had been 
signed, to encourage dialogue and promote sound polic ies and practices in these areas.  He said that 
the Parties had provided joint answers on questi ons from Members submitted by the formal deadline 
and looked forward to providing written answers to the remaining questions as soon as possible 
following the Meeting.  
7. The representative of China
 thanked the Secretariat for having prepared the Factual 
Presentation and Pakistan, Chile, Japan, Brazil, the Un ited States, the European Union as well as other 
Members for their questions.  She also expressed gratitude to the New Zealand delegation for its 
collaboration in preparing for the review.  Her dele gation could not forget the contribution made by 
Mr. Walker, as legal leading negotiator of the Ne w Zealand delegation, in the conclusion of the 
negotiations and the achievement of a win-win outcome, which was significant to both countries.  China had initiated its FTA strategy  in 2002 and deemed FTAs as an important platform to further 
open up to the outside and speed up domestic reform s, an effective approach to integrate into the 
global economy and strengthen economic ties with othe r economies, as well as a particularly valuable 
supplement to the multilateral trading system such as  the WTO.  New Zealand was the first developed 
Member who had signed a bilateral market access ag reement with China for its accession to the WTO.  
It was also the first developed country that had recognized China’s market economy system.  
Furthermore, New Zealand was the first develope d Member that had launched FTA negotiations and 
had signed the Agreement with China, which repres ented one of nine FTAs concluded by China and 
one of eight concluded by New Zealand.  She remarked upon the good progress in the delivery of 
commitments by the Parties under the Agreement, in particular in relation to:  tariff elimination;  
services liberalisation;  treatment of investments;  establishment of temporary employment entry  WT/REG266/M/1 
 Page 3 
 
 
  schemes for specified professions;  and creation of  institutional frameworks and mechanisms for 
dialogue on non-tariff barriers to trade.  Businesse s had also benefited from the Agreement, including 
the higher profile of each country in respective market places, greater willingness to explore possible new trade and investment opportunities, and greater confidence in the trade and investment regime.  
All of the institutional frameworks for management  of the Agreement had been established and had 
met as mandated.  There had been regular and cons tructive engagement between key agencies of the 
Parties responsible for implementing the Agreement. 
8. As a result of the Agreement, a significant gr owth in total bilateral merchandise trade had 
been witnessed since its entry into force.  In  2009, total trade was estimated at US$4.562 billion 
according to China's statistics.  Growth in bilatera l trade exceeded the average annual growth rate of 
all New Zealand’s major trading partners and that fo r China, in 2009, was higher than the growth rate 
for its total trade overall in spite of the global financia l crisis.  On trade in services, there continued to 
be strong interest by businesses in both Parties in pursuing opportunities for bilateral services trade, 
especially in tourism, education, transportation a nd other business services.  China was New Zealand's 
largest source of overseas students and the fourth largest source of overseas visitors.  Moreover, the 
Parties had enriched and deepened cooperation by using respective advantages, in sectors such as 
agriculture, forestry, machinery, environment, science and technology etc...  The Agreement was 
considered a milestone in the history of the bilatera l relationship and was also a significant step in the 
implementation of China’s FTA strategy.  The Parti es would continue to work closely to promote and 
implement the Agreement and to make it a sound  and comprehensive platform to promote and 
develop bilateral trade and investment and to satis factorily address related trade and economic matters 
arising in the bilateral trading relationship.  She th anked the Secretariat for the hard work and said that 
her delegation had provided replies to the questions  raised by Pakistan, Japan, Chile and Brazil and 
would provide written responses to the questions fro m the United States and the European Union after 
the meeting. 
9. The representative of the United States
 appreciated the work of the Secretariat and the Parties 
for the extensive oral presentation.  As the Pa rties had mentioned, the United States had submitted 
questions in writing before the meeting and she was glad to hear that these would be answered in 
writing.  However, she preferred to hear responses during the meeting since staff from capital was in 
Geneva.  She was also interested in hearing res ponses to some questions submitted by the European 
Union that had not yet been answered.   
10. The representative of the European Union  thanked the Parties for the presentation and took 
note that written questions would be answered following the meeting.  However, like the 
United States, she was interested in raising some of  these questions during the meeting so that a useful 
follow up could be taken.  She sai d that paragraph 11 of the Factual Presentation reported that for 
reasons of confidentiality, only da ta for 2005 was available in the case of New Zealand for inward 
investment;  therefore, data for inward invest ment for the years 2006, 2007 and 2008 had not been 
provided.  She asked New Zealand to give some de tails regarding the potential problems of disclosing 
such information. 
11. The representative of New Zealand  replied that the confidentiality requirement was imposed 
on statistics agencies under the Statistics Act of 1975.  New Zealand Statistics considered information 
to be confidential if an enterprise or an individual contributing to that particular statistic was possibly 
able to be identified if the information was publishe d.  He stressed that New Zealand was a relatively 
small economy and there were often situations where only one or two enterprises or even individuals 
were dominant in particular investment activity, and such a situation could be particularly relevant in 
bilateral data.  The calculation on whether a sale was confidential or not was based on a percentage 
rule:  if an enterprise or individual's contribution to a statistical sale could be estimated to be within a 
certain percentage of the actual value by othe r contributing enterprises, the sale's value was 
suppressed.  He said that this informati on would be duly provided in writing.   WT/REG266/M/1 
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  12. The representative of the United States
 pointed out that paragraphs 19-20 of the Factual 
Presentation and associated Tables AI.1 and AI.2 in  Annex I indicated that, at the end of the 
implementation period, 97.1% of China's tariffs would be duty-free to imports from New Zealand, 
corresponding to 88% of prior imports by value.   China would eliminate tariffs on 97.5% of 
non-agricultural products and 94.6% of agricultural products.  One hundred per cent of New Zealand's 
tariffs would be duty-free on imports from China, co rresponding to 100% of imports by value.  New 
Zealand eliminated tariffs on 100% of non-ag ricultural and agricultural products.  While 
New Zealand's tariff elimination was highly commenda ble, she was interested in hearing the answer 
to question 8 of the Questions and Replies documen t, submitted by the European Union, regarding 
China's asymmetrical commitments and the reasons for not having eliminated tariffs on 118 lines 
related to pulp and paper products. 
13. The representative of the European Union  made reference to question 8 of the Questions and 
Replies document regarding the asymmetrical commitm ents included in the Agreement, especially in 
light of the fact that New Zealand was only China's 52nd import partner representing less than 0.2% of 
China's imports, according to the Factual Presentation.   Her delegation asked about the reasons for not 
having liberalized 118 tariff lines in Chapter X (pul p and paper).  With respect to the Chapter on 
Sanitary and Phytosanitary (SPS) measures, para graph 37 of the Factual Presentation stated that, 
pursuant to Article 81.3 of the Agreement, New Zealand and China had agreed to recognize each 
other's SPS measures on goods if the exporting Part y objectively demonstrated that its measures 
reached the importing Party's standards.  She asked whether New Zealand was considering or had 
considered a request to recognize the  equivalence of Chinese SPS measures for any specific products, 
and whether there had been any discussions to estab lish a sanitary/veterinary agreement between the 
Parties.  Furthermore, she asked the Parties whethe r, pursuant to the annual review of the Agreement, 
there had been some areas in which they had agreed to make further commitments. 
14. The representative of Australia  asked the Parties how they viewed the outcome of the 
Agreement in relation to the obligations under GATT Article XXIV, including the elimination of 
duties and other restrictive regulations of commerce on substantially all the tr ade within a reasonable 
length of time.  He pointed out that 223 Chinese tariff lines were not subject to eventual tariff 
elimination and many of these exemptions appeared to retain high tariff peaks or were subject to tariff 
rate quotas (TRQs).  Examples included a number of  pulp and paper products and the retention of 
high tariff peaks on a range of products, including vege tables, chemicals, processed food and textiles.  
His delegation's understanding was that a number of these categories were of trade interest for New Zealand exporters.  Given that China's country-sp ecific TRQs for nine tariff lines (covering wool and 
wool tops) included an arrangement whereby expo rts outside the country-specific TRQ would be 
traded under the global TRQ, and would remain in pl ace beyond 2017, he asked what impact this was 
expected to have on New Zealand's exports to Chin a of these goods;  what had been the fill rates for 
the country's specific TRQs since implementation a nd had they increased in line with the increases 
specified in the text;  was there a process of reallocation of unused quotas;  and were there 
implications for other countries exporting wool products to China under the global TRQ.  With 
respect to the bilateral safeguard mechanism, he pointed out that such a mechanism reduced the value 
of concessions, given that tariffs of safeguarded goods  could have their tariffs increased back to the 
MFN rate subject to a time limit and he asked whet her the mechanism had been applied to date.  As 
regards rules of origin, he said that the approach  to the product-specific rules of origin in the 
Agreement for goods was based primarily on chang es in the tariff classification on the inputs through 
the production process in China, New Zealand or both .  He asked the Parties to explain why there 
were exceptions to such an appr oach for a range of goods, including where a change in the tariff 
classification rule was supplemented by a regional value content rule.  There were also a small number of goods where origin was solely decided according to the regional value content criterion, 
for example HS 330112 (essential oil of oranges).   WT/REG266/M/1 
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  15. The representative of China thanked the delegations of the United States, the European Union 
and Australia for their questions.  With respect to  the question on China's asymmetrical liberalization 
commitments under the Agreement, she said that libera lization of tariffs and trade undertaken by both 
Parties was the result of negotiations and, in her delegation's view, re flected a high level of 
liberalization.  The basis for trade liberalization and tariff structures between the Parties were quite 
different;  regarding China's tariff lines in 2008, before the signing of the Agreement, only 8.4% of 
tariff lines were zero in terms of the basic rate, whereas, for New Zealand, 57.6% of tariffs were 
already zero at that time.  The resulting liberalizati on of 88% of imports by value was still a challenge 
for the Parties, since the country-specific TRQs on wool and wool tops granted by China to 
New Zealand had not been calculated into it.  If duty-free in-quota imports were incorporated, 
according to China's calculation, this would r esult in 96.6% of goods imported from New Zealand 
becoming duty-free in 2019.  On China's exclusions of 118 lines of Chapter X, she said that subject to 
the Report of the Working Party on the Accession of  China to the WTO (Article 91), for wood and 
paper products the same rate of duty, including  the rate applied under a preference programme, 
customs union, or free trade area, w ould be applied to all imports.  At  this development stage, China 
was not ready to grant any preferential commitm ent on wood and paper produc ts at a multilateral 
level.  On the question raised by Australia, she said that the Agreement provided for comprehensive 
tariff elimination, as laid out in its Annex I.  By 2016, 100% of tariff lines and goods imported from 
China to New Zealand would be duty-free and,  by 2019, 96% of goods imported from New Zealand 
to China would be duty-free.  According to the Ag reement, in order to pr otect domestic industrial 
security, China had excluded 214 lines from tariff reduction, including tari ff-quota-related products, 
such as wheat, corn, rice, sugar, cotton, fertilizer and some tariff lines on edible oils, wood and paper 
products.  In addition to the excluded lines, China had set up specific quotas for imports of nine tariff 
lines of wool and wool tops from New Zealand. 
16. In response to the EU's question on SPS m easures, the representative of New Zealand  replied 
that no request for recognition of equivalence of  Chinese SPS measures for any specific products had 
been made to date.  Similarly, no discussions to establish a sanitary/veterinary agreement between the 
Parties had been held to date.  He  said that the annual review of th e Agreement was still in the process 
of finalising the agreed outcome, thus the info rmation would be given as soon as available.  
Furthermore, he replied that the bilateral safe guard mechanism had not been applied to date.  
17. The representative of the United States  thanked the Parties for the initial responses, although 
some of them seemed to raise systemic issues which Members had not fully considered since they 
were not included in the Questions and Replies docum ent ahead of the Meeting.  For instance, if a 
product was still subject to a TRQ, this did not mean that tariffs were eliminated on that specific good.  
She thus hoped to get further information from the Pa rties in writing in order to report back to capital 
on these answers.   
18. The representative of the European Union,  recalling question 18 of the Questions and Replies 
document, said that overall Chinese commitment s for services only covered new or improved 
commitments in seven services sectors or sub-sectors.  In particular, there were only new or improved 
commitments for Mode 1 in two sub-sectors:  project  management services other than for construction 
and for maintenance and repair services of motor vehicles.  Overall, this presented a picture of limited sectoral coverage in terms of number of sectors, volume of trade affected and modes of supply covered.  She asked China to explain how the li mited number of new or improved commitments was 
in accordance with the conditions  established in Article V of the GATS on economic integration.  
19. The representative of the United States
, quoting question 28 of the Questions and Replies 
document, said that according to paragraph 69 of the Factual Presentation, and Article 124 of the 
Agreement, the Parties should consult within two year s of entry into force of the Agreement to review 
the implementation of the services Chapter and consider  other issues of mutual interest, with a view to 
the progressive liberalization of bilateral trade in services.  Paragraph 69 also described the WT/REG266/M/1 
Page 6  
 
  cooperative arrangements between the Parties pursuant to Article 122.  With respect to Article 124 of 
the Agreement, she asked the Parties to d escribe the outcome of their presumably recent 
consultations, in particular with respect to the ex tension of MFN treatment to additional sectors not 
listed in Annex 9 and progressive liber alization of trade in services.  With respect to Article 122 of the 
Agreement, she asked the Parties to describe how they had sought to implement the obligation upon 
them to "strengthen cooperation efforts in services sectors".  Paragraph 104 of the Factual 
Presentation noted that the Parties had agreed to en courage relevant authorities to explore possibilities 
for recognition of qualifications a nd professional and vocational licenses.  She thus asked them to 
describe the nature of their "encouragement" to  relevant New Zealand and Chinese authorities, 
pursuant to Article 113.3 of the Agreement;  the types of strengthened cooperation that might have 
resulted from such encouragement; and the outcomes in terms of recognition of qualifications and 
professional and vocational licenses. 
20. The representative of Australia
 raised two questions on the services aspects of the Agreement.  
Given that the sectoral coverage closely followed each Party's GATS commitments, with only modest improvements, he asked the Parties to comment on whether the Agreement had substantial sectoral 
coverage, according to GATS Article V.1(a), and to  provide information on trade in the affected 
sectors prior to entry into force and on any changes in it since the services commitments made in the 
Agreement had come into force.  Secondly, there was a commitment in the Agreement to review, two 
years after its entry into force, the implementation of the services chapter and to consider other trade 
in services issues of mutual interest, including the extension of MFN treatment to additional services 
sectors not listed in Annex 9 with a view to the progre ssive liberalization of bilateral trade in services.  
He asked the Parties to report whether there ha d been any developments in relation to such 
commitments, particularly in relation to key sectors in international services trade, such as financial 
services and professional services.  Furthermore, he asked the Parties to provide information on the 
implementation of Article 141.2, whereby the Pa rties should progressively remove non-conforming 
measures on existing investments, and whether any ac tion had been taken pursuant to this provision. 
21. The representative of China
, in response to the EU's ques tion on improved and new services 
commitments, said that the commitments of its services schedule covered all sectors and the new or 
improved commitments were very substantial, whic h revealed the spirit of progressive liberalization 
taking into consideration the current status of se rvices trade between the Parties.  The Agreement 
itself was a living agreement, subject to review.  Along with the Agreemen t's implementation, the 
Parties had committed to looking into the possibilities of further liberalization in certain sectors which 
were deemed as necessary and of mutual inter est.  The Committee on Trade in Services would 
continue to convene annually to discuss and review any issued covered by Chapter 9.  In response to 
the question from the United States on the two-year review under Article 124, the Parties were still conducting such a review and more detailed inform ation about its outcome would be provided in 
writing.  On the question on recognition of qualifi cations, she said that, as mandated in Article 113.2, 
a Joint Working Group had been established to  advance mutual recognition of vocational 
qualifications.  More detailed in formation would be provided to Members in writing following the 
Meeting.  
22. The representative of New Zealand
 confirmed that the review process was still in progress 
and joint information would be pr ovided in writing after the meeting.   In relation to Australia's 
question on investment and the removal of non-c onforming measures pursuant to Article 141.2, his 
understanding was that there had been no action pursuant to that provision to date.  
23. The representative of the United States  asked the Parties to confir m whether, with respect to 
Article 124 of the Agreement, they expected any outcome of these consultations by the end of 2010 
and to provide more information about the process.   As regards Article 113.3 of the Agreement and 
paragraph 104 of the Factual Presentation about qua lifications, she asked whether any kind of specific 
outcome was expected or not since this was not clear from the answers provided by the Parties.   WT/REG266/M/1 
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  24. The representative of New Zealand  said that the Parties would provide as much information 
as they could in response to these questions in writi ng.  With respect to consultations under Article 
124, he said that the Parties were currently worki ng on the procedural aspect rather than on specific 
changes to the Agreement.   
25. The representative of the United States  pointed out that Table V.2 of the Factual Presentation 
did not appear to list China's agreement with Chinese Taipei, which in her understanding was in force.  
She thus asked China to indicate when it intended,  along with Chinese Taipei, to notify this RTA to 
the WTO.  With respect to New Zealand's RTAs, sh e asked New Zealand to clarify whether the South 
Pacific Regional Trade and Economic Cooperation Agreement (SPARTECA) was still in force.  
26. The representative of Australia  said that, under Chapter 15 of the Agreement, an FTA 
Commission was required to meet within two years fro m the entry into force of  the Agreement (which 
was 1 October 2010).  The Joint Commission was manda ted to consider implementation and explore 
measures for the further expansion of bilateral trad e and investment.  The Parties had noted that the 
Joint Commission had already met;  she asked them to provide any information on developments in 
relation to the Joint Commission or on any of the other potential bodies or processes of review in the 
Agreement. 
27. The representative of the European Union  said that according to Article 202.1 of the 
Agreement, and as reported in pa ragraph 112 of the Factual Presentation, the Parties could take 
measures for balance-of-payments purposes for:  trade in goods, in accordance with GATT 1994 and 
the WTO Understanding on the Balance-of-Payments of GATT 1994;  trade in services, in accordance 
with the GATS;  and investments.  She asked the Pa rties whether there had been an understanding on 
a maximum time period for temporary balance-of-p ayments safeguard measures.  As regards the 
Economic Cooperation Framework Agreement (ECFA)  between China and Chinese Taipei, she was 
interested in knowing when this agreement w ould be notified, as it was already in force. 
28. The representative of China  replied that the FTA Joint Commission had met twice to date:  in 
August 2009 and November 2010.  Both meetings ha d reviewed the implemen tation and operation of 
the Agreement, including the hearing of reports  from meetings of other committees, such as SPS, 
TBT and movement of natural pe rsons, and had considered furthe r implementation of cooperation 
activities to enhance uptake of the benefits of the Agreement.  The Parties were currently in the 
process of finalising the joint report of the two-y ear meeting, so the final outcome was still not 
available.  More information woul d be provided in writing.  With regard to the notification of the 
ECFA with Chinese Taipei, the delegation of China needed to check the in formation with capital. 
29. The representative of New Zealand , in response to the EU's question on balance-of-payments, 
said that the Parties' intention was to keep such me asures fully consistent with the WTO-related rules.  
With respect to the SPARTECA Agreement, it had been in force since 1 January 1981. 
30. The representative of the United States  asked New Zealand to clarify the nature of the 
SPARTECA Agreement and why it had been notified under the Enabling Clause.  She asked whether 
the notification by New Zealand under the Enabling Clause was a mistake or whether the agreement 
was considered as a Generalized System of Preferences (GSP) programme. 
31. The representative of New Zealand  said that SPARTECA was an arrangement with the small 
island States in the Pacific and had been notified to the WTO on 7 January 1981 under the Enabling Clause.  If the United States was interested in any further information on the agreement, his 
delegation would be more than happ y to provide such information at  the appropriate time and fora. 
 WT/REG266/M/1 
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  32. The representative of the United States
 said that her delegation's intention was simply to 
ascertain whether there was a mistake in the F actual Presentation, since it was unusual to see a 
notification by New Zealand under the Enabling Cl ause.  Given that it was not a mistake, her 
delegation would follow up bilaterally.   
33. The Chairman  invited Members who asked questions to the Parties to submit them in writing. 
34. The representative of the United States  remarked that all the questions from her delegation 
had already been sent in writing to the Parties. 
35. The representative of the European Union  clarified that the new questions raised during the 
meeting would be provided in writing to the Parties. 
36. The Chairman  said that the consideration of the goods and services aspects of the Free Trade 
Agreement between the China and New Zealand had allowed the Committee to clarify a number of 
questions and oral discussion of the Agreement coul d be concluded in accordance with paragraph 11 
of the Transparency Mechanism.  If any delegations  wished to ask follow-up  questions they were 
invited to forward submissions in writing to the Secretariat by 7 December 2010  and the Parties were 
asked to submit replies  in writing by no later than 21 Decembe r 2010.  In accordance with paragraph 
13 of the Transparency Mechanism all written subm issions, as well as minutes of this meeting would 
be circulated promptly, in all WTO official languages, and would be made available on the 
WTO website. 
37. The Committee took note  of the comments made. 
__________