. /.   WORLD TRADE  
ORGANIZATION  TN/RL/23 
9 January 2009 
 (09-0044) 
Negotiating Group on Rules  
  
 
NEGOTIATING GROUP ON RULES 
 
Report by the Chairman to the 
 
Trade Negotiations Committee  
 
17 December 2008 
  1. Last July, I reported to the Trade Negotia tions Committee my intention to circulate new 
bottom-up draft texts on anti-dumping and horizontal  subsidies, and a conceptual roadmap on 
fisheries subsidies, as the basis on which to ca rry forward the work of the Negotiating Group on 
Rules.  Since making that report, I have not circul ated those texts, nor have I convened any meetings 
of the Group.  Although new texts remain necessary fo r the work of the Group to progress, it has been 
my judgment that in view of the situation in the R ound as a whole, I needed to be mindful of activities 
and developments in other areas in deciding not on ly the timing but also the exact content of those 
texts.   
 
2. While I have not called any meetings of the Group since my July report, I have remained in 
close contact with delegations.  Most recently, I held a series of bilateral consultations with interested 
delegations to hear their views as to the way fo rward.  Those consultations confirmed that, as I 
foreshadowed in my report to the TNC last July, I should now use a different method:  We need to 
move from the Chair's texts to draft texts which w ill have to describe a gradually emerging consensus 
reflecting that new, bottom-up approach for anti-dum ping and horizontal subsidies, and a conceptual 
roadmap for fisheries subsidies.    3. I believe that the time has now come for me to produce these new texts, as the first step in 
resuming the substantive work of the Group.  I theref ore plan to circulate the texts in the coming days, 
as soon as I have finalized them in the light of th e most recent developments in the Round.  At the 
same time, I also will provide participants with an outline of the programme of meetings that I 
envisage for the first part of 2009.    4. With respect to Regional Trade Agreements, Me mbers will recall that at the time of the last 
meeting of the TNC in July 2008, I had indicated that the initial review of the provisionally adopted 
Transparency Mechanism on Regional Trade Agreem ents could not be completed because Members 
felt that the necessary experience w ith the Mechanism had not yet b een built up.  The Transparency 
Mechanism, which was negotiated in the Negotiati ng Group on Rules, is being implemented by the 
Committee on Regional Trade Agreements (CRTA) and the Committee on Trade and 
Development (CTD).  The CRTA has now considered  32 RTAs, while the CTD also considered its 
first RTA under the Mechanism in October.   TN/RL/23 
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  5. It is my sense that Members continue to believe that while experience is being built up 
gradually, especially in the CRTA and perhaps shortly  in the CTD, it remains insufficient at this time 
to allow a review of the functioning of the Mechanis m to be completed.  Nevertheless, I do think that 
discussions on the functioning of the Transparency Mechanism should take place.  I propose therefore 
to schedule an informal meeting of the Group early in the new Year to begin such consultations.  
Inputs for this meeting would be greatly assisted by Members' views on the functioning of the 
Mechanism.  I also think that it would be appropria te to ask the Chair of the implementing bodies, the 
CRTA (and the Chair of the CTD once an agreement has been considered in the CTD) for their views, 
on their own responsibility, on the functioning of  the Mechanism in the CRTA (and the CTD);  in 
addition, I will also ask the Secretariat to outline its experience in implementing the Mechanism.  
These three elements will help the Negotiating Grou p to begin its discussions  on the functioning of 
the Transparency Mechanism on RTAs.    6. On systemic issues relating to RTAs, I have been consulting Members.  My impression is that no one is disputing the fundamental importance of  the issues and to continuing discussions on 
systemic issues.  Nevertheless, as I have argued before, the Group cannot advance and conclude its 
work in this area without text-based proposals by Me mbers.  As time is short, I hope we will see text-
based proposals from Members, as instructed by Mini sters in December 2005, in time for the next 
meeting of the Group and to bring these ne gotiations to a successful conclusion.   
  
 
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