. /. RESTRICTED  WORLD TRADE  
ORGANIZATION  G/TRIMS/M/21 
29 September 2005 
 (05-4304) 
Committee on Trade-Related Investment Measures  
  
 
MINUTES OF THE MEETING HELD ON 12 JULY 2005 
  
Note by the Secretariat
 
 
 
1. The Committee on Trade-Related Investment  Measures met on 12 July 2005 under the 
Chairmanship of Mr. Sivaramen Palaya than (Mauritius).  The Committee adopted  the agenda 
contained in WTO/AIR/2612. 
A. I MPLEMENTATION ISSUES RELATED TO THE TRIM S AGREEMENT  
2. Under this item the Committee held an informal session in order to continue the consultative 
process on the Implementation Issues related to the TRIMs Agreement as suggested by the Chairman 
of the TNC at the General Council meeting of 26 May 2005 (WT/GC/M/95, para. 65).   
B. PROPOSALS ON SPECIAL AND DIFFERENTIAL TREATMENT PROVISIONS REFERRED TO THE 
COMMITTEE ON TRADE -RELATED INVESTMENT MEASURES BY THE CHAIRMAN OF THE 
GENERAL COUNCIL , RELATING TO ARTICLE 4 AND ARTICLE 5 OF THE TRIMS  AGREEMENT  
3. The Chairman  recalled that two proposals on Special and Differential (S&D) Treatment had 
been referred to the TRIMS Committee by the Chai rman of the General Council.  These proposals had 
been submitted by the African Group in document TN/CTD/W/3/Rev.2 and related to Article 4 and 
Article 5.3 of the TRIMS Agreement.  A revised version of the proposals had been presented by 
Kenya, on behalf of the African Group, at th e Committee's informal meeting of 9 May 2005.  
Pursuant to the "July Package", i.e., the Deci sion adopted by the General Council on 1 August 2004, 
the TRIMS Committee had been instructed to expe ditiously complete the consideration of these 
proposals and to report to the General Council with clear recommendations for a decision as soon as 
possible and not later than July 2005.  He said that  the present meeting had been convened in order for 
Members to decide on what they believed should be put in the Committee' s report to the General 
Council.  In that connection, he asked the Committe e, and in particular the African Group, whether 
there had been any new developments since the last informal meeting of 9 May arising from 
Members' own consultations regarding the revi sed version of the African Group's proposals. 
4.  The representative of Kenya  said that her delegation was not aware of any new 
developments, but would appreciate hearing comments from other Members on the revised African Group's proposals.  
5. The Chairman
 then turned to the reporting obligati ons of the Committee, and said that if 
Members agreed, he would submit a report to the General Council on behalf of the TRIMs 
Committee.  Part of the report would contain a fact ual summary of the consultations that had been 
carried out on this issue.  The report would indicate that since the Committee had received the 
mandate contained in the July Package, it had he ld two regular meetings and several rounds of 
informal consultations, including two open-ended informal meetings  to consider the S&D proposals 
that were referred to it by the General Council.  At its last informal meeting on 9 May, the Committee G/TRIMS/M/21 
Page 2  
 
 had discussed a revised version of the proposals submitted by Kenya on behalf of the African Group, 
which targeted more specifically the concerns of th e African countries.  The meeting had provided for 
a frank exchange of views and some more insight into the underlying concerns that the proposals 
sought to address.  However, no substantial cha nges in Members' positions had been recorded. 
6. He would also say in his report that his pers onal assessment from the consultation process that 
he had held so far was that, while  there was some convergence of vi ews with respect to some aspects 
of the proposals (the first part of the proposal on  Article 4), certain fundamental questions still 
remained unresolved in respect of other elements in the proposals (second part of  proposal on Article 4 and the proposal on Article 5.3), including, in particular, the country-scope and the time-horizon for their application.    
7. Nevertheless, he had sensed that there might be room for progress also in these areas if 
Members managed to work with creativity and fl exibility to find a satisfactory solution.  His 
recommendation to the General Council, therefore, would be to keep this issue under consideration.    
8. He then proposed that if the Committee agreed on this proposal, unless there was any other 
view expressed by Members, he would proceed to prepare a report to the Chair along the lines he had 
mentioned and he would then submit it to th e General Council at its meeting on 27-29 July. 
9. The representative of Kenya
 said that her delegation was comfortable with the report as 
outlined by the Chairman.  
10. It was so agreed . 
 
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