RESTRICTED  WORLD TRADE  
ORGANIZATION  G/MA/M/46 
27 June 2008 
 (08-3093) 
Committee on Market Access  
  
 
MINUTES OF THE MEETING HELD ON 16 APRIL 2008 
 
Chairman: Dr. Mohammad Saeed (Pakistan
) 
  
Subject discussed
 Page  
 
1. Periodic report of the Committee to th e Council for Trade in Goods including 
factual information on waivers expiring on 30 April 2008 (G/MA/SPEC/38).....................1  
2. Submission of HS96 documentation........................................................................................2  
3. Introduction of Harmonized System 2002 changes to schedules of concessions using the CTS database (WT/L/605) – Report by the Secretariat on the status of 
work........................................................................................................................... .................2
 
4. Introduction of Harmonized System 2007 changes to schedules of concessions 
using the CTS database (WT/L/673) – Report by the Secretariat........................................3  
5. Modalities and operation of th e Integrated Data Base..........................................................3  
6. Consolidated Tariff Schedules Database – Report by the Secretariat on the 
status of work ................................................................................................................. ...........4  
7. Notifications of quant itative restri ctions.................................................................................4  
8. Notifications under the Decision on rev erse Notification of Non-tariff measures 
(G/MA/NTM/W/3/Rev.1)..........................................................................................................4  
9. Other Bu siness................................................................................................................. ..........5  
10. Election of th e Chairman ....................................................................................................... ..5 
ANNEX I........................................................................................................................ .........................6  
ANNEX II ....................................................................................................................... ........................7  
ANNEX III...................................................................................................................... ........................8  
ANNEX IV....................................................................................................................... .....................10  
 
  The Committee adopted
 the agenda as reproduced in WTO/AIR/3170.  An annotated agenda 
was circulated in document JOB(08)/27.  1. Periodic report of the Committee to the Council for Trade in Goods including factual 
information on waivers expiring on 30 April 2008 (G/MA/SPEC/38) 
1.1 The Chairman
 drew attention to document G/MA/SPEC /38 which contained the draft periodic 
report of the Committee.  He noted that this repor t, which would be finalized in the light of the 
discussion that would take place at this meeting,  would be submitted to the Council for Trade in G/MA/M/46 
Page 2  
 
  Goods (CTG) for examination
1.  The report contained in its Annex a table summarizing factual 
information on the waivers under process submitted by the Members concerned.    1.2 He noted that Argentina and Panama had forwarded requests for waiver extensions in connection with the introduction of HS96 chang es to their schedules of concessions. Factual 
information had been provided by these Members co ncerning their request and  draft decisions had 
also been circulated.     1.3 The Committee took note
 of the requests, approved  the draft waiver decisions and agreed  to 
forward them to the CTG for appropriate action. 
 
2. Submission of HS96 documentation 
2.1 The Chairman  drew attention to document G/MA/TAR/2/Rev.40  which reflected the present 
situation concerning the submission of required docum entation.  He noted that the document had not 
been updated since October 2007 as the situation had not changed since that time. From the 
document, it could be noted that the submissions of Argentina and Panama  remained pending. In 
addition some information needed to be provided by Venezuela in order for certification of their HS96 
documentation to take place.    2.2  He further recalled that at the last meeting he  had indicated that several Members had not followed the HS96 transposition procedures outlined in GATT document L/6905.  Nevertheless, their 
CTS schedules were in the HS96 nomenclature becau se the Secretariat had undertaken the work for 
them in connection with the CTS exercise. However, the results of this work  remained uncertified.  
He had requested Members to reflect further on how to address this issue at the last meeting, but he understood that the preceding few months had b een quite busy with the negotiations.  So, he 
suggested that the Secretariat look into this issue and propose one or several ways of addressing this 
matter and the Committee examine these options at the next meeting.  
 2.3 The Committee took note
 of the document, and agreed  with the Chair's proposal. 
 
3. Introduction of Harmonized System 2002 chan ges to schedules of concessions using the 
CTS database (WT/L/605) – Report by the Secretariat on the status of work 
3.1 A member of the Secretariat  (Mr. J. Richtering) introduced the report which is contained in 
Annex I.  3.2 In relation to the Secretariat report,  the representative of the United States
 asked what the 
time-period was for issuing the remaining four HS02 files.   
 3.3 A member of the Secretariat
 (Mr. J. Richtering) stated that  on two files feedback was required 
from the delegations concerned on the transposition work  undertaken by the Secretariat.  On the third 
file, the Secretariat was also awaiting further comments from the Member.  The Secretariat had encountered some difficulties putting together a comp rehensive file for this Member. The last file 
concerned the EC, and the Secretariat had some questions about the status of this file.  
 3.4 The Committee took note
 of the report and the statements.  
                                                      
1 Finalized report was ci rculated as G/MA/198.  G/MA/M/46 
 Page 3 
 
 
  4. Introduction of Harmonized System 2007 chan ges to schedules of concessions using the 
CTS database (WT/L/673) – Report by the Secretariat 
4.1 A member of the Secretariat  (Mr. J. Richtering) introduced the report which is contained in 
Annex II.  
4.2 In relation to the Secretariat repor t, the representative of the United States
 noted that progress 
had been made in the HS02 transposition exercise, and it was clear that Members were coming to the 
end of that process.  There was the question of th e next step and how Members were going to deal 
with HS2007.  The US had not  yet submitted its HS07 file, but they would do it. He noted that there 
were five developing Members w ho had signalled that they would prefer to prepare their own HS07 
schedules which left the question of the remaini ng developing Members.  He assumed that the 
Secretariat was going to start the HS07 process in the near future and it would be similar to the HS02 
process. In other words, the Secretariat would pr epare the HS07 files, give them to developing 
Members for comments and then circulate them for multilateral review.  His first question was 
whether the Secretariat felt it had the authorizati on to start the HS07  process recognizing of course 
that work related to the DDA would take preceden ce.  The second question was with respect with the 
ITA files and whether these files would appear in fr ont of this Committee for approval.  This related 
to an issue that his delegation had with one Member  concerning an ITA ex-out. It was not clear to his 
delegation whether it would be th is Committee or the ITA Committee which was going to approve the 
ITA schedules as a whole.   
4.3 In response to the first question, a member of the Secretariat
 (Mr. J. Richtering) stated that as 
concerned the HS07 process, the Secretariat did not require any specific additional signal from  
Members.  Such a signal had already been received.  The issue problem was within the Secretariat and 
it related to an overload of work linked to  the DDA negotiations and the HS02 exercise.  
 
4.4 In response to the second questi on, a member of the Secretariat  (Suja Rishikesh Mavroidis) 
stated that the standard transposed ITA list to wh ich reference had been made would not come before 
this Committee for approval.    
 4.5 The Committee took note
 of the report and the statements. 
 
5. Modalities and operation of the Integrated Data Base 
- Status of submission of the required documen tation (G/MA/IDB/2/Rev.27) and Report by the 
Secretariat  
 
5.1 The Chairman  referred to document G/MA/IDB/2/Rev .27 which presented the situation of 
IDB submissions as of 21 March 2007. 
 
5.2 A member of the Secretariat  (Mr. J. Richtering) introduced the report which is contained in 
Annex III.  
5.3 The representative of the United States
  expressed his delegation's  support concerning the use 
of e-mails to acknowledge receipt of IDB submissions.  He further observed that this meeting date had 
been changed fairly late in the process and not ever yone would not have received the fax on time.  In 
this connection, he wondered whether it was not possi ble to come up with a similar email system for 
the Committee as a whole.  In ot her words, he wondered whether the Secretariat could accept a 
system where delegations would notify an e-ma il address of the person who represented the 
government in this Committee, subsequent to which  a file would be created of those names. These   G/MA/M/46 
Page 4  
 
  delegations would get notifications , annotated agendas, airgrams convening the meetings as well as 
any changes thereof. In his view faxes were not  as reliable a mean of communication as e-mails. 
 
5.4 A member of the Secretariat (Ms. Suja Rish ikesh Mavroidis) said that the only problem that 
the Secretariat had encountered when  adopting such a system of emails was that when the delegate 
left Geneva the Secretariat was not notified of this and it had created problems in the past.  As long as 
there was an understanding that the e-mail addresses  would be updated by the Members concerned, 
then such a system would be acceptable.  Additiona lly, the Secretariat had no problem emailing faxes 
and any special documents, but documentation of a regular and routine nature such as airgrams, 
annotated agenda etc, would be sent through the normal channels only.   
 
5.5 The representative of the United States
 stated that it was fine to get the documents the way 
delegations were obtaining them now .  However, as already mentioned, agendas were something that 
his capital was interested in getting instantaneously. If he could get it as a an email, then he could 
send it to a whole group of interested people. It was a much quicker way of disseminating 
information.   Additionally, those that wanted to sign-up for this e-mail service should do it on the 
understanding that it was up to them to keep the email addresses current.     
5.6 The Chairman
 concluded that the Secretariat had no problem in starting such a service on the 
understanding that the email addresses would be ke pt up to date by the concerned delegations.  
 
5.7 The Committee took note  of the report and the statements. 
 
6. Consolidated Tariff Schedules Database – Repo rt by the Secretariat on the status of 
work 
6.1 A member of the Secretariat  (Mr. J. Richtering) introduced the report which is contained in 
Annex IV. 
 6.2 The Committee took note
 of the report.  
 
7. Notifications of quantitative restrictions 
7.1 The Chairman  noted that pursuant to the "Decision on Notification Procedures for 
Quantitative Restrictions" (G/L/59)" Members were re quired to make notifications of the quantitative 
restrictions they maintained every two years.  W ith respect to the 2006-2007 notifications, he referred 
to document G/MA/NTM/QR/1/Add.11 which provide d an update of the situation. He further 
informed Members that Oman had made a notification the same day.   
7.2 The Committee took note
 of the document and the information provided.  
 
8. Notifications under the Decision on revers e Notification of Non-tariff measures 
(G/MA/NTM/W/3/Rev.1) 
8.1 The Chairman  drew the Committee's attention to the "Decision on Reverse Notification of 
Non-Tariff Measures" dated 1 December 1995 (G/L/60)  which envisaged that "the Committee shall, 
at two-yearly intervals on the occasion of the review  of the notifications of quantitative restrictions, 
review the reverse notifications of non-tariff measures received on the basis of Secretariat analyses".    
He noted that the Secretariat document which had been prepared for this purpose was dated 2001.  
But as no new notification had been received since that  time, an update of that document had not been 
prepared.   
  G/MA/M/46 
 Page 5 
 
 
  8.2 The Committee took note  of the statement. 
 
9. Other Business  
 Secretariat document on tariff information  
 
9.1 The Chairman  noted that the Secretariat had circulated a document G/MA/TAR/3/Rev.12 
which provided the most recent information available in  the tariff library. The document also included 
the website addresses where more recen t national tariffs could be found. 
 9.2 The Committee took note
 of the document. 
 
 Date of the next meeting  
 9.3 The Committee took note
 that the next meeting of the Committee would take place the week 
beginning 6 October 2008. 
 
10. Election of the Chairman 
10.1 The Committee re-elected  Dr. Saeed (Pakistan) as Chairman for 2008.  G/MA/M/46 
Page 6  
 
  ANNEX I  
 
Introduction of HS 2002 changes to schedul es of concessions using the CTS database
 
Report by the Secretariat on the status of work  
 
 
 I will just give you a brief summary of the work on the HS2002 files.  A revised full report was issued as JOB(06)/8/Rev.7 on 15 April 2008.  As  of 15 April  we have the following situation: 
 A. 4 draft HS02 files remain to be to be prepared 
B. 12 draft HS02 files have been completed and sent to Members for review (excluding files that 
are due for multilateral review)  
C. 12 draft HS02 files are currently released for multilateral review D. 63 HS02 files released and passed the multilateral review E. 4 HS02 files approved / in certification process 
F. 23 HS02 files certified   
  The number of files approved for certification could be much higher if only Members could signal their approval. The number of files that have  passed the multilateral review has reached almost 
80 per cent of the WTO Membership.    
Although there is some progress in the growing number of files approved and certified files, 
there is still some more work left. There are several reasons for this: 
 
•  More extensive follow up work on files that ha ve already been sent out to Members (trying to 
reconcile country submissions and/or co mments with the Secretariat's version). 
• Verification of Members' HS 2002 submis sions (and two HS 1996 submissions) and 
preparation of comments sent to these Members 
 
As regards the verification of the unaffected part of the transposition files, out of the 115 draft 
HS02 files that were sent to Members for revi ew,  13 developing Members and  2 developed 
Members have provided a full file.  While the full files of developing Members have been checked 
against their CTS file in HS1996, only the HS 2002 changes (affected HS 6-digit subheadings) of 
developed Members were checked against their CTS file in HS1996.   
   
 
 
 
  
 
  
 
  G/MA/M/46 
 Page 7 
 
 
  ANNEX II 
 
Introduction of HS 2007 changes to schedul es of concessions using the CTS database  
Report by the Secretariat on the status of work  
 
 
The procedures for the HS 2007 transposition sti pulated that the Secretariat transposes the 
schedules of developing country Members, except  for those who undertake to prepare their own 
transposition and submit a notification to this effect  before 31 March 2007.  As reported in the last 
meeting, the Secretariat received five communicatio ns from developing Members who indicated their 
preference to prepare their own HS2007 transposition files.  I would like to remind you that only 
those Members that choose this option, i.e. to do the transposition themselves, need to  notify the 
Secretariat.  As reported at the last meeting, we have also received the HS 2007 files of two developed 
Members: Australia and Canada. 
  
Little progress was made in the HS 2007 transposition work on the side of the Secretariat 
since the last meeting.  The reasons for this w as the focus on finishing the HS02 exercise and the 
otherwise heavy workload related to the negotiations . Nevertheless, we started to review the HS 2007 
submission of  Canada.  In addition, the trans position of the ITA standard list of products was 
prepared.  This included a double transposition as this list was originally established in HS1996 
nomenclature (from HS1996 to HS2002 and from HS2002 to HS2007). G/MA/M/46 
Page 8  
 
   ANNEX III 
 
Modalities and operation of the Integrated Data base (IDB)
 
Report by the Secretariat on the status of work  
 
 
IDB Submissions  
  Since the circulation of the Status of Submissions document, G/MA/IDB/2/Rev.27, the 
Secretariat received the following submissions: 
 
• Republic of Korea 2008 tariff data 
• Iceland 2007 import data 
  IDB Dissemination and Uses
 
  
The Secretariat continues to load information ont o the IDB Internet File Transfer Facility on a 
bi-monthly basis.  As of  29  February 2008,  7 08 country-periods, covering 110 out of 123 Members 
and five acceding countries, are available on the IDB website. 2 
  
 The following Members have not yet submitte d any information to the IDB: Cambodia, 
Central African Republic, Chad, Democratic Republic  of the Congo, Guinea Bissau, Haiti, Lesotho, 
Mozambique, Saudi Arabia and Viet Nam.  
 The Secretariat intends to implement a more electronic-oriented acknowledgement 
correspondence related to the submission of notifica tions to the IDB.  At present, the Secretariat 
confirms the reception of data by sending a letter to the CMA contact in the Mission. When the 
submission comes from the capital, in addition to the letter, an email is sent to the national contact. 
 
 It is suggested, to acknowledge from now on the reception of IDB data electronically 
whenever an email contact is known to the Secretariat.   
• When data are submitted through the Mission th e sender will be notified by email of the 
receipt of the data; 
• When the notification comes from the capital, the Mission and the sender will be notified by 
email. 
• If an email address is not available for the CMA contact, the Missions' email as appears in the 
WTO Blue Book, will be used for this purpose. 
• Letters will be only sent when electronic addresses are not available. 
  If this proposed procedure causes any inconvenien ce for any of the Member's delegations they 
are requested to inform the Secretariat and the cu rrent form of acknowledgement will be retained. 
 
On the uses of IDB and CTS data I would like to mention: 
 
• IDB and CTS continue to be used for ad hoc requests from Members and the Secretariat; most 
of these are related to the ongoing negotiations; 
• They were used in the annual update of the Millennium Declaration Goal indicators; 
                                                     
 
2 The information provided by the European Communities cove rs its 27 member States as of 1 January 2007;  the 
information provided by Switzerl and covers also Liechtenstein. 
  G/MA/M/46 
 Page 9 
 
 
  • They were also used by the Secretariat in their assistance to Members regarding the 
calculation of AVEs for the NAMA and AG Negotiating Groups; 
• IDB and CTS will be used for the preparation of the electronic negotiating files. 
 
Technical Assistance  
 
Since the last meeting of the CMA in October 2007 the following TA activities have been 
undertaken: 
 
Regional NAMA workshops in  
 
• Colombia for Latin American countries 
• Madagascar for French speaking African countries 
• United Arab Emirates for Arab countries 
• Kenya for English speaking African countries 
• In Geneva for Islamic Development Bank Member countries 
 
National NAMA workshops in  
 
• Kenya, Iran, Ethiopia, Honduras, Ecuador 
 
The IDB and CTS were also presented in the re gional Trade Policy courses in Jamaica and in 
Singapore.    Software Development
 
 
 A portable version of the IAF which operate s from data distributed on a DVD and requires no 
Internet connection was distributed to Members in February along with the final release of the IDB 
CD-ROM, which will no longer be distributed.  The CTS CD-ROM was also distributed.   The Secretariat developers are working on upgrading the IDB/CTS systems to .NET 
technology.  At the same time, a number of improvements are being introduced in the IAF.  It is 
planned to make a test version available to users in the fall. 
 
  G/MA/M/46 
Page 10  
 
  ANNEX IV 
 
Consolidated Tariff Schedules (CTS) Database
 
Report by the Secretariat on the status of work  
 
 
 As concerns the regular work on the CTS work was undertaken in the following areas:  
 
• Updating Members' files with certified rectif ications and modifications of schedules; 
• Preparation of full schedules in HS2002 for developed Members and those developing 
Members who made a submission including HS2002 changes only;  
• Integrating specific commitments in agriculture  (tariff quotas and export subsidies) affected 
by both the HS96 and HS02 transpositions with the unaffected parts into database format.  
 
__________