. /.  RESTRICTED  WORLD TRADE  
ORGANIZATION  TCA/M/21 
28 July 2006 
 (06-3639) 
Committee on Trade in Civil Aircraft  
  
 
MINUTES OF THE MEETING  
HELD ON 7 JUNE 2006 
 
Chairperson:  Mr. Didier Chambovey 
 
1. The Committee on Trade in Civil Aircraft (the  "Committee") held a regular meeting on 
7 June 2006. 
2. The Committee adopted the following agenda: 
Page
 
A. CONSIDERATION OF THE STATUS OF THE 1979  AGREEMENT ON TRADE IN CIVIL 
AIRCRAFT UNDER THE WTO .........................................................................................................1  
B. ENLARGEMENT OF TH E EU AND ARTICLE 9 OF THE AGREEMENT ................................................1  
C. CHAIR 'S PROPOSAL TO REDUCE NUMBER OF MEETINGS ..............................................................2  
D. OTHER BUSINESS .........................................................................................................................2  
E. DATE OF NEXT REGULAR MEETING ..............................................................................................2  
F. ELECTION OF A CHAIRPERSON .....................................................................................................2  
 
 A. 
CONSIDERATION OF THE STATUS OF THE 1979  AGREEMENT ON TRADE IN CIVIL AIRCRAFT 
UNDER THE WTO  
3. The Chairperson  recalled that in April 1999 he had sent Signatories a draft protocol 
concerning technical rectifications needed to brin g the Agreement on Trade in Civil Aircraft (the 
"Agreement") into the WTO framework.  He reported that since then certain Signatories had remained 
unable to adopt this draft Protocol and that he had received no indication from any Signatory that the 
situation had changed since the last meeting of the Committee. 
4. The Committee agreed  to revert to this matter at its next regular meeting.  
B. ENLARGEMENT OF TH E EU AND ARTICLE 9 OF THE AGREEMENT  
5. The Chairperson  recalled that at the Committee's meeting of 10 November 2004 the 
United States posed a number of questions to the European Communities, Poland, Hungary, the Czech 
Republic, Latvia, Estonia, Lithuania, Slovenia, Cyprus, Malta and the Slovak Republic regarding 
enlargement of the European Union.   
6. At the last meeting of the Committee, the Chairperson had proposed that the European 
Communities inform the Signatories of  the answers they had provided to the questions that had been TCA/M/21 
Page 2  
 
  raised and which might have subsequently been discussed at a bilateral level.  He invited the 
representative of the European Union to report on  any developments that had come to light. 
7. The representative of the European Communities
 stated that in substance his delegation's  
position remained unchanged.  He felt that the enla rgement of the EU had automatically broadened 
the scope of the provisions of the Agreement to th e new member States.  Accordingly, all member 
States were subject to the obligations contained in the provisions of the Agreement which now 
extended to the entire territory of the 25 members of the EU.  He felt it was unnecessary to add any 
further information at this point, and simply wish ed to refer Signatories to the minutes of the last 
meeting. 
8. The Chairperson  stated that, as it appeared that the co nclusions and explanations provided by 
the EC satisfied the Signatories, this matter was now closed. 
C. CHAIR 'S PROPOSAL TO REDUCE NUMBER OF MEETINGS  
9. The Chairperson  stated that, in his opinion, there were  currently insufficien t issues to justify 
meetings of the Committee being held twice a year as  was the current practice.  He recalled the legal 
requirements of Article 8.1 of the Agreement on Tr ade in Civil Aircraft which provided that the 
Committee should meet as necessary, but not less than on ce a year.  In light of the brevity of some of 
the Committee's last meetings , the Chairperson proposed that the Committee should reduce the 
number of Committee meetings a year, from two to one.  For practical reasons, and because of the requirement to prepare the annual report in partic ular, he proposed that the Committee's yearly 
meeting be held in the Autumn. 
10. It was agreed
 that the Committee would meet once a year, in the Autumn, and that the 
practice of yearly meetings would come into force as of 2007. 
D. OTHER BUSINESS  
11. There were no issues raised under this agenda item. 
E. DATE OF NEXT REGULAR MEETING  
12. The Chairperson  proposed that the next regular meeting of the Committee be held on 
Wednesday, 8 November 2006. 
F. ELECTION OF A CHAIRPERSON  
13. The Chairperson  stated that he would shortly be taking up a new position which was 
incompatible with the Chair of the Committee on Trade in Civil Aircraft and that he had therefore 
asked the Secretariat to carry out a series of consultations with a view to identifying a new 
Chairperson.  In this regard he was pleased to propose Mr. Guillaume Cliche from Canada to serve as 
the new Chair of the Committee. 
14. The Committee elected  Mr. Cliche by acclamation. 
15. The meeting was adjourned . 
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