RESTRICTED   WORLD TRADE  
ORGANIZATION  TN/TF/M/16 
3 April 2007 
 
 (07-1364) 
Negotiating Group on Trade Facilitation  
  
 
  
SUMMARY MINUTES OF THE MEETING 
 
Held in the Centre William Rappard
 
on 12-13 March 2007  
 
Chairman:  H.E. Mr. Eduardo Ernesto Sperisen-Yurt (Guatemala) 
  
1. The Chairman
 expressed his pleasure to assume his function as the Negotiating Group's new 
Chair. He recalled that the proposed agenda fo r the meeting had been circulated in WTO/AIR/2970 
and that the main purpose of the session was to  continue the established negotiating process by 
providing delegations with another opportunity to ad vance the agenda of the Group, both in terms of 
offering new input and reacting to the contributio ns previously received. Furthermore, Members 
would be invited to admit releva nt international organizations, including the IMF, OECD, UNCTAD, 
WCO and the World Bank, to attend the next meeting of the Group on an ad hoc basis, as in the past.  
2. The agenda was adopted . 
A. CONTRIBUTIONS ON THE AGREED AGENDA OF THE NEGOTIATING GROUP  
3. The Chairman  said that under the first item, delega tions were invited to contribute on the 
Group's agenda as contained in the Work Plan. Th ey would recall the agreement on it covering all 
elements of the negotiating mandate, with work pr oceeding on the basis of Members' contributions 
and other input that the Negotiating Group (NG) might request.  He understood that his predecessors 
had paid great attention to the Member-driven nature of this body and its inclusive way of operation, 
and wanted to take the opportunity to assure delega tions of that being his philosophy as well. He was 
also a firm believer in the merits of a bottom-up pr ocedure in the NGTF and was aware of that having 
been one of the keys to its success.   
4. Another aspect he would like to continue was th e pragmatic, results-oriented approach of the 
Group. He saw great value in maintaining its flex ible and inter-active mode of operation with little 
emphasis on procedure and a maximum of effort to wards enabling a frank and substantive debate.  
5. A few new contributions had been received that  he would like to take up at the beginning of 
the meeting before then turning to the earlier presen ted ones for another round of debate. In discussing 
those papers, it was proposed to stick to the previo usly applied approach where the introduction of 
new submissions would be formal whereas their disc ussion would take place in informal mode. That 
would allow Members to freely raise questions and obtain clarification at the unofficial level when discussing those contributions for the first time. Th is was the way the Group had been proceeding in 
the past with positive results. The informal excha nge would then be followed by a formal one, 
providing Members with an opportunity to present st atements they wished to make for the record, 
both with respect to new submissions and the proposals previously received.  TN/TF/M/16 
Page 2  
 
  6. Another tradition he wished to continue was the emphasis on the issues of technical assistance 
and S&D. For that reason, he suggested that contribut ions on this area be taken up first. After that, the 
NG would address the GATT Article-related submissions  that had been prepared for the meeting. 
Time would also be accorded to input from th e participating international organizations.  
7. The remaining part of the discussions under th is agenda item took place in informal mode
, 
with the exception of the following interventions: 
8. The representative of Korea  introduced a revised version of the proposal on establishing a 
Single Window (TN/TF/W/138/Rev.1), expressing hi s appreciation to Singapore and Thailand for 
their continued co-sponsorship. He then briefly hi ghlighted the changes co mpared to the earlier 
version of the document.     
9. In the first bullet, the earlier third-generation pr oposal had been slightly modified in response 
to the feedback from various delegations by deleting the words " establish or designate a single entry 
point ", maintaining the part suggesting that " Members shall provide for the 'single window' ..... ". 
Korea was of the view that a Single Window could be established in many places. There could be a 
couple of windows; a couple of agencies could function as a Single Window so that traders could 
provide their documents or submit the data only one time with the Single Window then undertaking 
their onward distribution to all the relevant authorities or agencies.   
10. The representative of Korea  presented a revised version of his delegation's proposal on release 
time of goods (TN/TF/W/139/Rev.1). Comments ha d been received on the earlier version by 
Australia, the United States and Canada relating to the question of how to measure release time of 
goods.  The previous proposal had suggested that this should be done on the basis of the WCO Time 
Release Study.  However, some countries had raised questions about this, and, as a result, Korea now 
proposed to revise the proposal in bullet point 1, speaking of " using tools such as the WCO Time 
Release Study " instead.  
11. The reason for the change was to make clear th at it was not the intention to compare release 
times between countries. Rather, the idea was merely to  secure transparency of  average release times.  
It was further suggested to publish those rel ease times. The proposal called for Members to 
expeditiously reduce their respective times and make  advances in increasing the efficiency of the 
administration process. 
12. Moving back into formal mode , the Chairman  asked whether any delegation wished to make a 
statement for the record. 
13. There were no requests. 
14. The Negotiating Group took note  of the statements made. 
B. AD HOC ATTENDANCE OF RELEVANT INTERNATIONAL ORGANIZATIONS , INCLUDING THE 
IMF,  OECD,  UNCTAD,  WCO  AND THE WORLD BANK, AT THE NEXT MEETING OF THE 
NEGOTIATING GROUP  
15. The Chairman  suggested inviting relevant internati onal organizations, including the IMF, 
OECD, UNCTAD, WCO and the World Bank to attend th e next formal meeting of the NG on an ad 
hoc basis, as provided for in the Work Plan. 
16. It was so agreed .  TN/TF/M/16 
 Page 3 
 
 
  C. OTHER BUSINESS  
17. The Chairman  raised the issue of the Group's next meeting.  Consultations with the Secretariat 
on available meeting facilities had shown for there to be a slot on 30 April and 1 May.  Following 
that, the Group could meet on 7 and 8 June, and on 16 and 18 July.     
18. The representative of Switzerland  observed that there had been parallel meetings in the WCO 
and wondered whether it would be possible for NGTF meetings not to take place at the same time, 
and whether one could explore the possibilities with  the WCO for having back-to back meetings. If 
capital-based people had already come to Brussels, it would be relatively easy to come to Geneva 
immediately afterwards.  
19. The Chairman  replied that efforts would be ma de to take that into account.   
20. The representative of Ecuador  wondered whether 1 May was not a holiday. It was labour day, 
which meant that there could be problems with thei r counterparts back in the capital.  Perhaps one 
could review the dates. For Ecuador, it could be complicated.  
21. The Chairman  said that consultations would be held on the available dates.  
22. The representative of Japan  said that while 1 May was not a holiday in Japan, 30 April was.   
Japan also had holidays on 3 and 4 May. That week was known as "Golden Week" in Japan with 
almost everyone except Government officials being on hol iday.  It was very difficult to get a flight out 
of Tokyo that week.  Not withstanding the fact that Japan was eager to participate, it might not be able 
to get a flight out of Tokyo to Geneva.  
23. The Chairman  said that the schedule was very complicated. Every effort would be made to 
reconsider the suggested dates within existing limitati ons but the options were very limited. He would 
nevertheless consult on the matter and inform Members as soon as possible about the most 
appropriate dates.   
24. The Negotiating Group took note  of the statements made. 
25. The meeting was adjourned .  
__________