WORLD TRADE  
ORGANIZATION  G/L/742 
20 July 2005 
 (05-3227) 
Committee on Trade-Related Investment Measures  
  
 
 
CONSIDERATION OF PROPOSALS ON S&D TREATMENT PROVISIONS  
 
Report by the Chairman of the Committe e on Trade-Related Investment Measures
 
to the General Council  
 
 
1. Pursuant to the Decision adopted by the Ge neral Council on 1 August 2004 (WT/L/579, 
paragraph 1(d)), the Committee on Trade-Related Investment Measures has considered two     
Category II proposals on special and differential treatme nt related to Article 4 and Article 5.3 of the 
TRIMs Agreement. The proposals were submitted by the African Group originally in document 
TN/CTD/W/3/Rev.2.  A revised version of the proposals was submitted by the proponents in         
May 2005 (see Annex).    
2. Specifically, the Committee held three formal meet ings (26 October 2004, 4 March and       
12 July 2005) and two informal open-ended meeti ngs (29 November 2004 and 9 May 2005) to discuss 
the S&D proposals.  In addition, I have conducte d various rounds of inform al consultations with 
interested Members on this topic.  At the inform al meeting of  9 May 2005, the Committee discussed 
a revised version of the proposals submitted by Keny a on behalf of the African Group, which target 
more specifically the interests of the African countries.   
3. While discussions in the Committee allowed for a frank exchange of views and shed more 
insight into the underlying concerns that the proponents seek to address, the Committee has been 
unable to arrive at a solution that  would have enabled it to agree to  these proposals or to alternative 
compromise solutions. 
4. My personal assessment is that, while it would appear possible to reach agreement on the first 
part of the revised African Group proposal on Artic le 4, certain fundamental questions remain 
unresolved with respect to other elements in the second part of the proposal on Article 4 and in the 
proposal on Article 5.3, including, in particular , the country-scope and the time-horizon for their 
application.  Nevertheless, I have sensed that ther e might be room for progress also in these areas if 
Members manage to work with creativity and fl exibility to find a satisfactory solution.  My 
recommendation to the General Council, therefore, w ould be to keep this ma tter under consideration. 
 
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 G/L/742 
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 ANNEX
 
  
S&D PROPOSALS ON THE TRIMS AGREEMENT
 
 
Revised Text  
  Proposals related to Article 4 of the TRIMs Agreement
 
 
Members shall interpret and apply Article 4 of th e TRIMs Agreement in acco rdance with the balance-
of-payments provisions referred to in Article 4 of the TRIMs Agreement, and in a manner that fully 
supports measures taken by developing and least -developed country Members to safeguard their 
external financial position, balance-of-payments an d sufficiency of reserves, taking full account of 
paragraph 1.1. of the Ministerial Decision on Implementation-Related Issues and Concerns1.  
 
Members shall interpret and apply Article 4 of  the TRIMs Agreement in accordance with the 
provisions of Article XVIII of GA TT 1994 referred to in Article 4 of the TRIMs Agreement, and in a 
manner that fully supports measures taken by de veloping and least-developed country Members to 
promote the establishment of a particular industry,  taking full account of paragraph 1.1. of the 
Ministerial Decision on Implementa tion-Related Issues and Concerns2.   
 
• In considering requests to apply TRIMs unde r Article XVIII of the GATT 1994, Members 
shall take into account any difficulties encountered by least-developed and developing countries in meeting the notification and cons ultation requirements contained in Article 
XVIII, paragraphs 14 to 19, and the WTO Secr etariat shall accord them such technical 
assistance and support as they may need in order to prepare their notifications and to carry out 
those consultations.   
• In order to assist African countries whose depe ndence on primary production is particularly 
high and whose overall level of industrialisa tion is particularly low to accelerate their 
industrialisation process and to diversify the st ructure of their economies in line with the 
objective recognized in Article XXXVI:5 of th e GATT 1994 and its Ad Note, the phrase “free 
to deviate temporarily from the provisions of Artic le 2” that is contained in Article 4 of the 
TRIMs Agreement shall be understood to refer, in  the case of these countries, to a reasonable 
period of time sufficient to establish the par ticular industry in question on a competitive 
footing, which normally shall be understood to re fer to a period of not less than 6 years.   
 Proposal related to Article 5.3 of the TRIMs Agreement
 
 
Least-developed countries and other developing co untries which are party to a regional agreement 
within the meaning of Article XXIV of the GATT 1994 and the Decision of 28 November 1979 on 
Differential and More Favourable Treatment, Recipr ocity and Fuller Participation of Developing 
Countries (L/4903), at least half of the current membership of which is made up of countries currently on the United Nations list of least-developed countries, that demonstrate difficulties in implementing 
                                                     
 
1 Paragraph 1.1 of the Ministerial Decision on Implementation-Related Issues and Concerns, adopted 
on 14 November 2001, "reaffirms that Article XVIII of  the GATT 1994 is a special and differential treatment 
provision for developing countries and that recourse to it should be less onerous than to Article XII of the GATT 1994". 
2 Paragraph 1.1 of the Ministerial Decision on Implementation-Related Issues and Concerns, adopted 
on 14 November 2001, "reaffirms that Article XVIII of  the GATT 1994 is a special and differential treatment 
provision for developing countries and that recourse to it should be less onerous than to Article XII of the GATT 
1994".  G/L/742 
 Page 3 
 
 
 the provisions of the TRIMs Agreement shall be provided with a new opportunity to notify TRIMs 
and to request transition periods to eliminate the meas ures.  With regard to requests made in this area 
by these Members under Article IX of the WTO Agreement, account shall be taken of their particular circumstances when setting the te rms and conditions, including ti me-frames, under which transition 
periods are granted. 
 
 
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