./.  WORLD TRADE  
ORGANIZATION  TN/RL/11 
10 February 2005 
 (05-0549) 
Negotiating Group on Rules  
  
 
NEGOTIATING GROUP ON RULES 
 
Report by the Chairman to the 
 
Trade Negotiations Committee  
 
 
I. STATUS OF WORK 
1. Since my last Report to the Trade Negotia tions Committee in early December 2004, the 
Negotiating Group has held three further meeti ngs, on 14-16 December 2004 (Anti-Dumping and 
Subsidies & Countervailing Measures, including Fi sheries Subsidies) and on 13 December 2004 and 
24 January 2005 (Regional Trade Agreements - RTAs ).  The Group will meet again in the week of 
21 February to continue its work on AD/SC M issues, and on 7 March regarding RTAs.  
2. To date, 170 formal submissions have been received from Participants.  These submissions 
have been circulated in the TN/RL/W/... series.  In addition, the Group has received 31 informal elaborated proposals relating to AD and/or to SCM.  While these proposals have been circulated as 
JOB documents, all such proposals have also been circulated at the request of the Participants 
submitting them as unrestricted documents in the TN/RL/GEN/... series.  In the area of RTAs, four 
background notes elaborated by the Secretariat at the Group's request, and three informal notes by the Chairman, have been circulated as JOB documents. 
II. FUTURE WORK 
A. 
ANTI -DUMPING , AND SUBSIDIES AND COUNTERVAILING MEASURES INCLUDING FISHERIES 
SUBSIDIES  
3. The Group's meetings on these issues have three components: a formal meeting, informal 
sessions to discuss in detail informal elaborated pr oposals, and bilateral and plurilateral consultations 
among delegations.  I consider that all three elem ents of our work remain important to further 
progress.  In particular, I am aware that many de legations still have issues that they would like to 
present in the formal and/or inform al plenary fora.  I am further c onvinced that intensive informal 
contacts between delegations at th e bilateral and plurilateral level are important to building mutual 
understanding.  
4. That said, there is an increasingly widespread vi ew, which I share, that we must evolve the 
nature of our work significantly, both in terms of subs tance and of process, in order to insure that the 
Rules area makes its contribution to the successful completion of the Doha Development Agenda.  I 
have been holding intensive bilate ral consultations with a number of delegations with a view to 
identifying the best way forward, and I expect to furt her explore this issue at our February meeting.  I 
would however like to emphasize that the momentum for these – and indeed any – negotiations must come from the Members.  Thus, I encourage delegati ons to be as concrete as possible regarding how 
we could intensify the process, and what could be  the Group's contribution to the overall progress of 
the negotiations, while at the same time demons trating the realism and pragmatism that will be 
required if we are to succeed in our task.  TN/RL/11 
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B. 
REGIONAL TRADE AGREEMENTS  
5. During the last two meetings devoted to RTAs, work has mainly focused on RTAs 
Transparency, on the basis of Chairman's informal  notes.  While the purely "technical" debate is 
nearing conclusion, work still needs to be pursued on some aspects of the RTAs reviewing process, in 
particular regarding the submission of trade inform ation, RTAs periodic reporting, and the scope of 
this new process.  I will be holding consultations, at  various levels and on a ll pending issues in the 
coming weeks. 
6. During the past months, the Group has had the opportunity to discuss on the broad range of 
systemic issues included in a Chairman's Roadmap.  It seems to me that the Group, though determined 
to move forward in its consideration of these issues,  has not yet focused its attention on the details of 
that part of the negotiations' mandate.  I am curre ntly engaged in a series of informal individual 
meetings with interested delegations, to gather  their views upon the work done on RTAs' systemic 
issues, and on how to take it forward, so that a balanced negotiation outcome can be obtained.  It is my hope that, by the next TNC meeting, I will be in a position to report to you on the adoption of a 
pragmatic approach to deal with RTAs' systemic issues. 
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