WORLD TRADE  
ORGANIZATION  WT/COMTD/51/Add.7 
31 July 2009 
 
 (09-3722) 
Committee on Trade and Development Original:   English 
  
 
FRAMEWORK AGREEMENT ON COMPRE HENSIVE ECONOMIC COOPERATION 
BETWEEN THE ASSOCIATION OF SOUTH EAST ASIAN NATIONS  
AND THE PEOPLE'S REPUBLIC OF CHINA 
 
Communication from the Parties to the Agreement
 
 
Addendum  
  
The following communication, dated 29 July 2009, is being circulated at the request of the 
delegation of Thailand on beha lf of the ASEAN members of the WTO (Brunei Darussalam, 
Cambodia, Indonesia, Malaysia, Myanmar, the Phili ppines, Singapore, Thailand and Viet Nam) and 
China.  
_______________ 
  
This document contains responses to the questi ons raised by the United States in document 
WT/COMTD/51/Add.5.    
 
 WT/COMTD/51/Add.7 
Page 2  
 
  RESPONSES TO QUESTIONS POSED BY THE UNITED STATES 
(WT/COMTD/51/Add.5) 
  
No. QUESTIONS 
 ANSWERS 
1. In question 5(a), the United States asked the Parties to 
provide trade flow and tariff data for products in each 
of the four liberalization schedules:  Early Harvest 
Program (EHP), Normal Track (NT), Sensitive List (SL), and Highly Sensitive List (HSL).  The Parties 
provided no trade flow data at all nor any tariff line 
data for the Early Harvest Program.  
• Could the Parties please provide the data 
originally requested?    
 Total trade between ASEAN and China were: US$58.5 
billion (2003), US$87.4 billion (2004), US$111.3 billion 
(2005) US$137.5 billion (2006) and US$170.4 billion 
(2007).   
Imports of China from ASEAN in Ch 1-8 (Early Harvest 
Program) were US$567.5 million (2003), US$798.7 million (2004) and US$944.4 milli on (2005), US$ 1.2 billion 
(2006) and US$1.4 billion (2007). [China’s data] 
 Imports of ASEAN from China in Ch 1-8 (Early Harvest 
Program) were US$661.1 million (2003), US$886 million 
(2004), US$1 billion (2005),  US$1.3 billion (2006), US$1.2 billion (2007)[ASEAN’s data] 
 
The rest of the trade will be Normal Track with a small percentage of Sensitive Track trade. 
 
2. In response to question 5(b), the Parties assert that 
upon completion of libera lization, on average, 
95 per cent of tariff lines for ASEAN6 and China will 
be duty free, and 93.7 per cent for CLMV will be duty free.   
• For each party to the ag reement, please provide 
the total number of tariff lines that will be duty free upon full liberalization and the total number 
of tariff lines in that country's schedule (i.e., the 
numerator and denominator for this calculation). 
 Not all Parties have completed the transposition to HS 2007 
and these lines are still being finalised by the parties to 
enable the actual figures to be tabulated. 
3. The Parties have not provided the information 
requested in question 5(c).   
• For each Party to the Agreement, please provide 
the number of tariff lines and value of trade not 
included in the Early Harvest Program, the 
Normal Track, the Sensitive List or the Highly Sensitive List. 
 The number of excluded tariff lines in the EHP and SL are 
already published in the ACFTA Agreements. 
   For those lines not in the EHP, NT and ST, these are 
minimal and confine only to a few parties. 
 
4. In question 7, we asked whether the tariff reductions 
and eliminations under Article 6(3)(b)(i) of the 
Framework Agreement (as modified by the Protocol), 
had been completed .  The Parties responded that the 
liberalization/elimination had commenced .   
• Please provide information as to the completion, 
not commencement, of the liberalization/elimination of tariffs under the Early 
Harvest Program. 
 Tariff reductions and elimination under the EHP has been 
completed for China, ASEAN 6 and Viet Nam 
 
  WT/COMTD/51/Add.7 
 Page 3 
 
 
  No. QUESTIONS 
 ANSWERS 
5. In question 9, the United States requested an update 
as to tariff reductions and eliminations that have 
taken place to date.  The Parties' generic response 
stated that only those Parties who have enacted the 
agreement must implement the tariff 
reductions/eliminations.   
• Please provide an update as to which tariff 
reductions and eliminations have actually 
occurred.  
 A preliminary compliance asse ssment indicates that all 
parties have undertaken reductions and elimination of 
tariffs according to schedule and verifications are still on-
going on a minimal number of lines in most cases. 
6. In response to question 10, the Parties referred to 
what should  happen under the liberalization schedule 
of the ACFTA.  Our question, however, sought an update as to the actual schedule for liberalization.   
• Please provide update on whether each Party is 
adhering to the scheduled liberalizations required under the Normal Track.  
 See answer 5 above. 
7. In question 16(a), we requested the trade-weighted 
and simple average tariff rates for each Party's 
Sensitive List and Highly Sensitive List after full 
implementation of the ACFTA.  No data were provided.   
• Please provide at least the simple average tariff 
rates for each Party’s Sensitive List and Highly Sensitive List.   
 The simple average tariff for parties SL and HSL where 
information is available ranges from 14.1 per cent to 
43.9 per cent. 
 
 
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