. /.  RESTRICTED  WORLD TRADE  
ORGANIZATION  TN/CTD/M/34 
19 December 2008 
 
 (08-6248) 
Committee on Trade and Development 
Thirty-Fourth Special Session  
 
 
 
NOTE ON THE MEETING OF 9 DECEMBER 2008 
 
Chairman:  Ambassador Thawat chai Sophastienphong (Thailand) 
  
A.
 ADOPTION OF THE AGENDA .........................................................................................................1  
B. REPORTING ON WORK UNDERTAKE N OVER THE PAST FEW MONTHS ...........................................1  
C. OTHER BUSINESS .........................................................................................................................2  
 
 
A. ADOPTION OF THE AGENDA  
1. The draft agenda for the meeting as contained in airgram WTO/AIR/3291 of 
26 November 2008 was adopted.   
B. REPORTING ON WORK UNDERTAKE N OVER THE PAST FEW MONTHS  
2. The Chairman  said that the purpose of the meeting was not to engage in substantive 
discussions on any of the work but rather to update  Members on the work that had been carried out 
since the Special Session had last met in October 2 008.  He said that since Members had given him 
the go ahead to resume work in October, he had held a number of small group consultations.  These 
consultations had focused on addressing the Agre ement-specific proposals and the Monitoring 
Mechanism.  Discussions on the Agreement-specifi c proposals had concentrated on those proposals 
where divergences appeared to be significant, namely the proposals on Article 10.2 and Article 10.3 
of the Agreement on Sanitary and Phytosanitary Measu res (SPS Agreement).  That was not to say that 
Members had reached agreement on the other propo sals.  However, he felt that Members should 
concentrate their efforts on closing the gaps on t hose issues which were presently more problematic.  
He said that the discussions on the SPS proposals had continued on the basis of the language 
contained in Annex II of his last report to th e Trade Negotiations Committee (TNC) contained in 
document TN/CTD/22.  While a number of textual sugg estions had been made in an attempt to bridge 
the gaps, Members were not yet at a stage where they  could revise the language cu rrently on the table.  
On the proposal relating to Article 10.2 of the SPS Agreement, there were still a number of issues on 
which Members had sought clarification and on which questions had been raised.  For example, some 
Members had asked if it was for the Member intr oducing the new SPS measure to decide on whether 
to phase in that measure or not.  He informed Me mbers that the Secretariat staff dealing with SPS 
issues had been present at the consultations to provid e clarity on this and a number of other issues, 
and he hoped that the clarity provided would en able Members to make further progress on the 
proposals.  With respect to the proposals rela ting to Article 10.3 of the SPS Agreement, the 
difficulties that existed related to the different inte rpretations of some of the words contained in the 
language.  As a result, Members had been exploring alternative words that could provide comfort to 
all.  On the Category II proposals, he said that th e Secretariat was in the process of identifying those 
proposals that could be deemed to have been addr essed as part of the ongoing negotiations.  This TN/CTD/M/34 
Page 2  
 
  would help the Special Session focus and ensure that progress was expedited on the remaining 
proposals.  Members would be updated on any progress in this regard. 
3. He went on to say that discussions on the M onitoring Mechanism had continued on the basis 
of the non-paper contained in Annex III of his last  report to the TNC, as well as on the basis of 
submissions made by Members.  He recalled that in  February, Egypt, India and Pakistan had tabled a 
submission which built on his non-paper and proposed additional elements to the Mechanism.  The 
submission, which was distributed to Members at  the meeting held in March 2008, proposed the 
inclusion of a preamble which sought  to provide clarity on the intent of the Monitoring Mechanism.  
It also called for a wider scope by proposing that the Mechanism also monito r the implementation and 
effectiveness of the 28 proposals agreed to in principle at Cancún, as well as the five proposals 
adopted in favour of the LDCs at the Hong Kong Mini sterial Conference.  At the consultations held 
two weeks earlier on the Monitoring Mechanism, Brazil had tabled an informal non-paper which 
suggested amendments as well as proposed additional el ements to the submission tabled by Egypt and 
others.  This informal non-paper,  dated 28 November 2008, was made available to Members at the 
back of the room.  Among others, the non-paper proposed the frequency at which the Mechanism 
should meet as well as the basis on which the mon itoring should take place.  Discussions had, 
therefore, taken place on the basis of the three non-papers on the table, and were still at a preliminary stage.  In addition, there were still a number of elem ents that required further clarification.  He was, 
however, pleased to note that discussions as well as Members' suggestions were providing more substance to the elements of the Monitoring Mechanism.   
4. The Chairman
 concluded by informing Members that his report to the upcoming General 
Council would be factual and highlight the work that  had been carried out during the year.  The report 
would also indicate the basis on which work would c ontinue in 2009.  As regards the scheduling of 
future meetings, the dates would, as was the practi ce, be communicated to Members beforehand.  He 
hoped that when Members returned from the holid ays, they would have established modalities in 
Agriculture and NAMA and would be ready to c onclude their work in the Special Session.  
C. OTHER BUSINESS  
5. No matter was raised under other business. 
 
 
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