WORLD TRADE  
ORGANIZATION  WT/GC/102 
7 December 2005 
 (05-5827) 
General Council  
  
 
WORK PROGRAMME ON SPECIAL AND DIFFERENTIAL TREATMENT  
 
Statements by Chairpersons at the 1-2 December meeting of the 
 
General Council under Item 12(d)(ii) of the Agenda:  
 
"Work Programme on Special and Differential Treatme nt - Report by the Chairman of the Special 
Session of the Committee on Trade and Developmen t and by Chairpersons of other WTO bodies  
to whom Special and Differential Tr eatment proposals have been referred " 
 
_______________ 
 
 As announced by the Chairman of the General Council at the Council meeting on 
1-2 December, the statements by Chairpersons under Item 12(d)(ii) are being circulated for the information of Members.  
_______________ 
 
 
1. Chairman of the Special Session of th e Committee on Trade and Development 
 "As Members will be aware, I have already s ubmitted my detailed report on the work of the 
Special Session since July to the TNC at its mee ting held on 30 November.  However, I would like, 
for the benefit of those Members who have not been  present to briefly highlight the main points.   
  "My report which is contained in document TN/C TD/14 highlights the work carried out in the 
Special Session since July 2005.  Th e Special Session has, during this  period, focused mainly on the 
five remaining LDC Agreement-Specific proposals and while Members have been able to make some 
progress on narrowing down their differences on the se proposals, divergences still remain on certain 
key areas of these proposals.  These divergences are now reflected in the text of the Draft Ministerial 
Text, Annex F (JOB(05)/298/Rev.1).  It remains my hope that these remaining differences can be 
resolved in Hong Kong.     "I would also like to mention that some deve loping country members have continued to raise 
concerns about the lack of progress on the Cate gory II proposals which had been referred to other 
WTO bodies and negotiating groups.  As a result,  I had convened a meeting with the various 
Chairpersons of these bodies on 24 October in order to  obtain feedback on the current status of the 
work on the proposals and how that work could be e xpedited.  I have reported in detail to all the 
Members in the CTD Special Session on the reports I received from these Chairpersons of the various 
bodies to which the Category II proposals have been sent. 
  "Finally, I wish to take this opportunity to th ank Members for their active participation in the 
negotiations and in particular I would like to tha nk the team from the Secretariat who have worked 
tirelessly with me to advance these negotiations.  WT/GC/102 
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  "In conclusion, as I hand over this responsibility I wish to record my view that a successful 
resolution of these five LDC proposals must remain one of our priorities in Hong Kong as it is a crucial component of the development content of this Round."  
2. Chairman of the Special Session of the Committee on Agriculture 
 "First of all, for the information of all de legations, the relevant proposals are in a document 
circulated from the African Group on 17 July 2002 (TN/CTD/W/3/Rev.2), and as you are aware a progress report on the discussion on these proposals was made at the July Council.  I do not intend to 
repeat that report now.  But I can say that since then I have been in a position to hold a number of 
consultations in formal and informal mode with all Members present – and also with smaller 
representative groups – on those proposals and on the matters covered by them.  Many of those 
consultations were devoted to or included the s ubject of special and differential treatment including 
the specific matters covered in the proposals from the African Group.  I would say that some specific elements of those proposals have been addressed or  clarified by the 1 August Decision of the General 
Council (WT/L/579).  On the other elements, I think th at since July 2004 there has been some degree 
of convergence on some of them but, clearly, full convergence and agreement eludes us.  I draw your 
attention to a number of proposals that are concrete ly on the table such as the proposals from the G-33 
on Special Products and Special Safeguard Mechanism which, among other things  we have before us, 
do address pretty directly the concerns that unde rlie a number of the original proposals from the 
African Group and these proposals of course remain on the table as part of our work.    
 "My own report to the TNC (TN/AG/21) on the situation of the agriculture negotiations is as 
best as I can lay out in detail my current understanding  of the state-of-play and I won't repeat here the 
elements related to special and differential treatment i ssues in that report.  I would say, briefly, that I 
see some real movement, although by no means suffi cient and certainly not comprehensive and in no 
way conclusive.  It's pretty clear that we have a lot of work to do on these issues, as well as others, 
and that is the only way we can effectively resolv e the proposals before us and the context in which 
they have been placed in front of us."  
3. Chairman of the Committee on Agriculture 
 "My report as Chairman of the regular meetings of the Committee on Agriculture relates to 
the Committee's consideration of a proposal by the African Group in the context of the 
implementation of the Marrakesh Decision on Measures concerning the possible Negative Effects of 
the Reform Programme on Least-Developed and Net Food-Importing Developing Countries.  The 
Committee's discussion has focussed on the proposal to establish a Revolving Fund in the framework 
of the Marrakesh Decision.  The submission also c ontains certain food aid-related proposals but, as 
some Members considered that food aid issues shoul d be addressed in the agriculture negotiations or 
by the Food Aid Convention, these aspects were not further pursued.   
  "The Revolving Fund proposal, which was or iginally submitted by a group of Net Food-
Importing Developing Countries, has been the subject of discussions since 2001.  At the Doha Ministerial Conference you will recall that it was agr eed that a panel of experts be established to 
examine the proposal.  The experts from the IMF, World Bank, FAO, UNCTAD and the International 
Grains Council submitted their report with recommend ations in 2002 (G/AG/13) .  The sponsors of the 
proposal subsequently tabled a m odified version of the Revolving Fund proposal which was discussed 
in a Roundtable with the participation of Member s but, in the end, this proposal did not attract 
consensus among Members.    
 "The proposal by the African Group has been on the agenda of each of the meetings of the 
Committee on Agriculture since June 2003.   The Co mmittee's deliberation of the proposal is set out 
more fully in the report in G/AG/20 that was submitt ed by my predecessor in July 2005.  The general  WT/GC/102 
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 conclusion remains that the discussion of the African Group proposal as it currently stands has 
reached an impasse and that the African Group may wi sh to consider revising it.   Indeed, a Member 
of the African Group indicated earlier this year th at a follow-up proposal was under preparation.  In 
response, a number of donor Members have signalle d their readiness to engage in discussions once 
the proposal would be submitted.  As Chairman, I can confirm that the Committee on Agriculture 
stands ready to examine expeditiously any follow- up proposal that may be tabled by the African 
Group."  
4. Chairman of the Negotiating Group on Rules 
 "I appreciate having this opportunity to provide  an update on the status of the Category II 
proposals on special and differential treatment that  the General Council referred to the Negotiating 
Group on Rules.  As indicated in my July 2005 re port (TN/RL/14), these proposals relate to Article 15 
of the Agreement on Anti-dumping and to Article s 3 and 27 of the Agreement on Subsidies and 
Countervailing Measures.    
 "Members will recall that, as I have reported earlier, these proposals figured on the agenda of 
a number of meetings of the Negotiating Group in 2003 and 2004, but that except in respect of one of 
the proposals, the sponsors were unable to attend th ese meetings or were not in a position to introduce 
the proposals.  Since my July report, the Negotia ting Group has held three series of meetings, during 
the week of 26 September, during the week of 24 October, and this week, and no Participant has 
sought to pursue any of these proposals during these m eetings.  I have had a series of contacts with 
and provided briefings to the sponsors of these pr oposals, that is, the African Group and the LDC 
Group, and as always I remain available for furthe r dialogue.  I would conc lude by saying more 
generally that developing Members remain very ac tively involved in all asp ects of the Rules mandate, 
including in respect of S&D issues."  5. Chairman of the Special Session of the Council for Trade in Services  
 "As indicated in the Chairman's Report to the TNC last July (TN/S/21 of 22 July 2005), the 
consideration of GATS-specific proposals on S&D treat ment has been on the agenda of the Special 
Session of the Council for Trade in Services since its l ast meeting in 2004.  In February of this year, 
the proponents of the S&D proposals indicated that they were preparing a written document upon which to pursue further discussions.  Subsequent c onsultations have given de legations the opportunity 
to pose questions and seek clarifications, in particular on two proposals put forward by the African 
Group.     "Although the consultations on these proposals initia lly remained at a general and exploratory 
level, the African Group has since informed the Sp ecial Session that text-based discussions have taken 
place in small groups.  It is my understanding that there has been some meas ured progress in these 
small group meetings and that the proponents would be willing to ava il themselves of my good offices 
to pursue these discussions.   "As Chair of the Special  Session of the CTS,  I can assure Members that the CTS will make 
every effort to fulfil the mandate that the General C ouncil has given it by virtue of Section 1(d) of its 
Decision of 1 August 2004 on the Doha Work Programme (WT/L/579)." 
 
6. Chairman of the Council for TRIPS 
 "Since the last time reported on this matter to  the General Council, the Council for TRIPS 
took up the Category II proposals referred to it at its  meeting in October.  The Council authorized me 
to report that the situation rema ined as described in my written report to the General Council's July 
meeting that was circulated in document IP/C/36.  As  indicated in that report, at its July meeting the WT/GC/102 
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 TRIPS Council had agreed to authorize me to re port to the General Council that it reiterated its 
recommendation concerning a text that it had forwar ded in August 2003 to the Chair of the General 
Council for appropriate action.  This text reflects an agreement among participants on a solution to a 
proposal by the African Group concerning exclusiv e marketing rights.  The aforementioned report 
also provided a brief factual report on what has happ ened with regard to the other proposals referred 
to the Council.  It continues to be the case that , since the General Council Decision of 1 August 2004 
on the Doha Work Programme, no delegation has taken up these other proposals."  
7. Chairperson of the Committee on Safeguards 
 "I would like to thank you for this opportuni ty to report to the General Council on the S&D 
proposals put to Safeguards Committee.  As Memb ers would recall, in July 2003 the Safeguards 
Committee reported in detail to the General Council concerning the proposals referred to it.  That 
report was presented in writing to the General Council in document G/SG/64.  The report's conclusion 
was that the informal consultations indicated th at there was no consensus in the Committee on these 
proposals.  
 
 "In November 2004, the Safeguards Committee held a meeting dedicated for any further 
discussions on the proposals, but the meeting turned out to be a very short one, with Members confirming that the situation remained unchanged, and thus the Committee was not able to suggest a 
course of action on this issue due to lack of consen sus.  This report was presented in writing to the 
General Council in document G/SG/78.   
 
 "More recently, in late October this year, I have personally contacted the proponents of the 
proposals.  However, nothing new has evolved as a result of this contact."  
8. Chairman of the Committee on TRIMs 
 "Two S&D proposals in Category II have been  referred to the Committee on Trade-Related 
Investment Measures by the General Council.  Both  proposals have been submitted by the African 
Group, and all of them relate to Article 4 and Ar ticle 5.3 of the TRIMs Agreement, respectively. 
  "Pursuant to the Decision adopted by th e General Council on 1 August 2004, under the 
Chairmanship of my predecessor, the TRIMs Comm ittee held a number of formal meetings and 
informal consultations to consider these proposal s.  In May 2005, the Committee discussed a revised 
version of the proposals submitted by Kenya, on be half of the African Group, which seeks to address 
more specifically the concerns of this particular group of countries. 
  "Notwithstanding the efforts made to rec oncile divergent positions, the Committee was 
unable to arrive at a solution that would enable it to agree to the proposals.  Certain fundamental 
questions remain unresolved with respect to the country-scope and the time-horizon for the 
application of these proposals.  This situation was reflected in the report of my predecessor to the 
Council of last July, which was circulated as document G/L/742.   On 10 October I convened a formal meeting of the TRIMs Committee, to consider, inter alia , 
the S&D proposals.  No new developments in Member s' positions were registered at that meeting.  
Finally I stand ready to continue work in the TRIMs Committee on the S&D proposals should the 
General Council, and subsequently the Mi nisters at Hong Kong, deem it useful." 
 
9. Chairman of the DSB in Special Session 
 "In my last written report to the General Counc il, dated 26 July 2005 (TN/DS/13), I indicated 
that further work would be required in respect of the nine Category II proposals referred to the Special  WT/GC/102 
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 Session of the DSB.   Since then, the Category II proposals referred to the DSB Special Session were 
placed on the agenda of our last meeting on 24 October.1  At the request of the proponents, it was 
agreed that these proposals would be reverted to late r.  I therefore expect that these issues will be 
considered further after the Hong Kong Ministerial Conference."   10. Chairman of the Committee on SPS Measures 
 A report by the Chair of the Committee on SPS Measures was circulated in document 
G/SPS/39.   
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1 These proposals are reflected in Job(05) /258, circulated on 21 October 2005.