RESTRICTED  WORLD TRADE  
ORGANIZATION  TN/TF/M/21 
29 November 2007 
 
 (07-5252) 
Negotiating Group on Trade Facilitation   
  
 
SUMMARY MINUTES OF THE MEETING 
 
Held in the Centre William Rappard
 
from 5-9 November 2007  
 
 
Chairman:  H.E. Mr. Eduardo Ernesto Sperisen-Yurt (Guatemala) 
  
1. The Chairman
 recalled that the proposed agenda fo r the meeting had been circulated in 
WTO/AIR/3101. As indicated in the airgram and th e accompanying fax on the suggested structure, 
the meeting sought to respond to Members' call fo r a more focussed negotiating mode, initiating a 
process of intensified textual work.  In addition,  one would address the standing item of looking into 
the participation of the Annex D organizations. 
2. The agenda was adopted .  
3. The Chairman  wished to say a few words on how he saw the negotiating week unfold.  Its 
general structure had been communicated to Members in his fax of 26 October. As indicated therein, 
it was planned for the meeting to open and close in plenary mode, leaving the middle days for 
focussed textual work.  Those drafting initiatives were scheduled to take place in a variety of formats 
to ensure maximum flexibility. The mornings of the sessions would be conducted under his chairmanship in open-ended, info rmal mode, working on the textual proposals as set out in the 
compilation document.  Based on those deliberations the Chair would then invite Members to engage 
in further negotiation amongst themselves in the afternoon, focussing on a number of issues identified as requiring additional work.  
4. The results of those inter-delegation activities w ould be fed back into the Chair-led process 
through reports by the Members involved, informing the Group about progress made and yet to be achieved. There would also be two types of reporti ng from the Chair to further guide the debate. One 
verbal brief at the end of every morning session,  recalling key points made  and highlighting open 
questions necessitating additional work. And a second, more comprehensive, report at the end of the 
negotiating week, summarizing the main issues rai sed and drafting suggestions made. Both reports 
were also meant to assist Members with their inte rnal record-keeping efforts and to facilitate their 
preparation for future negotiating activities.      
5. All of those steps were aimed at creating an environment conducive to intensified work.  
They sought to initiate the more focussed nego tiating process Members had solicited in the Chair 
consultations on the Group's future path.  Setting up this mode of operation did, however, not amount 
to changing the basic rules of the game. Fundamental  principles of the previ ous process such as its 
Member-driven, transparent and inclusive nature would remain intact.  
6. This was also the case for the integral manne r of approaching the Trade Facilitation agenda, 
looking at all elements in an interconnected way.  S&DT and TACB remained a fundamental part of TN/TF/M/21 
Page 2  
 
  the overall balance, which was why he had considered  it paramount that adequate time be awarded to 
its discussion over the course of the week.  
A. N
EW AND REVISED PROPOSALS  
7. The Chairman  said that work on revising earlier pr opositions had continued with several 
papers being only a short time away from thei r formal presentation. There not being any 
communications for immediate tabling at this point  in time and no requests for any other contribution 
that a Member wished to make in the plenary, he  suggested moving straight to the informal working 
sessions.  
8. The plenary was adjourned.   
9. Upon resumption  of the plenary, the following statements were made in formal mode:  
10. The representative of Canada  introduced document TN/TF/W/136/Rev.1, explaining that it 
was a revision of an earlier proposal on the issue of  separating release from clearance that Canada and 
Switzerland had been working on in response to co mments from various Members.  Canada had also 
prepared responses to some questions on border agen cy cooperation following up on a workshop held 
on the matter.    
11. A number of questions had been posed during the July session on border agency cooperation, 
including during the specific workshop mentioned previously. At that workshop, the sponsors of 
TN/TF/W/128 had asked whether the elements of th eir proposal were sufficiently covered by other 
proposals currently under consideration in the Nego tiating Group on Trade Facilitation.  A number of 
reactions had been given in that regard.  It was wo rth remembering, as was men tioned in the text, that 
the two-paragraph proposal W/128 set out in each paragraph a principle followed by a list of specific 
requirements. In the first paragraph of W/128, ther e was the principle that border agencies within a 
Member country should cooperate and coordinate. The second paragraph proposed the principle that 
agencies across a border in neighbouring countries should cooperate and coor dinate their customs 
procedures at specific border crossings.  In additio n to the principles, the text suggested certain 
specific requirements which were a necessary conditi on for satisfying the principle.  The document 
then suggested possible ways of moving ahead with the principles and/or the specific requirements.  
The sponsors of this proposal continued to inv ite suggestions and comments from Members both on 
W/128 and the responses provided in the informal room document distributed in this session.    
12. With respect to TN/TF/W/136/Rev.1 which was proposed jointly by Canada and Switzerland 
as a revision to the original TN/TF/W/136, he would highlight the main changes made.    
13. First, the phrase "in cases where goods are not  cleared upon arrival" had been added to 
paragraph 1 at the beginning of the proposal, to react to the comments that, in many cases, clearance of the majority of goods happened immediately and simultaneously with release in the sense of 
release and clearance being immediate and simultaneous processes. Those cases did not require disciplines on a system for separation of release from clearance.  The phrase at the beginning of 
paragraph 1 had been added to indicate that th e proposal referred specifically to cases where goods 
were not cleared upon arrival.   
14. In addition, the phrase "in accordance with Memb ers, WTO rights and obligations" had been 
added to the same paragraph in response to comme nts from Members. It was a specification of the 
proposal's reference to a Member not being required to release goods where the Member's import requirements had not been satisfied.    TN/TF/M/21 
 Page 3 
 
 
  15. In the second paragraph, the ending had been chan ged to read "shall not represent an indirect 
protection to domestic products or taxation of imports for fiscal purposes". The original wording had 
emerged from something the sponsors had come up w ith by themselves whereas the revised language 
had been taken from the first paragraph of GATT Ar ticle VIII.  The sense was that Members would be 
more comfortable with language that was familiar to them.  
16. The third paragraph contained the idea that on ce import requirements had been satisfied, the 
guarantee was no longer required. In response to so me comments by Members, there was now explicit 
reference to the guarantee being discharged without delay.   
17. Finally, definitions had been added of releas e and clearance in response to requests from the 
Membership for such definitions to be provided. In order to assure maximum comfort with those 
definitions, they had been borrowed from the WCO gl ossary of international customs terms of 2006.   
18. The representative of Ecuador  welcomed the new format of th e negotiations proposed by the 
Chair which had allowed the current process to be  carried out. Ecuador wished to manifest its 
commitment to constructive negotiations in which the needs and concerns of all developing countries 
were taken into consideration. In that context, Ecuador agreed with the statements made by Costa 
Rica, Mexico and Uruguay regarding the importance of  the implementation mechanism of an eventual 
Agreement on Trade Facilitation with respect to special and differential treatment. One of the 
fundamental principles regarding that mechanism wa s that, in the long term, all Members shared the 
benefits. Consequently, Ecuador was of the view that the best end eavour concept was not consistent 
with the objectives of the Trade Facilitation negotiati ons to clarify and improve relevant aspects of 
Articles V, VIII and X of the GATT. This did not mean that one should neglect existing asymmetries 
amongst Members with respect to trade facilitation.  
19. Ecuador wished to use the opportunity to reite rate its sensitivities al ready expressed in the 
past with respect to the proposals on quota-free tr ansit, expedited shipments, Single Window, customs 
brokers and risk management, while expressing its  willingness to discuss them in a constructive 
manner with the proponents. Ecuador insisted on th e importance of technical assistance and capacity 
building that had to be practical, efficient and sufficient.           
20. The Negotiating Group took note  of the statements made. 
B. AD HOC ATTENDANCE OF RELEVANT INTERNATIONAL ORGANIZATIONS , INCLUDING THE 
IMF,  OECD,  UNCTAD,  WCO  AND THE WORLD BANK, AT THE NEXT MEETING OF THE 
NEGOTIATING GROUP  
21. The Chairman  suggested inviting relevant internati onal organizations, including the IMF, 
OECD, UNCTAD, WCO and the World Bank to attend the next formal meeting of the Negotiating 
Group on an ad hoc basis, as provided for in the Work Plan. 
22. It was so agreed . 
C. OTHER BUSINESS  
23. The Chairman  addressed the issue of the Group's next meeting. Consultations with the 
Secretariat had shown for there to be a possibility to  meet again in the week of 10 December. Details  
on the duration and the structure of the meeting would be communicated at a later stage.    
24. It was so agreed . TN/TF/M/21 
Page 4  
 
  25. The Negotiating Group took note
 of the statements made.  
26. The meeting was adjourned . 
 
__________