RESTRICTED  WORLD TRADE  
ORGANIZATION  WT/REG/M/56 
23 March 2010 
 (10-1559) 
Committee on Regional Trade Agreements 
Fifty-sixth Session  
 
 
 
NOTE ON THE MEETING OF 15-16 MARCH 2010 
 
Chairmen:  Mr. D. Brauns (Germany) 
        Mr. A. Suescum (Panama) 
 
 A. A
DOPTION OF THE AGENDA  
1. The 56th Session of the Committee on Regional Trad e Agreements (hereinafter CRTA or the 
Committee) was convened in Airgram WTO/AIR/3 502/Rev.1, dated 1 Marc h 2010.  Under "Other 
Business", the Chairman announced his intention to  raise the issue of technical cooperation activities 
conducted in 2009 and those scheduled for 2010 in the area of regional trade agreements.  
2. The following Agenda was adopted: 
A. Adoption of the Agenda 
B. The Committee's pr oposed work for 2010 
C. Consideration of Regiona l Trade Agreements (RTAs) 
I. Status report on the Committee's work 
II. Enlargement of the European Union to 27 Member States, goods and services III.  Free Trade Agreement between Ukra ine and the Former Yugoslav Republic 
of Macedonia, goods 
IV. Free Trade Agreement between Ukraine and Moldova, goods 
V. Free Trade Agreement between the EFTA States and the SACU States, goods 
VI. Free Trade Agreement between Turkey and Georgia, goods. 
D.  Election of Officers E. Other Business  
3. The Chairman
 recalled that the Latin American Integration Association (LAIA) had been 
granted observer status to the CRTA on an ad hoc  basis and sought confirmation to extend an 
invitation to LAIA to attend the Committee's next meeting.  It was so agreed . 
B. THE COMMITTEE ’S PROPOSED WORK FOR 2010 
4. Under Agenda Item B, the Chairman  recalled that, at the 7th Ministerial Conference in 
December 2009, the Chairman of the Conference ha d drawn attention in his final summary to broad 
agreement among Ministers on the need to ensure that regional and multilateral approaches towards 
trade opening continued to complement each other, and to suggestions that Members had made to 
improve on the RTA Transparency Mechanism (TM) by, inter alia , "highlighting better the common 
elements in different RTAs".  That theme had b een taken up again by Members at the Trade Policy 
Review Body (TPRB) meeting on 22 January 201 0, when the TPRB had carried out its annual 
overview of developments in the international trad ing environment.  In a written note from the TPRB 
Chairman to the CRTA Chairman, he had pointed out  that a number of delegations had highlighted 
the need to improve the notification record unde r the TM and to have a more focussed look at WT/REG/M/56 
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  cross-cutting features of RTAs in the CRTA during 2010.  The Chairman had held a number of 
informal consultations on how the CRTA could most  usefully proceed on these issues, including an 
open-ended informal meeting on 10 March 2010.  With respect to the issue of notifications discussed 
at the Committee's informal meeting, he indicated th at he had been in contact with several Members 
in October 2009 about the status of 65 RTAs base d on a list drawn up by the Secretariat and which 
had been verified by their parties as being in force but not yet notified.  He was pleased to report that 
four of these RTAs had been notified.  These were:  EC-San Marino, ASEAN-Japan, Panama-Honduras and India-Afghanistan.  He thus encour aged all delegations who had been contacted 
concerning this initiative to try to notify the remaini ng RTAs as soon as possible.  He also added that 
partial scope agreements such as Early Harvest Ag reements, indeed any agreement that provides for 
the exchange of preferences, should be notified.   
5. With regard to a more focussed look at system ic features of RTAs in the CRTA during 2010, 
the Chairman reported that he had found support from delegations for engaging on this issue.  It was 
seen as a natural way of building on the work  that the Committee was doing to increase the 
transparency of RTAs and to improve Members' understanding of how, in a practical and commercial 
rather than a legal sense, RTAs fitted alongside the multilateral trading system.  In both of these 
respects, it was viewed as  an extension of the work that th e CRTA was doing already under the TM.   
The CRTA had engaged in this work in the past  under the part of its mandate that covered a 
consideration of the systemic implications of RTAs .  In April 2002, the Secretariat had produced two 
background documents at the request of the CRTA wh ich provided factual, cross-cutting descriptions 
of two particular features of notified RTAs – one on coverage of RTAs, and the other on rules of 
origin in RTAs.  That work had been suspende d in the CRTA when negotiations had begun in the 
Doha Development Agenda on RTAs in the Negotia ting Group on Rules (NGR).  Such negotiations 
were continuing and no-one was suggesting that they  should be replaced by discussions in the CRTA.  
On the contrary, the NGR was fully responsible un der its Doha mandate for clarifying and improving 
WTO disciplines and procedures applying to RTAs, a nd the CRTA had to ensure that its own work 
did not stray into that territory of legal analysis.  During informal consultations, it had been suggested 
that the CRTA could usefully take a systemic look at  the main features of RTAs that had been notified 
to the WTO.  This could be seen as a horizontal analysis of all RTAs, to complement the CRTA's 
vertical consideration of individual RTAs under the TM.  The Chairman noted that, in the same way 
that the CRTA's consideration of indivi dual RTAs had taken place on the basis of 
Factual Presentations by the Secretariat, the Secret ariat could be requested to prepare factual papers 
on the main features of RTAs on which the CRTA coul d base these analyses.  It also appeared from 
the informal consultations that the majority of Me mbers would like the Secretariat's papers to cover 
the issues in the Secretariat's Factual Presentati ons on individual RTAs.  The CRTA would focus on a 
factual, economic and commercial analysis of the sy stemic features, not a legal analysis of their 
provisions or the WTO provisions.  The Secretariat' s papers would be based on the database of all 
notified RTAs in force.  The Chairman asked Memb ers whether they wished to agree formally on 
moving forward with the proposal or whether further consultations would be necessary.  He had also 
been consulting on a proposal that an Annual Review  of RTAs’ related devel opments be undertaken 
by the CRTA.  Although such consultations had no t provided a basis for proceeding at present, he 
believed that it would be useful to continue c onsultations among Members about the feasibility and 
details of such a review.  He then opened the floor to Members for comments. 
6. The representative of the United States
 thanked the Chairman for the summary of his 
consultations, which reflected dele gations’ differing viewpoints.  Fr om her point of view, Members 
were not yet prepared to go along with the proposed  work programme.  The goal of any work in the 
systemic area should be to shed light on ensuring  that RTAs serve as "building blocks" to the 
multilateral trading system.  She shared other Memb ers' views that there was no support for any work 
that contained legal characterizations or for any work that seemed to be repetitive.  She expressed 
reluctance to embark upon a programme of reports that amounted to the description of provisions in 
various RTAs which were already provided in fact ual presentations.  In her view, this would be  WT/REG/M/56 
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  repetitive work for an uncertain purpose.  With r espect to proposals for economic analysis, she noted 
that the TM was already in place and it was up to Members to take advantage of it by reading the 
factual presentations and by participating in mee tings where agreements were reviewed.  She thus 
suggested to engage in further c onsultations before moving forward with a formal work programme.   
7. The representative of India  thanked the Chairman for his summary and the efforts made in the 
past weeks.  He noted the overwhelming interest  and support of Members both for transparency and 
for understanding the interrelationship between RTAs  and the multilateral trading system.  In his 
view, if good justice were to be done  to calls made by Members during the 7th Ministerial Conference 
and at the last TPRB meeting in January, it would be an ideal starting point to include in the 
horizontal analysis all the elements contained in  the factual presentations.  In his view, it was 
important to revive the work made by the Secret ariat in 2002, since much water had flowed both 
within the WTO and outside;  in particular, over th is period a plethora of RTAs had mushroomed.  In 
order to respond to such a phenomenon, Members in the WTO had agreed on the Transparency 
Mechanism for RTAs to understand better what w as happening in such RTAs.  Consequently, there 
was an agreed list of elements which required tran sparency, since all these elements impinged upon 
market access, trade in services, investment, etc.  Leaving out any element could only nullify efforts;  
partial transparency should not be pursued when fu ll transparency could be achieved and for which 
there seemed to be significant political will.  While  stressing that substance rather then timelines 
should guide the process, he supported the Ch air's view to continue consultations.  
8. The representative of El Salvador  remarked that RTAs represented an instrument to achieve 
deeper trade liberalization and, more recently, to  strengthen relationships between countries beyond 
trade.  For this reason, he considered it very important to pursue the work of the CRTA.  RTAs had 
played an important role in the general framework of  El Salvador's economic a nd political integration;  
in this respect, the work carried  out at the WTO, both within the ordinary meetings and negotiating 
sessions, had represented an important and systemic interest for his country.  El Salvador fully 
supported transparency, especially when it helped Members to have a clear picture of the objective 
and scope of the discussion, as well as of the terms under which the Secretariat had been requested to 
carry out such specific work.  However, he remarked  that for his delegation it had been difficult, in 
less than one week, to find a positive reaction to the Chairman's proposal.  He thus suggested 
continuing consultations to agree on the format of the horizontal analysis of cross-cutting features of RTAs, with the aim of extending the transparency  and understanding of RTAs by WTO Members.  
El Salvador was ready to explore this new field, but  recognized that more time was needed to clarify 
Members' expectations from this exercise.  In particul ar, he asked that a number of issues be clarified:  
how to ensure that there would not be any retroac tive effects on RTAs already in force;  under which 
mandate the Committee would carry out the horizont al analysis;  what the purpose was of such 
analysis and who would be involved in it;  what the e xpectations were of the papers of the Secretariat;  
and how to ensure that no reference would be made to specific RTAs.  He remarked that El Salvador 
did not support any analysis of trade liberalizati on commitments, since this was already being done in 
the context of the CRTA.  Finally, he invited the incoming Chairman of the CRTA to continue 
consultations on the basis of Member s' suggestions and concerns.   
9. The representative of Saint Lucia
 thanked the Chairman for his comprehensive overview of 
the Committee's work.  With respect  to the factual, economic and commercial analyses, he stressed 
the need to have more clarity on their purpose;  at  present, the specific outcome of such work was not 
clear and, therefore, it was difficult to express suppor t for something unclear.  He expressed particular 
concerns on targeting or singling out notified RTAs or the use of de facto  benchmarks on best 
practices.  He was also concerned by the possible consequences of this work on the NGR.  He shared, 
however, the importance of encouraging notifications and urged the Chairman to continue his work in 
this area.  With respect to factual papers a nd the Annual Review, he reiterated the need for 
consultations to determine how to  best support the decision given by Ministers at the Ministerial 
Conference in December 2009. WT/REG/M/56 
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  10. The representative of the European Union
 thanked the Chairman for his report and expressed 
full support to his proposal on how to improve notifica tions.  The lack of notifications was a recurrent 
problem in the world of RTAs and the Committee's wo rk, so he offered his delegation’s help to work 
together on fulfilling the notification obligations of Members.  On the proposal to improve the 
common understanding of the systemic aspects of RTAs through horizontal cross-cutting comparison 
of RTAs, he saw great value in the initiative which also had met a lot of support at the Ministerial 
Conference in 2009 and he hoped it would move ahead soon.  In his view, the analysis should be 
essentially factual and focus on some of the key el ements in RTAs, such as of course export and 
import restrictions and charges, use of tariff rate quotas, rules of origin, safeguard measures, technical 
barriers to trade, and sanitary and phyto-sanitary meas ures, amongst others.  He was also interested in 
the implementation of overlapping agreements, since in different parts of the world there had been 
"spaghetti bowls" or "noodle bowls" of  overlapping RTAs.  In this respect, more clarity was needed 
on how overlapping agreements were  consistent with the multilateral trading system and how RTAs 
continued to constitute "building blocks" towards multilateral rules.  The EU considered it very 
important to pursue this initiative and suggested the Secretariat coordinate w ith the OECD, which was 
also conducting comprehensive analytical work on multilateralizing regionalism in the area of trade in 
services.  On the Annual Review of RTAs, he noted that such work would bring added value provided 
that it did not limit itself simply to the factual presen tations that had been prepared and discussed in 
the past, but rather used a more comprehensive picture of RTAs concluded during a given year, 
identifying the trends that were observable.  In  addition, he suggested to pick up and provide 
information on RTAs that had not been notified, si nce this would offer important value added to any 
annual review of RTAs.  In his view, any annua l review should go beyond what had simply been 
produced during a given year in the routine work of the Committee.  On the link with the rules 
negotiations, he pointed out that the factual info rmation derived from an annual review could be 
useful as and when Members were ready to go back to the negotiating table.  He recognized that some 
delegations were not in a position to give a "green light" to the Chairman's proposal, so he agreed to 
continue with further "fine-tuni ng" consultations in order to get these initiatives up and running. 
11. The representative of New Zealand  shared India's comments on the current proliferation of 
RTAs and on the need to provide responses in the c ontext of the WTO.  He associated his delegation 
with the comments made by the EU, including on th e need for coordination between the WTO and the 
OECD.  He fully supported the Chairman's proposed  work programme since it would contribute to 
ensure that RTAs serve as "building blocks" to the WTO system, rather than undermining it.  He thus 
invited the incoming Chairman of the Committee to continue consultations hoping that these would 
give rise to a positive outcome sooner rather than later.  
12. The representative of Chile  thanked the Chairman for his efforts during informal 
consultations.  With respect to pending notificati ons, his delegation was among those Members that 
had not yet notified all their RTAs.  He informed  the Committee that Chile was working on that and 
would soon submit some of the outstanding notifications.  As regards the Chairman's proposed work 
programme, he noted that the mandate for such work had been requested by Ministers during the 
Ministerial Conference.  However, no agreement had been reached so far among Members on whether this work was completely necessary, as well as on th e quantity of RTAs to be analysed and on their 
main characteristics.  Some issues, for example th e overlapping of RTAs, as mentioned by the EU, 
deserved more attention than others.  However,  considering the concerns expressed by other 
Members, he suggested the Secretariat could start with updating the two documents prepared in 2002, 
one on coverage and the other on rules of origin , and see what the results were from the updated 
documents.  Since his delegation would prefer to start the analysis as soon as possible, he proposed to use such documents as a basis fo r a future work programme instead of continuing with time-
consuming consultations.  With respect to the Annual Review, although not contrary to it in principle, 
he requested clarification on the objective of the review and on how it would complement, or 
represent an improvement to the Committee's Annual Report.  He thus asked the proponents of the 
Annual Review to provide more information on its objective and scope.  He did not support an  WT/REG/M/56 
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  analysis of the trends in RTAs, as proposed by the EU delegation;  from his point of view, such an 
analysis should not be addressed either in the Annual Review or the Annual Report.    
13. The representative of Argentina  recognized the concerns express ed by other delegations with 
respect to the proposal on horizontal analyses.  He sa id that the informal consultations had taken place 
in a small group of countries and had been discus sed in a wider group, including Argentina, on 
10 March.  As mentioned by the delegate of El  Salvador, for those delegations that had not 
participated in the informal consultations with the Chairman, there had not been enough time to 
consult with capitals.  He saw great value in th is exercise and the difficulties expressed by some 
Members in the Committee were due to the fact that they had not received a written proposal of the new work programme.  In fact, a written proposal th at provided for the main elements of the work 
programme, as well as of its objectives, would bring more clarity and provide the necessary comfort 
to those Members, like Argentina, that did not have the necessary elements to fully support the 
Chairman's proposal in the Committee.  As a con sequence, Argentina was of the view that more 
consultations were needed.  With respect to the Annual Review of RTAs, he supported Chile's 
intervention and said that his comments on the propo sed work programme also applied to the Annual 
Review. 
14. The representative of Turkey
 joined other Members in thanking  the Chairman for his efforts.  
With respect to the horizontal comparison of RTAs within the framework of systemic issues, he said 
that these issues had been on the agenda of the CRT A since its establishment.  The number of RTAs 
in force today had more than doubled compared to  when the discussions on horizontal comparisons 
had started.  Moreover, there had been an increasing interest in bilateral or regional trade agreements, 
as pointed out by Secretariat reports.  Therefore, there was the need to be tter understand RTAs.  He 
considered the discussions on the horizontal analysis  as very useful to promote transparency.  From 
such discussions, it was clear that many Members were interested in factual studies which had no legal implications or benchmarks, and which explained the relationshi p of RTAs with the multilateral 
system.  He thus encouraged further discussions on this issue. 
15. The representative of China
 extended his appreciation for the Chairman's efforts, especially 
for the way he had pursued expanding the work  programme of the CRTA.  Prior informal 
consultations had helped Members have a better understanding of thei r respective positions and to try 
to explore the appropriate way forward.  China fully  supported efforts to enhance the transparency of 
RTAs and believed the horizontal analysis on the cross-cutting issues in RTAs could facilitate the 
achievement of this goal.  He also  agreed that such an exercise shoul d be factual in nature and focus 
on the economic and commercial aspects without singling out individual RTAs or becoming a blame 
game.  On the Annual Review, he believed that the topic should be broad and balanced and cover all 
the elements listed in the factual presentations.  He recognized that diversified positions remained on 
how to implement the programme, therefore more ne gotiations or consultations were needed.  His 
delegation was ready to engage and re main constructive in this process. 
16. The representative of Australia  expressed appreciation for the Chairman’s informal 
consultations and reiterated his s upport for the proposed work programme, in terms of the horizontal 
analysis of RTAs.  It was a valuable exercise wh ich differed from the transparency mechanism.  As 
said in the Chairman's opening statement, the TM w as very much focussed on a vertical analysis of 
specific RTAs, whereas the proposed work pr ogramme was designed to increase Members' 
understanding of horizontal issues across RTAs, in cluding how RTAs interact with the multilateral 
trading system.  He pointed out that some of the concerns raised by Members had already been 
addressed both during consultations and in the Chairman's opening statement;  for example, it had 
been made clear that this exercise was not intende d to replace the Rules negotiations on RTAs.  Also, 
he understood that the Chairman of the Rules Ne gotiations had said, in his statement to Senior 
Officials in November 2009, that he would be supportiv e of this sort of work in the framework of the 
CRTA.  In his view, the Chairman of the CRTA ha d also made it clear that this exercise was not WT/REG/M/56 
Page 6  
 
  intended to be a legal discussion or to set de facto  benchmarks, nor would it  single out particular 
agreements or Members.  In addition it would be fa ctual in nature.  Thus, some of the concerns had 
already been addressed during the discussions and these should provide comfort to Members.  However he recognized that Members had not yet agreed on the work programme, that some still 
needed more clarity on what this process would i nvolve, and thus he looked forward to participating 
actively in consultations in the near futu re to get this programme up and running. 
17. The representative of Pakistan
 welcomed the initiative by the Chair to pursue the proposals 
made at the 7th Ministerial Conference on the horizontal analyses and the Annual Review.  This was a 
useful addition to the ordinary wo rk of the CRTA, such as the TM and the factual presentations.  It 
was time to move ahead from the studies that had been conducted in 2002.  With respect to the 
mandate of the CRTA and the analysis of systemic issues, he was against any analysis that limited 
itself to market access issues and preferred a more comprehensive broad-based approach.  His delegation did not agree that Members start only with  market access issues, and he looked forward to 
further discussions.  He hoped that a three-dimens ional analysis covering not just the height 
dimension, i.e. the tariff wall, but also the width and depth of issues in RTAs could be taken into 
account.  He also stressed that the rights of excl uded parties should receive attention in the text, as 
well as various Dispute Settlement Body ruling s and relevant studies. During the informal 
consultations with the Chair, he had made refere nce to the aspects of trade diversion and trade 
creation as a starting point;  however, relevant prov isions on RTAs had been drafted before Viner 
carried out his detailed analysis of trade creation and diversion.  More recently, Krugman had shown 
that trading blocs in close regional proximity were less trade distorting than transcontinental 
agreements, which did not attain the same level of deeper integration and undermined the global 
system.  With respect to notifications, he observe d that these had become very much ex-post rather 
than ex-ante notifications, th ereby presenting the CRTA with a fait accompli .   
18. The representative of Colombia
 said that her delegation had not participated in the informal 
consultations with the Chairman on the proposal to  extend the work of the CRTA to the horizontal 
analysis of RTAs.  She thanked the Chairman for holding additional consultati ons that had taken place 
on Friday 12 March for some delegations, includi ng Colombia, with the aim to provide more 
information on the scope and objectives of such an alyses.  She informed the Committee that her 
capital had reacted in a positive way to the Chair's pr oposal:  it was considered to be interesting, to 
add value, and to provide a bette r understanding by Members of RTAs.  However, it was important to 
further clarify some aspects, such as the objective, c overage, nature of the analysis, etc.  With respect 
to coverage, she would prefer an approach as comp rehensive as possible;  however, she recognized, as 
stated by the delegate of Chile, that ambitious cove rage could prove ineffective for the entire exercise.  
Consequently, she favoured the idea of selecting the most important issues and starting with them.   
19. The representative of Canada  stated that her delegation was open to the extension of the work 
of the CRTA, provided that the outcome of such discussions on the way forward would lead 
WTO Members to better manage trade relations and to deal with the "spaghetti bowl" of increasingly 
complex, and potentially conflicting trade rules. 
20. The representative of Peru  committed her delegation to coopera te with the Chairman, and his 
successor, on the issue of improving notifications of RTAs under the TM.  With respect to the 
proposal on a horizontal and factual analysis, she re marked that there were divergent opinions on how 
to proceed.  She added that Peru had become aware of such an initiative only in the past week, a time 
too short to go into details and adopt a clearly- defined position.  She therefore suggested that 
consultations continue to better clarify the objectiv es and usefulness of the exercise.  It was also 
important to evaluate the practical implications of such a proposal on the work of the Secretariat, which, in 2010, as part of its ordinary work programme, was to prepare factual presentations and 
proceed with the consideration of numerous RTAs.  This would imply additi onal work not only for 
the Secretariat, but also for Members called to an alyse the factual presentations on the agenda.  She  WT/REG/M/56 
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  thus asked for clarification on the extent of par ticipation required by delegations on the process of 
horizontal analysis.  Although she was in favour  of the proposal, she required more detailed 
information on the objective and scope of the exerci se, as well as on its costs and benefits.  She asked 
the Chairman to provide written terms of reference with information on the scope, the period of time, 
coverage, etc. With respect to the Annual Review , she also requested additional information and 
invited the incoming Chairman of the CRTA to conti nue with consultations in  order to better define 
the nature of engagement by Members in the process.  
21. The representative of Korea  thanked the Chairman for his consultations and the summary 
delivered to the Committee.  He expressed suppor t for the Chair's proposal but considering the 
different views expressed by Members, he reco gnized the need for further consultations.  His 
delegation saw value in the cross-cutting compar ison of RTAs and in the Annual Review.  He 
supported Chile's proposal to update the 2002 documents  of the Secretariat, since it could help to 
address the differences of views.  Korea remained  constructive and fully w illing to engage in any 
further consultations.  
22. The representative of Mexico  thanked the Chairman for his report on the informal 
consultations.  For Mexico, it was important to have a comprehensive understanding of RTAs and 
improved transparency.  However, any analysis of RTAs should be factual, not single out any 
particular agreement, and not contain legal implications.  It was also very important to indicate clearly 
what the objectives were.  With respect to covera ge, the discussions should focus on the substance.  
He thus shared the need for a written proposal, a nd invited the Chair to continue consultations. 
23. The representative of Brazil  invited Members to submit their proposals in writing to allow a 
closer examination, since many of the id eas expressed in the Committee deserved further 
consideration.  He was of the view that further c onsultations were needed and that it was appropriate 
to slow down the process.  
24. The representative of Hong Kong, China  welcomed the proposed approach to include an 
analysis on cross-cutting features of RTAs in the 2010 CRTA work programme, so as to further 
enhance the transparency of RTAs  and their impact on the multilateral liberalization.  At the last 
Ministerial Conference, Hong Kong, China had urged a more in-depth examination of the 
commonalities and differences among RTAs, in order to  make them truly "building blocks" of the 
multilateral trading system.  As to the question on wh ere to start and what issues to deal with, given 
that market access was one of the main elements in  RTAs and an area of focus for past discussions, he 
had no problem with the Chair's suggestion of star ting the analysis on market access features first, to 
be followed by other cross-cutting issues in due course. 
25. The representative of Japan  joined Korea in welcoming the Chairman's presentation of the 
work programme, which he consider ed to be very constructive.  Japan expressed full support for the 
proposal and announced its cooperation in the process.  With respect to the scope of the exercise, 
along with India and other delegations , he was of the view that comp rehensive scope was important to 
evaluate the impact of RTAs on the multilateral system .  At the same time, as pointed out by Chile, he 
understood that the scope should be limited to th e most important areas;  he thus suggested to 
continue further consultations, wh ere Japan would engage positively.  He also shared the concerns 
expressed by Members on the nature of the anal ysis which should avoid any judgment on specific 
RTAs. 
26. The representative of the United States  took the floor again to follow up on the comments 
made by delegations.  She appreciated the efforts of  others to provide assura nce that the cross-cutting 
work on RTAs’ features would be a good idea, but reite rated the need for further consultations.  She 
noted that many delegations had stated that this exercise should be factual, not create any benchmark, 
and not single out any agreement, which reflected the sensitivities of these issues.  In light of what WT/REG/M/56 
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  had been proposed by the Chairman, it was hard, in her view, to see how any of these studies could 
end up being anything other than a description of provisions in RTAs.  These kind of descriptions, 
like factual presentations, were subject to errors a nd inadvertent implications.  She shared Peru's 
concerns in this regard;  even with the Secret ariat's disclaimer saying it was prepared on its own 
responsibility, there would be doubts about whethe r it was really possible to avoid anything 
analytical.  She was open to discuss how to advance this aspect of the work programme;  any Member 
at any point would be free to put in a submission on cross-cutting issues within the terms of reference 
of the programme of the CRTA.  With regard to other delegations' interventions on the possibility of 
cooperating with the OECD, and considering the sen sitivities of Members, she suggested that the 
Secretariat, as an initial matter, put together a literature review of previous studies as a means of 
familiarising the membership with th e materials already available.  Th is could in effect become an 
anchoring mechanism for the Secretariat's future work .  She made this suggestion in recognition of the 
importance of RTAs today and the fact that many would like to see more work done.  This could be 
one way of starting to think about the subject.  
27. The Chairman
 thanked Members for their comments and the comprehensive discussion of the 
issue.  He appreciated that Members had worked ha rd, including in the last week.  He observed that 
some positions had been clarified, others had been re fined, but that some new concerns had appeared.  
He thus concluded that there was no other way than  to go back to such questions, since Members had 
expressed very clearly their wish for more consulta tions.  Therefore, he took note of the comments 
made and invited the incoming Chair to hold further consultations before maki ng a formal request to 
the Secretariat to prepare the studies.  
C. CONSIDERATION OF REGIONAL TRADE AGREEMENTS  
C.I Status Report on the Committee's work 
 28. Under this Agenda Item, the Chairman provided Members with an update on the 
implementation of the Transparency Mechanism.   He informed the Committee that 34 early 
announcements had been placed on the WTO website  (not counting those RTAs which had been 
subsequently notified).  He thanked those Member s who had submitted information in line with the 
requirements of the TM and encouraged others to do so.  He also reminded Members to inform the 
Secretariat of any changes in the status of the early announcements.  For instance, if an agreement 
moved from being under negotiation to being signed, this should be communicated to the Secretariat 
so that the information on early announcem ents could be kept up to date.   
29. As regards the factual abstracts to be prepar ed on RTAs covering trade in goods for which a 
factual examination had already been completed, 36 had been posted on the WTO website, and 18 had 
been prepared and sent to the relevant parties for their comments.  He urged those parties to submit 
their comments as soon as possible.  In addition, a ll 21 factual abstracts in services had been sent to 
the relevant parties, 15 of which had been posted on the WTO website. 
30. As regards the preparation of the factual pr esentations under the remit of the CRTA, in the 
case of RTAs involving WTO Members only, ther e were presently 47 RTAs for which a factual 
presentation had to be prepared, counting goods an d services separately.  He recalled that at the 
Committee's 52
nd Session held on 4 March 2009, Members had agreed to begin considering RTAs 
involving non-Members under the procedures of the TM.  Thus, factual presentations on a further 
41 RTAs involving non-Members were to be prepared, with priority for those RTAs notified since the 
adoption of the TM on 14 December 2006.  Data re quests for the 21 RTAs notified since the adoption 
of the TM had been sent to the relevant parties.   The consideration of these RTAs would begin in 
2010.  He asked the Secretariat to provide further details on the preparation of factual presentations.  WT/REG/M/56 
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  31. A representative of the Secretariat  said that, under the work programme of the CRTA for 
2010, which had been agreed with Members an d set out in a fax in December 2009, 23 RTAs 
(counting goods and services notifications separately) we re to be considered in the current Session of 
the CRTA.  Of these, 6 RTAs were originally sch eduled for consideration at the CRTA meeting of 
November 2009 which had to be cancelled because the Secretariat had not received comments and 
had therefore been unable to circulate factual presen tations.  Of the 23 RTAs th at were supposed to be 
on the agenda, 6 were on the agenda for today's c onsideration. The situatio n with regard to the 
17 RTAs which had not been on the agenda was as follo ws:  with respect to Agreements scheduled to 
be considered in 2009, for US-Bah rain, goods and services, originally  scheduled for consideration in 
September 2009, the Factual Presentation had been se nt to the Parties for comments in July 2009, but 
no comments had been received so far.  For Jap an-Philippines, goods and services, originally 
scheduled for consideration in November 2009, the Factual Presentation had been completed and 
would be circulated shortly.  This RTA would be considered at the CRTA’s next Session in 
June 2010.  For EU-Côte d'Ivoire, goods, originally scheduled for consideration in November 2009, 
the Factual Presentation had been sent to the Parti es for comments in July 2009, but no comments had 
been received so far.  With respect to Agreements  scheduled for consideration at this Session of the 
CRTA, the situation was as follows:  for CAFTA-D R, goods and services, the Factual Presentation 
had been sent to the Parties for comments in Nove mber 2009, but no comments had been received so 
far.  For US-Oman, goods and services, the Fact ual Presentation had been sent to the Parties for 
comments in October 2009, but no comments had been received so far. The Secretariat was also awaiting data from Oman.  For US-Peru, goods and services, the Factual Presentation had been sent to 
the Parties for comments in October 2009, but no comments had been received so far.  For 
China-Singapore, goods and services, the Factual Pr esentation had been sent to the Parties for 
comments also in October 2009, but no comments had b een received so far.  The Secretariat was still 
awaiting data from China.  For Costa Rica-Mexico, goods and services, originally scheduled for November 2009, the Factual Presentation had been sent to the Par ties for comments in 
December 2009, but no comments had been received so far.  Finally, there were some agreements for 
which the Secretariat had had difficulties in obta ining data:  for EC-Egypt, goods, originally 
scheduled for consideration in July 2007, tariff data from Egypt had not been provided yet.  The 
Secretariat continued to liaise with Egypt's authorities in  an effort to try to resolve this situation.  For 
EC-South Africa, goods, the Secretariat was still aw aiting data from South Africa which had been 
requested in February 2007 and had contacted the South African authorities in an effort to try to 
resolve this matter.   
32. For the next session of the CRTA in June, eight RTAs between WTO Members and 
ten between Members and non-Members were schedul ed in accordance with th e work programme for 
2010.  The situation for RTAs between WTO Member s was as follows:  the factual presentations of 
Australia-Chile, goods and services,  Mexico-Nicaragua, goods and servi ces, and New Zealand-China, 
goods and services, had been sent to the Parties for co mments.  In the case of  Mexico-Nicaragua, the 
Secretariat was still waiting for data from Nicara gua.  In the case of New Zealand-China, the 
Secretariat was also still awaiting trade data from China.  For Costa Rica-Panama, goods and services, 
the Secretariat was still awaiting data from Panama.  For the RTAs between Members and 
non-Members scheduled for the meeting in June 2 010, the situation was as follows:  the factual 
presentations of Iceland-Faroe Is lands, goods and services, and ASEAN-China, services, had been 
sent to the Parties for comments.  In the case of  Iceland-Faroe Islands, the Secretariat was still 
awaiting data from the Faroe Islands.  For EU-Bos nia Herzegovina, goods, data had been received 
from the EU, but not from Bosnia Herzegovina.  Fo r EU-Montenegro, goods, data had been received 
and the factual presentation was currently being dr afted.  For EFTA-Lebanon, goods, the Secretariat 
had received data from EFTA but not from Leba non.  For EU-CARIFORUM, goods and services, the 
Secretariat was still awaiting data from the Parties.   For Turkey-Syria, goods, no data had been 
received from Turkey and the Secretariat was awaiting correct data from Syria.  For CEFTA Enlargement, goods, data had been received from some  parties and the Secretariat had been in touch 
with the others to obtain the outstanding data.  WT/REG/M/56 
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  33. The Secretariat remarked that the list seeme d to be getting much longer and there was 
considerable slippage from th e established work programme for 2010.  Given the number of 
agreements to be considered, as well as the large nu mber of recent notifications (37 in 2009 – which 
was the largest number received in a single year to date), the Secretariat would need all the help it 
could get from RTA parties, including timely su bmission of data as well as comments on factual 
presentations.  She remarked that there were sever al gaps regarding both of these issues.  This 
information was needed in order for the Secretariat to be able to respect its established work 
programme and to make a significant reduction in its backlog, which at the moment seemed to be growing.  She thus urged Members to make every effort to comply with the deadlines as requested 
and stated in the TM.  
34. The Chairman
 noted that the message had to be taken very seriously by Members;  the 
success of the TM, or the further success, depended on Members' cooperation in bringing data and, in 
his view, up to now the exercise had been very successful.  He thus urged Members to do what was needed to provide the Secr etariat with necessary data. 
C. II-VI. (The minutes of the consideration of th e Agreements listed under agenda items C.II-VI are 
being distributed as separate documents). 
 D. E
LECTION OF OFFICERS  
35. Under this Agenda Item, the Chairman  proposed the Committee elect by acclamation the 
Ambassador of Panama, Mr. Alfredo Suescum, as the incoming chairman of the CRTA.  The Committee so agreed
. 
36. The incoming Chairman  of the CRTA thanked the outgoing Chairman and Members for the 
trust placed on him, by giving him the opportunity to chair the CRTA.  It was an honour not only for him, but also for his country.  He thanked Mr. Bra uns for his work and congratulated him for the way 
he had led the work of the Committee.  He also  recognized the Secretariat, whose energy and 
experience and day-to-day to work had allowed th e Committee to move forward, which would have 
been impossible otherwise.  He noted that Mr . Brauns had made it difficult for any following 
Chairman to fill his shoes, and he hoped he was up to the challenge of justifying the trust that 
Members had placed in him.  He took note of Me mbers' comments and recommendations, and of what 
Mr. Brauns had said about future work.  He woul d consult with interested delegations as soon as 
possible on pending issues and proposals.  
37. The outgoing Chairman
 said it had been a privilege to work together with Members in the last 
two years, and thanked them for their patience.  He  observed that he had learned a lot in these years, 
in particular on the potential of the CRTA to be one of the most important Committees in the WTO.  
The work done in the framework of the TM, had been a very first step in the direction of the important 
role that the Committee could have in the future.  The success of the TM in the future would depend 
on Members' cooperation, and thus urged all Members to do their out most to notify agreements, to 
notify changes and to cooperate by delivering data to the Secretariat in order to allow it to do the 
work.  In his view, the success of the TM would de pend on that.  In addition to the TM, a second step 
should be done in the framework on the NGR, with new discussions on strengthening the disciplines and rules on RTAs.  In his view, any progress in the NGR would allow the CRTA to take full advantage of its role.  However,  he had learned from experience th at good arguments were not always 
enough and that political willingness was needed to ta ke decisions;  at present, this willingness was 
not there.  He also paid tribute to the Secretaria t, to its intellectual capacity, seriousness, technical 
expertise, and political savvy.  He had been im pressed by, and thankful for, the availability of 
Mrs. Rohini Acharya and her team, as well as of the Director of the TPRD.  He thanked them again for their ability and availability in helping him and all Members of the WTO.  From his point of view, Members should take full advantage of the Secretaria t's expertise.  In concluding, he welcomed the  WT/REG/M/56 
 Page 11 
 
 
  incoming Chairman and wished him much success in hi s work in this group.  He knew that he was an 
experienced colleague with all the necessary abiliti es to move the work of  the Committee forward. 
38. The incoming Chairman  thanked the outgoing Chairman fo r his efforts and wished him the 
best of success for the future.  He  wished he were as linguistically gifted in the three official 
languages of the Organization.  
39. The representative of Venezuela  expressed her delegation's thanks  for the work carried out in 
the last two years by the outgoing Chairman, who ha d been very effective and efficient in the conduct 
of the Committee's work.  She extended her gratitude  to the Secretariat for its competence.  She 
welcomed the distinguished Ambassador from Pa nama, Mr. Alfredo Suescum, as the new Chairman 
of the CRTA, at a time when Members were requesting more consultations and progress in their 
work.  Finally, she expressed her delegation’ s full support and willingness to cooperate. 
E. OTHER BUSINESS  
40. Under "Other business", the Chairman  informed Members of technical cooperation activities 
conducted in 2009 in the area of RTAs.  He recalled that at Committee's 32nd Session it had been 
agreed to regularly overview the RTA-relate d technical assistance activ ities undertaken by the 
Secretariat.  He thus gave the floor to the Secret ariat for an account of the activities that had been 
carried out in 2009 and planned for 2010. 
41. A representative of the Secretariat  informed Members that 16 Technical Assistance (TA) 
activities had been conducted in 2009.  Eleven activ ities thus far were scheduled for 2010, of which 
three were RTA specific regional seminars for La tin America, the Caribb ean and French-speaking 
Africa.  Most of the activities had been financed  by the WTO regular budget, donations by Member 
countries, or by the Global Trust Fund for activities under the Doha Development Agenda.  The 
participation costs for some of the activities ha d been incurred by the hosting organizations. The 
objectives of the activities varied from raising awareness on RTA dynamics in global trade, to training and advising government officials on WTO rules and procedures on RTAs, including the Transparency Mechanism.  Virtually all TA activ ities were addressed to participants from broad 
regional groupings.  Their underlying objective was to  contribute to the development of RTAs that 
were beneficial to their members and that complemented the objectives of the WTO.  Since Doha, the RTA Section of the TPRD had been entrusted with th e additional task of clarifying issues related to 
the negotiations on RTA rules to WTO Members requesting such assistance. 
42. The Committee took note
 of the comments made. 
__________