RESTRICTED  WORLD TRADE  
ORGANIZATION  G/TRIMS/M/28 
18 June 2009 
 (09-2997) 
Committee on Trade-Related Investment Measures  
  
 
MINUTES OF THE MEETING HELD ON 20 MAY 2009 
 
Note by the Secretariat
 
  
1. The Committee on Trade-Related Investment Measures ("The Committee") met on 
20 May 2009.  The meeting was opened and conduc ted under the Chairmanship of Mr. Henry Liu 
(Chinese Taipei).  The Committee adopted
 the agenda contained in WTO/AIR/3363.   
A. COMMUNICATION FROM THE EUROPEAN COMMUNITIES AND THE UNITED STATES – CERTAIN 
NEW AND PROPOSED MEASURES BY INDONESIA ADDRESSING LOCAL CONTENT IN 
INVESTMENT IN THE TELECOMMUNICATIONS SECTOR (G/STR/W/61) 
2. The Chairman  stated that this item was placed on the agenda upon the request of the 
European Communities and the United States and inv ited both proponents to introduce their joint 
communication contained in document G/TRIMS/W/61.   
3. The representative of the United States  referred to the joint communication and emphasized 
the seriousness of the issue it contained.  He indi cated that it was the proponents' understanding that 
there was a 30 per cent local content requirement within the telecommunications sector in Indonesia 
and that such understanding was based on recent legi slation designed to go up to 50 per cent.  He 
explained that this issue was discussed bilaterally with Indonesia and that Jakarta was made aware of 
these concerns.  He added that the proponents were in need of more factual information from the 
Indonesian government and that until a notification of  the situation was officially made by Indonesia 
in this respect, the proponents would not be sure th at their understanding was entirely correct.  He also 
referred to the list of questions posed by the prop onents and contained in their joint communication 
which basically laid out the areas where informa tion and further clarification was requested from 
Indonesia.  He further indicated that if local cont ent requirements existed, Indonesia should be willing 
to address the concerns that Member s would have in this regard.   
4. The representative of the European Communities  associated himself with the statement made 
by the United States and emphasized the necessity of obt aining the exact facts pertaining to this issue.  
He indicated that the pieces of information that  the proponents had manage d to gather were only 
obtained through an unofficial translation of the underlying documents, which would make the 
Indonesian replies to the proponents' questions cr ucial to the assessment of the legislation's 
provisions.  He submitted that the information ga thered, which prompted the request for factual 
information, presented prima facie  evidence that this legislation might be inconsistent with the 
provisions of the Trade-Related Investment Measures Agreement ("TRIMS" Agreement), but 
Indonesia's replies would provide the needed clarity.   
5. The representative of Indonesia  indicated that he had conveyed the joint communication 
containing the questions to capital and emphasized the urgency of the matter, but unfortunately no 
formal replies were received prior to the meeti ng.  He indicated that once the information was 
received from Jakarta, he would relay it to the Ch airman, the European Co mmunities and the United 
States.  He added that the only informal piece of information he could provide was that the intent G/TRIMS/M/28 
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  behind the draft regulation on the procedures for the assessment of domestic component content was 
to cover what had been the general practice and that Jakarta was still assessing its compatibility with 
the WTO provisions in order to make sure that th e decree - that was in the making - would comply 
with such provisions.  With respect  to the other regulation, he noted that no formal response was 
received from capital yet.  On the decree 38/PER/M.KOMINFO/9/2007 of 20 September 2007, he 
clarified that one of the questions contained in th e joint communication referred to Article 18 b (3), 
although the last article of that decree was Ar ticle 18 A (3).  The representative of Indonesia
 provided 
a non-translated copy of that decree to support his statement in this regard. 
6. The representative of the United States  complimented Indonesia on its willingness to pursue 
this issue with Jakarta to obtai n the requested answers.  He i ndicated that the proponents might 
request the Chairman to make himself available to conduct further inform al consultations with 
interested Members, if that turned ou t to be a necessary course of action.   
7. The representative of Japan  shared the concerns expressed by the proponents.  She indicated 
that as this was an important matter for Japan, she requested a copy of the non-translated decree 
provided by Indonesia and any other related documen tation which Indonesia could provide.  She also 
requested that Japan be included in the list of in terested Members that would be invited by the 
Chairman to attend any subsequent info rmal consultations on this issue.   
8. The representative of Korea  stressed the importance of this issue for his delegation and shared 
the views expressed by Japan in this respect.  He re quested the Secretariat to include his delegation in 
any subsequent informal consultations to be conducted by the Chairman on this matter.   
9. The representative of Canada  expressed his delegation's interest in this matter, in any 
subsequent information to be recei ved from Indonesia and in any informal  consultations to be held in 
the future.  
10. The representative of the European Communities  stated that he would be looking forward to 
receiving further information from Indonesia and expr essed his readiness to discu ss this issue in more 
detail in any mode.  He also underlined that, at th is point, his expectation would be to receive written 
answers from Indonesia.  He also re quested the representative of Indon esia to provide an indication as 
to when he would expect to obtain the replies to the questions posed in the joint communication.   
11. The representative of Indonesia  explained that it might be difficult to provide any specific 
date, especially due to the number of questions posed, but indicated that he would do his best to get the necessary information as soon as feasible.   
12. On the request by the United States and the European Communities for further informal 
consultations on this issue, the Chairman
 indicated that he would convey this request to the new 
Chairman, who was to be elected at the end of the meeting, to further discuss how to proceed in this 
respect.   
13. The Committee took note  of the questions, answers and statements made.   
B. CHAIRPERSON 'S REPORT ON THE INFORMAL CONSULTATIONS ON WAYS TO IMPROVE 
TIMELINESS AND COMPLETENESS OF NOTIFICATIONS AND OTHER INFORMATION FLOWS ON 
TRADE MEASURES IN THE TRIM S AREA 
14. The Chairman  indicated that the Chairperson of the General Council, upon the request of the 
Chairperson of the Trade Policy Review Body, requ ested him, amongst other Chairpersons, to consult 
with Members on ways to improve the timeliness  and completeness of notifications and other  G/TRIMS/M/28 
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  information flows on trade measures falling within th e TRIMs area.  In response to this request, he 
held informal consultations to discuss this issue on 17 March 2009.   
15. He recalled that the discussion focused only on Ar ticle 6.2 of the TRIMs Agreement, as the 
primary notification obligation provision under that  Agreement which was still relevant, and its 
related decision adopted by the Committee and cont ained in document G/TRIMS/5.  Article 6.2 and 
the decision would require each Member to notify the Secretariat of the names of publications in 
which TRIMs might be found, where such publicati ons existed, including t hose applied by regional 
and local governments and authorities within their territories, and the addresses from which copies 
could be obtained, without prejudice to the legal consistency of any TRIM which might be found in 
the publications notified.  He reminded Members that  the Secretariat consolidated these notifications 
in a single document which it was constantly updating.   The latest update was circulated in document 
G/TRIMS/N/2/Rev.18, which listed all the notifica tions received under Article 6.2, to date.  He 
clarified that there was an obligation to provide p ublications relating to all TRIMs Members maintain, 
not necessarily those inconsistent with the Agreement,  but those consistent with the Agreement too.  
He further explained that in case a Member did not maintain any TRIMs which were inconsistent with 
the Agreement, but maintained TRIMs consistent w ith the Agreement, that Member would have an 
obligation to report all publications where such cons istent TRIMs might be found.  He strongly urged 
Members who did not do that to date, 49 Members to be exact, to provide such a notification 
promptly.   
16. In addition, the Chairman indicated that Members who did provide such notification, and had 
not updated the information notified, though changes might have occurred in this regard, were urged 
to update such information without delay.   
17. At the consultations, some Memb ers suggested that such notif ications should also include 
relevant websites containing information on TRIMs.  They also suggested, in the case of developing 
Members that might have difficulty in notifying, that  they would request the Secretariat for technical 
assistance.  In addition, it was also  suggested that a reminder be sent to those delegations that had not 
yet notified the relevant information reminding them of the importance that th e Committee attached to 
fulfilling their notification obligation.   
18. The Chairman thus proposed to the Committee that:   
• The Secretariat would issue reminders in this regard every six months.   
• These reminders should contain guidance for all Members to indicate what Article 6.2 
and its related decision required and to re quest that any information submitted should 
also contain, if possible, any websites where relevant information could be found.   
• The reminders would also request all Member s that had never notified such publications 
to do so without delay and would request a ll Members that had previously notified to 
constantly update their notifications , if appropriate, without delay.   
19. Finally, the Chairman made copies of his lette r to the Chairperson of the General Council, 
dated 23 March 2009, available to all Members.   
20. The representative of the European Communities  complimented the Chairman on his report 
and his suggestions.  He informed the Committee th at the European Commun ities was in the process 
of reviewing the information it provided pursuant to Article 6.2 and would submit to the Committee 
the updated notification once the necessary informati on was gathered from all Member States.  He 
underlined his delegation's concern pertaining to th e manner in which certain Members tried to fulfil 
their notification obligation under this Article.  He explained that instead of providing a notification G/TRIMS/M/28 
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  indicating the various publications where TRIMs mi ght be found as required by this Article, some 
Members would tend to provide a notification indica ting that they did not have any TRIMs.  As a 
result, instead of providing the names of relevant publications or national gazette where information 
could be found, the Committee was not able to obtain from many Members any information relating 
to their relevant publications.  He supported th e Chairman's views on reminding Members of what 
Article 6.2 required Members precisely to notify.   
21. The Committee took note
 of the statements made.   
C. OTHER BUSINESS  
22. No items were raised by any Memb er under this item of the agenda. 
D. DATE OF THE NEXT REGULAR MEETING  
23. The next regular meeting of the Committee w ould be held on Friday, 16 October 2009.  The 
airgram convening the meeting would be circulated  to all Members on Tuesday, 6 October 2009.  The 
last date for inscription of items on the agenda of  the meeting would be Friday, 2 October 2009, by 
close of business.   
E. ELECTION OF THE CHAIR  
24. The Committee elected  Mr. Vasile Radu (Romania) as its Chairman for the period 2009-2010.   
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