./. RESTRICTED  WORLD TRADE  
ORGANIZATION  TN/DS/M/25 
6 June 2005 
 (05-2308) 
Special Session of the Dispute Settlement Body 
10 May 2005  
 
 
MINUTES OF MEETING 
 
Held in the Centre William Rappard  
on 10 May 2005  
 
Chairman:  Mr. David Spencer (Australia) 
 
 
 The Chairman  welcomed delegations to the twenty-eighth meeting of the Special Session and 
said that the airgram for the meeting had been circ ulated in WTO/AIR/2560 and that the draft agenda 
(TN/DS/W/76) contained two items, namely: (i) discu ssion of contributions by participants and (ii) 
"Other Business".  He said that under the first agen da item, he would invite participants who had 
submitted new proposals since the last meeting of the Special Session to present them and allow other 
participants to comment on them.  With respect to  the second agenda item, he said that he would be 
making a few remarks on the future work programme of the Special Session.  He asked whether any 
delegation would like to raise anything under "Other Business".  There was no response from the floor 
and the agenda of the meeting was adopted.  
 
1. Discussion of proposals from participants 
1. The Chairman  said that since the last meeting of the Special Session, a number of informal 
proposals had been circulated by delegations with a view to advancing the negot iations.  He noted that 
these proposals had already been discussed informally in  the Special Session but that he would like to 
give the proponents an opportunity to formally pr esent their papers, after which other delegations 
could also formally comment on them for the record. 
2. The representative of Australia  recalled that Australia had submitted a paper on possible time 
savings in the WTO dispute settlement procedures  and for accelerated time-frames for disputes 
involving safeguard measures and that there had b een a good discussion on the paper informally in the 
Special Session the day before.  She said that Au stralia would welcome any further ideas or comments 
that delegations might have on their paper. 
2. "Other business"   
3. The Chairman  recalled that the next meeting of the Special Session would take place on 21-22 
June 2005 and said that between now and that time , it was his intention to hold further informal 
consultations with delegations with  a view to advancing the negotia tions.  He encouraged delegations 
to consult with each other and explore the possi bility of achieving a common understanding on some 
of the issues under consideration.  He further reca lled that the Special Session was scheduled to meet 
after the July General Council and said that he woul d be consulting with dele gations as to whether  
that meeting could be rescheduled.  He said that th ere was the expectation from Ministers that by July, 
there should be first approximations of modalities fo r agriculture and NAMA and their equivalents in 
other areas of the negotiations, including rules.  It was not entirely clear what was required exactly in 
the area of dispute settlement.  He said that he in tended to consult delegations on this issue so as to 
determine the contribution the Special Session could make to the July 2005 General Council Decision.  TN/DS/M/25 
Page 2  
 
 It could possibly take the form of a Chairman's re port prepared under his own responsibility or if there 
was agreement among delegations, it could be presented as a consensus text.  This report would only 
report on the state of progress and give an indication of what ought to be achieved by the time of the Ministerial Conference in Hong Kong. 
4. He said the contents of the report to be subm itted to the July 2005 General Council could be 
discussed during informal consultations he planned to  have between now and the next meeting of the 
Special Session.  It would not be fruitful for delega tions to engage in lengthy discussions at this stage 
as to when the negotiations would be concluded, but it would be extremely useful if delegations could 
focus on the text to be presented for the consider ation of Ministers at the Hong Kong Ministerial 
Conference.  If something substantial was to be provi ded, it was clear that delegations had to change 
gears in the second half of this year.  The text was not going to be drafted single-handedly by him and 
would reflect the work done by delegations.  He could only facilitate the process but delegations 
ultimately had the responsibility for developing the text .  He encouraged delegations to think over this 
during the summer break and be prepared to engage substantively in Septembe r.  He asked whether 
any delegation would like to comment on what he had said.  As there was no response from the floor, 
he reminded delegations that the next meeting w ould take place on 21-22 June and said that a fax 
setting out the order of business would be sent ahead of that date, so as to allow delegations ample 
time to prepare.  It would be productive if the present format of combining informal and formal 
sessions was followed.  
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