. /. RESTRICTED  WORLD TRADE  
ORGANIZATION  WT/REG158/M/2 
6 October 2005 
 (05-4505) 
Committee on Regional Trade Agreements 
Fortieth Session  
 
 
 
EXAMINATION OF THE FREE TRADE AGREEMENT  
BETWEEN AUSTRALIA AND SINGAPORE 
 
Note on the Meeting of 28 July 2005  
 
Chairman:  Mr. A. Egger (Switzerland) 
  
1. The meeting was convened in document WTO/AIR/2624. 
2. Under Agenda Item C.XI of its Fortieth Session, the Committee on Regional Trade 
Agreements (hereinafter CRTA or the Committee)  took up the examination of the goods and services 
aspects of the Free Trade Agreement (FTA) be tween Australia and Singapore (SAFTA).  
3. The Chairman
 said that this was the second round of examination of the FTA between 
Australia and Singapore.  The proceedings of the first round, which had taken place in the 
Thirty-Seventh Session of the Committee in Oc tober 2004, could be found in document 
WT/REG158/M/1.  Since then the Parties had provi ded responses to written questions circulated as 
document WT/REG158/5. 
A. G OODS ASPECTS  
4. In reference to Article 02.6.1 dealing with non- tariff measures, and in particular regarding the 
maintenance of WTO-consistent non- tariff barriers provided for in that Article, the representative of 
the United States  asked whether the Parties had eliminat ed any such non-tariff barriers on trade 
between them which remained in eff ect against imports of non parties. 
5. Thanking the representative of the United States  for the early submission of her question, the 
representative of Singapore  replied that Article 02.6.1 referred to WTO-consistent non-tariff measures 
as opposed to non-tariff barriers.  With respect to such measures, the Parties had concluded sectoral 
annexes to the SAFTA which committed them to  recognize each other's food standards, and 
certificates and test reports in relation to horticultu re products.  He added th at these annexes did not 
apply to third parties.    
6.  The Chairman  said that the early submission of written questions appeared to facilitate the 
Committee's discussions and he encouraged delegations to continue the practice. 
7. In reference to question 8 of document WT /REG158/5 on government procurement, the 
representative of the European Communities  said that he had noted the response of Australia that the 
WTO Agreement on Government Procurement (GPA) established some "procedur al requirements that 
[we]re not necessarily consistent with open and tr ansparent government procurement practices".  At 
the same time, his delegation was slightly puzzled  that Australia had concluded FTAs with Singapore 
and the United States which had a procurement ch apter and that both United States and Singapore 
were parties to the GPA.   Given that the structure of the agreem ents tended to follow the model of the WT/REG158/M/2 
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 GPA, he wondered if Australia could provide additional information on why this would pose a 
concern for Australia.  He was puzzled by the seco nd comment made in response to question 8 which 
stated that "the GPA ha[d] in Australia's view so me significant deficiencies including departure from 
the MFN principle allowing bilateral agreements between signatories that enable[d] carve-outs of 
sensitive and potentially lucrative se ctors," because the readiness to  sign RTAs did not seem to fit 
very well with Australia's problem of departure from the MFN principle.  He asked the representative 
of Australia to explain why it would be better for the Multilateral Trading System to have FTAs with 
provisions on government procurement rather th an a plurilateral agreement on government 
procurement to which Australia w ould hopefully in the future become party.   The representative of 
Australia
 asked if the questions coul d be provided in writing so that she could provide a written 
response.    
8. The Chairman  said that the second round of examination of the goods aspects of the Free 
Trade Agreement between Australia and Singapore had allowed the Committee to clarify certain 
points though others remained.  He requested delega tions wishing to ask questions to forward them to 
the Secretariat by 23 September, and the Parti es to submit replies in writing by not later than 
31 October.  The Committee could consider the factual examination as complete.  Once the replies 
had been circulated to Members, any request for additional information could be dealt with without 
holding another round of formal examination and th e Secretariat could begin drafting the examination 
report for this Agreement.  
9. The Committee took note  of the comments made.   
B. S ERVICES ASPECTS  
10. The representative of the United States  said that she had no oral questions, but that she would 
submit any written questions by the deadline fixed by the Chairman. 
11. The Chairman  said that the second round of examination of the services aspects of the Free 
Trade Agreement between Australia and Singapore had allowed the Committee to clarify certain 
points though others remained.  He requested delega tions wishing to ask questions to forward them to 
the Secretariat by 23 September, and the Parti es to submit replies in writing by not later than 
31 October.  The Committee could consider the factual examination as complete.  Once the replies had been circulated to Members, any request for additional information could be dealt with without 
holding another round of formal examination and th e Secretariat could begin drafting the examination 
report for this Agreement.  
12. The Committee took note
 of the comments made.   
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