. /.  WORLD TRADE  
ORGANIZATION  G/L/748 
18 October 2005 
 (05-4761) 
Committee on Market Access  
  
 
 
REPORT (2005) OF THE COMMITTEE ON MARKET ACCESS 
 
 1. Since the last review
1, the Committee on Market Access has he ld three formal meetings (two 
on 30 March 2005 (a resumed meeting as well as a regular meeting) and a third one on 
3 October 2005), and five informal meetings (1 November, 30 November, 10 December 2004, 29 
June and 3 October 2005). The minutes of the fo rmal meetings are contained in documents 
G/MA/M/38/Add.1, G/MA/M/39 and G/MA/M/40.  In addition, two period ic reports giving an 
overview of the issues discussed in  the Committee and providing fact ual information on the requests 
for waivers and waiver extensions related to th e Harmonized System are contained in documents 
G/MA/157 and Corr.1 and G/MA/163.  2. At its meeting of 30 March 2005, the Committee took note of the nomination of Mr. Martin Pospíšil (Czech Republic) as Chairman of the Committee for the current year and elected 
him by acclamation.  At that meeting, it was agreed  that informal consultations would be carried out 
in order to elect a Vice-Chair for the current year.  At its meeting of 3 October 2005, the Committee 
elected  Mr. Josip Pervan (Croatia) as the Vice-Chair.  
A. 
INTRODUCTION OF HS96  CHANGES TO SCHEDULES OF CONCESSIONS  
3. At its formal meetings in 2005, the Committee examined the s ituation related to the submission 
of HS96 documentation set out in do cuments G/MA/TAR/2/Rev.35-36.  
 
B. INTRODUCTION OF HS2002  CHANGES TO SCHEDULES OF CONCESSIONS  
4. At its meeting of 30 March 2005, the Co mmittee took note of document G/MA/TAR/4/Rev.8 
which contained information on HS2002 docum entation submitted by Members under the old 
procedures (WT/L/407). In the course of its inform al meetings at the end of 2004, the Committee 
discussed and was able to agree on the proce dures for the introduction of HS2002 changes to 
schedules of concessions using the CTS database. The se procedures were subsequently adopted by the 
General Council on 15 February 2005 (WT/L/605).  At its meetings in 2005, the Secretariat reported 
on the status of work concerning the introductio n of HS2002 changes to schedules of concessions 
using the CTS database. On 29 June 2005, the Secr etariat gave a technical briefing to the Committee 
on issues arising from the HS2002 transposition exercise.   
 5. On the HS2002 "collective waiver" (WT/L/598) , at its meeting of 3 October 2005, the  
Committee agreed that a draft decision extending this waiver un til 31 December 2006 should be 
prepared by the Secretariat and circulated to Members for comments prior to being forwarded to the 
CTG for appropriate action. 
 
                                                     
 
1 G/L/699 (dated 13 October 2004). G/L/748 
Page 2  
 
 C. 
INTRODUCTION OF HS2007  CHANGES TO SCHEDULES OF CONCESSIONS  
6. At its meeting of 30 March 2005, the Committee took note of the changes in the Harmonized 
System to be introduced on 1 January 2007 (G/M A/W/67). On that occasion, detailed information on 
these changes was also provided by the WCO representative.    D. D
ATABASES  
7. With reference to the modalities and opera tion of the Integrated Data Base (IDB), the 
Committee, at its formal meetings in 2005, examined  the status of IDB submissions on the basis of 
documents G/MA/IDB/2/Rev.21-22.  At these meeti ngs, the Secretariat reported on the status of IDB 
dissemination, use of IDB information, IDB technical assistance, status of submissions, and the status 
of software development (IDB reporting tools and in ternet analysis facility). At its meeting of 
30 March 2005, the Committee took note of the information provided by the Secretariat on the Common Analytical Market Access Database (JOB(04)/179).   
  8. At its formal meetings in 2005, the Committ ee took note of the Secretariat reports on the 
work undertaken on the Consolidated Tariff Schedules Database. 
 9. At its formal meetings in 2005, the Committe e agreed to the request s for access to the IDB 
and CTS databases from the South Centre (G/MA/W/66), Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean (G/MA/W/68) and the Agency for International Trade Information and Co-
operation (G/MA/W/69).   
 
E. 
PARAGRAPH 18 OF THE PROTOCOL OF ACCESSION OF THE PEOPLE 'S REPUBLIC OF  
 CHINA – CHINA 'S TRANSITIONAL REVIEW MECHANISM  
10. The review took place at the meeting of 3 October 2005.  Questions and/or comments were 
circulated by the European Communities (G/MA/W/ 70), Japan (G/MA/W/72) and the United States 
(G/MA/W/71). The Committee completed its review a nd agreed to forward its report in G/MA/164 to 
the Council for Trade in Goods.  
F. O
THER ACTIVITIES  
11. At its meeting of 30 March 2005, the Co mmittee took note of the statement by the 
European Communities concerning import bans in Nigeria. At its meeting of 3 October 2005, the 
Committee took note of the report by  the Chairman of his consultations on "Certain Uncertified 
Commitments" (JOB(05)/167), and agreed to the pro cedures outlined in that note for the purpose of 
completing the certification process of those commitments.  Also at that meeting, the Committee took note of a Secretariat document which provided detaile d information on the situ ation of schedules of 
WTO members (G/MA/W/23/Rev.2).  
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