. /.  WORLD TRADE  
ORGANIZATION  G/L/756 
1 November 2005 
 (05-5121) 
 
  
 
REPORT (2005) OF THE COMMITTEE OF  PARTICIPANTS ON  THE EXPANSION 
OF TRADE IN INFORMAT ION TECHNOLOGY PRODUCTS  
 
 1. The Committee of Participants  on the Expansion of Trade in Information Technology Products, 
hereinafter referred to as "the Committee", was establ ished pursuant to the provi sions of the Ministerial 
Declaration on Tr ade in Information Technology Products (WT/ MIN(96)/16), hereinafter referred to as 
"the Ministerial Declaration", and the provisions for the Implementati on of the Ministerial Declaration 
on Trade in Information Technology Products (G/L/ 160), in order to carry out the provisions of 
paragraphs 3, 5, 6 and 7 of the Annex to the Declaration. 
 2. The Committee has held three formal meetings  thus far in 2005:  on 24 February, 25 May, and 
20 October.  The minutes of these meetings are co ntained in documents G/IT/M/42 to G/IT/M/44.  
Mr. Simon Chan (Hong Kong, China) was elec ted Chairman of the Committee for 2005. 
 3. The total number of participants to the Ministerial Declaration is sixty-six. In the past year, the schedules of Honduras, the Kingdom of  Saudi Arabia, and Nicaragua we re circulated and approved by 
the Committee. The Committee noted that the concessions contained in the schedule of the Kingdom of 
Saudi Arabia would come into ef fect upon the date of the Kingdom 's accession to the WTO. At the 
Committee's meeting on 20 October 2005,  Guatemala requested to join the ITA by the end of this year. 
The Committee suggested the Secretariat to verify th e schedule of Guatemala so on after receiving it and 
then circulate it to participants for approval. The Co mmittee also agreed that the schedule of Guatemala 
will be deemed to be approved unless any partic ipants would notify its objection in writing to the 
Secretariat within two weeks from date of circulation of the schedule. The Committee's rules of 
procedure provide for observer status in the Commit tee for WTO Members which are not participants to 
the Ministerial Declaration and Governments that are observers to the Council for Trade in Goods.  Requests for observer status by international intergovernmental or ganizations are considered on a 
case-by-case basis.  The International Trade Centre (ITC) and Organization for Economic Cooperation 
and Development (OECD) have be en granted observer status; and the World Customs Organization 
(WCO) has been granted observer status to meetings where the issues of HS classification and HS amendments are included in the agenda.  4.  The Committee continued work on the Non- Tariff Measures (NTMs) Work Programme.  It 
took note of the Secretariat's papers on  the subject (G/IT/SPEC/Q2/11/Rev.1 and 
G/IT/SPEC/Q4/19/Rev.2) which provided an overview of the submissions and an overview of the 
survey responses. The Committee not ed that the Chairman of the Committee, as agreed by the 
participants on  2005, sent a letter to the Chairman  of the NGMA, informing them of the Committee's 
work on NTMs by providing factual information on the work done in the ITA Committee, and also 
the accomplishments that had been realized. The Committee proceeded with its work on the 
EMC/EMI Pilot Project and approved the "Guidelines for EMC/EMI Conformity Assessment 
Procedures" (G/IT/25) on an ad referendum  basis. It also took note of the Secretariat's note of the 
"Draft List of the Types of Conformity A ssessment Procedures for EMC/EMI Used by ITA 
Participants" (G/IT/W/17).    G/L/756 
Page 2  
 
 5.   The Committee continued its work on cl assification divergences.  In this respect, the 
Committee continued with the last report from the customs experts (G/IT/14/Rev.1/Add.1) and the compilation document, as revised by the Secretariat (G/IT/W/6/Rev.3), as the basis for its discussions.  
In the past year, the Committee focused its discu ssions on List V (G/IT/W15). It conducted two 
rounds  of discussions on the first 11 items of List  V (G/IT/W/16 and G/IT/W/16/Rev.1). It also had 
initial discussions on the remaining 9 items of List V (G/IT/W/18/Rev.1). 
 6. As a follow-up to the IT Symposium organized by the Committee in October 2004, a number of elements were taken up for discussions in the pa st year (G/IT/W/14). Discussions are expected to 
continue on these matters in the course of its future work.   
 
7. The Committee has consistently reviewed the status of implementation, a summary of which is provided in document G/IT/1 and its revisions.  The document noted that most participants had 
submitted the formal documentation for rectificat ion and modification of their WTO schedules in 
order to incorporate the commitments arising from the Ministerial Declaration and most had been 
certified by the Director-General. Three participan ts were still awaiting th e completion of domestic 
procedural requirements or had not yet submitted the necessary documentation.  During the year, 
three implementation/classification matters were rais ed under this agenda item by two participants in 
respect of the practices of three other participants. 
8. The Chairman regularly informed the Comm ittee under "other business" that participants 
continued to consult among themselve s on review of product coverage.  He encouraged delegations to 
continue their efforts.     
 
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