. /. RESTRICTED  WORLD TRADE  
ORGANIZATION  WT/REG142/M/2 
11 March 2005 
 
 (05-1048) 
Committee on Regional Trade Agreements 
Thirty-Ninth Session  
 
 
EXAMINATION OF THE EUROPEAN COMMUNITIES - 
CROATIA INTERIM AGREEMENT 
 
Note on the Meeting of 17 February 2005  
 
Chairman: Mr. R. Saborío (Costa Rica) 
  
1. The meeting was convened in document WTO/AIR/2496. 
2. Under Agenda Item C.II of its Thirty-Ninth Session, the Committee on Regional Trade 
Agreements (hereinafter CRTA or the Committee) took up the examination of the European 
Communities (EC)-Croatia Interim Agreement.   
3. The Chairman
 said this was the second round of examination of the Agreement.  The 
proceedings of the first round, which had taken place in the Committee's Thirty-Sixth Session in April 2004, had been distributed in document WT/REG142/M/1, and the recent exchange of questions and replies had been circulated as document WT/REG142/4.  Given that the 
Committee had already had a round of discussion under each of the headings of the Standard 
Format, document WT/REG142/3, he proposed to open the floor for comments and questions by broad Section. 
4. The representative of the United States
 said that her delegation had examined this 
Agreement in more detail since the last meeting and asked the Parties to provide additional data to help her delegation understand more fully the provisions of the Agreement.  She agreed to 
provide these questions in writing.  She had some specific questions with respect to Articles 18, 
25 and 26, particularly with regard to Article 18, which provided for the possibility for unilateral adjustment to concessions for agricultural and fisheries products, if imports caused serious disturbances to markets or to their domestic regulatory mechanisms.  She asked if the term "serious disturbances" was defined in the Agreement, whether or not the Parties had had occasion to use this provision, and if so, what the time period had been.  Her delegation was 
interested to know if the "serious disturbances" mentioned in Article 25 were the same as in 
Article 18, and if so, how they were related.   
5. The representative of Japan
 thanked the Parties for their response to his delegation's 
question on the timing of notification which made reference to the ongoing discussion of this issue in the Negotiating Group on Rules.  His delegation was well aware of this, but wanted to highlight the importance of early notification. 
6. The representative of the European Communities
 asked the representative of the United 
States to put her question relating to Articles 18, 25 and 26 in writing.  As regards the definition of "serious disturbances", he drew attention to the penultimate sentence of Article 18 which ended with "both Parties shall enter into consultations immediately to find an appropriate solution."  He stressed that the Agreement facilitated the opportunity for the Parties to 
maintain close contacts and this Article provided an opportunity for consultations.  In his view, 
"serious" as such was not a difficult term:  "serious" injury existed under general safeguards as well.  He offered to pass the question on to legal experts in the capitals.  In reference to the WT/REG142/M/2 
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question by Japan, he acknowledged that this was one of the questions currently under discussion in the Negotiating Group on Rules. 
7. The Chairman
 noted that the factual examination of the Interim Agreement between the 
European Communities and Croatia had been completed and invited those representatives who wished to ask additional questions to forward them to the Secretariat by 11 March and the 
Parties to submit replies in writing by not later than 22 April.  Once the replies had been 
circulated, any request for additional information could be dealt with without holding another round of formal examination.  At that point, the Secretariat could begin drafting the report for the examination. 
8. The Committee took note
 of the comments made.  
 
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