. /.   WORLD TRADE  
ORGANIZATION  TN/MA/W/96 
7 December 2007 
 
 (07-5443) 
Negotiating Group on Market Access Original:   English 
  
 
MARKET ACCESS FOR NON-AGRICULTURAL PRODUCTS 
 
Communication from the European Communities and the United States 
 
 The following communication, dated 5 December 2007, is being circulated at the request of 
the delegations of the European Communities and the United States 
 
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1. In this submission to the Negotiating Group,  the European Communities and the United 
States wish to propose an amendment to the fina l sentence of paragraph 7 (a) of the Draft NAMA 
Modalities contained in the WTO Secretaria t's document JOB(07)/126 of 17 July 2007. 
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2. As the Chairman of the Negotiating Group on Ma rket Access recognises, transparency in the 
use of flexibilities is a source of continuing concern for many delegations. In order to contribute to a 
solution, we submit this proposal in a constructiv e spirit hoping it will meet with the agreement of 
Members. 
3. Paragraph 7 of the Draft NAMA Modalities contained in the WTO Secretariat's document 
JOB(07)/126 of 17 July 2007 reads as follows: 
Flexibilities for developing Me mbers subject to the formula
 
 7.(a) Developing Members subject to the formul a shall be given the following flexibility: 
   (i) applying less than formula cuts fo r up to 10 percent of  non-agricultural 
national tariff lines provided that the cuts ar e no less than half the formula cuts and 
that these tariff lines do not exceed 10 percen t of the total value of a Member's non-
agricultural imports;  
 
  o r     (ii) keeping, as an exception, tariff lines unbound, or not applying formula cuts 
for up to 5 percent of non-agricultural national tariff lines provided they do not 
exceed 5 percent of the total value of a Member's non-agricultural imports
1. 
   We furthermore agree that this flexibil ity shall not be used to exclude entire HS 
Chapters.   
                                                     
 
1 It is understood that the options in sub-paragraph 7(a)(ii) (keeping tariff lines unbound or not 
applying formula cuts) may be combined but cannot together exceed the 5 percent of tariff lines and the 
5 percent of non-agricultural imports.  ( Footnote included in the Chairman's text)  TN/MA/W/96 
Page 2  
 
   
 (b) Where developing Members subject to the formula do not use the flexibility in 
sub-paragraph (a) above, they shall apply a coefficient of  b + 3 in the formula.   
 4. Without prejudice to the EC and United Stat es’ final position on flexibilities for developing 
Members, the EC and the United States propose to amend the final sentence of paragraph 7 (a) above 
as follows:  
 We furthermore agree that this flexibility shall not be used to exclude from the full formula 
cut entire HS Chapters, or to exclude from any four digit heading in a Member's tariff 
schedule:  
  
(1) more than [half] of the six-digit sub-headings in that heading;  or   
(2) any combination of six-digit sub-headings or national tariff lines in that 
heading representing more than [50] percent of the total value of the Member’s imports of goods classifiable within that heading. 
  For purposes of subparagraph (1), if a Me mber uses flexibilities with respect to any 
national tariff line in a six-digit subheading, it shall be deemed to have excluded that six-
digit subheading.   
 
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