. /.   WORLD TRADE  
ORGANIZATION  WT/REG/W/59 
19 November 2010 
 
 (10-6216) 
Committee on Regional Trade Agreements Original:   English 
  
 
COMMITTEE ON REGIONAL TRADE AGREEMENTS 
 
Further Work to Consider the Systemic Imp lications of Regional Trade Agreements under  
Paragraph 1(d) of the CRTA Terms of Reference  
 
Submission by the United States 
 
 
1. Paragraph 1(d) of the February 1996 Decisi on that established the Committee on Regional 
Trade Agreements1 tasks this Committee to "consider the systemic implications of such [Regional 
Trade Agreements] and regional initiatives for the multilateral trading system and the relationship 
between them." 
2. At the 26th Session of the Committee in July 2000, th e Secretariat was instructed to start a 
horizontal survey on the internal trade liberalization in RTAs.2  Two background surveys, one on 
coverage, the liberalization process and transitional provisions in RTAs, and the other on rules of 
origin in RTAs, were issued nearly two years later, in April 2002.3  Following the practice of 
GATT working parties, in the years prior to the launching of the Doha Round, Members also engaged 
in extensive (if inconclusive) debates con cerning GATT Article XXIV and GATS Article V 
requirements. 
3. Since 2002 Members have negotiated in the Rules Group the Transparency Mechanism 
for Regional Trade Agreements, which came  become provisionally operational in 2006.4 The 
Mechanism requires Members to submit specified kinds  of data, and the Secretariat to prepare Factual 
Presentations subject to review by the parties to  the agreement. Implementation of these provisions 
has helped to fill previous majo r knowledge gaps with respect to individual RTAs, and worked to 
ensure a uniform degree of information is available across agreements.  In addition, the on-line data 
base required by the Transparency Mechanism not only makes product specific trade and tariff data 
available to each Member, but also has provided n eeded transparency to the public, including the 
academic community and other international organi zations like the OECD—leading to a plethora of 
economic, political and legal analyses. 
4. Both at the Seventh Ministerial Conference in November 2009 and in various WTO fora 
since, many Members have noted that considerati on of these systemic implications on the multilateral 
system is becoming increasingly important. From the U. S. perspective, it is important to ensure that 
Members are informed of the extent to which asp ects of RTAs complement or hinder multilateral 
trade liberalization efforts.  
                                                      
1 WT/L/127 
2 WT/REG/W/38 
3 WT/REG/W/45 and WT/REG/W/46 
4 WT/L/671 WT/REG/W/59 
Page 2  
 
  5. The United States supports renewed considerati on of systemic implications in the CRTA 
pursuant to its terms of reference.  As not all issu es related to RTAs are ne cessarily systemic and of 
interest to Members, this process should prim arily emanate from Members’ identification of 
individual issues, one at a time, which may warrant further study by the Secretariat and the Committee.  An approach that is fo cused on areas of initial priority to Members could contribute to an 
understanding of economic implicati ons of RTAs and the impact of RTAs on the multilateral trading 
system.  Such a step-by-step approach represents th e best use of the Secretariat’s valuable but scarce 
time and resources.   
6. As a first step, we propose that the Secretariat undertake a study on the actual number of 
RTAs in force  – notified or not.  This figure is not curre ntly known and can vary widely depending on 
a range of factors.  In doing so, the Secretariat should ensure that it does not engage in 
double-counting in any way, such as for goods and services aspects, or for the accession of new 
parties to an RTA.  Ideally, this study could also  include information on the share of trade occurring 
between RTA partners.  Such information is a key starting point to any discussion on an 
understanding of the scope and ec onomic implications of RTAs.  It would provide an essential 
baseline for moving forward. 
7. We also propose that before Members request  the Secretariat to embark on any further 
analytical work, the Secretariat should be t asked to undertake and provide the Membership 
a literature review of books, articles and economic studies on RTAs published over the last 
five years.   This literature review would serve as a deta iled bibliography to Members, to give the 
membership an idea of what topics have already been studied and published on RTAs.  If Members 
agree, each entry might also include a brief parent hetical description, which could be particularly 
helpful in those cases where the title  is unrevealing.  The contents of this review could serve as a 
springboard for Members’ identification of further areas of interest.  Once Members have considered 
the work that has already been done  already outside of the WTO, we will be in a better position to 
move forward in a focused manner.  There is no reason to repeat good work, even if it emanates from 
outside the WTO. 
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