RESTRICTED  WORLD TRADE  
ORGANIZATION  G/TRIMS/M/20 
17 March 2005 
 
 (05-1114) 
Committee on Trade-Related Investment Measures  
  
 
MINUTES OF THE MEETING HELD ON 4 MARCH 2005 
  
Note by the Secretariat
 
 
 
1. The Committee on Trade-Related Invest ment Measures met on 4 March 2005 under the 
Chairmanship of Mr. Sivaramen Palaya than (Mauritius).  The Committee adopted  the agenda 
contained in WTO/AIR/2516.  
A. N
OTIFICATIONS UNDER ARTICLE 6.2 OF THE TRIM S AGREEMENT  
2. The Chairman  reported that no new notifications unde r Article 6.2 of the TRIMs Agreement 
had been submitted to the Committee since its last meeting (26 October 2004).  He noted that the 
latest version of the compilation of Article 6.2 no tifications, which took into account the new member 
State composition of the European Communities was contained in document G/TRIMS/N/2/Rev.13, dated 21 February 2005.  He added that there were still a number of Members who had not yet 
complied with this notification requirement and urge d them to submit Article 6.2 notifications as soon 
as possible. 
3. The Committee agreed
 to revert to this item at a future meeting. 
B. PROPOSALS ON SPECIAL AND DIFFERENTIAL TREATMENT PROVISIONS REFERRED TO THE 
COMMITTEE ON TRADE -RELATED INVESTMENT MEASURES BY THE CHAIRMAN OF THE 
GENERAL COUNCIL , RELATING TO ARTICLE 4 AND ARTICLE 5 OF THE TRIMS  AGREEMENT .   
4. The Chairman  recalled that in May 2003, the Chairm an of the General Council had requested 
the TRIMS Committee to consider two proposals on Special and Differential (S&D) Treatment.  These proposals had been submitted by the African Group in document TN/CTD/W/3/Rev.2 and related to Article 4 and Article 5.3 of the TRIMS Ag reement.  Further to the Decision adopted by the 
General Council on 1 August 2004, the TRIMS Comm ittee had been instructed to expeditiously 
complete the consideration of these proposals and to report to the General Council with clear 
recommendations for a decision as soon as possible and not later than July 2005.  5. With a view to fulfilling this mandate in  a timely manner, the Chairman had conducted 
several rounds of informal consultations with a num ber of delegations.  For the sake of transparency, 
he briefed Members on the developments of his cons ultations, and  informed the Committee that since 
its last formal meeting, he had convened three info rmal consultations to consider the S&D proposals.  
The first one had taken place on 29 November 2004 as an open-ended informal meeting.  On that 
occasion, Kenya, on behalf of the African Group, had announced the intention to submit a new draft 
of their proposals early in 2005.  Accordingly, at the second informal consultation held on 4 February 
2005, Kenya had introduced a revised version of the two proposals which targeted more specifically 
the concerns of the African Group.  The new text had been circulated as a room document at the 4 February meeting and Members had considered that they needed more time to study it.  A preliminary discussion of the revised language took pl ace at the subsequent informal consultation held G/TRIMS/M/20 
Page 2  
 
 on 18 February 2005.  While no substantial chang es in Members' positions had been recorded, the 
informal consultations had provided for a frank exch ange of views and some more insights into the 
underlying concerns that the proposals sought to address.  6. The Chairman's own assessment from his c onsultative process was that Members might be 
moving closer to an agreement in respect of some asp ects of the proposals, specifically the first part of 
the proposal on Article 4.  However, certain f undamental questions still remained unresolved in 
respect of other elements in the proposals, namely those in the second part of the proposal on Article 4 
and the proposal on Article 5.3, including, among others, the scope of the countries covered by the 
proposals and the time-horizon for their application.  Nevertheless, he had sensed that there might be 
room for progress in these areas also, if Members managed to work with some creativity and  
flexibility to find a satisfactory solution.  He announced  that he intended to c ontinue his consultations 
with all interested Members in an informal and inclusive manner in the coming weeks and that he 
would report back to the Committee at an appropriate time.  
7. The Committee agreed
 that the Chair should proceed with his consultations and agreed  to 
revert to this matter at its next meeting.  C. O
UTSTANDING IMPLEMENTATION ISSUES RELATED TO THE TRIMS  AGREEMENT  
8. The Chairman  said that pursuant to the General Council's decision of 1 August 2004, all 
relevant WTO Bodies concerned with implementati on-related issues had been instructed to redouble 
their efforts to find appropriate solutions to these is sues as a priority.  In addition, the General Council 
had requested the Director-General to continue  with this consultative process on all outstanding 
implementation issues under Paragraph 12 (b) of the D oha Ministerial Declaration and to report to the 
Trade Negotiations Committee (TNC) and the Ge neral Council no later than May 2005.   
9. As embodied in the "July Package" (General Council Decision of 1 August 2004), the 
Director-General had constituted a group of "Friends of the TNC Chair" to assist him in this process.  
Following the request of the Director-General, th e Chairman of the TRIMs Committee had convened 
a number of informal consultations with inte rested delegations to discuss the outstanding 
implementation issues relating to the TRIMS Agr eement, contained in Tirets 37 through 40 of 
document JOB(01)/152/Rev.1, and in a related propos al submitted by Brazil and India under Tiret 40, 
which had been circulated as document G/TRIMS/W/25. 
10. The Chairman briefed Members on the status of  his consultations in this regard and reported 
that, since last November, he had convened three r ounds of informal consultations to consider the 
implementation proposals.  Throughout the discussi ons, Members had reiterated the importance they 
attached to these issues in the context of th e Doha Work Programme and the General Council 
Decision of 1 August 2004.  Members had also expressed  their interest in having a more substantial 
discussion on the technical aspects of the proposals, focusing in particular on the joint proposal by 
Brazil and India under Tiret 40.  At the same time, it had been recognized that in order to allow for a 
more substantial debate, furthe r information was needed on the specific proposals and underlying 
concerns that the proposals aimed to address. 
11. At the last round of informal consultations  held on 3 March 2005, Me mbers had supported the 
ideas suggested by one of the proponents that th e Chairman should contin ue his consultations, 
focusing on an analysis of the flexibilities for deve loping countries contained in the current provisions 
of the TRIMs Agreement.  It had also been agreed that this exercise would be based on the particular 
questions and concerns that interested Members w ould put forward for discussion.  The Chairman had 
been encouraged by the constructive attitude show n by Members and their willingness to engage in 
this exercise.  It was his intention, therefore, to  pursue work on theses issu es in the following weeks 
and to explore any possible avenue that might enable  Members to make progress on this issue, thereby  G/TRIMS/M/20 
 Page 3 
 
 
 assisting the Director-General in fulfilling his task in  a timely manner.  He added that he would report 
back to the Committee on the developments of his co nsultations in due course.  As he had indicated 
earlier, he had made this report in the interest of transparency.  He then opened the floor for 
comments on his report or any other aspect concerning this agenda item.  
12. The representative of Malaysia
 thanked the Chairman for briefing Members on his 
consultations on the implementation issues.  She not ed from the Chairman's report that there was a 
suggestions from one of the proponents that further consultations should be based on an analysis of 
the flexibilities contained in the current provisions of the TRIMs Agreement.  She asked for further 
clarification on how this an alysis would be conducted. 
 
13. The Chairman  explained that at his consultations it had been agreed that that this would be a 
Member-driven exercise.  Hence, Members would be free to come up with their own list of questions 
and issues and submit them to the Chairman within the next 15 days.  He would then circulate the list 
so that Members could have a preview of the issu es and questions put forward for discussion.  This 
would allow delegations enough time to  study them and to consult with their capitals, so as to be able 
to engage in what he hope d would be an effective and fruitful exch ange.  He added th at he intended to 
convene an open-ended info rmal consultation, and th at any delegation wishing to participate would be 
welcome.  However, if no issues were submitted to him, he would not be convening a meeting and he 
would have to decide on how otherwise to move forward on the implementation issues. 
 
14. The Committee took note  of the Chairman's report and agreed  to revert to this item in due 
course.  D. O
THER BUSINESS  
15. No issues were raised under this item. 
 
 
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