RESTRICTED  WORLD TRADE  
ORGANIZATION  WT/REG/M/49 
20 May 2008 
 (08-2309) 
Committee on Regional Trade Agreements 
Forty-ninth Session  
 
 
NOTE ON THE MEETING OF 21-22 APRIL 2008 
 
Chairmen:  Mr. J. Metcalfe (Unite d Kingdom) and Mr. D. Brauns (Germany ) 
  
A. A
DOPTION OF THE AGENDA  
1. The 49th Session of the Committee on Regional Trad e Agreements (hereinafter CRTA or the 
Committee) was convened in Airgram WTO/AIR/3164, dated 12 March 2008.  At  the request of the 
Delegation of the European Communities (EC), the Chairman  proposed that the consideration of the 
Interim Agreement on Trade and Trade-related Matte rs between the EC and Albania, originally 
scheduled as item C.III, be taken up after item C.IV, i.e. the consideration of the Free Trade 
Agreement between Panama and Sing apore.  Under "Other Business" he announced his intention to 
provide the tentative calendar of meetings for the CRTA in 2008.   
2. The representative of th e European Communities  said that under "Other Business" she would 
seek clarification of the communication from Saudi Arabia (WT/REG222/N/1/Corr.1). 
3. The following Agenda was adopted: 
A. Adoption of the Agenda 
B. Election of Officers C.  Consideration of Regiona l Trade Agreements (RTAs) 
I. Status report on the Committee's work II. Free Trade Agreement between the United States and Morocco, goods and 
services 
III. Free Trade Agreement between Panama and Singapore, goods and services IV. Interim Agreement on Trade and Trade-related Matters between the EC and 
Albania, goods 
D. Other Business  
4. The Chairman
 recalled that the Latin American Integration Association (LAIA) had been 
granted observer status to the CRTA on an ad hoc  basis and sought confirmation to extend an 
invitation to LAIA to attend the Committee's next meeting.  It was so agreed . 
B. ELECTION OF OFFICERS  
5. The Chairman  proposed that the Committee elect by acclamation, Mr. Detlev Brauns from 
Germany, as the new Chairman of  the CRTA.  It was so agreed . 
6. The outgoing Chairman  thanked Members and the Secretariat for their support. 
7. The newly elected Chairman  thanked Members for having elected him as the new Chair of the 
CRTA and for having accomplished the work last year under a new instrument – the Transparency WT/REG/M/49 
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  Mechanism (TM).  He acknowledged that the TM had taken off well and had made real progress 
which might lead to the adoption of a perman ent instrument for transparency in RTAs. 
8. The representative of Brazil
 thanked the outgoing Chairman for his guidance and welcomed 
the newly elected Chairman.  The representative of Australia  added his voice to thank the outgoing 
Chairman and welcome the newly elected Chairman.  Two of the first agreements to be considered 
under the TM involved Australia and his delegation praised the value of the TM.  
C. CONSIDERATION OF REGIONAL TRADE AGREEMENTS (RTA S) 
C.I. Status Report on the Committee's work 
 9. Under this Agenda item, the Chairman
 provided Members with an update on the 
implementation of the TM.  First he informed them  that 32 early announcements had been placed on 
the WTO website (not counting three RTAs which ha d been subsequently notified).  As regards the 
factual abstracts to be prepared on those RTAs for which a factual examination had already been 
completed, 18 had been posted on the WTO website , and 33 had been prepared and sent to the 
relevant parties for their comments.  He urge d those parties to submit their comments as soon as 
possible.  The remaining four factual abstracts were being drafted.  A summary of the status of factual 
abstracts had been prepared by the Secretariat an d was available at the back of the room.  He 
reminded Members that the Secretariat was s till awaiting comments from Members on its draft 
template for factual abstracts in services that had b een sent by fax to delegations on 14 September last 
year and invited any Member wishing to make comments to do so as soon as possible. 
10. As regards the preparation of the factual pr esentations under the remit of the CRTA, there 
were presently 19 RTAs for which a factual presen tation had to be prepared, counting goods and 
services separately.  This figure did not include 31 RTAs involving non-Members, or for which 
specific commitments had not yet been  agreed, an issue that needed to be addressed at some point.  
The Secretariat was presently drafting factual presentations for 26 RTAs which were scheduled for the Committee's next Sessions.  He asked th e Secretariat to provide further details. 
11. A representative of the Secretariat
 said that six RTAs had been scheduled for consideration in 
the current session under the Committee's work progr amme.  Of these, five were actually on the 
Agenda of the meeting;  one of the six, EC (25), services, was not due to the late receipt of comments 
from the Parties.  For the next meeting of the CRTA in July, 18 RTAs counting goods and services 
separately had been scheduled.  The factual presen tation of India-Singapore, goods and services had 
been completed and issued.  On the other RTAs  the situation was as follows:  in the case of 
MERCOSUR, services;  Panama-El Salvador, goods  and services;  and Chile-China, goods;  
comments had been received from the Parties and the factual presentations would be issued shortly;  
for EC (25), services;  Japan-Mexico, goods and services;  and the Trans-Pacific SEP, goods and services, the Secretariat was awaiting comments.  He  urged the Parties to submit them as soon as 
possible so that the factual presentations could be issu ed in time for the July me eting.  In the case of 
the Southern African Customs Union (SACU), goods , the factual presentation had been drafted and 
sent to the Parties.  The Parties, however, had re quested an extension for the provision of comments, 
so this RTA had been rescheduled for considera tion in the CRTA's meeting in September.  The 
situation with regard to the remaining seven  RTAs was as follows: for EFTA-Tunisia, goods, 
comments and additional data had been received from Iceland and from Tunisia and the factual 
presentation had been sent back to the Parties for additional comments.  The Secretariat had received 
subsequent comments from EFTA, but not from Tunisia.   As the factual presentation had first been 
sent for comments in July 2007, he urged Tunisia to  provide the Secretariat with its comments as soon 
as possible.  For Turkey-Tunisia, goods, the Secr etariat was still awaiting the tariff phase down from 
Tunisia which had been requested in June of l ast year.  Japan-Chile, goods and services, had been 
originally scheduled for the July meeting, but due to late receipt of data from Japan this Agreement  WT/REG/M/49 
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  had been moved to the CRTA in September.  EC  (27), goods and services, had been originally 
scheduled for the July meeting, but given the late receipt of comments on EC (25), services, this had been postponed to September.  For EFTA-Egypt, goods , the Secretariat still had not received data for 
Iceland, but expected to draft this factual presen tation in time for the CRTA meeting in September. 
12. He also provided the situation with regard to the other RTAs scheduled for consideration in 
September as follows:  for Jordan-Singapore and EC-Egypt, the Secretariat had received data but 
some discrepancies needed to be resolved.  For Japan-Thailand, the Secretariat had received the data 
from Japan and most of the data from Thailand, but was still missing the 2007 MFN tariff.  For Japan-Malaysia, Malaysia had provided some inform ation though not all, while nothing had yet been 
received from Japan.  For Costa Rica-Mexico, the Secr etariat was still awaiting data from the Parties. 
13. He finished by thanking those parties who ha d responded in a timely fashion to requests for 
data and comments.  He stressed that if Memb ers were to stick with the timetable and work 
programme, they needed to provide the necessary in formation within specified  deadlines so that the 
TM could move forward. 
14. The representative of Brazil
 asked whether any progress had been made concerning the 
database.  A representative of the Secretariat  responded that the question was timely as the Secretariat 
had begun to populate it and was almost at the testing st age.  He expected that the original plan for 
launching the database in late June or early July of  this year would be met.  The Secretariat would 
provide Members with fuller information in the near future. 
15. The Chairman  drew Members' attention to some minor procedural changes regarding the 
circulation of factual presentations.  It had been agreed in the Comm ittee last year to circulate the 
factual presentation not less than ten weeks in  advance of the CRTA meeting devoted to its 
consideration (instead of the eight weeks mandated in the TM) in order to allow additional time for 
Members to pose questions and parties to provide responses.  The airgram for the CRTA meeting was 
issued six weeks in advance of th e relevant meeting.  Factual presentations were issued as soon as 
they were completed in order to avoid delega tions having to submit questions on multiple RTAs 
within a short deadline.  In response to requests by Members, the Secretariat had implemented two 
additional changes:  1) when the factual presentati on was issued, a fax was sent to Members providing 
the deadline for the receipt of ques tions;  2) in addition, the Secretariat kept an updated list of the 
RTAs scheduled for each CRTA meeting with circ ulation dates of the factual presentations and 
applicable deadlines for the submission of written questions on its website  
(http://www.wto.org/english/tratop_e/region_e/schedule_ e.xls).  In the event of any typographical and 
minor errors in the factual presentation, the Secretariat would issue a revision of the factual 
presentation following the meeting where the RTA was considered.  This vers ion would be available 
on the WTO public website shortly after the meeting.  He considered that this would facilitate and 
contribute to the smooth functioning of the Committee. 
C. II-IV. (The minutes of the consideration of the Agreements listed under agenda items C.II-IV are 
being distributed as separate documents). 
 D. O
THER BUSINESS  
16. Under this Agenda item, the Chairman  informed Members of the dates for the CRTA's 
remaining meetings in 2008 which were 17-18  July, 18-19 September, and 27-28 November. 
17. The representative of the European Communities  raised a question in light of the 
communication sent by Saudi Arabia on behalf of the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC), circulated 
under document WT/REG222/N/1/Corr.1.  In that communication, Saudi Arabia had requested a 
change of the notification status from under Ar ticle XXIV of the GATT 1994 and the Understanding WT/REG/M/49 
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  thereon to Paragraph 4(a) of the Enabling Clause.  In this regard, the EC asked Saudi Arabia and the 
other Parties of the GCC to elaborate on the reasons  for this change.  In addition, the EC would 
appreciate if the Parties could explain under what basis they considered that the GCC would fall 
within Paragraph 2(c) of the Enabling Clause. 
18. The representative of the United States
 supported the intervention by the EC.  At a minimum, 
she was of the opinion that this notification raised questions for further review.  She looked forward to 
hearing the views of other Members, particularly the Parties to the GCC. 
19. The representative of Japan  shared the interest of the EC, and also wanted to know the 
background of the changed status of the notification. 
20. The representative of Canada  said his delegation also shared some of the questions that the 
EC had posed with respect to the document and l ooked forward to any explanation that the Parties 
could provide. 
21. The representative of Brazil , although appreciative of any clarification from the Parties to the 
GCC, highlighted the point that the Parties were fully entitled to notify the Agreement pursuant to any 
provision that they felt comfortable with – e ither GATT Article XXIV or the Enabling Clause. 
22. The representative of Australia  was grateful to the EC for the point it had raised about the 
GCC notification.  His delegation was equally interest ed in the information that the EC had requested.  
He noted Brazil's point that a Member was entitled to notify an agreement under the appropriate provision, but he considered that this existed at th e time of the first notification.  Therefore, his 
delegation was interested in the reasons for the s ubsequent change, as it had systemic implications. 
23. Given that none of the GCC Parties was present in the meeting, the Chairman
 suggested that 
the Committee took note of the comments which had been made with a view to continuing the 
discussion at a later point. 
24. The Committee took note  of the comments made. 
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