WORLD TRADE  
ORGANIZATION  WT/REG201/M/1 
19 December 2008 
 
 (08-6246) 
Committee on Regional Trade Agreements 
Fifty-first Session  
 
 
 
 
CONSIDERATION OF THE FREE TRADE AGREEMENT BETWEEN  
THE EFTA STATES AND TUNISIA, GOODS 
 
Note on the Meeting of 27-28 November 2008  
 
Chairman:  Mr. D. Brauns (Germany) 
 
 
1. The meeting was convened in document WTO/AIR/3261, dated 16 October 2008. 
2. Under Agenda Item B.V of its 51st Session, the Committee on Regional Trade Agreements 
(CRTA or the Committee) took up consideration of the Free Trade Agreement (FTA) between the 
EFTA States and Tunisia (hereinafter referred to as 'the Agreement'), goods. 
3. The Chairman  said that the Agreement had been notified by the Parties to the WTO on 
3 June 2005 under Article XXIV:7(a) of the GATT 1994 and the Understanding on the Interpretation 
of Article XXIV of GATT 1994 as an Ag reement establishing a free-trade area 
(document WT/REG201/N/1).  The text of the Agreem ent was available, together with its Annexes, 
on the Parties' official websites.  The F actual Presentation on the goods aspects (document 
WT/REG201/3, dated 10 September 2008) had been prepared by the Secretariat on its own 
responsibility in full consultation with the Parti es, in accordance with paragraph 7(b) of the 
Transparency Mechanism for Regi onal Trade Agreements (document WT/L/671).  Due to the late 
receipt of relies from the Parties, written questi ons and replies on the Agreement had been recently 
distributed in document WT/REG201/4, dated 25 Novemb er 2008.  In addition, he had been informed 
by the Secretariat that there was a change in pa ragraph 14 of the Factual Presentation.  The last 
sentence of that paragraph now read: "Also should any change in the treatme nt of the EC occur, 
Tunisia would notify the EFTA States and the Joint Committee shall without delay adopt the 
necessary amendments to this Annex".  The cha nge would be reflected in the revised Factual 
Presentation to be issued following the meeting.  He proposed to organize the consideration of the 
Agreement by asking first the Parties and then othe r Members to give any general comments.  The 
Committee would then turn to the specifics of the Agreement using the Factual Presentation, 
document WT/REG201/3, to guide the debate.  He  proposed to go through the Factual Presentation 
section by section, then the Committee would go through the questions and replies document. 
4. The representative of Norway , on behalf of the EFTA States, thanked the WTO Secretariat 
for preparing the Factual Presentation and for the support that the Parties had had in the process, 
Tunisia for its collaboration during the process a nd Japan, Chinese Taipei and the United States for 
their written questions.  In light of the importa nce of multilateralism - which the current global 
financial and economic crisis had only served to highlight - and EFTA's strong commitment to 
strengthen WTO rules, disciplines and mechanisms , the EFTA States welcomed the opportunity to 
present the Agreement to the WTO Members in  the framework of the Committee and the 
Transparency Mechanism. WT/REG201/M/1 
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  5. She started by highlighting the economic links between the EFTA States and Tunisia.  
Bilateral trade between the Parties had amounted to US$176 million in 2007.   EFTA’s exports to 
Tunisia and imports from Tunisia had accounted for 63% and 37% of this trade, respectively.  Trade between the Parties had increased steadily since 2000, with, in particular, annual growth rates in the 
past two years and since the entry into force of the Agreement, averaging 16.5%.  Tunisia was an 
important trading partner for the EFTA States on the African continent.  Key imports from Tunisia 
into the EFTA States included textiles, machinery and mineral products (salt).  The main products 
exported from the EFTA States to Tunisia compri sed machinery, pharmaceuticals and electrical 
machinery.  Trade between the Parties held signifi cant potential, notably in the context of the overall 
Euro-Mediterranean trading region.  While the EFTA States were not formally part of the Barcelona 
Process launched in 1995 to create a Euro-Mediterranean  trade area, they supported this initiative and 
had actively expanded their network of FTAs with Mediterranean coun tries.  The FTA with Tunisia 
was expected to enhance the frame work within which the EFTA States invested in and traded with 
Tunisia and the region as a whole. 
6. She then turned to the Agre ement itself and provided a few comments on the liberalization 
and rules under the Agreement.  The Agreement had been signed on 17 December 2004 and had 
entered into force on 1 June 2005 for Liechtenste in, Switzerland and Tunisia, on 1 August 2005 for 
Norway and 1 March 2006 for Iceland.  Since its entry into force, the Joint Committee had been 
established and had met once in February 2007.  Th e main objective of the Agreement was to achieve 
the liberalization of trade in goods, in conformity  with GATT Article XXIV.  The Agreement covered 
trade in industrial products, including fish and othe r marine products, as well as processed agricultural 
products.  Three bilateral agreemen ts between three individual EFTA  States (Iceland, Norway and 
Switzerland) and Tunisia on basic agricultural good s had been signed under the Agreement.  The 
Agreement also included provisions on the elimination of other trade barriers as well as trade-related 
disciplines including rules on competition, state mono polies and subsidies.  Moreover, in recognition 
of the growing importance of new trade issues an d the expanding scope of FTAs, the Agreement 
included provisions on the protection of intellect ual property (IPR), investment, services, current 
payments, capital movements, government pr ocurement, economic co-operation as well as 
institutional and procedural matters.  The Agre ement provided for effective market access for 
industrial goods in terms of tariffs and rules of or igin.  All Tunisian industrial goods exports to the 
EFTA States had enjoyed duty-free status as of the entry into force of the Agreement, while as of 1 July 2008, almost all industrial goods origina ting in the EFTA States had enjoyed duty-free access 
into Tunisia.  The rules of origin for industrial goods were based on the Euro-Med Protocol.  This 
ensured that the same rules of origin applied for all partner countries in the pan-Euro-Mediterranean 
cumulation system.  Thus producers were allowed to use inputs originating anywhere within this zone 
for the production of originating products.  All tr ade in fish and other marine products was granted 
duty-free access into the EFTA States.  The Agreemen t lowered tariffs within quotas for EFTA fish 
exports to Tunisia with further reductions subject to  review, and full elimination of customs duties at 
the latest in 2024.  As had been noted earlier, tr ade in basic agricultural products was covered under 
three bilateral agreements.  These pr ovided for tariff concessions on a positive list basis, including on 
products of interest to Tunisia. 
7. The Agreement was dynamic in nature – several  built-in elements of the Agreement foresaw 
that the Parties undertook a review of their schedules of commitments.  Thus, the gradual 
liberalization and mutual opening of trade in services as well as government procurement markets 
were explicitly included.  On IPR, the Agreement se t a high standard for the protection of intellectual 
property rights, including patents, copyright,  industrial designs, undisclosed information and 
geographical indications.  In certain areas, the Agreement went beyond what was provided for in 
TRIPS and in other international conventions and treaties.  Foreign direct investment relations 
represented an important element in the developm ent of economic linkages between the Parties.  
Therefore, the Parties had agreed to provide fo r stable, favourable and transparent conditions for 
companies that made or sought investments in the te rritories.  It was her delegation's opinion that the  WT/REG201/M/1 
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  Agreement held key elements to strengthen economic  linkages between the Parties.  In closing, she 
thanked Members for their interest and questions.  Her delegation had endeavoured to answer the 
advance questions albeit submitted s lightly too late as had been commented on several times, and she 
looked forward to a fruitful discussion. 
8. The representative of Tunisia  thanked the WTO Secretariat for having prepared the Factual 
Presentation, the EFTA States for their cooperation throughout the process and the United States, 
Japan and Chinese Taipei for thei r written questions.  Tunisia considered that the multilateral and 
regional integration processes were complementary that mutually strengthened each other as their common objective was to facilitate the liberalizati on of trade through the progressive reduction and 
elimination of trade barriers.  Pursuant to th e relevant provisions of the GATT 1994 and the WTO 
Agreements, Tunisia was keen to ensure appropria te interaction between th e multilateral and regional 
frameworks taking account of development necessities and the needs of progressive liberalization and 
integration.  The Agreement demonstrated Tunisia' s will to increase and diversify its trade, benefit 
from the transfer of technology and attract greater fo reign direct investment.  As had been highlighted 
by Norway on behalf of the EFTA States, the main  objective of the Agreement was to liberalize trade 
flows pursuant to GATT Article XXIV.  Almost all trade between the Parti es benefited from duty-free 
access for both non-agricultural and agricultural products.  In addition, the Parties had made 
commitments to achieving gradual liberalization, a nd reciprocal and non-exclusive opening up of their 
markets.  For example, the Agreement expressly stipul ated that the Parties were committed to opening 
up their markets based on the provisions of the General Agreement on Trade in Services (GATS),  
while taking into account the work carried out at th e WTO.  Also, the liberalization of government 
procurement was under the scope of the Agreement.  Based on these examples, his delegation wished 
to highlight the dynamic and ambitious nature of the Agreement and the commitment that had been 
taken on both sides for their reciprocal market ope ning in accordance with the spirit and rules of the 
WTO Agreements.  It was his delegation's opinion that the Agreement was an excellent basis to 
strengthen relations between the Parties and trade and investment flows would increase as a result. 
9. The representative of the United States
 thanked the Parties and the Secretariat for their 
presentations.  However, his delegation was disappoint ed that the Parties had been unable to answer 
its advanced written questions in a timely manner.  His delegation was forced again to note the highly 
disproportionate liberalization between the industrial and agricultural sectors as well as the low level 
of agricultural tariff elimination by the EFTA States.  With specific regard to Tunisia, his delegation 
could not recall examining an agreement in this Comm ittee that appeared to sh ield agricultural tariffs 
in such a comprehensive way.  He had noted the T unisian statement indicating that most of the trade 
was duty-free including both agricultural and non- agricultural products.  In line with this, he 
requested further elaboration as the information indi cated that Tunisia had only eliminated tariffs on 
1.7% of agricultural tariff lines.  Therefore, it was not clear what the representative of Tunisia meant.  
Although his delegation recognized that among WTO Members there were different views on the 
precise methodology surrounding the requirements of  GATT Article XXIV, given the extensive 
protection afforded to each of the Parties' agricu ltural sectors under the Agreement, the United States 
asked how the Parties could possibly consider the Ag reement met the substantially all the trade test. 
10. The representative of Tunisia  disagreed that one could talk about protection in one sector or 
another.  The Agreement also provided for a rendez- vous clause, which was reflected in paragraph 19 
of the Factual Presentation, that allowed the Partie s to renegotiate at a later stage on a particular 
subject. 
11. The Chairman  noted that the consideration of the goods aspects of the FTA between the 
EFTA States and Tunisia had allowed the Committee to clarify a number of questions and oral 
discussion of the Agreement could be  concluded in accordance with pa ragraph 11 of the Transparency 
Mechanism.  Given the late distribution of the qu estions and replies document he proposed to extend 
the period given to delegations for the submission of  follow-up questions by one week.  Thus, if any WT/REG201/M/1 
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  delegations wished to ask follow-up questions they were invited to forward submissions in writing to 
the Secretariat by 11 December 2008 and Parties we re asked to submit replies in writing by no later 
than 24 December 2008.  In accordance with paragr aph 13 of the Transparency Mechanism all written 
submissions, as well as minutes of this meeting woul d be circulated promptly, in all WTO official 
languages, and would be made available on the WTO website. 
12. The Committee took note  of the comments made. 
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