. /.   WORLD TRADE  
ORGANIZATION  TN/RL/21 
27 July 2007 
 (07-3216) 
Negotiating Group on Rules  
  
 
NEGOTIATING GROUP ON RULES 
 
Report by the Chairman to the 
 
Trade Negotiations Committee  
 
 
1. It has been nearly a year since I last made a formal report to this body, in July of 2006 
(TN/RL/GEN/18).  Although at that time I could report one successful outcome of our work in the 
Group, the adoption of a draft decision on a transpar ency mechanism for RTAs, like all of us I was 
disappointed that the Round in general was encounter ing difficulties, and I personally was particularly 
disappointed that the overall situation in the negotia tions was not propitious for the circulation of texts 
in the Rules area as I was mandated to do.   
2. In spite of that disappointment, and a period of  reduced activity that followed, the Negotiating 
Group on Rules has not wasted the past year.  To the contrary, the Group began various informal activities shortly after the summer break and has stead ily intensified its work since that time.  The 
pace has been particularly intensive since the start of the year as we held negotiating clusters in anti-
dumping and subsidies and countervailing measures incl uding fisheries subsidies in February, March, 
April, June and most recently July of this year, as well as meetings on RTAs last December and in February.   
3. I believe that the extra time available has been put  to very good use.  A particular focus of our 
work has been fisheries subsidies, where we have  received some extremely useful new papers and 
have explored in depth some particularly difficult issues such as special and differential treatment and 
the possible role of sustainability conditionalities in the new disciplines we are developing.  Important 
work has also been done in the area of horizontal su bsidies, and we have considered a variety of new 
proposals in the area of anti-dumping as well.  This work has steadily improved our collective understanding as a Group of the issues we are confronting, and has aided me in looking ahead to identify possible ways forward.   
4. That said, I - and, I believe, others interested in Rules issues - have continued to wait with 
impatience for the time when we could move to th e next stage of our work, which will be conducted 
on the basis of Chair texts.  However, conditions an d expectations up to now have not been right for 
the release of such texts.  In particular, it is my  long-standing view that the issuance of texts on Rules 
will be constructive only if they are seen as an inte gral part of a continuing process in the Negotiating 
Group.  These texts must be seen as technical papers  that can serve as the basis for an intensive 
discussion that will lead to subsequent revisions.  Rather than seeking an immediate break-through, I 
hope that through successive revisions of my texts we can achieve an increasingly precise formulation 
of what could be the final compromise that coul d contribute to bringing this Round to a successful 
conclusion.  It is that successful conclusion of th e Round that is the break-through that we all must 
seek.   
5. In this context, I welcome the reports by my  fellow Chairmen of the Negotiating Groups on 
Agriculture and NAMA regarding the processes they intend to follow over the next few months.  It 
seems to me that the approach that Ambassadors Falconer and Stephenson are pursuing is consistent 
with the gradualist approach that I believe is necessary in the Rules area.  Thus, procedural TN/RL/21 
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  developments in Agriculture and NAMA are crea ting an environment which is conducive to the 
release of texts in the Rules area.   
6. I note the intention of Ambassadors Falconer a nd Stephenson to circulate revised papers on 
Agriculture and NAMA as soon as possible, hopefully to wards the end of September.  For the reasons 
I have explained, I believe that this would be an appropriate time for me to issue Rules texts as well.  
Thus, I would like to inform the TNC that, absent una nticipated developments, I expect to circulate 
texts on anti-dumping and subsidies and countervaili ng measures, including fisheries subsidies, at 
around the same time that those revised papers are circulated.   
7. I would like to emphasize once again that my texts should be seen as technical papers that 
could serve as the basis for an intensive discussion in the Group.  The discussions should continue 
until such time as I consider that I have a sufficient basis to produce a revision, and, hopefully, further 
revisions.  These texts are not to be seen as silver bul lets that will serve as the basis for a dramatic and 
immediate breakthrough.  I do not believe that, at least on these issues, at this ti me, in this negotiation, 
such an outcome is realistic.  I do however believe  that such texts, and such a process, are the only 
way that we can realistically hope to make further progress.   
8. Thank you, and I hope that you have a pleasant August.   
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