WORLD TRADE  
ORGANIZATION  TN/MA/W/53 
11 March 2005 
 (05-1018) 
Negotiating Group on Market Access Original:   English 
  
 
MARKET ACCESS FOR NON-AGRICULTURAL PRODUCTS 
 
Communication from Benin on behalf of the ACP Group of States 
 
 
 The following communication, dated 8 March 2005, is being circulated at the request of the 
Delegation of Benin, on behalf of the ACP Group of States.   
_______________ 
 
 1. The General Council Decision adopted on 1 August 2004 calls for "... special attention to be 
given to the specific trade and development relate d needs and concerns of developing countries ..." 
which include preferences, both in th e agriculture and NAMA negotiations.
1  Furthermore, Annex B 
of the same Decision is more explicit in terms of  what is concretely expected from the negotiations 
regarding preferences.  While paragraph 16 ther eof instructs the Negotiating Group to take into 
consideration, in the course of its work, "the particular needs that may arise for the Members 
concerned due to the challenges that may be f aced by non-reciprocal preference beneficiary 
Members", paragraph 1 stipulates that additional nego tiations shall be required to reach agreement on 
the specifics of preferences, amongst others. 
 
2. It follows, therefore, that a balanced outcom e can be reached only if the issue of preferences 
is addressed as part of the NAMA negotiations, as we ll as in the overall Doha package.  There is 
general agreement that preference erosion is not inco nsequential and it is a matter of serious concern 
that has to be addressed as an essential part of th e Doha Development Agenda, the more so as it is a 
problem facing the weakest and the most vulnerable Members of the WTO. 
 
3. We have taken note of the points raised by  some Members that addressing preference erosion 
would impede the process of tariff disarming, and, in a broader sense, halt the trade liberalization process.  One should bear in mind that trade libera lization affects countries differently.  The small and 
weak developing countries that have managed to secure a market share due to preferential access are 
particularly at risk and vulnerable to MFN tariff lib eralization.  However, bearing in mind the idea of 
not jeopardizing the liberalization of world trade, an approach can be adopted to "smooth" this process 
for some products from certain countries.  In fact , to reassure Members, Mauritius indicated in its 
submission that preferences are linked to a narrow range of products since "exports are concentrated 
in a limited number of products on very few export markets".
2  Another submission also points out the 
possibility to "identify specific tariff lines of products exported under preferences ...".3  With a view to 
identifying these products in an objective and scien tific manner, the following methodology is being 
proposed:  
                                                     
 
1 Paragraph 1(d) of WT/L/579, 2 August 2004. 
2 Paragraph 4 of TN/MA/W/21/Add.1, 15 July 2003. 
3 Paragraph 11 of TN/MA/W/47, 30 March 2004. TN/MA/W/53 
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  For a country to be vulnerable to preference ero sion, it must have some characteristics.  
Firstly, it must already enjoy significant preferences (f or the "erosion of preferences" to take place).  
Secondly, a country is considered as vulnerable wh en it depends on few expor t products and export 
markets, and it is a small exporter, relative to the world.  
 In concrete terms, this can be calculated using three relationships: 
  The share of the particular product of the importing country on the total exports of the 
exporting country (1); 
 The share of the particular product of th e exporting country in the importing country (2); 
 The world market share of the exporting country, for the particular product (3). 
  The three above-mentioned factors can be c ondensed in an "index of vulnerability" (see 
Annex I).  
 In other words, the product and market concen tration is fundamental:  the country will be 
more vulnerable the less diversified its export markets and export produc ts are, and the smaller its 
world share is.  
4. Application of the proposed methodology to the exports of ACP countries on the EU market 
under the Cotonou preferential trade regime and the US under the Africa Grow th and Opportunity Act 
resulted in a common list of products for these countr ies.  The concerns of Members exporting similar 
products under other preferential arrangements are also, as a matter of fact, taken on board by the 
methodology.  5. This submission is aimed at identifying the products that are concerned with the erosion of 
preferences.  Given the fact that the issue of prefer ence erosion is linked to some of the other elements 
of the Framework, such as the formula and th e sectoral, concrete proposals on the specifics of 
addressing preference erosion will be made in the light of the discussions on these elements.  This 
submission is without prejudice to the possibilit y of other ACP Member States submitting further 
proposals on this as well as other issues pertaining to the NAMA negotiations in future discussions. 
 
 
     TN/MA/W/53 
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Annex I 
Index of vulnerability : 
  
..iijk
XX
jkijk
XX
.
kkiXX
...X ijk = Exports of country i (an ACP country)  to market j (EU or USA) in product category k (NAMA product)  
 
(1) share of market j for product k 
in total exports of country i 
 
(2) market share of country i  
in market j for product k  
(3) world market share of 
country i for product k 
 
share of the EU for tuna in  
total exports of 
 Seychelles 
(dependence o f Seychelles on sin gle product 
and  market)(1)  
 market share of Seychelles  
in the EU for tuna 
(market share o f Seychelles in 
target market)(2)  
world market share of Seychelles for tuna 
(Seychelles relative size) (3)*Coefficient of correction (Ind ex of vulnerability) =  
(Example) TN/MA/W/53 
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__________ 
  ⎟⎟⎟⎟⎟
⎠⎞
⎜⎜⎜⎜⎜
⎝⎛
⎟⎟⎟⎟⎟
⎠⎞
⎜⎜⎜⎜⎜
⎝⎛⋅
=∑
ijkIV
..ki.k.jkijk
i..ijk
XXXX
XX Combining these elements we get the following Index of Vulnerability :