. /. RESTRICTED  WORLD TRADE  
ORGANIZATION  WT/REG140/M/3 
6 October 2005 
 (05-4497) 
Committee on Regional Trade Agreements 
Fortieth Session  
 
 
 
EXAMINATION OF THE AGREEMENT FOR A NEW-AGE ECONOMIC  
PARTNERSHIP BETWEEN JAPAN AND SINGAPORE 
 
Note on the Meeting of 28 July 2005  
 
Chairman:  Mr. A. Egger (Switzerland) 
  
1. The meeting was convened in document WTO/AIR/2624. 
2. Under Agenda Item C.X of its Fortieth Session, the Committee on Regional Trade 
Agreements (hereinafter CRTA or the Committee)  took up the third round of examination of the 
goods aspects of the New-Age Economic Partne rship Agreement between Japan and Singapore 
(JSEPA).   
3. The Chairman
 said that the proceedings of the firs t and second rounds, whic h had taken place 
in the Committee's 35th and 37th Sessions in December 2003 and October 2004, could be found in 
documents WT/REG140/M/1 and Corrigendum 1 and WT/REG149/M/2.  The examination of the 
services aspects had been concluded in the Committee's 37th Session.   Since then, the Parties had 
provided replies to questions put by delegatio ns, which had been circulated in document 
WT/REG140/6. 
4. The representative of the United States  said her delegation was troubled by the tariff data 
supplied by the Parties which showed that 24 per cent of Japan's tariff lines had been excluded from 
trade liberalization.  The Parties' explanation for this exclusion, provided in Section II.1.1 of 
document WT/REG140/6, was that "tariff elimination would not lead to significant trade expansion".  
Considering that the elimination of tariffs on these lines would not significantly change trading 
patterns between the Parties, she wondered why the Parties continued to protect these products, given 
that the intention of a FTA was to expand trade a nd the elimination of such tariffs represented an 
opportunity to do so. 
5.  The representative of Australia  supported the previous speaker and expressed similar 
concerns.  She wondered if anything had changed si nce the Committee had last looked at the question 
of exclusions and if there had been any change in the Parties' schedules.  She asked the Parties, who 
had provided details on the carve-outs in the agricultu ral sector in the last round of examination, to 
provide the percentage of agricultural tariff lines cove red at present.  She also asked what percentage 
of trade such carve-outs represented and if there was a timetable for further liberalization in the 
Agreement. 
6.  The representative of Japan  thanked the representative of the United States for providing the 
questions a few days before the meeting so he could send them back to Japan for a provisional 
answer.  In response to the question on the exclusi on of 24 per cent of tariff lines, he said that Japan 
had negotiated the JSEPA in order to eliminate duti es and other restrictive regulations of commerce.  
One of the most important perspectives that Japa n had had to deal with in the process of JSEPA WT/REG140/M/3 
Page 2  
 
 negotiations was the potential impact that duty elimination and other ec onomic cooperation would 
have on Japanese society and the economy as a whole.   Japanese negotiators had tried their utmost 
while taking into account subsequent FTA negotiati ons with other countries and had finally decided 
upon the items to be included in Japan's schedule as well as those excluded from duty elimination.  He 
asked the representative of Australia to provide he r question on the carve-out schedule for agricultural 
products in writing and said that the Parties would attempt to provide a comprehensive answer.   
7. On the question from the representative of Aust ralia on whether there had been any changes 
to the schedules, the representative of Singapore
 replied that there had been none so far but this was 
something that Parties might take up during the regu lar review of the Agreement.  Likewise, on the  
question as to whether there was a timetable for furthe r liberalization, he said that this was something 
that the Parties might look at during a review of the Agreement. 
8. The Chairman  said that the third round of examinat ion of the goods aspects of the New-Age 
Economic Partnership Agreement be tween Japan and Singapore had allowed the Committee to clarify 
a number of issues, but some outstanding questions remained.  He invited delegations wishing to 
submit questions to forward them in writing to the Secretariat by 23 September and for the Parties to 
provide written responses by 31 October.   The Co mmittee could consider the factual examination as 
complete.  Once the replies had been circulated to  Members, any request for additional information 
could be dealt with without holdi ng another round of formal examination and the Secretariat could 
begin drafting the examination report for this Agreement. 
9. The Committee took note  of the comments made. 
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