./. RESTRICTED  WORLD TRADE  
ORGANIZATION  TN/DS/M/21 
26 May 2005 
 (05-2146) 
Special Session of the Dispute Settlement Body 
25-26 November 2004  
 
 
 
MINUTES OF MEETING 
 
Held in the Centre William Rappard  
on 25-26 November 2004  
 
Chairman:  Mr. David Spencer (Australia) 
 
  The Chairman
 welcomed participants to the twenty-f ourth meeting of the Special Session and 
said that the airgram for the meeting had been circ ulated in WTO/AIR/2448 and that the draft agenda 
(TN/DS/W/71) contained two items:  (i) discussion of  the contribution by Argentina, Brazil, Canada, 
India, New Zealand and Norway (Job (04)/52) and (ii)  "Other Business".  He recalled that it had been 
agreed at the previous meeting to continue the di scussion on the informal contribution by the group of 
six countries contained in (Job (04)/52).  He said that under "Other Business", he would make a 
statement concerning a communication received from the Chairman of the Special Session of the 
Committee on Trade and Development and also about  the future work programme of the Special 
Session.  The agenda of the meeting was subsequently adopted.   
1. Discussion of the contribution contained in Job(04)/52 
1. The Chairman
 recalled that a substantive discussion took place at the previous meeting on the 
contribution Job (04)/52 submitted on 19 May 20 04 by Argentina, Brazil, Canada, India, New 
Zealand and Norway, and said that a number of delegations had raised several questions and 
requested clarifications of various aspects of the te xt.  Pursuant to the agreement reached at that 
meeting, he intended to offer the floor to the propon ents, so that they could respond to the questions 
raised and clarify certain aspects of their text.  He asked delegations whether they would like the 
discussion of the text to take place in formal or informal mode.  He said that at this stage of the 
negotiations, it might be advisable to have the di scussions in informal m ode, as it would provoke a 
more thorough exchange between delegations.  The Chairman's suggestion was accepted by 
delegations. 
2. The representative of Norway  said that the proponents had made available a room document 
which would be circulated later to  delegations.  Like the previous meeting, he said that Brazil would 
make a presentation on sequencing, New Z ealand on remand and Cana da on post-retaliation.   
3. The Chairman  thanked the proponents for their contribution and said that it had helped 
energize and move forward the negotiations.  He also commended delegations for their positive and 
very constructive comments.  It was, however, a pparent, from the broad-ranging discussions that there 
were still some substantive differences  that needed to be resolved.  He  said that it was his intention to 
continue consulting with delega tions on the future work programme of the Special Session.  
 TN/DS/M/21 
Page 2  
 
 2. Other Business 
4. The Chairman
 said that he had received a communication from Mr. Faizel Ismail of South 
Africa, who is the Chairman of the Special Session of the Committee on Trade and Development in  respect of the agreement-specific special and differen tial treatment proposals that were referred to the 
DSB Special Session by the then Chairman of the Ge neral Council in May 2003.  He mentioned in his 
letter dated 29 October 2004 that nine proposals ha d been referred to the DSB Special Session and 
wanted to know the status of these proposals.  He had proposed in that context to meet with him and 
Chairpersons of other bodies to which similar proposal s had been referred in the following week.  He 
undertook to report back to the Special Session th e outcome of the meeting with Mr. Ismail and 
discuss any possible follow-up action that might have  to be taken by the Special Session.  He 
encouraged delegates to consult with their collea gues covering the CTD Special Session, so that they 
could briefed on the work currently being pursued in that Committee.  
5. As regards the future work programme of th e Special Session, the Chairman recalled his 
earlier statement that he would be consulting with de legations until the end of the year.  To facilitate 
progress in the negotiations, he enc ouraged delegations to  continue meeting in various formats and 
configurations in order to exchange ideas and expl ore the possibility of developing joint texts.  He 
again thanked the group of six countries and said that he had been encouraged by the excellent 
exchange of views on the three elements covered in the paper.  He encouraged  delegations to broaden 
their discussions to cover other elements as well.  He inquired whether any delegation was working on 
any paper which they would like to submit as an input into the negotiating process. 
6. He said that for purposes of reserving rooms and also to comply with the General Council 
decision on the scheduling of meetings, he had asked the Secretariat to tentatively schedule meetings 
of the Special Session for the first half of next year on the following dates: 18-19 January, 28 February, 1-2 March, 4-5 April, 9-10 May, 21-22 June and 28-29 July.  He stressed that these were 
only tentative dates and did not reflect a ny particular intended work programme.   
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