WORLD TRADE  
ORGANIZATION  TN/CTD/23 
10 December 2008 
 
 (08-6073) 
Committee on Trade and Development 
Special Session  
 
 
 
SPECIAL SESSION OF THE COMMITTEE ON 
TRADE AND DEVELOPMENT 
 
Report by the Chairman, Ambassador Thawatchai Sophastienphong (Thailand),  
to the General Council  
 
I. INTRODUCTION  
1. At the Hong Kong Ministerial Conference, th e Special Session of the Committee on Trade 
and Development (Special Session) was mandated to: 
• expeditiously complete the review of all the outstanding Agreement-specific proposals and 
report to the General Council, with clear recommendations for a decision;   
• resume work on all other outstanding issu es, including on the cross-cutting issues, the 
Monitoring Mechanism and the incorporation of special and differential treatment (S&D) into 
the architecture of WTO rules and report on a regular basis to the General Council;  and  
• continue to coordinate its efforts with tho se bodies to which the 38 Category II proposals had 
been referred, which in turn had been instruct ed to complete consideration of these proposals 
and report with clear recommendations for a decision to the General Council.  
II. STATUS OF WORK 
2. Since the last report to the General Council1, the Special Session has held two formal 
meetings (7 October and 9 December 2008)2 and a number of informal pl urilateral consultations at 
which Members continued text-based discussions on the Agreement-specific proposals and the 
Monitoring Mechanism.  The pace and frequency of  work carried out during the year was largely 
determined by the work being undertaken to estab lish modalities in agriculture and non-agricultural 
market access.  The majority of the work took place in small group meetings, with any developments 
being communicated, as and when neces sary, to the wider Membership.   
Agreement-specific Proposals  
3. On the Agreement-specific proposals Members have  been concentrating their efforts on six of 
the 16 remaining proposals, namely one proposal on Article 10.2 of the Agreement on Sanitary and 
Phytosanitary Measures (SPS Agreement), two prop osals on Article 10.3 of the SPS Agreement and 
three proposals on Article 3.5 of the Agreement on Import Licensing.  Discussions on all the six proposals have continued on the basis of the languag e contained in Annex I of this report.  While 
Members made some progress in terms of clarifying certain elements of the various proposals, they are yet to make any textual amendments to the language currently on the table.  More recently, 
                                                     
 
1 TN/CTD/21. 
2 TN/CTD/M/33 and TN/CTD/M/34 (to be issued) . TN/CTD/23 
Page 2  
 
  discussions have focussed on those proposals where the divergences a ppear to be more significant, 
such as those relating to the SPS Agreement.  This is  not to say that agreement has been reached on 
any of the other proposals.  However, I would like Members to concentrate their efforts on closing the 
gaps on those issues which are presently more problematic than others.   
4. The remaining 10 Agreement-specific proposals ha ve not been addressed and will continue to 
be set aside until such a time that Members put forward new language or ideas.   
5. With respect to the Category II proposals, th e Chairs of the different bodies to which these 
proposals have been referred have  continued to provide updates on the status of the work.  As has 
been reported in the past, ther e has not been much progress on these proposals.  A number of the 
Chairs have, in fact, indicated that issues raised in some of the proposals form an integral part of the 
ongoing negotiations.  In this respect, the Secretaria t is in the process of identifying those proposals 
that can be deemed to have been addressed as part  of the ongoing negotiati ons.  This will help the 
Special Session focus and ensure that progress is expedited on the remaining proposals.   
Monitoring Mechanism 
 
6. Members continued their consideration of the possible elements of a Monitoring Mechanism 
on the basis of the non-paper contained in Annex II of  this report.  This work has focused on further 
refining the elements contained therein.  Earlier, some Members had tabled a submission which proposes additional elements to the te xt being considered.  In addition to the inclusion of a preamble, 
which aims to provide clarity on the intent of the Monitoring Mechanism, the submission proposes 
that, in addition to monitoring S&D provisions in existing WTO Agreements and those that will result 
from the Doha Round, the Mechanism monitor th e implementation and effectiveness of the S&D 
proposals agreed to in principle at Cancún, as well as those adopted in favour of the LDCs at the 
Hong Kong Ministerial Conference.  Members enga ged in preliminary discussions on the proposal 
and raised a number of concerns, as well as sought cl arifications on certain elements in the paper.  
More recently, one Member suggested some add itional elements to this submission, including 
suggesting the frequency at which the Mechanism should meet as well as the basis on which the 
monitoring should take place.  Members have not had the chance to consider the submission in depth.  
Both submissions, as well as my non-paper, will con tinue to be the basis for further work on the 
Monitoring Mechanism.  
III. FUTURE WORK 
7. Work will continue on all elements of the work programme in line with the mandate 
contained in the Hong Kong Ministerial Declaration.  The goal is to conclude this work as soon as 
possible, keeping in mind the end date that Members decide to work towards concluding the Round.   
8. On the Agreement-specific proposals, I woul d like Members to continue text-based 
discussions with the hope of building on the progress already made and coming up with recommendations for a decision as soon as possible.  My  intention is to continue these discussions on 
the basis of the language contained in  Annex I of this report.  Those proposals that have been set aside 
will be addressed, only if the proponents table new langua ge or ideas.  On the Category II proposals, I 
will continue to coordinate effort s with the relevant Chairs to ensure that progress is expedited on 
these proposals, particularly those that have not been considered as part of the ongoing negotiations.  I 
will also continue to fine tune the elements of  the Monitoring Mechanis m with the intention of 
reaching an agreement on the scope, structure and term s of reference of the Monitoring Mechanism.  
This work will continue on the basis of my non- paper, as well as the two submissions tabled by 
Members.   
_______________  TN/CTD/23 
Page 3 
 
  ANNEX I 
 
Agreement-specific Proposals 
 
 (24 - 25)  SPS Agreement – Article 10.3  
The General Council agrees that with a view to ensu ring that developing country Members are able to 
comply with the provisions of the SPS Agreement, they shall be eligible for specified, time-limited 
exceptions in whole, or in part, from the obligati ons under this Agreement.  Any developing country 
with difficulties to comply with the provisions of the SPS Agreement may request such exceptions to 
the SPS Committee.  In this regard, the SPS Co mmittee shall give [positive and] expeditious 
consideration to such a request and take a decision [as appropriate] no later than at the third meeting 
at which the request is considered and in any case within 12 months,  on any request made by such 
Members under Article 10.3 of the Agreement, ta king into account their individual financial, trade 
and development needs.  Furthermore, Members sh all facilitate the provision of technical assistance 
either bilaterally or through the appropriate intern ational organisations, if requested by a developing 
country Member in relation to its request  for a specific time-limited exception. 
 
(28-30)  Agreement on Import Licensing Procedures – Article 3.5 
 
While all Members shall endeavour to provide impor t statistics with respect to products subject to 
import licensing for the purpose of enhanced tran sparency, the General Council agrees that for 
purposes of subparagraph (a)(iv) of Article 3.5, deve loping country Members shall not be expected to 
do so in cases where this will cause them additional administrative or financial burden beyond their 
capacity.   The General Council further agrees that: 
 
(a)  Article 3.5(j) of the Agreement implies [m andatory and] non-discretionary obligations on the 
part of the Members;  and  (b)  In the allocation of licenses, special consid eration shall be accorded to existing and new 
importers of products originating in developing, and in particular  least-developed country Members. 
 
79)   Proposal by India on Article 10.2 of the SPS Agreement  
Where the appropriate level of sanitary or ph ytosanitary protection allows scope for the 
phased introduction of new sanitary or phytosanita ry measures, longer time-frames for compliance, 
not less than six months, shall be accorded, upo n request, on products of interest to developing 
country Members so as to maintain opportunities for their exports. TN/CTD/23 
Page 4  
 
  ANNEX II 
 
The Monitoring Mechanism 
 
 Structure 
 
• A simple, practical and efficient mechanism, that complements other existing, as well as 
proposed monitoring mechanisms. 
 
• Allows for a regular high-level review of [issu es related to] special and differential treatment 
(S&D) in the WTO, aimed at improving the implementation and effectiveness of S&D 
provisions. 
 
• Allows also for a bottom-up, horizontal a nd transparent process that would enable, inter alia , 
information sharing and compliance monitoring. 
 
• Gives sufficient visibility to the im portance of S&D issues in the WTO. 
 
• To begin with, it will functi on at two broad levels:   
 
o At the first level, the monitoring process will take place in [ded icated sessions] [Sub-
Committee] of the CTD.  The review would take place on the basis of both submissions made directly to the [CTD] [Sub-Committee] by Members, as well as on 
the basis of reports received from the other WTO bodies, to which submissions can 
also be made.   
 
o At the second level, the General Council would review and take decisions, [as 
appropriate], on the basis of recommendati ons made by the [CTD] [Sub-Committee].  
 
• The structure will be reviewed in the future, th e first review taking place after three years, and 
thereafter when necessary, taking into account th e actual functioning of the Mechanism, and 
evolving circumstances. 
 
Scope 
 
• Monitor the implementation and effectiveness of  S&D provisions in the existing agreements 
in line with paragraph 44 of the Doha Ministerial Declaration. 
 
• Monitor the implementation and effectiveness of S&D provisions that will result from the 
Doha Round of negotiations. 
 
• [Provide a forum at which Members can raise any other issues related to the implementation 
and effectiveness of S&D provisions.]  
 
 
__________