WORLD TRADE  
ORGANIZATION  TN/CTD/25 
22 March 2010 
 
 (10-1422) 
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 Trade Negotiations Co mmittee for the purpose of the  
TNC stocktaking exercise  
  
I. INTRODUCTION  
In pursuance of the Doha work programme on special and differential treatment (S&D)
1 
developing countries and the least-developed countries (LDCs) had tabled a total of 88 Agreement-specific proposals in the Special Sess ion of the Committee on Trade and Development 
(Special Session).  Thirty-eight of these proposals (Category II proposals) were referred to other 
negotiating groups and WTO bodies for consideration.  Of the proposals remaining for consideration 
in the Special Session, Members, in 2003, reached an in-principle agreement on 28 proposals, even 
though these are yet to be formally adopted.
2  In addition, Members at the Hong Kong Ministerial 
Conference adopted five decisions in favour of the LDCs.3 
Ministers at Hong Kong instructed the Special Se ssion to expeditiously complete the review 
of all the outstanding Agreement-specific proposal s and report to the General Council, with clear 
recommendations for a decision.  With respect to the Category II proposals, the Special Session was 
instructed to continue to coordinate its efforts with those bodies to ensure that work on the proposals 
is concluded and recommendations for a decision made to the General Council.  Ministers also 
mandated the Special Session to resume work on all other outstanding issues, including on the 
Monitoring Mechanism.   
II. STATUS OF WORK 
Since its last report to the General Council made in December 20094, the Special Session has 
held a number of informal plurilateral consultatio ns in which Members have continued text-based 
discussions on the Monitoring Mechanism.  The majo rity of the work has been in small group 
meetings, with developments being communicated to the wider Membership in formal meetings. 
 
                                                      
1 Paragraph 44 of WT/MIN(01)/DEC/1. 
2 Annex C of JOB(03)/150/Rev.2. 
3 Annex F of WT/MIN(05)/DEC. 
4 TN/CTD/24. TN/CTD/25 
Page 2  
 
  III. AGREEMENT-SPECIFIC PROPOSALS 
 Work in the Special Session has mainly focused on the Agreement-specific proposals.
5  
Members have made progress on these six proposals a nd have narrowed the areas of divergence to a 
few brackets.  These, in my view, can be closed at  an appropriate stage. The last language considered 
on these proposals is contained in Annex I of this report.  As for the remaining Agreement-specific 
proposals, I intend to continue to keep them aside  till such time that Members can come up with new 
ideas and language that can help us make progress.  
On Category II proposals, the Chairs have pe riodically reported to the General Council.  
These reports have indicated that only very limited progress has been made on these proposals.  This is largely due to the fact that the issues raised in  many of the proposals form an integral part of the 
ongoing negotiations in the respective bodies.  The Secretariat has begun an internal process of 
identifying the issues contained in these proposal s that are being addressed as part of the ongoing 
negotiations.  On the basis of this work, it is my in tention to work with the respective Chairs to see 
how best to expedite progress on the proposals the s ubstance of which is not being addressed as part 
of ongoing negotiations.   
IV. MONITORING MECHANISM  
During the last few months work on the Mon itoring Mechanism has been undertaken on  the 
basis of my non-paper of 3 November 2009 (Annex II).   This non-paper divides the elements of the 
Mechanism into a Preamble, Structure, Scope and F unctions.  It points out areas where convergence is 
required through bracketing such text.   
Members have held informal plurilateral consultations (9 & 24 February 2010, and 
12 March 2010) and I have convened one formal  meeting (19 March 2010).  Discussions have 
focused mainly on the Structure, Scope and Functions of the Monitoring Mechanism.  I am happy to report that in most of these consultations Member s have demonstrated a constructive approach and 
have engaged in meaningful discussions.  With the objective of achieving clarity on Members' views 
on various issues, I had circulated a set of ques tions.  As a result of the specific responses these 
questions elicited, there has been discernible mo vement on some of the issues which have been 
holding us back.  There is now  greater clarity on the legal status of the preamble vis-à-vis  the 
operative parts of the Monitoring Mechanism and Me mbers seem to be coming closer on the issue of 
attaching a list of provisions that the Monitoring Me chanism would have the "jurisdiction" to review.  
However, Members continue to have divergen t views on a number of issues, including their 
perception of the mandate under which the Monitori ng Mechanism is being established, as well as the 
whole "sequencing issue".   
While it is clear that some progress has been made , it is also clear that further technical work 
is needed before agreement can be reached on the di fferent elements of the Monitoring Mechanism.   
V. FUTURE WORK 
The coming months are going to be very importa nt, not only for the DDA as a whole, but also 
for the S&D Work Programme.  Therefore, I intend to  continue my consultations with Members with 
the objective of further fine tuning and building convergence on the different elements of the work programme.   
                                                     
 
5 These include: one proposal on Article 10.2 of  the Agreement on Sanitary and Phytosanitary 
Measures (SPS Agreement);  two proposals on Article 10.3 of the SPS Agreement;  and three proposals on 
Article 3.5 of the Agreem ent on Import Licensing. 
  TN/CTD/25 
 Page 3 
 
 
  Based on the progress that has been made, it is my  intention to try and issue a revision of my 
non-paper on the Monitoring Mechanism in the coming weeks and then continue text-based 
discussions on the basis of the revised non-paper, including by holding open-ended consultations on 
this issue.   
As already indicated progress has been made on six Agreement-specific proposals;  the few 
brackets that remain can be cleaned at an appropria te stage.  As for the remaining Agreement-specific 
proposals, in my view, it would be best to continue  to keep them aside.  I remain open to resuming 
work on these proposals as and when new ideas and language that help us to make progress is put on the table.  As for the Category II proposals, I will continue to coordinate efforts with the relevant 
Chairs to consider how best to proceed in order to make progress.   
 Subject to Members showing the requisite flexib ility, I would like, in the coming months, to 
try and come to a point where we are as close as possible to an adoption of a package of Agreement-specific proposals which contains, at th e very least, the 28 Agreement-specific proposals 
agreed in principle earlier and the six Agreement-specific proposals on which we have made considerable progress. I would also be working to wards the finalization of the elements of the 
Monitoring Mechanism.  
 
_______________ 
 
  
 
    
 
     
 
    
 
    TN/CTD/25 
Page 4  
 
  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/25 
 Page 5 
 
 
  ANNEX II 
 
The Monitoring Mechanism  
(Chair's non-paper of 3 November 2009) 
 
PREAMBLE : 
 [Recalling paragraph 44 of the Doha Ministerial Declaration.  
 
Recognizing that the Monitoring Mechanism can facilitate  achieving the objectives of making special 
and differential treatment provisions more precise , effective, and operational and thereby facilitate the 
integration of developing and least developed members into the multilateral trading system.  
 Underscoring  that the Monitoring Mechanism should strengthen [and improve] Special and 
Differential Treatment in the architecture of the WT O rules and give sufficient visibility to the 
importance of SDT [provisions][issues] in the WTO. ] 
 
S
TRUCTURE  
 
• The CTD-DS on Monitoring SDT will allow fo r a bottom-up, horizontal and transparent 
process that will enable information sharing and monitoring.  
 
• The Mechanism will allow for regular technical re views, to be convened as appropriate and/or 
at least once a year, and as necessary high level reviews of [issues related to] special and differential treatment (SDT) in the WTO, aimed at improving the implementation and 
effectiveness of SDT provisions. 
 
• [The Monitoring Mechanism will function at two broad levels:   
 
o At the first level, the monitoring process will take place in dedicated sessions of the 
CTD (CTD-DS). The review would take pl ace on the basis of both submissions made 
to the CTD-DS by Members, as well as on the basis of reports received from the other 
WTO bodies, to which submissions by Members can also be made.  
 o At the second level, following discussions among Members, the CTD-DS on 
Monitoring SDT shall make recommendations, if required, to be sent to the General 
Council for appropriate action(s) aiming at making the SDT provisions more precise, 
effective, and operational. ] 
 
• The structure of the Mechanism will be reviewed  in the future, the first review taking place 
after three years, and thereafter when necessar y, taking into account the actual functioning of 
the Mechanism and evolving circumstances. 
 
S
COPE :  
 
[Without prejudice to the scope of the Mechanism , an illustrative list of SDT provisions to be 
monitored by the Mechanism shall be prepared and updated periodically by the Secretariat.  
 The Mechanism will monitor the implementation and effectiveness of SDT provisions in:  
 
• WTO Agreements [and WTO General Council D ecisions and Ministerial Declarations]  
 
• Annex C of Job (03)/150/Rev.2. TN/CTD/25 
Page 6  
 
   
Keep under review the work on the Agreement sp ecific proposals being addressed in the CTD-SS or 
other WTO bodies in accordance to paragraph 44 of the Doha Ministerial Declaration. ] 
 
F
UNCTIONS :  
 The Monitoring Mechanism will: 
 
• Be a simple, practical, efficient and transparent mechanism, which complements other 
relevant mechanisms. 
 
• Act as a focal point within the WTO to collect, analyze and review all relevant information 
related to the implementation of SDT provisions.  
 
Prior to each session of the CTD-DS on Monitoring SDT, the WTO Secretariat shall compile a report 
on the implementation of SDT provisions, based on repor ts prepared by other subsidiary WTO bodies.  
[In the preparation of its report, the CTD-DS may request additional relevant  information from other 
WTO bodies. This report may include, inter alia:  
 
- The frequency that SDT provisions are being applied by WTO Members; 
 
- Any identified problem(s) regarding th e implementation of the related SDT 
provision(s);  
 
- Any available assessments of the efficien cy and effectiveness of the SDT provision(s) 
regarding its declared goals; 
 
- Available data about the implementation of  SDT provisions on an aggregate historical 
basis as well as on case-by-case basis when deemed appropriate. ] 
   
__________