. /.  WORLD TRADE  
ORGANIZATION  RESTRICTED 
WT/COMTD/W/185 
11 November 2011  
 
(11-5844) 
Committee on Trade and Development Original:   English 
  
 
SUGGESTED AMENDMENTS OF THE DELEGA TIONS OF CHINA, EGPYT AND INDIA 
TO THE DRAFT ANNUAL REPORT (2011) OF THE COMMITTEE ON  
TRADE AND DEVELOPENT  (WT/COMTD/W/183) 
 
Communication by the delegations of China, Egypt and India 
 
 
The following suggested amendments, dated 9 November 2011, from the delegations of 
China, Egypt and India to the draft Annual Report (2011) of the Committee on Trade and 
Development (WT/COMTD/W/183) are being circul ated to Members at the request of these 
delegations.  
  
_______________ 
 
 
Paragraph 3, suggested ame ndments are in bold italics: 
 3. The CTD continues to have outstanding request s for observer status from the League of Arab 
States, the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC), the Gulf Organization for Industrial Consulting (GOIC), the Organisation inte rnationale de la Francophonie, the Common Fund 
for Commodities (CFC), the Organization of Arab  Petroleum Exporting Countries (OAPEC) and the 
Groupe de la Banque Africaine de Développement.  At the 82
nd Session, Egypt called for an early 
resolution to the issues surrounding requests for observer status by intergovernmental organizations. 
Noting that according to the rules of procedure, requests for observer status shall be considered by 
each WTO body and that these rules provide ample manoeuvre for each WTO body to decide how to consider IGOs requests for ob server status; Egypt suggested that  work proceed in the CTD to 
further clarify the Guidelines for granting observer stat us to IGO’s by devising an integral set of 
transparent, objective, horizontal, technical an d non politicized criteria by which requests for 
observer status would be gauged.  
Suggestions for paragraph 8 to be reformulated and new paragraphs  9 and 10 to be added, as shown in 
bold italics: 
8. With regard to regional trade agreements (RTAs), a notification under the Enabling Clause 
was made concerning the India-Malaysia Agreement (WT/COMTD/N/37).
5  The Committee also took 
note of a biennial report to the WTO (for the period 1 January 2008 to 31 December 2009) by the Latin American Integration Association (WT/COMTD/72).  
9. Members continued, since the 73rd CTD Se ssion in March 2009, to consider the specific 
and systemic issues arising from the 3 RTA’s with dual notification status (i.e.:  RTA’s that have 
been notified on the basis of both the Enabling Clause and Article XXIV of GATT 1994), including 
                                                      
5 The goods aspects of this Agreement will be cons idered in the CTD's Dedi cated Session on RTAs, as 
per the provisions of the Transparen cy Mechanism for RTAs (WT/L/671). WT/COMTD/W/185 
Page 2  
 
  the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) Customs Un ion, the RTAs between ASEAN and Korea, and 
between India and Korea. Consensus continues to  elude Members over the appropriate manner to 
consider these 3 RTA’s under the Transparency Me chanism. A communication from China, Egypt 
and India (WT/COMTD/W/175) entitled “Systemic and specific issues arising out of the dual notification of the GCC-Customs Union” was introduced at the 80
th session on the 4th of October 
2010.During the 81st, 82nd and 83rd Sessions of the CTD, China, Egypt and India continued to raise 
several systemic concerns over the legal and pro cedural implications of RTA’s with dual 
notification status on the mandate and terms of re ference of the CTD; the scope of application of 
the Enabling Clause; the application of the Transparency Mechanism for RTA’s; the 
implementation of the General Council Decisi on of 1995 on Avoidance of Procedural and 
Institutional Duplication.  Members expressed divergent views over how to address  these systemic 
issues  and on how to address the issue relating to th e notifications under both the Enabling Clause 
and Article XXIV of GATT 1994.   The Chairman will be continuing his informal consultations on 
the specific and systemic issues pertaining to the three RTAs . 
10. In the context of the reappraisal of the provisional application of the Transparency 
Mechanism as prescribed by Paragraph 29 of the Do ha Ministerial Declaration, the Chairman of 
the CTD addressed a communication to the Chairman of the Negotiating Group on Rules (JOB/RL/2 – 25
th of January 2011), indicating the CTD’s experience in implementing the 
Transparency Mechanism since 2007 with respect to  RTA’s notified under paragraph 2(c) of the 
Enabling Clause. Through this communication the Chairman of the CTD identified several areas 
of concern which have been raised by Members in  the CTD and in the course of RTA reviews in 
Dedicated Sessions, including the systemic issues ra ised in connection with the implementation of 
the Transparency Mechanism with respect to RTA’s th at have been notified on the basis of both the 
Enabling Clause and Article XXIV of GATT 1994.  
Paragraph 11, suggested amendments  in bold italics and strikethrough: 
 
11. The Decision taken at the Hong Kong Minist erial Conference on DFQF market access for 
LDCs remains a standing item on the CTD's agenda.  A number of Members China, the European 
Union, India, Switzerland and the United States shared information on the steps they are taking to 
provide DFQF market access to LDCs' products, including in respect of preferential rules of origin.    
The LDCs took the floor at each of the formal mee tings of the CTD, calling for an expeditious and 
faithful implementation of the Decision.  Other developing members posed questions on the nature 
of the new rules that have been adopted in the context of the new EU GSP scheme and on the 
obstacles that the United States faced in renewing its GSP scheme which had expired as of the 31st 
of December 2010. 
 
__________