WORLD TRADE  
ORGANIZATION  G/L/900 
21 October 2009 
 (09-5275) 
  
  
 
REPORT (2009) OF THE COMMITTEE ON 
TRADE-RELATED INVESTMENT MEASURES 
 
 
I. GENERAL 
1. This report is submitted pursuant to Article  7.3 of the Agreement on Trade-Related 
Investment Measures ("TRIMs" Agreement), which requires the Committee on Trade-Related 
Investment Measures (the "Committee") to report annually to the Council for Trade in Goods.  The 
Report covers the period Oc tober 2008 – October 2009.
1 
2. The Committee met formally twice in 2009.  The first meeting was held on 20 May 2009 
under the Chairpersonship of Mr. Henry Liu (Chinese Taipei) and the second was held on 
16 October 2009 under the Chairpersonship of Dr. Octavia Cerchez (Romania).2  The minutes of the 
formal meetings may be found in documents G/TRIMS/M/28 & Corr.1 and G/TRIMS/M/29.  The 
meetings were open to all Members, governments wi th observer status in the WTO and international 
intergovernmental organizations to which the Comm ittee has accorded regular  observer status (IMF, 
OECD, UN, UNCTAD and World Bank).  Decisions on requests for observer status made by several 
other international organizations are pending.  The Committee also met informally on 17 March 2009 
to discuss ways to improve the timeliness and comple teness of notifications and other information 
flows on trade measures falling within the TRIMs area.  
II. NOTIFICATIONS 
3. Pursuant to Article 5.1 of the Agreement on TRIMs, Members  were required to notify any 
trade-related investment measure ("TRIM") inconsiste nt with the Agreement within 90 days after the 
entry into force of the WTO Agreement.  Article 5. 2 of the Agreement allows for  transition periods 
for the elimination of measures notified under Arti cle 5.1 and which were in existence at least 
180 days preceding the entry into force of the WTO Agreement.  Pursuant to a decision adopted by the General Council in April 1995, governments el igible to become orig inal WTO Members that 
accepted the WTO Agreement after 1 January 1995 ha d a period of 90 days after the date of their 
acceptance of the WTO Agreement to make the notifica tions foreseen in Article 5.1, with the period 
for the elimination of TRIMs notified under Article 5. 1 being governed by reference to the date of 
entry into force of the WTO Agreement itself.
3 
                                                      
1 The annual report for 2008 is contained in document G/L/860 of 29 October 2008.  
2 At its formal meeting of 20 May 2009, the Committee elected Mr. Vasile Radu (Romania) as its 
Chairperson for the period 2009-2010.  In a letter dated 30 June 2009, the Permanent Mission of Romania informed the Secretariat that due to unforeseen circumstances, Mr. Radu would  not be able to fulfil his duties as 
the Chairperson of the Committee.  At its meeting of 7 October 2009, the Council for Trade in Goods agreed on 
Dr. Octavia Cerchez (Romania) to become the Chairper son of the Committee. The Committee formally elected 
Dr. Octavia Cerchez at its meeting of 16 October 2009.         
3 WT/L/64.  G/L/900 
Page 2  
 
  4. Annex 1 to this report contains a list of a ll notifications of measures under Article 5.1.
4  In the 
case of some Members, notifications have been s ubmitted later than the 90-day period foreseen.   
5. Some Members have notified to the Committee th at they do not apply any TRIM inconsistent 
with the Agreement.  Annex 2 to this report lists  all Members that have made such notifications.  
6. Article 6.2 provides for notification to the Secret ariat of publications in which information on 
TRIMs can be found.  Annex 3 lists the Members th at have submitted such notifications. During the 
period covered by this report, notif ications were made by Malaysia  and Saudi Arabia, while Thailand  
submitted an updated notification.  The latest updated list of these notifications has been circulated in 
G/TRIMS/N/2/Rev.19.  The European Communities informed the Committee that it will soon submit 
an updated notification under Article 6.2.    
III. SPECIAL AND DIFFERENTIAL TREATMENT PROPOSALS RELATED TO THE 
TRIMS AGREEMENT 
7. Pursuant to the Decision adopted by the General Council on 1 August 2004 (WT/L/579) and 
paragraph 37 of the Hong Kong Ministerial D eclaration (WT/MIN(05)/DEC), the TRIMs Committee 
continued its consideration of the Category II Sp ecial and Differential Treatment ("S&D") proposals 
which were referred to it by the Chai rperson of the General Council.   
8. The proposals were originally submitted by the African Group in document 
TN/CTD/W/3/Rev.2 and relate to Articles 4 and 5.3 of the TRIMs Agreement.  In April 2007, Kenya 
on behalf of the African Group submitted a revised version of the proposals, which deals more 
specifically with the concerns of the proponents.5  In June and October 2007, the Chairperson held 
informal discussions with interested delegations  on the revised proposals.  These were further 
discussed at the meeting of the Committee held on 1 November 2007 at which the representative of 
Kenya said that they were open to listen to any ne w ideas concerning its proposals, particularly with 
respect to the drafting, and that the African Group fe lt that it had gone as far as it could on this issue, 
unless there were other suggestions by other Member s.  No further revisions to the draft proposals 
have been received from the proponents since th en.  In accordance with paragraph 37 of the 
Hong Kong Ministerial Declaration, the Chairp erson of the TRIMs Committee submitted an oral 
report (18 December 2007)6 to the General Council on the work  undertaken by the Committee with 
respect to the S&D proposals. 
9. At the Committee meeting of 23 October 2008, the Chairperson said that he would be willing 
to continue his informal consultations on this issu e should Members so wish and would report back to 
the Committee and the General Council at an appr opriate time on any further developments.  
10. At the Committee meeting of 16 October 2009, no delegation took the floor with respect to 
this issue and the Chairperson indicated that she ha d no further developments to report to the General 
Council in this respect.  The Chairperson reiterated her willingness to continue informal consultations 
on this issue should Members so wish and woul d report back to the Committee and the General 
Council at an appropriate time on any further de velopments. She invited Members requesting such 
consultations to contact her or the Secretariat in this regard. 
                                                      
4 Notifications under Article 5.1 circulated in 1995 have been derestricted since 28 May 1996.  
Pursuant to the General Council's Decision of 14 May 2002 (WT/L/452), documents containing notifications 
under Articles 5.1, 5.5 and 6.2 are issued unrestricted.  
5 The latest revised version of the African Group's proposals was annexed to document 
G/TRIMS/M/27, and is reproduced in Annex 4 to this report.  
6 WT/GC/M/112, paragraph 142. G/L/900 
Page 3 
 
 
  IV. COMMUNICATIONS BY MEMBERS AND RELATED DISCUSSIONS   
11. At its meeting of 20 May 2009, the Committee considered the joint communication submitted 
by the European Communities and the United Stat es, entitled "Certain New and Proposed Measures 
by Indonesia Addressing Local Content in Inv estment in the Telecommunications Sector"7. The 
communication contained a list of questions posed by  the proponents which basically laid out the 
areas where information and further clarifications were requested from Indon esia.  A discussion took 
place at the Committee in this respect and further in formal consultations were held amongst interested 
delegations.  Written answers to the written ques tions contained in this communication were 
submitted by Indonesia.8  The European Communities and the United States placed this issue on the 
agenda of the Committee's regular meeting held  on 16 October 2009 at which both Members, 
supported by Canada and Korea, raised additional follow-up questions. Japan also posed questions 
with respect to certain written responses made  by Indonesia and contained in document 
G/TRIMS/W/63.  Indonesia requested to r eceive the questions posed in writing.  
12. At its meeting of 16 October 2009, the Co mmittee considered the joint communication  
submitted by the European Communities and the Unite d States, entitled "Certain Indonesian Laws and 
Draft Implementing Regulations on Mineral and Coal Mining".9  The communication contained a list 
of questions posed by the proponents which basically  laid out the areas where information and further 
clarifications were requested from Indonesia.  A discussion took place at the Committee in this 
respect at which Canada shared the concerns of th e proponents.  Indonesia requested to receive the 
questions posed in writing.  
V. INFORMAL CONSULTATIONS ON WAYS TO IMPROVE TIMELINESS AND 
COMPLETENESS OF NOTIFICATIONS AND OTHER INFORMATION FLOWS 
ON TRADE MEASURES IN THE TRIMS AREA 
13. Pursuant to the request of the Chairpersons  of the General Council and the Trade Policy 
Review Body, the Chairperson of the Committee held informal consultations with Members on 
17 March 2009 to discuss ways to improve the time liness and completeness of notifications and other 
information flows on trade measures falling within the TRIMs area.   
14. The discussion focused only on Article 6.2 of the TRIMs Agreement and its related decision 
adopted by the Committee and contained in document G/TRIMS/5.  The Chairperson emphasized the obligation under this article to provide publicatio ns relating to all TRIMs Members maintain, not 
necessarily those inconsistent with the Agreement, but  those consistent with the Agreement too.  He 
further explained that in case a Member did not main tain any TRIMs which were inconsistent with the 
Agreement, but maintained TRIMs consistent with  the Agreement, that Member would have an 
obligation to report all publications where such cons istent TRIMs might be found.  He strongly urged 
the 49 Members that did not do that to date to provi de such a notification promptly.  In addition, the 
Chairperson indicated that Members that did provi de such notification, and had not updated the 
information notified, though changes might have occu rred in this regard, were urged to update such 
information without delay
10.   
15. Accordingly, the Committee, at its formal m eeting of 20 May 2009, agreed that:     
• The Secretariat would issue reminders in this regard every six months.   
                                                      
7 G/TRIMS/W/61. 
8 G/TRIMS/W/63. 
9 G/TRIMS/W/70. 
10 On 23 March 2009, the Chairperson of the Committee reported back to the Chairperson of the 
General Council on the results of his consultations.  G/L/900 
Page 4  
 
  • These reminders should contain guidance for all Members to indicate what Article 6.2 and its 
related decision required and to request that any information submitted should also contain, if 
possible, any websites where relevant information could be found.   
• The reminders would also request all Members th at had never notified such publications to do 
so without delay and would request all Members that had previously notified to constantly 
update their notifications, if  appropriate, without delay.
11   
VI. TRANSITIONAL REVIEW MECHANISM PURSUANT TO PARAGRAPH 18 OF 
THE PROTOCOL OF ACCESSION OF THE PEOPLE'S REPUBLIC OF CHINA12 
16. Pursuant to Paragraph 18 of the Protocol of Accession of the People's Republic of China, the 
Committee carried out the eighth annual review of China's implementation of its commitments under 
the TRIMs Agreement and related provisions of the Protocol of Accession.  In a communication dated 29 September 2009, China submitted information on Annex 1A of its Protocol of Accession in 
connection with this review. This submission wa s circulated in document G/TRIMS/W/64, dated  
29 September 2009.  Written questions concerning China's Transitional Revi ew were received from 
the European Communities (G/TRIMS/W/69), Japan  (G/TRIMS/W/68), and the United States 
(G/TRIMS/W/67).   The review took place at the meeting of 16 October 2009.  The Report of the 
Chairperson of the Committee on China' s eighth Transitional Review was submitted to the Council 
for Trade in Goods in document G/L/899.  The di scussions held by the Committee on this item are 
reflected in the relevant section of the minutes of the meeting (G/TRIMS/M/29).    
VII. ELECTION OF OFFICERS 
17. At its meeting of 16 October 2009, the Committ ee elected Dr. Octavia Cerchez (Romania) as 
its Chairperson for the period 2009-2010. 
VIII.  DATE OF THE NEXT MEETING  
18. The next Committee meeting will be held on Friday, 1 October 2010. 
 
                                                     
 
11 The first reminder in this regard was circulated  in document G/TRIMS/W/62 on 24 June 2009.  
12 WT/L/432.  G/L/900 
 Page 5 
 
 
  ANNEX 1 
Members that have Submitted Notifications under Article 5.1  
of the Agreement on Trade-Related Investment Measures  
  
Member
 Document Symbol  Date of Communication  
Argentina G/TRIMS/N/1/ARG/1 30 March 1995 Argentina G/TRIMS/N/1/ARG/1/Add.1 21 March 1997 Barbados G/TRIMS/N/1/BRB/1 31 March 1995 Bolivia
1  G/TRIMS/N/1/BOL/1 24 June 1998 
Chile2  G/TRIMS/N/1/CHL/1 14 December 1995 
Colombia G/TRIMS/N/1/COL/1 31 March 1995 
Colombia G/TRIMS/N/1/COL/1/Add.1 4 June 1995 Colombia
3 G/TRIMS/N/1/COL/2 31 July 1995 
Colombia G/TRIMS/N/1/COL/2/Corr.1 30 September 1996 
Costa Rica4 G/TRIMS/N/1/CRI/1 30 March 1995 
Cuba5  G/TRIMS/N/1/CUB/1 18 July 1995 
Cyprus6  G/TRIMS/N/1/CYP/2 30 October 1995 
Dominican Republic G/TRIMS/N/1/DOM/1 26 April 1995 Ecuador G/TRIMS/N/1/ECU/1 20 March 1996 
Egypt  G/TRIMS/N/1/EGY/1 29 September 1995 
India  G/TRIMS/N/1/IND/1 31 March 1995 India  G/TRIMS/N/1/IND/1/Add.1 22 December 1995 India  G/TRIMS/N/1/IND/1/Add.1/Corr.1 18 March 1996 
India  G/TRIMS/N/1/IND/1/Add.2 11 April 1996 
Indonesia G/TRIMS/N/1/IDN/1 23 May 1995 Indonesia G/TRIMS/N/1/IDN/1/Add.1 28 October 1996 
                                                     
 
1 Bolivia subsequently submitted a notification indicating that it does not apply any trade-related 
investment measures that are not in conformity  with the Agreement (G/TRIMS/N/1/BOL/1/Add.1). 
2 Chile subsequently submitted a notification indica ting that it has eliminated measures notified under 
Article 5.1 (G/TRIMS /N/1/CHL/1/Add.1). 
3 Colombia subsequently submitted a notification indicating that it had issued Decree No. 1473 of 
10 May 2004, whereby Decree No. 2439 of 1994 establis hing import control mechanisms for certain agricultural 
products had been repealed (G/TRIMS/N/1/COL/3).   
4 Costa Rica subsequently submitted a notification indicating that it intended to eliminate measures 
notified under Article 5.1 in advance of the expiry of the transition period (G /TRIMS/N/1/CRI/1/Add.1). 
5 Cuba subsequently informed the Committee that the measures notified by Cuba under Article 5.1 are 
no longer in force (G/TRIMS/M/3, paragraph 5).  
6 This notification superseded Cyprus' previous one  (G/TRIMS/N/1/CYP/1) of 29 June 1995; Cyprus 
subsequently submitted a notification indicating that it has eliminated measures notified under Article 5.1 
(G/TRIMS/N/1/CYP/2/Add.1). G/L/900 
Page 6  
 
  Member
 Document Symbol  Date of Communication  
Malaysia G/TRIMS/N/1/MYS/1 31 March 1995 
Malaysia G/TRIMS/N/1/MYS/1/Rev.1 14 March 1996 
Mexico  G/TRIMS/N/1/MEX/1 31 March 1995 Mexico
7 G/TRIMS/N/1/MEX/1/Rev.18 31 March 1995 
Nigeria9 G/TRIMS/N/1/NGA/1 17 July 1996 
Pakistan G/TRIMS/N/1/PAK/1 30 March 1995 
Peru  G/TRIMS/N/1/PER/1 3 March 1995 Philippines G/TRIMS/N/1/PHL/1 31 March 1995 Poland
10 G/TRIMS/N/1/POL/1 28 September 1995 
Romania G/TRIMS/N/1/ROM/1 31 March 1995 
South Africa G/TRIMS/N/1/ZAF/1 19 April 1995 
Thailand G/TRIMS/N/1/THA/1 30  March 1995 Uganda  G/TRIMS/N/1/UGA/1 17 June 1997 Uruguay G/TRIMS/N/1/URY/1 31 March 1995 
Uruguay G/TRIMS/N/1/URY/1/Add.1 30 August 1995 
Venezuela G/TRIMS/N/1/VEN/1 31 March 1995 
                                                     
 
7 Mexico subsequently submitted a notification indicating that all provisions under the Automotive 
Decree had ceased to be operative as of 1 January 2004 (G/C/42). 
8 In English only.  
9 Nigeria subsequently submitted a notification indicating that the Nigerian Enterprises Promotion Act 
of 1989 has been repealed and replaced with the Nigerian Investment Promotion Commission Decree 1995 (G/TRIMS/N/1/NGA/1/Add.1). 
10 Poland subsequently submitted a notification in dicating that it has eliminated measures notified 
under Article 5.1 (G/TRIMS/N/1/POL/1/Add.1). G/L/900 
Page 7 
 
 
  ANNEX 2 
 
Notifications Indicating that No TRIMs Inconsistent with the Agreement  
on Trade-Related Investment Measures are Maintained  
 
 
Member  Document Symbol  Date of Communication  
 
Bolivia  G/TRIMS/N/1/BOL/1/Add.1 4 March 1999 
Costa Rica   G/TRIMS/N/1/CRI/1/Add.11 16 September 1999 
Cyprus   G/TRIMS/N/1/CYP/2/Add.1 26 May 2000 El Salvador G/TRIMS/N/1/SLV/1 5 November 2003 
Haiti  G/TRIMS/N/1/HTI/1 27 February 1998 
Honduras G/TRIMS/N/1/HND/1 7 July 1995 Israel  G/TRIMS/N/1/ISR/1 24 October 1996 Jamaica  G/TRIMS/N/1/JAM/1 9 June 1998 
Jordan   G/TRIMS/N/1/JOR/1 22 May 2000 
Maldives  G/TRIMS/N/1/MLV/1 30 September 1999 Mali  G/TRIMS/N/1/MLI/1 27 May 1997 Mauritius G/TRIMS/N/1/MUS/1 27 March 1995 New Zealand G/TRIMS/N/1/NZL/1 20 May 1999 
Nicaragua G/TRIMS/N/1/NIC/1 18 July 1996 
Oman  G/TRIMS/N/1/OMN/1 20 December 2000 Saint Lucia G/TRIMS/N/1/LCA/1 14 February 1996 Saudi Arabia G/TRIMS/N/1/SAU/1 3 October 2006 
Singapore G/TRIMS/N/1/SGP/1 9 October 1996 
Slovenia G/TRIMS/N/1/SVN/1 27 March 1995 Sri Lanka  G/TRIMS/N/1/LKA/1 14 March 2000 Switzerland G/TRIMS/N/1/CHE/1 8 August 1995 Chinese  Taipei  G/TRIMS/N/1/TPKM/1 27 May 2002 
Trinidad & Tobago G/TRIMS/N/1/TTO/1 1 April 1996 
Zambia  G/TRIMS/N/1/ZMB/1 13 April 1995  
                                                     
 
1 A Corrigendum to the English version was issued in G/TRIMS/N/1/CRI/1/Add.1/Corr.1, dated 
26 October 1999. G/L/900 
Page 8  
 
  ANNEX 3 
 
Members that have Submitted Notifications under Article 6.2 of
 
the Agreement on Trade-Related Investment Measures  
 
 
Albania Malaysia Angola Maldives Argentina Malí Armenia Mauritius 
Australia  Mexico 
Bahrain Moldova Bolivia  Mongolia Brazil Namibia Brunei Darussalam New Zealand 
Burundi Nicaragua 
Cameroon Nigeria Canada Norway Chad Oman Chile Panama China Paraguay 
Colombia Peru 
Costa Rica Philippines Croatia Qatar Cuba Saudi Arabia Dominica Senegal 
Dominican Republic Singapore 
Ecuador South Africa El Salvador Sri Lanka European Community (including the member States
1) Suriname 
Fiji Islands, Rep. of the Switzerland Gabon Chinese Taipei 
Georgia Thailand 
Ghana Trinidad and Tobago Haiti Tunisia Hong Kong, China Uganda Iceland Ukraine 
India United States 
Indonesia Uruguay Israel Venezuela, Bolivarian Rep. of Jamaica Zambia Japan Zimbabwe Jordan 
Korea 
Kuwait Kyrgyz Republic Liechtenstein Macao, China 
Madagascar  
                                                     
 
1 Cyprus and Hungary did not provide that notification. G/L/900 
Page 9 
 
 
  ANNEX 4 
 
April 2007 
 S&D CATEGORY II PROPOSALS ON THE TRIMS AGREEMENT 
 
Revised proposal received from the delegation of Kenya on behalf of the African Group 
  Proposal related to Article 4 of the TRIMs Agreement
 
 
 Members shall interpret and apply Article 4 of the TRIMs Agreement in accordance with the 
balance-of-payments provisions referred to in Artic le 4 of the TRIMs Agreement, and in a manner 
that fully supports measures taken by developing and least-developed country Members to safeguard 
their external financial position, balance-of-payme nts and sufficiency of reserves, taking full account 
of paragraph 1.1 of the Ministerial Decision on Implementation-Related Issues and Concerns.1  
  Members shall interpret and apply Article 4 of the TRIMs Agreement in accordance with the 
provisions of Article XVIII of GA TT 1994 referred to in Article 4 of the TRIMs Agreement, and in a 
manner that fully supports measures taken by de veloping and least-developed country Members to 
promote the establishment of a particular industr y, taking full account of paragraph 1.1 of the 
Ministerial Decision on Implementati on-Related Issues and Concerns.
2   
 
• In considering requests to apply TRIMs unde r Article XVIII of the GATT 1994, Members 
shall take into account any difficulties encountered by least-developed and developing countries in meeting the notification and consultation requirements contained in 
Article XVIII, paragraphs 14 to 19, and the WTO Secretariat shall accord them such technical 
assistance and support as they may need in order to prepare their notifications and to carry out 
those consultations.   
• In order to assist least-developed and other low-income developing  countries whose 
dependence on primary production is partic ularly high and whose overall level of 
industrialisation is particularly low to accel erate their industrialisation process and to 
diversify the structure of their economies in line with the objective recognized in 
Article XXXVI:5 of the GATT 1994 and its Ad No te, the phrase “free to deviate temporarily 
from the provisions of Article 2” that is contai ned in Article 4 of the TRIMs Agreement shall 
be understood to refer, in the case of these c ountries, to a reasonable period of time sufficient 
to establish the particular industry in question on a competitive footing. 
 Proposal related to Article 5.3 of the TRIMs Agreement
 
 
 Further to the Hong Kong Ministerial Decisi on in favour of least-developed countries on 
Special and Differential Treatment relating to the Agreement on Trade-Related Investment 
Measures3, other low-income developing countries that demonstrate difficulties in implementing 
the provisions of the TRIMs Agreement shall be provided with a new opportunity to notify TRIMs 
and to request transition periods to eliminate the measures.   
 
                                                      
1 Paragraph 1.1 of the Ministerial Decision on Implementation-Related Issues and Concerns, adopted 
on 14 November 2001, "reaffirms that Article XVIII of  the GATT 1994 is a special and differential treatment 
provision for developing countries and that recourse to it should be less onerous than to Article XII of the GATT 
1994". 
2 Ibid. 
3 WT/MIN(05)/DEC. G/L/900 
Page 10  
 
   With regard to requests made in this area by least-developed and other low-income 
developing country Members under Article IX of the WTO Ag reement, account shall be taken of 
their particular circumstances when setting the terms and conditions, incl uding time-frames, under 
which transition periods are granted.  
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