WORLD TRADE  
ORGANIZATION  G/L/885 
16 April 2009 
 
 (09-1829) 
 Original:   Spanish 
  
 
INTRODUCTION OF HARMONI ZED SYSTEM 1996 CHANGES 
INTO WTO SCHEDULES OF TARIFF CONCESSIONS 
 
Panama - Schedule CXLI
 
 
Request for a Waiver 
 
  The following communication, dated 6 March 2009, is being circulated at the request of the 
delegation of Panama. 
 
_______________ 
 
  The Government of Panama hereby requests a wa iver of its obligations under Article II of the 
General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade 1994 (GATT 1994) and General Council Decision 
WT/L/734 of 6 August 2008 in order to implement the Harmonized System 1996 (HS96) 
nomenclature and adopt the changes that th is entails for Panama's Schedule CXLI. 
  Attached to this request are the following documents for consideration by the Committee on 
Market Access: 
 
1. Waiver Decision of 31 July 2008 in which it is agreed to suspend the application by Panama 
of the provisions of Article II of the GATT 1994 for the purpose of introducing the HS96 changes into Panama's Schedule of Concessions. 
 2. Factual information
1 concerning the request for a waiver for the purpose of introducing the 
HS96 changes into Panama's Schedule of Concessions. 
 
                                                      
1 Revised factual information was submitted on 15 April 2009. G/L/885 
Page 2  
 
   
 WORLD TRADE  
ORGANIZATION  WT/L/734 
6 August 2008 
 (08-3733) 
  
  
   
INTRODUCTION OF HARMONI ZED SYSTEM 1996 CHANGES 
INTO WTO SCHEDULES OF TARIFF CONCESSIONS 
 
Panama – Schedule CXLI
 
 
Decision of 31 July 2008* 
  
 The General Council,   Considering  that the Members of the WTO, by their Decisions of 13 December 1995, 
18 July 1996, 24 April 1997, 22 October 1997, 24 April 1998, 14 October 1998, 15 June 1999, 4 November 1999, 3 May 2000, 8 December 2000 and 8 May 2001
1, acting pursuant to the provisions 
of paragraph 3 of Article IX of the WTO Agreemen t, suspended the application of the provisions of 
Article II of the GATT 1994 until 30 April 2002, fo r the purpose of enabling the Members listed in 
the Annex, including Panama, to implement th e recommended amendments to the Harmonized 
System nomenclature;  
Considering  that by Decision WT/L/400 of 8 May 2001 the Members of the WTO also 
decided not to grant, on a collective basis, any furthe r extensions of waivers for the application of the 
provisions of Article II of the GATT 1994 to implement the recommended amendments to the Harmonized System nomenclature, but that this w ould not preclude Members from requesting waivers 
on an individual basis; 
 
 Considering that the Members of the WTO, by Decisions of 13 May 2002, 24 July 2003, 
17 May 2004, 27 July 2005, 28 July 2006 and 27 July 2007
2, acting pursuant to the provisions of 
paragraph 3 of Article IX of the WTO Agreement,  suspended the application of the provisions of 
Article II of the GATT 1994 until 30 April 2008 to  allow Panama to implement the recommended 
amendments to the Harmonized System nomenclature; 
 
Noting that Panama has requested a waiver extension for the reasons set out in its request3; 
  Acting  pursuant to the provisions of paragra ph 3 of Article IX of the WTO Agreement; 
 
                                                     
 
* Secretariat note:   Adopted in accordance with  the Decision-Making Proced ures under Articles IX and 
XII of the WTO Agreement agreed by the Gene ral Council in November 1995 (WT/L/93). 
1 WT/L/124 + Corr.1, WT/L/173, WT/L/216, WT/L/243, WT/L/268, WT/L/281, WT/L/303, 
WT/L/338 + Corr.1, WT/L/351, WT/L/379 and WT/L/400. 
2 WT/L/458, WT/L/524, WT/L/570, WT/L/620, WT/L/652 and WT/L/693. 
3 G/L/849.  G/L/885 
 Page 3 
 
 
  Decides , in view of the exceptional circumstanc es, to suspend the application of the 
provisions of Article II of the GATT 1994 until 30 Ap ril 2009, for the purpose of enabling Panama to 
implement the recommended amendments to the Ha rmonized System 1996 nomenclature, subject to 
the following conditions:  
1. Panama shall, where necessary, promptly  enter into negotiati ons and consultations 
with interested Members pursuant to pa ragraphs 1-3 of Article XXVIII of the 
GATT 1994; 
 
2. the negotiations and consultations mentione d above shall be completed not later than 
30 April 2009; 
 
3. pending the entry into force of the resu lts of the negotiations  or consultations 
mentioned, the other Members will be free to suspend concessions initially negotiated 
with Panama to the extent that they consid er that adequate compensation has not been 
offered for the introduction of the recommended amendments to the Harmonized 
System 1996 into Panama's Schedule of Concessions. 
 G/L/885 
Page 4  
 
  REQUEST FOR A WAIVER FOR THE PURPOSE OF INTRODUCING 
HS96 CHANGES INTO PANAMA'S SCHEDULE OF CONCESSIONS 
 
Factual Information
 
 
 
1. Date of original waiver  
  24 April 1998  
2. Date of submission of documents  relevant to HS96 implementation
 
  21 February 2002.  Furthermore, on 6 Februa ry 2004, Panama sent the delegation of the 
United States of America copies of its foreign trade statistics for 2002, as requested by this delegation. 
 
3. Number of extensions and dates granted
 
  Panama has been granted 14 extensions, the dates of which are as follows:   WT/L/268 - 24 April 1998  WT/L/281 - 14 October 1998 
 WT/L/303 - 15 June 1999 
 WT/L/338 - 4 November 1999  WT/L/351 - 3 May 2000  WT/L/379 - 8 December 2000  WT/L/400 - 8 May 2001 
 WT/L/458 - 13 May 2002 
 WT/L/524 - 24 July 2003  WT/L/570 - 17 May 2004  WT/L/620 - 27 July 2005  WT/L/652 - 28 July 2006  WT/L/693 - 27 July 2007 
 WT/L/734 - 31 July 2008 
 4. Number of countries with which Article XX VIII negotiations have been entered into 
(initiated, concluded, and ongoing ) 
 
(a) Canada - Further to clarification of and corrections to the documents submitted by 
Panama to the Secretariat, on 9 September 2002 Canada gave formal notice that it had 
withdrawn its reservation. 
(b) Australia - Further to clarification of and corrections to the documents submitted by 
Panama to the Secretariat, on 23 August 2003 Australia gave formal notice that it had withdrawn its reservation. 
(c) European Communities and United States - These two delegations are verifying 
document G/SECRET/HS96/48/Rev.2 of 23 Ma rch 2009 provided by Panama, which 
supersedes the preceding versions circulated as G/SECRET/HS96/48 of 4 April 2001, G/SECRET/HS96/48/Add.1 and Rev.1 of 18 March 2002 and 4 June 2002 
respectively, and G/SECRET/HS96/48/Rev.1/Corr.2 of 14 August 2003.  G/L/885 
 Page 5 
 
 
  5. Outlook for concluding the process  
  On 20 November 2006, Panama submitted notes to the US and EU delegations requesting 
their comments on, or confirmation of their acceptan ce of, its documents in order to conclude this 
process by the deadline established by the Secretaria t.  However, and as reported to the Secretariat, 
these delegations have requested that the documen tation provided by Panama be reviewed by the 
Secretariat prior to the submission of their comments.   Work has been carried out in close coope ration with the Secretariat on the various 
clarifications requested from Panama  with regard to a number of points in the document submitted.  
These have already been sent to the Secretariat, a nd the process is now complete with the circulation 
of document G/SECRET/HS96/48/Rev.2.  We are waiti ng for the end of the 90-day review period to 
formally finalize the implementation of the HS96 nomenclature changes. 
  In the light of the above considerations and ta king into account the fact that Panama will have 
to conclude these consultations or possibly conduct negotiations under Article XXVIII, particularly in 
view of the general reservations made by other Members, we expect that a period of 12 months as 
from the date of application of the waiver will be  needed to complete the implementation of these 
amendments.  
__________