G/L/1461  
G/IT/W/55  
 
1 December  2022 
(22-8960) Page: 1/5 
Council for Trade in Goods  
Committee of Participants on the Expansion of Trade in 
Information Technology Products    
 
REPORT ON THE CURRENT FUNCTIONING OF THE COMMITTEE OF PARTICIPANTS  
ON THE EXPANSION OF TRADE IN INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY PRODUCTS  
REPORT OF THE CHAIRPERSON  
The following report is being submitted by the Chairperson of the Committee of Participants on the 
Expansion of Trade in Information Technology Products (ITA  Committee), Mr  Hazrul Imran AZAHAR, 
under his own responsibility and at the request of the Chairpe rson of the Council for Trade in Goods.1 
The report was prepared with the assistance of the Secretariat.  
 
1  MANDATE OF COMMITTEE WORK  
1.1.  The Ministerial Declaration on Trade in Information Technology Products (WT/MIN(96)/16) was 
adopted on 13  December  1996 and  came into effect on 26  March  1997. The ITA  Agreement is a 
plurilateral agreement that is open for acceptance to all WTO  Members and States or separate 
customs territories in the process of acceding to the WTO. The Committee of Participants on the 
Expansio n of Trade in Information Technology Products (ITA  Committee) was established pursuant 
to paragraph  3 of the "Implementation of the Ministerial Declaration on Trade in Information 
Technology Products " (document  G/L/160).  
1.2.  As required under the Committee's p rocedures, the ITA  Committee oversees the functioning of 
the Agreement and serves as the forum for meetings and collective consultations among the 
participants. It holds regular meetings to review developments relating to the implementation of the 
Declarat ion and holds special meetings at the request of any participant or by invitation of the 
Chairperson.  
1.3.  This report describes the practices that the ITA  Committee has adopted over the years , with 
data based on the years 2019-2021.  
2  CURRENT STATUS OF COMMITTEE  PRACTICES  
2.1  Assistance to delegates  
2.1.  There is no standard  training programme for Geneva -based delegates. Geneva -based 
delegates who assume responsibility for the Committee usually hold bilateral meetings with the 
Secretariat on  an ad hoc basis to clarify any  questions they may have. On occasion, the Secretariat 
has organized briefing sessions for capital and Geneva -based officials to explain processes and the 
conduct of work. These have sometimes been general in nature, or else focussed on a particular 
aspect  of the Committee's agenda.  
2.2.  The Secretariat provides technical assistance support to any WTO  Member or acceding 
government in the process of joining the WTO that expresses its interest to join the ITA or the 
ITA Expansion Agreements, including (i)  explaining the process of becoming a pa rticipant; 
(ii) helping the government to establish its ITA/ITA  Expansion Schedule; (iii)  undertaking the 
technical verification of the government's ITA  Schedule and circulating the draft ITA  Schedule to the 
Committee for its review and approval; (iv)  coordinating bilateral meetings between the acceding 
government and ITA  participants; (v)  providing support and advice on classification divergence and 
 
1 See document  JOB/CTG/18.  G/L/1461 • G/IT/W/55  
 
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  other technical issues during the consultation process; (vi)  assisting governments to complete the 
Schedule modification and certification process. For example, in 2021, the Secretariat provided 
technical support to Lao  PDR when it was in the process of its ITA and ITA2  participation. Similarly, 
in 2022, upon request, the Secretariat held two  working sessions wi th Timor -Leste, explaining the 
procedural steps in relation to its potential participation to the ITA.  
2.3.  With a view to acquainting new Geneva -based delegates and capital -based officials with the 
Committee's work, the Secretariat made a presentation on the I TA Agreement at the Committee's 
meeting held on 11  October  2022.  
2.2  Planning and Organization of Committee work  
2.2.1   Digital tools used for Committee work  
2.4.  The ITA  Committee uses the WTO -wide digital tools, such as e-registration  and the 
"e-subscription " option in Documents online . E-registration allows Members to indicate their contact 
information as well as the different Committees for  which they are responsible. The Secretariat relies 
on the information provided in this system, as well as any additional contact information provided 
by delegations, to identify delegates covering the Committee in order to send communications and 
other do cuments to them by email, as necessary.  
2.2.2   Formal meetings  
2.5.  The ITA Committee generally holds two  formal meetings  each year, one meeting in the spring, 
and the other in the autumn . To the extent possible, these formal meetings are organized in 
coordination wit h the meetings of other subsidiary bodies of the Council for Trade in Goods  in order 
to avoid meetings taking place on the same date . 
2.2.3   Number of meetings  
2.6.  Formal and informal meetings held by the ITA  Committee during 2019 -2022 are summarized 
in Table  1, belo w. 
Table  1: Number of formal and informal meetings  
 
Year Formal meeting  
(date and duration)  Informal meetings  
(date and duration)  Other (e.g. workshops, 
symposia, etc.)  
2019  14 May (0.5  days)  
31 October (0.5  days)  -  
2020  30 October (0.5  days)    
2021  15 April (0.5  days)  
17 September (0.5  days)  
17 November  2021 (0.5  days)   30 July (0.5  days) 16-17 September  2021: 
ITA Symposium: 25  Years of 
the Information Technology 
Agreement  
2022  6 April (0.5  days)  
11 October (0.5  days)  20 September (0.5  days) 28 September  2022:  
Information and Dialogue 
Session with IT  Industry 
Representatives  
 
2.2.4   Preparation of Airgrams and Agendas  
2.7.  The tentative date of each formal meeting of the Committee is announced by the Chairperson 
at the previous Committee meeting, approximately six  months in advance.  
2.8.  The Chairperson and the Secretariat send a convening notice to all Participants, around 
four weeks prior to the formal meeting . The purpose of this convening notice is to remind delegations 
of the date of the upcoming C ommittee meeting, to indicate the date when the Airgram will be 
issued, and to provid e the closing date  for inclusion of any agenda item in the Airgram.  
2.9.  The Airgram is circulated 10  days prior to the meeting (see Table  2). An annotated agenda, 
which contai ns more detailed information  regarding each agenda item is circulated by the Secretariat 
(in document  JOB/IT/*) around one  week prior to the meeting.  G/L/1461 • G/IT/W/55  
 
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  Table  2: Preparation of Airgrams and Agendas  
 
Year Date of formal meeting  Date of circulation of Airgram  No. of days before the 
meeting  
2019  14 May  
31 October  3 May 
21 October  11 days  
10 days  
2020  30 October  10 October  20 days  
2021  15 April  
17 September  
17 November  
(Special Session)  1 April 
7 September  
5 November   14 days 
10 days  
12 days  
2022  6 April  
11 October  25 March  
30 September  12 days 
11 days  
 
2.2.5   Distribution of documents prior to meetings  
2.10.  Formal documents  are circulated in the order in which they are received by the Secretariat. 
All documents relevant to a meeting are added under the Documents for Meetings section in 
Documents Online and under the link for the meeting in the WTO  calendar of the WTO  webpage.  
Presentations or other documents received in advance are circulated as room documents 
(RD/IT /- series ). 
2.2.6   Communication after meetings  
2.11.  The Chairperson does not normally send a ny follow -up communication after formal meetings. 
A news item for each regular mee ting is prepared by the WTO  Information and External Relations 
Division in consultation with the Secretary to the ITA  Committee . 
2.2.7   Preparation of the minutes  
2.12.  The Secretariat prepares minutes after every formal meeting, which capture all  of the  relevant 
information  from the meeting,  including reports by the Chairperson and Members' statements. In 
the period 2019 -2022, it took on average 81 days to circulate the minutes of the Committee's regular 
formal meeting s. The average length of the se minutes has been 1 3 pages (see Table  3). 
2.13.  The minutes of a formal meeting of the Committee also contain information on informal 
meeting(s) held since the previous formal meeting. This is generally done by means of a summary 
report under the responsibility of the Chairperson. T he Chairperson also reports to the formal 
meeting on any consultation s that he/she has held since the Committee's previous formal meeting . 
Table  3: Preparation of the Minutes  
 
Year Last date of the formal meeting  Date of circulation of the 
minutes  No. of 
pages  No. of days  
2019  14 May 2019 
31 October  2019 8 October  2019 
30 January  2020 12 
13 147 
91 
2020  30 October  2020 20 November  2020 11 21 
2021  15 April 2021 
17 September  2021 
17 November  2021 29 June 2021 
14 December  2021 
14 December  2021 13 
14 
4 75 
88 
27 
2022  6 April 2022 
11 October  2022 2 August  2022 
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- 118 
- 
 
2.14.  Once the minutes are circulated, and pursuant to paragraph  2(c) of the WTO's Procedures for 
Circulation and Derestriction of WTO  Documents (WT/L/452), they remain restricted in documents 
online (DOL) for 45  days. The minutes become automatically derestricted 45  days after the date of 
their circulation.  
2.2.8   Informal meetings  
2.15.  Informal meetings are held at the request of any participant or at the in vitation of the 
Chairperson on an ad hoc  basis. Informal meetings are convened through a communication  sent to 
the official email addresses of  ITA participants, or to all WTO  Members, as appropriate . G/L/1461 • G/IT/W/55  
 
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  2.16.  The convening email contains information on the meeting date, time, location, purpose  of the 
meeting , and proposed agenda. The convening email has been sent on average 12.5 days in advance 
(Table  4). 
Table  4: Convening of informal meetings  
 
Year Date of informal 
meeting  Date of communication 
convening the informal 
meeting  No. of days  
2019  - - - 
2020  - - - 
2021  30 July 2021  19 July 2021 11 
2022  20 September  2022  6 September  2022 14 
 
3  SUBSTANTIVE WORK  
3.1.  The regular and substantive work of the ITA  Committee includes: (i)  the review of product 
coverage; (ii)  discussions on non -tariff measures; (iii)  addressing divergences in classification; 
(iv) reviewing and approving acceding participations; and (v)  reviewing trade concerns raised by 
ITA participants.  
3.1  Thematic sessions  
3.2.  The ITA  Committee organi zes an ITA  Symposium once every five  years. During the reporting 
period (2019 to 2022), an ITA  Symposium celebrating 25  years of the Information Technology 
Agreement was held in Geneva on 16 -17 September  2022. Due to COVID -related restrictions, the 
Symposi um had been organized in a hybrid format and was a ttended in person by a limited number 
of Geneva -based delegat es. Most speakers, capital -based officials , global IT  industry 
representatives, as well as representatives from  other international organizations , participated in 
the event online . 
3.2  Notifications  
3.3.  There is no regular notification obligation under the ITA.  
3.3  Reports by the Secretariat  
3.4.  The Secretariat prepares an annual report  to the Council for Trade in Goods (CTG) that  is 
first circulated to the Committee as a draft, for its approval at the autumn meeting  
(G/IT/W/ - document series) . Upon its approval, the annual report to the CTG is issued as a 
G/L/ document.  
3.4  Participation by external stakeholders  
3.5.  The International Trade Centre ( ITC) and the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and 
Development (OECD) have been granted observer status  to the ITA  Committee , and the World 
Customs Organization (WCO) has been granted observer status to meetings where issues of 
HS classification and HS  amendments are included on the agenda.  
3.6.  To better understand the fast -changing global ICT  industry, and to strengthen synergies 
between rule -making and business practices, the Committee has agreed to enhance its 
communication and dialogue with IT industry representatives. During the ITA  Symposium held on 
16-17 September  2021, over 25  senior IT  industry representatives made presentations at different 
sessions. On 28  September  2022, the Committee held its first  Information and Dialogue Session 
with IT industry representations during the Public Forum, during which four  representatives from 
the semiconductor industry introduced the global value chain operations of the ICT  sector.  G/L/1461 • G/IT/W/55  
 
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  3.5  Work with other Committees or WTO  bodies  
3.7.  The ITA  Committee interact s with other Committees or WTO  bodies on an ad hoc basis. 
WTO Secretariat staff covering related technical subjects in other Committees have been invited to 
make presentations at meetings of the Committee.  
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