RESTRICTED  WORLD TRADE  
ORGANIZATION  WT/REG/M/44 
20 October 2006 
 (06-5093) 
Committee on Regional Trade Agreements 
Forty Fourth Session  
 
 
 
NOTE ON THE MEETING OF 13 OCTOBER 2006 
 
Chairman: Mr.  A.  Egger (Switzerland ) 
 
 
A. ADOPTION OF THE AGENDA  
1. The 44th Session of the Committee on Regional Trad e Agreements (hereinafter CRTA or the 
Committee) was convened in Airgram WT O/AIR/2900, dated 29 September 2006.   
2. The Chairman  announced that under "Other Busin ess" the Secretariat would report on 
RTA-related technical assistance activities undertaken in 2006.  The Chairman would also give an 
account of his informal consultations on the outstan ding issue of the examination of RTAs concluded 
by WTO Members with non-WTO Members and on a proposal by the Secretariat to simplify RTA notification documents.  Also, he would inform th e Committee on the organisation of its work in the 
coming months. 
3. The following Agenda was adopted: 
A. Adoption of the Agenda 
B. Examination of Regional Trade Agreements: 
I. Status Report on the Examination Work 
II. Enlargement of the European Union, Goods 
III. Association Agreement between th e European Communities and Chile, 
Goods 
IV. Free Trade Agreement (FTA) between the Kyrgyz Republic and Armenia 
C. Reporting on the Operation of Agreements 
Cooperation Agreement between the European Communities and Syria Cooperation Agreement between the European Communities and Algeria 
D. Annual Report (2006) to the General Council 
E. Other Business 
 4. The Chairman
 recalled that the Latin American Integration Association (LAIA) had been 
granted observer status to the CRTA on an ad hoc  basis and sought confirmation to extend an 
invitation to LAIA to attend the Committee's next meeting.  It was so agreed . 
B. EXAMINATION OF REGIONAL TRADE AGREEMENTS  
I. Status Report on the Examination Work 
5. Under this Agenda Item, the Chairman  provided the Committee with a status report on the 
examination work.  At its 41st Session, the Committee had agreed that subsequent meetings would 
concentrate on the 42 RTAs already under fact ual examination, rather than undertake new 
examinations.  The Chairman announced that it had b een possible, throughout the year, to conclude WT/REG/M/44 
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  the factual examination of most agreements falling unde r this category.  As of the date of the meeting, 
only 17 RTAs remained in this category.  Of these,  three would be examined in the day's Session and 
for the remaining 14 agreements, the factual ex amination had been "frozen" or stopped by the 
Committee:  in the case of two services agreemen ts, because no specific commitments had been 
communicated by the parties; and the remain ing 12 agreements had been concluded by 
WTO Members with non-WTO Members.  In that r espect, as announced earlier, the Chairman would 
give an account of his informal consultations he ld the previous day, under "Other Business".  
B.II-IV (The minutes of the examination of the Agre ements listed under agenda items B.II-IV are 
being distributed as separate documents.) 
C. R
EPORTING ON THE OPERATION OF AGREEMENTS  
6. The Chairman  recalled that according to item 1(b) of  the Committee's terms of reference, a 
schedule for the presentation in 2004 of 19 periodic reports on the operation of agreements had been 
submitted to the CRTA in November 2003, in document WT/REG/W/48.  Out of these 19 reports, 16 had been submitted, of which 14 had already been considered in previous CRTA sessions and two, 
namely the Cooperation Agreement between the Eu ropean Communities and Syria, distributed as 
document WT/REG104/R/B/3, and the Cooperation Agreement between the European Communities 
and Algeria, document WT/REG105/R/B/3, were on the Agenda.  Of the remaining 3 reports 
originally scheduled, one related to an agreemen t which had been superseded by a newly notified 
agreement and hence was no longer due; the other tw o reports, namely on the Australia-Papua New 
Guinea Agreement (PATCRA) and the Caribbean Community and Common Market (CARICOM), 
were still outstanding.  The Chairman urged the Par ties to these agreements to fulfill their reporting 
requirements as soon as possible. 
7. The Chairman then opened the floor for any general or specific comments on the biennial 
report of the EC-Syria and EC-Algeria Cooperation Agreements.  He also recalled that delegations 
wishing to ask more specific questions could submit them in writing to the Secretariat by 3 November 
and asked the Parties to the Agreements concerned to  submit their replies to the Secretariat no later 
than 24 November. 
8. The representative of the United States
 asked what percentage of trade and what percentage 
of tariff lines were duty-free under the EC-Syria Cooperation Agreement.  With respect to the EC-Algeria Cooperation Agreement, she asked if  the Agreement had been superseded by the 
Euro-Mediterranean Association Agreement, wh ich she looked forward to discussing in the 
Committee.  
9. The representative of the European Communities
 said that the EC-Algeria Agreement had 
been superseded in September 2005 by a Euro-M editerranean Association Agreement, that had 
already been notified to the WTO.  A Euro-Medite rranean Agreement had been negotiated also with 
Syria, but had not entered into force yet, so th e previous EC-Algeria Agreement still regulated the 
relations between the Parties.  The percentage of duty-free trade and tariff lines was therefore the 
same as when the Agreement entered into force.  
10. The representative of the United States  said that her delegation would submit a question in 
writing asking for more precise figures.  She also re called that her delegation had been asked in the 
past to provide information on its Agreements when no changes had occurred since the original 
review, for instance for US-Israel FTA.   
11. The Chairman  asked delegations to submit their writte n questions no later than 3 November 
2006 and that Parties send in their replies by 24 November 2006.  It was so agreed .    WT/REG/M/44 
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  12. The Chairman also observed that no formal sch edule for the submission of biennial reports 
for 2006 had been adopted and he  proposed, given the circumstances, to place the issue on hold until 
early 2007.  It was so agreed . 
D. ANNUAL REPORT (2006)  TO THE GENERAL COUNCIL  
13. The Chairman  recalled that a draft of the Committee's annual report to the General Council 
had been sent to delegations as an attachment to hi s fax dated 6 October.  He  thanked the Secretariat 
for the draft, and observed that a number of points in  the draft, within square brackets, had been left 
blank or put in bold, since they needed to be  completed or confirmed taking into account the 
discussions held in the Committee's current Session.   He invited delegations to comment on each 
paragraph of the draft.  Since no delegation had ta ken the floor, the Chairman proposed that delegates 
send written comments to the Secretariat by 31 Octobe r, and entrusted the Secretariat to update and 
revise the draft in light of these comments in time for the General Council in December.  It was so 
agreed .  
E. OTHER BUSINESS  
14. The Chairman  invited the Secretariat to present to the Committee the RTA-related technical 
assistance activities undertaken in 2006.  
15. A representative of the Secretariat  said that 18 technical assistance activities had taken place 
in 2006.  Most of these activities had been fina nced by the WTO regular budget, donations by 
Member countries, or by the Global Trust Fund fo r activities under the Doha Development Agenda.  
In some cases the participation co sts had been incurred by the hosting organisation.  The objectives of 
the activities varied from raising awareness on RTA dynamics in global trade, to training and advising 
government officials on WTO rules and procedures on RTAs.  Virtually all the activities had been 
addressed to participants from broad regional gr oupings.  Their underlying objective had been to 
contribute to the development of RTAs that were be neficial to their members and that complemented 
the objectives of the WTO.  Since Doha, the RTA Section had been entrusted with the additional 
technical assistance task of clarifying issues related to the negotiations on RTA rules to 
WTO Members requesting such aid.  The progra mme for activities foreseen for 2007 had not been 
established, at the time of the meeting.  
16. The Chairman  then informed the Committee on the stat us of examination of notified RTAs 
involving non-WTO Members.  Delegates had receiv ed a fax on 6 October containing a list of these 
RTAs, which numbered 33 at the time of the meeti ng, but was due to be reduced in the following 
months through aggregation of bilaterals in the Ba lkans and the newly announced EU Enlargement.  
The number of such RTAs would then amount to 21 , which corresponded to about 15 per cent of all 
RTAs notified under Article XXIV and in force.  The Chairman announced that, as a result of his informal consultations, it had been proposed that  these RTAs should be listed on the website in a 
separate category, and that at a later stage the Co mmittee should again consider the issue and decide 
on appropriate action.  The Committee so agreed
 and asked the Secretariat to create a new section on 
the website.  
17. The Chairman  then announced that, through his informal  consultations, he had gathered that 
delegations welcomed the simplified notification format proposed by the Secretariat, and that 
delegations considered that the new format w ould streamline the notification process and make it 
more transparent.  The Chairman noted that th ere had been general agreement that the common 
format for the notification of RTAs should be reco mmended to the relevant bodies, i.e. the Council for 
Trade in Goods, the Council for Trade in Services, and the Committ ee for Trade and Development for 
adoption.  The Chairman was aware that there ha d been discussions on improving the Secretariat's WT/REG/M/44 
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  proposal, but no counter proposal had been formally advanced.  He therefore asked delegates if they 
wanted to adopt the proposed notification format and recommend it to the relevant bodies.   
18. The representative of the United States
 welcomed the format proposed by the Secretariat and 
looked forward to the way it would enhance the Members' ability to notify promptly and in 
accordance with their obligations.  The repr esentative of the European Communities  supported this 
statement.  
19. The Chairman  proposed to adopt the format and to recommend it to the relevant bodies.  It 
was so agreed .  
20. Turning to the Committee's work ahead for the remainder of 2006 and 2007, the Chairman  
observed that there were 60 agre ements in the Committee's backlog,  excluding the agreements with 
non-Members.  Of these agreements, the review process had de facto been initiated for only six RTAs 
for which the parties had voluntarily requested the Se cretariat to prepare a factual presentation, which 
related to the goods aspects only.  These presen tations would be ready for circulation by 
end-November at the latest.  The Chairman also  observed that during his informal consultations 
delegations had expressed the view that those Me mbers who had notified an RTA which had not yet 
begun the examination process should be encouraged to consider volunteering for a factual 
presentation prepared by the Secretariat.  He inv ited Members interested in pursuing this option to 
contact the Secretariat in order to advance this proc ess.  He also recalled that the choice of a factual 
presentation prepared by the Secretariat was still voluntary for the moment, but underlined that if Members chose to embrace this option, it w ould help the Committee to advance its work. 
21. The representative of the European Communities
 supported the Chairman's statement and 
observed that factual presentations by the Secretariat should be prepared only at request of Members.   
22. The Chairman  then informed delegates that rooms had been booked for the Committee's 
regular sessions for February, April and October 2007.   He underlined that these were preliminary 
bookings which could be changed, depending on circ umstances.  He said that delegates would be 
informed with precision before the year's end, and added that nothing prevented the Committee from 
convening outside those dates, formally or in formally, if needed by progress in its work. 
23. The Committee took note  of the comments made.  
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