. /.  WORLD TRADE  
ORGANIZATION   
G/MA/257 
26 October 2011 
 (11-5373) 
Committee on Market Access  
  
 
PERIODIC REPORT OF THE COMMITTEE TO THE 
COUNCIL FOR TRADE IN GOODS 
 
  
1. The Committee met on 14 October 2011 and examined the following issues: 
 2. The Committee took note of the draft periodic report (G/MA/SPEC/48) a nd also noted that as 
there were no requests for Harm onized System 1996 (HS96) waiver ex tensions no factual information 
on this issue had been provided in the report.  
 
3. The Committee approved the extension of the HS2002 "collective" waiver (G/C/W/653) and 
the extension of the HS2007 "collective" waiv er (G/C/W/654). It also approved the HS2012 
"collective" waiver (G/C/W/655). The Committee agreed  to forward the draft waiver decisions to the 
Council for Trade in Goods (CTG) for appropriate action
1. 
 
4. Concerning the HS96 changes, the Committee t ook note of the status of submissions of the 
HS96 documentation as set out in document G/MA /TAR/2/Rev.47.  It noted that Argentina had 
completed the procedures and now had HS96 docume ntation certified as WT/L et/763. There were no 
more Members under waiver for the purpose of implem enting HS96 changes. It also took note of the 
report by the Chairman on the status of work und er the procedures leading to the verification and 
certification of HS1996 changes relating to the sche dules of 64 Members (WT/L/756).  The Committee 
noted that only 3 out of the 64 schedules rema ined uncertified under those procedures.  
  5. Concerning the Harmonized System 2002 (HS 2002) changes, the Secr etariat reported on the 
status of work under the procedure for the introduc tion of those changes to schedules of concessions 
using the Consolidated Tariff Sche dules (CTS) database (WT/L/605), as well as on the outcomes of the 
informal dedicated sessions of the Committee dur ing which the files containing the HS2002 changes 
of Members were examined.  The Committee noted  that 99 HS2002 files were certified with the 
remainder at various stages of the review or certification process.  6. Concerning the Harmonized System 2007 (H S2007) changes, the Committee approved an 
amendment to the procedure leading to the cer tification of HS2007 changes (JOB/MA/92/Rev.3)
2.  
The Committee agreed to forward the documen t through the CTG to the General Council for 
adoption.  The Committee also considered the Secretariat document entitled "Transposition of 
Members' CTS Files to the HS 2007 Nomenclature - Notes on Methodology" (JOB/MA/97).  In light 
of comments by a Member, the Committee agreed to reve rt to the document at its next meeting.   The 
Chairman also reported on the consultations he ha d held on how to address in the context of the 
HS2007 transposition exercise, the correlated tariff lin es on which no consensus had been reached in 
                                                      
1 Revised versions of the HS2002 and HS2012 draft waiver decisions were issued in order to include 
Malaysia (in both) and Hong Kong, China and Korea (in the latter).  Subsequent to the October meeting, Costa Rica, Guatemala and Singapore also requested to  be covered by the HS2012 draft waiver decision and 
were included in the annex.  
2 The document was re-issued as G/MA/W/108. G/MA/257 
Page 2  
 
  the World Customs Organization.  In light of a comment by a Member that additional discussion was 
warranted on the issue, the Committee ag reed to further discuss the matter.  
 7. Concerning the Harmonized System 2012 (H S2012) changes, the Committee approved the 
procedure to introduce those changes to sche dules of concessions using the CTS database 
(JOB/MA/98/Rev.1)
3.  
 8. With reference to the operation of the Integr ated Data Base (IDB) and the CTS database, the 
Committee  took note of the report by the Secretariat on the status of work on the databases, use of the 
information contained in the databases, the status of software development and technical assistance. 
The Committee also took note of the document which reflected the status of submissions to the IDB 
(G/MA/IDB/ 2/Rev.34). 
 9. In the context of the discussions on the ti meliness and completeness of notifications, and 
concerning the Decision on Notification Procedures fo r Quantitative Restrictions (G/L/59), in light of 
a comment by a Member that it still had technical and procedural questions on the latest version of the 
draft decision (JOB/MA/71/Rev.5), the Committee agreed to revert to this matter at its next meeting 
and to hold informal consultations in the interim.   10. The Committee conducted the final transitional review under Paragraph 18 of the Protocol of 
Accession of the People's Republic of China and ag reed to forward its report in G/MA/258 to the 
CTG. 
 11. The Committee considered its draft report (2011) to the CTG (G/MA/SPEC/98). It was agreed that an update of this report which took into acc ount the developments at this meeting would be 
circulated to all Members. If no comments were  forthcoming then the updated report would be 
considered adopted
4. 
 12. The Committee agreed to elect a Vice-C hair at its next meeting in 2012.   
 13. The Committee took note of the statements ma de regarding the increase by Brazil of the 
industrial product tax on imported cars.  It also took note that its next meeting would be held in early 
May 2012. 
 
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3 The document was re-issued as G/MA/W/109. 
4 Adopted report was circulated as G/L/967.