WORLD TRADE  
ORGANIZATION  TN/CTD/15 
28 April 2006 
 (06-2041) 
Committee on Trade and Development 
Special Session  
 
 
SPECIAL SESSION OF THE COMMITTEE ON  
TRADE AND DEVELOPMENT 
 
Report by the Chairman, Ambassador Burhan Gafoor (Singapore),  
to the Trade Negotiations Committee  
 
 
I. INTRODUCTION  
 At the Hong Kong Ministerial Conference, Ministers reaffirmed that provisions for special 
and differential treatment (S&D) are an integral part of the WTO Agreem ents and renewed their 
determination to fulfil the mandate contained in paragraph 44 of the Doha Ministerial Declaration and 
in the Decision adopted by the General Council on 1 August 2004;  namely, that all S&D provisions 
be reviewed with a view to strengthening them  and making them more precise, effective and 
operational.   Ministers have instructed: 
 
• the Special Session to complete the review of all the outstanding Agreement-specific 
proposals and report to the General Council, with clear recommendations for a decision at the latest by December 2006; 
 
• the bodies in which the Category II proposals ar e being addressed to complete consideration 
of those proposals and report to the General C ouncil, with the objective of ensuring that clear 
recommendations for a decision are made by December 2006.  In this regard, the Special 
Session has been directed to continue to coor dinate its efforts with these bodies, so as to 
ensure that this work is completed on time;  and  
 
• the Special Session to resume work on all other outstanding issues, including on the 
cross-cutting issues, the Monito ring Mechanism and the incorporation of S&D into the 
architecture of WTO rules and report on a regular basis to the General Council.   
 
II. STATUS OF WORK 
Since the Hong Kong Ministerial Conference, the Special Session h as held two formal 
meetings (6 March and 7 April 2006).  The Chairman has also held several informal consultations.   
 
At the first open-ended informal meeting held on 24 February, the Chairman sought 
Members' views on how to move forward on the diffe rent elements of the S&D Work Programme as 
mandated in the Hong Kong Ministerial Declarati on.  At that meeting, Members reached an 
understanding to begin with a text-based discussion of the eight remaining Category I Agreement-specific proposals based on the last langua ge considered and to then take up the eight 
remaining Category III proposals.  (A schematic representation of all the Agreement specific 
proposals is annexed.)  Finally, Members agreed to resume the discussion on all other outstanding issues, including on the cross-cutting issues, the Monitoring Mechanism, and the incorporation of 
S&D treatment into the architecture of WTO rules.  
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 Consequently, the Special Session has fo cused on the eight remaining Category I 
Agreement-specific proposals.  The eight proposal s relate in effect to four issues, namely:  
(i) Article 3.5 of the Agreement on Import Licensing;  (ii) Article 10.3 of the SPS Agreement;  (iii) Article XVIII of the GATT;  and (iv) the U nderstanding in Respect of Waivers of Obligations 
under the GATT 1994.   
 
In the discussion on the Agreement-specific propo sals, the Chairman has been encouraged by 
a few developments.  First, a very constructive mood has prev ailed among Members.  Second, 
Members have generally shown flexibility.  Third,  the proponents have also shown flexibility by 
agreeing to use the last language considered, instead  of their original proposals, as the starting point 
for discussions.  Finally, Members have been willing to engage in a text-based negotiation and this 
process has resulted in revised language for some of the proposals.   
  At the same time, it is clear that there ar e still some deep differences amongst Members on 
some of the proposals.  While Members generally accept that developing country Members should be provided necessary flexibilities to address their constrai nts, some Members have stressed that blanket 
exemptions from commitments are unacceptable.  As a result, there is a need for continued discussion 
and clarification on some of the proposals under Category I. 
 
The LDCs have raised the issue of the im plementation of the duty-free quota-free market 
access decision adopted at Hong Kong.  The LDCs have  indicated that the modalities of the decision 
should be a matter for negotiations in the Special Session of the CTD.  However, some other 
Members stated that they were not in a position to agree to further negotiations in the Special Session, 
but instead they believed that this was an implementa tion issue to be dealt with in the Regular Session 
of the CTD.  Given the divergences, the Chairman has urged delegations to undertake consultations 
amongst themselves and try and reach an understanding.  
 
With regard to the Category II proposals, th e Chairman requested for an update from the 
Chairpersons of the bodies to which these proposals ha ve been referred.  Most of the Chairpersons 
have indicated that progress on the proposals has not been forthcoming including in certain cases 
because of lack of engagement amongst Members.  A more detailed report on the status of these 
proposals will be made by the different Chairpersons  at the upcoming General Council meeting.  It is 
clear that much work remains to be done by all inte rested Members if any real progress is to be made 
on these proposals. 
 As for all the other outstanding issues, work resumed at the formal meeting held on 7 April.  
Discussions focused on the establishment of a Monito ring Mechanism.  While some Members believe 
that the Monitoring Mechanism should enable the regular evaluation of the effectiveness and 
utilization of the S&D provisions, many are divided on what the structure and elements of such a 
mechanism should be.  In response to a sugges tion on developing guidelines for S&D that would 
address the diversity among developing countries, a num ber of Members cautioned that this would not 
result in a meaningful discussion and could take away focus from other issues on which Members can 
build convergence.  Overall, th e fact that the Committee resumed its discussion on all outstanding 
issues, as directed by the Ministers,  in an atmosphere of mutual respect is a positive development.  At 
the same time, there continues to be deep differenc es of views on this cluster of issues.  This will 
require Members to crystallise their own view s and continue informal discussions amongst 
themselves.   
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  III. FUTURE WORK 
In the coming months, consultations on the Ag reement-specific proposals will continue in an 
attempt to narrow the existing differences.  While info rmal meeting will continue to take place, formal 
meetings are scheduled for June and July.  The Special Session is scheduled to continue its 
consideration of the Agreement-specific propo sals as well as the discussions on the outstanding 
issues.   
 On the Category II proposals, the Special Sessi on will continue to mon itor and coordinate its 
efforts with that of the negotiating groups a nd other WTO bodies to try and ensure that the 
December 2006 deadline for completing work on th ese proposals is met.  The Chairman will meet 
with the various Chairpersons of these bodies to discu ss additional ways by whic h to expedite work in 
this area.   TN/CTD/15 
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 ANNEX 
 
 
     
 
    
 
     
 
    
 
     
 
    
 
    
 
     
 
    
  
  
__________  88 
Total no. of  
proposals 
submitted in the 
Special Session 
38 
Proposals referred 
to other bodies 
(Cat II )
50 
Proposals in the 
Special Session
(Cat I + Cat III)
16 
8 are from Cat I  and  8 are from Cat III. 
11 are by the African Group & 5 by other 
develo ping countries (dc's)        23 
Proposals 
remaining in the 
Special Session
8 
Remaining Category III  proposals 
 (6 African Group & 2 other dc's) 8 
Remaining Category I Proposals 
(5 African Group & 3 other dc's) 27 
Agreed to in 
principle as part of 
pkg of 28 propos als
5 
LDC proposals 
agreed to in HK
18 
Proposals 
remaining 
with the Sp. 
Session 2 
Proposals on 
the ATC 
(Terminated )