RESTRICTED  WORLD TRADE  
ORGANIZATION  WT/REG/M/39 
11 March 2005 
 
 (05-1029) 
Committee on Regional Trade Agreements 
Thirty-Ninth Session  
 
 
 
NOTE ON THE MEETING OF 17-18 FEBRUARY 2005 
 
Chairman: Mr. R. Saborío Soto (Costa Rica)  
 
 
A. ADOPTION OF THE AGENDA  
1. The Thirty-Ninth Session of the Committee on Regional Trade Agreements (CRTA or 
Committee) was convened in Airgram WTO/AIR/2496, da ted 4 February 2005.  As requested by the 
Committee, an annotated draft agenda had been  distributed by fax on 10 December 2004.  
2. The Chairman  announced that he would inform the Committee under "Other Business" of the 
dates of the upcoming meetings of the CRTA.   
3. The representative of Chile  said that under "Other Business" she would raise the issue of 
having the Secretariat prepare the factual presentation of the Agreement between Chile and Korea. 
4. The following Agenda was adopted: 
 A. Adoption of the Agenda 
 B. Election of Officers 
 C. Examination of Regional Trade Agreements   I. Status Report on the Examination Work   II. European Communities–Croatia Interim Agreement  
III. European Communities–Former Y ugoslav Republic of Macedonia Interim 
Agreement  
IV. Euro-Mediterranean Agreement be tween the European Communities and 
Morocco 
  V. Chile-El Salvador Free Trade Agreement, Goods and Services 
VI. Free Trade Agreement between the United States and Chile, Goods and 
Services  
VII. Free Trade Agreement between the United States and Singapore, Goods and 
Services 
VIII. Free Trade Agreement between China and Hong Kong, China, Goods and 
Services 
IX. Free Trade Agreement between China and Macao, China, Goods and Services  
 D. Other Business 
 5. 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 . 
6. The representative of Chinese Taipei  raised the issue of the Agenda, particularly Part C, the 
Examination of Regional Trade Agreements.  He ha d noticed that different names such as interim WT/REG/M/39 
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 agreements, Euro-Mediterranean agre ements, free trade agreements and so forth were used which he 
found confusing.  Members had previously discussed  the issue of "interim agreements" and he 
wondered if this was the same as the definition in Article XXIV.  He added that Agenda items C.VII 
and C.VIII referred to the examination of free tr ade agreements between China and Macao, China; 
and Hong Kong, China, respectively, which did not reflect the title of these Agreements.  He 
suggested that it might be easier to mention in the Agenda whether an agreement was a free trade 
agreement or a customs union.   
7. A representative of the Secretariat
 replied that usually the official name of the Agreement as it 
appeared in the legal document or treaty which was notified was used.  In this particular instance, a 
mistake had been made in items C.VII and C.VIII of  the Agenda which should have referred to the 
official names of the agreemen ts between China and Macao, Ch ina; and China and Hong Kong, 
China.  The annotated Agenda distributed earlier ha d contained the proper names of the Agreements.  
In the case of interim agreements and the Euro-M editerranean agreement which had appeared on the 
Agenda, these reflected the actual title of the agreements.   
8. The representative of the United States  thanked the representative of Chinese Taipei for 
raising this issue as her delegation was often confused  by the names attributed to different types of 
agreements, particularly in the case of the European Communities.  It would be helpful to know if an 
agreement was a free trade agreement, a customs union, or an interim agreement.  She agreed with the 
Secretariat that it was more appropriate to put the legal title of the agreement on the Agenda.   
9. The representative of the European Communities  said that the Committee had already 
devoted much time to the discussion of interim agre ements and that the Standard Format contained 
information on the type of agreement.  He acknowle dged that it might be conf using for delegations if 
different names for different agreements were used  by the European Communities, but he indicated 
that this reflected different types of relationship w ith different countries.  He suggested that it would 
be more pragmatic to use the information contained in the Standard Format to determine the type of 
agreement.  The representative of Chinese Taipei  agreed with the proposals made by the 
representatives of the United States and the European Communities. 
B. ELECTION OF OFFICERS  
10. The Chairman  said that there had been consensus in the General Council meeting of 15 
February 2005 that he should continue to hold the position as Chairman.  He proposed that the 
Committee re-elect him, as the Chairman  of the CRTA.  It was so agreed .  The Chairman thanked 
delegations for renewing the expression of their trus t in him to carry on his role as Chairman.  He 
added that he was still carrying on consultations to replace the two vice-chairmen who had recently 
departed.  
C. EXAMINATION OF REGIONAL TRADE AGREEMENTS  
I. Status Report on the Examination Work 
11. Under this item, the Chairman  drew the attention of the Committee to the fact that only eight 
RTAs were up for examination in this Session, despite the fact that the annotated Agenda circulated in 
December provided for the examination of 13 RTAs.  Thus five RTAs would not be examined in the 
day's meeting due to the fact that outstanding doc umentation had not been provided.  Given current 
efforts being made by Members in the Negotiating Group on Rules to develop a package on RTAs' transparency, it was surely in the interest of a ll Members to promote transparency within the CRTA 
by ensuring that the Secretariat receive the necessary documentation for meetings within the 
prescribed deadlines.   WT/REG/M/39 
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 C.II-IX (The minutes of the examination of the Agre ements listed under agenda items C.II-IX are 
being distributed as separate documents.) 
D. OTHER BUSINESS  
12. The representative of Chile , on behalf of her government and the government of Korea, took 
the opportunity to submit their Free Trade Agre ement for a factual presentation prepared by the 
Secretariat.  The Agreement was on the agenda  for the Committee's October meeting.  This 
demonstrated that both governments wished to prom ote the principle of transparency and make the 
work of the Committee more efficient. 
13. The Chairman  welcomed this important step and was sure that the determination expressed by  
Chile and Korea would encourage other countries to do likewise.  He stressed the importance of the 
work being done in the Negotiating Group on Rules and that the new guidelines should be put into 
practice as an example.  He urge d other delegations to follow the example of Chile and Korea and  
hoped that this would stimulate and fortify the wo rk of the Committee.  He reminded the Committee 
that the dates of further meetings for the year had been set for 11-12 July and 6-7 October.  He added 
that the draft annotated Agenda for the next meeting would be distributed in mid-May.   
14. The Committee took note  of the comments made. 
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