RESTRICTED  WORLD TRADE  
ORGANIZATION  G/C/M/101 
26 March 2010 
 
 (10-1658) 
Council for Trade in Goods  
  
 
MINUTES OF THE MEETING OF THE COUNCIL FOR TRADE IN GOODS 
23 MARCH 2010 
 
Chairperson: H.E. Ambassador Elin Østebø Johansen (Norway
) 
 
 
 The meeting of the Council for Trade in Goods was convened by airgram WTO/AIR/3529 and the proposed agenda for the meeting was c ontained in document G/C/W/631.  The meeting 
proceeded on the basis of the following agenda.  
I.
 NOTIFICATION OF REGIONAL TRADE AGREEMENTS.............................................1  
II. STATUS OF NOTIFICATIONS UNDER THE PROVISIONS OF THE 
AGREEMENTS IN ANNEX IA OF THE WTO AGREEMENT ........................................2  
III. APPOINTMENT OF OFFICERS TO CTG SUBSIDIARY BODIES.................................2  
IV. OTHER BUSINESS................................................................................................................. .4 
V. ELECTION OF CHAIRPERSON OF THE COUNCIL FOR TRADE IN 
GOODS .......................................................................................................................... ............4  
 
I. NOTIFICATION OF REGIONAL TRADE AGREEMENTS 
1.1 The Chairman  recalled that, under the working procedures agreed by the Committee on 
Regional Trade Agreements following adoption by  the General Council of the Transparency 
Mechanism, the Council for Trade in Goods was to be  kept informed of Members' notifications of 
new regional trade agreements.  She informed the CTG that the following regional trade agreements 
had been notified to the RTA Committee: 
A. Free Trade Agreement between  ASEAN and Japan (WT/REG277/N/1) 
B. Free Trade Agreement between  Panama and Honduras (WT/REG278/N/1) 
C. Customs Union between the European Union and San Marino (WT/REG280/N/1) 
D. Free Trade Agreement between Peru and China (WT/REG281/N/1) 
E. Free Trade Agreement between Turkey and Montenegro (WT/REG282/N/1) 
1.2 She proposed that the Council tak es note of the information presented. 
 1.3 The Council so agreed
. 
 G/C/M/101 
Page 2  
 
  II. STATUS OF NOTIFICATIONS UNDER THE PROVISIONS OF THE 
AGREEMENTS IN ANNEX IA OF THE WTO AGREEMENT 
2.1 The Chairman
 drew Members' attention to document G/ L/223/Rev.17 containing the status of 
notifications under the provisions of the Agreem ent in Annex 1A of the WTO Agreement.   
 
2.2 The representative of the United States  appreciated the Secretariat report compiling 
notification obligations and compliance.  It provided  a valuable opportunity to review the status of 
notifications across the committees.  His delegation thanked all the Members who had fulfilled their 
notification requirements for their commitment to tr ansparency.  He noted with concern, however, 
that there were still numerous notifications that rema ined outstanding particularly with regard to State 
Trading Enterprises.  His delegation encouraged all Members to submit their notifications for review 
by the appropriate WTO body.  With respect to Agriculture notifications, he had two comments regarding the column MA:2 and column ES:3.  With  respect to the first, the Secretariat posted 2007 
and 2008 MA.2 on 2 March 2010, and he requested th e CTG document to be updated to reflect this.  
With respect to the ES:3 set of notifications, his de legation had requested that the Secretariat drop all 
the zeros in this column as the in structions to the notification G/AG/2  specifically stated that ES.3 was 
not necessary if the information was reported ES.1.   2.3 The Chairman
 proposed that the Council takes note of th e document and the Secretariat issues a 
corrigendum to reflect the comments by the United States.  
2.4 The Council so agreed
. 
 
III. APPOINTMENT OF OFFICERS TO CTG SUBSIDIARY BODIES 
3.1 The Chair  recalled that the Guidelines for the Appointment of Officers to WTO bodies 
contained in document WT/L/510, adopted by the General Council on 10 December 2002, provided 
that the Chairperson of the Council for Trade in Goods would conduc t consultations on the 
appointment of the Chairpersons of the subsidiary  bodies of the Council for Trade in Goods.  She had 
carried out consultations over the past three weeks on this matter.  These consultations were carried 
out in a highly transparent and open manner where by all Members were informed that she would be 
accepting proposals for candidates for these positions.  Based on the proposals and suggestions from 
Members which came forth to respond to her call, she formed a draft slate of names.  This draft was 
the basis for further bilateral consultations among inte rested Members.  Overall, this had not been an 
easy task.  Finally, she held an open-ended cons ultation on a proposed slate of names.  At this 
informal meeting, her proposed slat e was agreed by Members.  She, therefore, believed that she was 
in a position to propose to this Council an agreed slate of names for the Chairs of the subsidiary 
bodies.  This slate reflected the open, transparent manner in which the consultations were carried out, 
as well as the wide diversity of the WTO Membership.    G/C/M/101 
 Page 3 
 
 
  3.2 The names of Chairpersons for th e subsidiary bodies were as follows: 
 
Committee on Market Access Daniel OWOKO (Kenya) 
Agriculture Valeria CSUKASI (Uruguay) 
Sanitary and Phytosanitary Measur es Flavio SOARES DAMICO (Brazil) 
Technical Barriers to Trade Amit YADAV (India) 
TRIMs Hong ZHAO (China) 
Anti-Dumping Practices Adrian SERRA  (Argentina) 
Subsidies and Countervailing Measures Robert FANG (Chinese Taipei) 
Safeguards  Tobias LORENTZSEN (Sweden) 
Import Licensing Anna ASHIKALI (Cyprus) 
Rules of Origin Jasmin QUAH-ZUBAIR (Singapore) 
Customs Valuation Tamás VATTAI (Hungary) 
State Trading Enterprises Doris JURADO (Colombia) 
Committee of Participants on the Expansion 
of Trade in Information Technology Products Tomohiro KANEKO (Japan) 
 
3.3 The representative of Ecuador  thanked the Chair for her efforts but was disappointed to hear 
the results in the new slate of chairmanships fo r the various committees under this Council.  Ecuador 
apparently had to be flexible while other Members were not, despite the fact that these other Members 
had occupied and continued to occupy various chairs, councils, committees and other negotiating 
groups.  His delegation reminded Members that the last  time Ecuador held a chairmanship was for the 
Anti-Dumping Committee eight years ago.  This was the only chairmanship that Ecuador held in the 
history of the WTO.  Despite this, when his delegation requested the support and understanding of 
Members for a chairmanship of one of the less-important committees, it had been blocked for reasons 
which it could not understa nd.  This practice could not continue .  In the future, this process must 
beforehand clearly and transparently establish the cr iteria to be considered for chairmanships.  His 
delegation wondered which cr iteria were used this time.  Was it rotation, a lack of notification, the 
year of membership in the WTO, fa miliarity with the issue, whether or not a Member is important to 
certain issues in the WTO or in  the Round, whether or not certain  trade policies where applied, 
whether or not they were aligned or not aligned with certain understandings that certain Members 
had?  His delegation did not understand the process.   
3.4 His delegation, out of consideration to th e GRULAC coordinator, did not individually 
approach the Chair or anyone else because it entrusted that task fully to GRULAC's coordinator.  In G/C/M/101 
Page 4  
 
  this regard, he thanked Ambassador Francisco Li ma and his extraordinary team who did everything 
possible to ensure that GRULAC was sufficiently represented in the various councils and committees.  
His delegation was a disciplined Member and not ac customed to blocking consensus.  Thus, it would 
not oppose the Chair's recommendations.  However,  his delegation wished to put on record its 
strongest objection and protest to this process.   
3.5 The Chairman proposed that the Council agrees with the nominations read out.   
 3.6 The Council so agreed
. 
 3.7 The Chair
 recalled that while all the other subsidia ry bodies of the Council had provisions in 
their respective Agreement or rules of procedur e requiring them to elect Chairpersons, Working 
Parties did not have any procedural rules on electing Chairpersons.  As a result, in the case of the Working Party on State Trading Enterprises, she proposed that the Council appoint the nominated 
Chairperson.  In the case of all the other subsidia ry bodies, she proposed that the Council takes note of 
her proposals.  
 
3.8 The Council so agreed
. 
 3.9 The Chair
 added that, on the question of Vice-Chairs, it was her understanding that it would 
be for the subsidiary bodies to decide if they needed a Vice-Chair in cas es where the option existed 
under the Agreement or rules of procedure and th at it was for the respective Chair to hold the 
necessary consultations.  She asked it the Council could proceed on this basis. 
 3.10 The Council so agreed
.   
 3.11 The Chair
 thanked the outgoing Chairpersons of the various subsidiary bodies of the Council 
for Trade in Goods for their hard work and dedication during the year. 
 
IV. OTHER BUSINESS 
A. DATE OF THE NEXT MEETING  
4.1 The Chair  informed the Council that the next meeting was scheduled to take place on 
Thursday, 20 May 2010.  The agenda would close on Monday, 10 May 2010.  V. ELECTION OF CHAIRPERSON OF TH E COUNCIL FOR TRADE IN GOODS 
5.1 The Chair
 informed Members that the Chairman of the General Council had carried out 
consultations on a slate of names for Chairpersons to the different WTO standing bodies in accordance with the established Guidelines for Appointment of Officers.  These proposed 
nominations were approved by the General Council at its meeting on 22-23 February 2010.  In line 
with the nominations, she proposed that the Council for Trade in Goods elect  
Ambassador Anthony MARUPING of Lesotho
 as Chairperson of this body by acclamation.   
 5.2 The Council so agreed
. 
 
5.3 The Chair  thanked all delegations, the Secretariat, the interpreters and all support staff, for 
their untiring efforts and dedication to carrying out the work of the CTG in 2009.    5.4 The meeting was adjourned
. 
 
__________