RESTRICTED  WORLD TRADE  
ORGANIZATION  WT/BOP/R/79 
22 July 2005 
 (05-3321) 
Committee on Balance-of-Payments Restrictions  
  
NOTE ON THE MEETING OF 19 JULY 2005 
 
1. The Committee on Balance-of-Payments Restrictions met on 19 July 2005, under the 
Chairmanship of Mr. Victor Echevarría Ugarte  (Spain), to review work on outstanding 
implementation issues under Paragraph 12(b) of the Doha Ministerial Declaration.  
2. The Chairman  emphasized that, for the present meeting, he was acting in his capacity as 
Friend of the Chairman of the Trade Negotiations  Committee (TNC).  He added that the Committee 
meeting convened for 20 J une had been postponed in order to allow more time for the process of 
informal consultations. 
3. He recalled that at the Committee meeting of  26 April he had circulated a non-paper on 
outstanding implementation issues (JOB(05)/60) whic h reflected drafting suggestions to paragraph 14 
of WT/BOP/R/66 that had been made during the process of informal consultations.  This text 
originated in the work done by the Committee in 2002.   At the April meeting, the Committee had also 
agreed with him that, in spite of continued di fferences, the Committee could contribute to further 
consideration being given to the concerns contained in tiret 3 of JOB(01)/152/Rev.1.  Following the 
meeting, as a Friend of the Chair of the TNC, he had reported on those conclusions to the Director-
General.   
4. In light of the agreement in the General Counc il on 26 May to continue with the consultative 
process in order to respect the mandate of the July 2004 Decision, he had held informal consultations 
on 2 June at which time further revisions to the pa ragraph had been proposed.   He wished to thank 
and pay tribute to the delegations involved in the consultations for their e ngagement and constructive 
participation, and also wished to thank the Secretariat for its support. 
5. At a subsequent informal consultation, on 29 June , in spite of concerted efforts on the part of 
the Geneva-based delegates to bridge the gaps, he  had arrived at the conclusion that no further 
agreement could be reached at this stage and, ind eed, that the divergences which he had identified at 
the last meeting remained.  This was due in part to the systemic implications involved. Therefore, 
although he had hoped that he could report both to the Committee and to the Chairman of the TNC in 
time for the "first approximation" that sufficient prog ress had been made, he feared that such was not 
the case. Nevertheless, he wished to  ensure that Members remained in formed regarding the status of 
his consultations on implementation, and wanted to provide them with  an opportunity to ask questions 
or to comment at this stage.   He noted that it w as his intention to report to the Chairman of the TNC 
that, in his view, in order to move forward on the technical aspects of the implementation issue, the 
issue required attention at the political level, due in pa rt to the systemic implications  just mentioned.  
6. No comments were made. 
7. Before adjourning the meeting, he said that he  had informed the Committee of the work that 
had been done and had thus complied with the ma ndate of the General Council Decision of 26 May 
2005.   
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