. /.   WORLD TRADE  
ORGANIZATION  WT/COMTD/62/Add.1 
26 November 2007 
 
 (07-5208) 
Committee on Trade and Development Original:   English 
  
 
AMENDMENT TO THE FIRST AGREEMEN T ON TRADE NEGOTIATIONS AMONG 
DEVELOPING MEMBER COUNTRIES OF THE ECONOMIC AND SOCIAL  
COMMISSION FOR ASIA AND THE PACIFIC (BANGKOK AGREEMENT) 
  
ASIA-PACIFIC TRADE AGREEMENT
 
 
Communication from the United States  
 
Addendum  
 
 
 The following communication, dated 23 November 2007, is being circulated at the request of 
the Delegation of the United States. 
 
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QUESTIONS FROM THE UNITED STATES ON THE NOTIFICATION BY  CHINA OF THE  
AMENDMENT TO THE FIRST AGREEMEN T ON TRADE NEGOTIATIONS AMONG 
DEVELOPING MEMBER COUNTRIES OF THE ECONOMIC AND SOCIAL  
COMMISSION FOR ASIA AND THE PACIFIC (BANGKOK AGREEMENT) 
(WT/COMTD/N/22) 
  
 The United States thanks China on behalf of Ba ngladesh, India, Lao PDR, Republic of Korea 
and Sri Lanka, for notifying the Asia-Pacific Trad e Agreement (APTA).  We ask the parties to 
provide responses to the following questions to th e Committee on Trade and Development to enable a 
meaningful discussion of the APTA.    
Notification 
 1. The notification by China (WT/COMTD/N/22) states the Bangkok Agreement was notified to 
GATT on 2 November 1976 in accordance with the En abling Clause.  We note the Enabling Clause 
was adopted by the contracting parties of the GATT in 1979.   
2. Please provide a clarification of the authorit y under which the agreement was originally 
notified.  
Membership 
 
3. Recent agreements to which the Republic of Korea is a party ( e.g., Free Trade Agreement 
between the Republic of Korea and Chile, WT /REG169/N/1 and S/C/N/302) were notified under 
Article XXIV and GATS V.  Further, estimates by  the World Bank of over 200 countries ranked the  WT/COMTD/62/Add.1 
Page 2  
 
  Republic of Korea the world’s 12
th largest economy in terms of total gross national income and 49th in 
per capita terms.  ( See http//web.worldbank.org/wbsite/external/datastatistics .)  Lastly, we note that 
paragraph 2 of the Enabling Clause states that it applies to “ Regional or global arrangements entered 
into amongst less-developed contracting parties for the mutual reduction or elimination of tariffs.. .” 
4. Please explain the parties’ rationale for notif ying the APTA under the Enabling Clause.  
Trade coverage 
  
5. What percentage of trade among the APTA me mbers is covered by the new consolidated 
tariff list?  What percentage of tariff lines?  
6.  What are the actual utilization rates for APTA preferences? 
Margins of preference 
  
7. What are the average margins of preference provided by APTA members under the 
agreement?  
Preservation of preference margins (Article 10) 
  
8. Would APTA parties be required to renegotiate their concessions to one another in the event 
of a successful completion of the DDA?  If so, can APTA parties provide assurances that this apparent requirement to preserve the value of concessions in the event of tariff changes will not impede their 
willingness to reduce tariffs on an MFN basis at the WTO? 
9. Are APTA parties required to renegotiate thei r concessions to one another when any of the 
parties enter into other reciprocal preferential arrangements? 
Potential overlap with other agreements 
  
10. To what extent do concessions provided in th e revised agreement overlap with concessions 
provided by other reciprocal preferential arrangeme nts involving APTA parties (including the India-
Sri Lanka agreements, GSTP, SAFTA, etc.)? 
Non-tariff barriers 
  
11. Article 6 states that parties shall gradually relax non-tariff measures existing on conceded 
products and make information about non-tariff measu res available on a transparent basis to other 
APTA parties.  Have any such lists been circulat ed?  Will APTA members make these and future lists 
available to WTO members, also in  the interest of transparency? 
Provisions for new members 
  
12. Article 30 says membership is limited to developing members of UNESCAP.  Would APTA 
members be receptive to member ship requests from countries outside the UNESCAP region?   
13. Are any countries currently in the process of accession?   
 
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