. /.  WORLD TRADE  
ORGANIZATION  RESTRICTED 
WT/BFA/W/252 
31 October 2011 
 (11-5488) 
Committee on Budget, Finance and Administration  
  
 
ADMINISTRATIVE MEASURES FOR THE 
ISLAMIC REPUBLIC OF MAURITANIA 
 
 1. In accordance with its decision of 15 May 2006
1, the General Council of the World Trade 
Organization (WTO) may suspend the application of administrative measures for Members in 
Category IV which agree to, and abide by, a defi ned schedule of instalment payments aimed at 
liquidating all arrears. 
2. To that end, the WTO Secretariat proposed to the Islamic Republic of Mauritania a plan for 
the payment of arrears in instalments based on the following: 
(a) The Islamic Republic of Mauritania's arrears at 31 December 2009 amount to 
CHF 1,237,988.  This amount corresponds to 33 years of arrears. 
(b) The Islamic Republic of Mauritania can be nefit from a specific payment mechanism 
for arrears prior to 1988 approved by the General Council in 19942 which allows the 
arrears to be reduced to CHF 940,847.  This represents a saving of CHF 297,141. 
(c) The Islamic Republic of Mauritania undertak es to pay, on an annual basis starting 
in 2010, the amount of CHF 37,634 over a period of 25 years. 
 
Number of  
Years Year Instalments  Outstanding 
Total arrears as at  31 December 2009  1,237,988 
Reduction in arrears prior to 1988 (297,141) 
Total amount of the payment plan  940,847 
Year 1 2010 (37,634) 903,213 
Year 2 2011 (37,634) 865,579 
Year 3 2012 (37,634) 827,945 
Year 4 2013 (37,634) 790,311 
Year 5 2014 (37,634) 752,677 
Year 6 2015 (37,634) 715,043 
Year 7 2016 (37,634) 677,409 
Year 8 2017 (37,634) 639,775 
Year 9 2018 (37,634) 602,141 
Year 10 2019 (37,634) 564,507 
                                                      
1 See document WT/BFA/86. 
2 See document C/M/273, paragraph 11. WT/BFA/W/252 
Page 2  
 
  Number of  
Years Year Instalments  Outstanding 
Year 11 2020 (37,634) 526,873 
Year 12 2021 (37,634) 489,239 
Year 13 2022 (37,634) 451,605 
Year 14 2023 (37,634) 413,971 
Year 15 2024 (37,634) 376,337 
Year 16 2025 (37,634) 338,703 
Year 17 2026 (37,634) 301,069 
Year 18 2027 (37,634) 263,435 
Year 19 2028 (37,634) 225,801 
Year 20 2029 (37,634) 188,167 
Year 21 2030 (37,634) 150,533 
Year 22 2031 (37,634) 112,899 
Year 23 2032 (37,634) 75,265 
Year 24 2033 (37,634) 37,631 
Year 25 2034 (37,631) 0 
 
(d) The Islamic Republic of Mauritania furthe r undertakes to pay its annual contribution 
as from 2010.  Its contributions for 2010 and 2011 are CHF 28,410 and CHF 29,145, respectively. 
(e) The total annual amount due must be received by the WTO no later than 
31 December of each year, failing which the administrative measures will be 
reinstated. 
(f) Payments will be booked against the oldest arrears, starting with the arrears subject to 
the specific payment mechanism. 
(g) The Islamic Republic of Mauritania has made two payments, amounting to 
CHF 82,303 received on 13 May 2010 a nd to CHF 14,511 received on 
29 September 2011.  A payment of CHF 36,009 will be due before 
31 December 2011. 
3. The WTO Secretariat received a letter of acceptance of the payment plan, including the terms 
set out above, on 21 October 2011. 
4. In accordance with the decision of the Ge neral Council of 15 May 2006, the Committee 
on Budget, Finance and Administration recomm ends that the General Council suspend the 
application of administrative measures for th e Islamic Republic of Mauritania, which agrees to, 
and undertakes to abide by, a schedule of instalment payments aimed at liquidating all arrears 
over a period of twenty-five years starting on 1 January 2010.  The payments must be received 
no later than 31 December of each year, failin g which the administrative measures will be 
reinstated . 
__________