. /.  WORLD TRADE  
ORGANIZATION  TN/MA/15 
22 April 2005 
 (05-1667) 
Negotiating Group on Market Access  
  
 
 
NEGOTIATING GROUP ON MARKET ACCESS 
 
Report by the Chairman, Ambassador S. H. Jóhannesson, to 
 
the Trade Negotiations Committee  
 
I. STATUS OF WORK 
1.1 The NAMA Group met for the second time th is year from 14-18 March. The meeting was 
convened by WTO/AIR/2525 and Add.1 and the proposed structure of work was communicated to Members through an organizational fax dated 1 March 2005.  For this  meeting, I used a mix of 
plenary and restricted open-ended sessions, and I think that this organization of work was useful in 
helping delegations focus on the issues at hand.   1.2 In plenary, discussions took place on the basi s of the following documents: "Treatment of 
non-reciprocal preferences for Africa" (TN/MA/W /49) by the African Group;  "Market access for 
non-agricultural products" (TN/MA/W/53) by the ACP Group of States concerning also 
non-reciprocal preferences; "Squaring the circle of ambition plus flexibility: providing options for 
developing countries" (TN/MA/W/50) by Chile, Co lombia and Mexico; "A proposal for a simple 
non-linear formula with credits" (TN/MA/W/7/Add.1) by Norway; "Unbound tariff rates – establishment of base rates" (TN/MA/W/51) by  Canada; Hong Kong, China; New Zealand and 
Norway; "Elimination of low rates" (TN/MA/W/52) by Canada and Norway;  "How to create a 
critical mass sectoral initiative" (JOB(05)/37)
1 by Canada and the United States, "Swiss formula with 
dual coefficients" (JOB(05)/36) by the United St ates.  A statement was made by the European 
Communities concerning their proposal on a formula. This proposal was presented in detail in the 
restricted open-ended session and a copy of the presen tation was handed out to participants. Malaysia 
also circulated a paper entitled "Proposal for treatme nt of unbound tariffs",  which was discussed in 
detail in the restricted open-ended session.  
 
1.3 At the restricted open-ended sessions, the fo llowing topics were taken up: Formula (on the 
basis of the proposals by Chile, Colombia and Mexico ; EC; Norway; the US and my draft checklist of 
issues); treatment of unbound tariff lines (on the basi s of the paper by Canada; Hong Kong, China; 
New Zealand and Norway, the paper by Mala ysia and my draft checklist of issues);  Ad valorem  
equivalents (the paper circulated in the Co mmittee on Agriculture in Special Session dated 
11 January 2005 and entitled "Conversion of final bound non- ad valorem  duties into ad valorem 
equivalents (AVEs)" was used as background docum ent for the discussions); Product coverage (on 
the basis of a Secretariat document JOB(05)/32).  
1.4 On non-tariff barriers (NTBs), the Group c onducted a multilateral examination of notified 
NTBs as contained in Part I of the Secretariat document JOB(04)/62/Rev.2  The examination took 
place on the basis of questions I had provided in my organizational fax.  The Group also took note of Norway's NTB notification circulated  in document TN/MA/W/46/Add.11.  
                                                     
 
1 Subsequently circulated as TN/MA/W/55. TN/MA/15 
Page 2  
 
  
1.5 In the wrap up session, participants reported on the work they had undertaken in the context 
of private consultations. It is evident that this practic e of giving time to delegations to meet privately  
is valuable. I reported on my discussions with  the Chairman of the Committee on Trade and 
Environment in Special Session on the status of work on the identification of environmental goods. I 
also provided some concluding remarks concerning this session which were circulated in document 
JOB(05)/54.    
II. OUTSTANDING ISSUES 
 2.1 The main challenge facing this Group continu es to be to achieve the right balance between  
ambition and flexibilities.    
III. FUTURE WORK 
 3.1 The next meeting of the Group is scheduled  for 25-29 April.  I have communicated to  
participants the organization of work fo r that session in a fax dated 12 April 2005. 
 
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