WORLD TRADE  
ORGANIZATION  WT/L/744 
22 December 2008 
 (08-6252) 
  
  
 
INTRODUCTION OF HARMONIZED SYSTEM 2002   CHANGES INTO 
WTO SCHEDULES OF TARIFF CONCESSIONS 
 
Decision of 18 December 2008
* 
  
 The General Council,   Having regard  to Articles IV:2 and IX:3 of the Ma rrakesh Agreement establishing the World 
Trade Organization (the "WTO Agreement"); 
 
 Considering that the General Council, by  its Decisions of 13 May 2002
1 and 8 July 20022, 
acting pursuant to the provisions of Articles IV:2  and IX:3 of the WTO Agreement, suspended the 
application of the provisions of Arti cle II of GATT 1994 for certain Me mbers for periods up to one year 
for each respective Member  to the extent necessary to implem ent domestically the "HS2002 changes"3 
pending incorporation of such changes into their Schedules of Concession s, subject to certain 
conditions; 
  Considering that the General Council, by its Decisions of 12 December 2002
4, 
11 February 20045, 13 December 20046, 1 December 20057, 15 December 20068 and 
18 December  20079 acting pursuant to the provisions of Articl es IV:2 and IX:3 of the WTO Agreement, 
suspended the application of the provisions of  Article II of GATT 1994 for further periods until 
31 December 2008 for certain  Members, to the extent necessary to  implement domestically the HS2002 
changes pending incorporation of such changes into their Schedules of Conces sions, subject to certain 
conditions;   Noting  that the same Members, who are listed in the Annex to the present Decision, have 
requested an extension of their respective waivers; 
  Considering  that these  Members listed in the Annex to th e present Decision would need more 
time to proceed with consultations and/ or possible Article XXVIII negotiations; 
                                                     
 
* Secretariat note:   Adopted in accordance with  the Decision-Making Proced ures under Articles IX and 
XII of the WTO Agreement agreed by the Gene ral Council in November 1995 (WT/L/93). 
1 WT/L/469 in respect of 23 Members. 
2 WT/L/477 in respect of Romania.  
3 "HS2002 changes" are defined as the amendments to the Harmonized Commodity Description and 
Coding System recommended by the Council of the World Customs Organization in its Recommendation adopted on 25 June 1999 which came into force on 1 January 2002.  "Harmonized System" refers to 
Harmonized Commodity Description and Coding System. 
4 WT/L/511. 
5 WT/L/562. 
6 WT/L/598. 
7 WT/L/638. 
8 WT/L/674. 
9 WT/L/712. WT/L/744 
Page 2  
 
   Considering that other Members not listed in the An nex to this Decision may already have 
implemented domestically the HS2002 changes, or ma y intend to do so, pending incorporation of such 
changes into their Schedules of Concessions, and ma y also desire to be c overed by this waiver; 
  Considering  that the General Council, by  its decision of 15 February 2005
10, set forth  a 
procedure by which those Members not currently covered by this waiver could be included;  
  Decides, in view of the exceptional circumstances, to suspend the application of the provisions 
of Article II of GATT 1994:  
 (a) for those Members listed in the Annex for a further year until 31 December 2009;  
and 
  (b) for any other Member not listed in the Annex, that has approved its draft HS02 files 
and whose draft HS02 file has been released for multilateral review and that notifies 
the Committee on Market Access of its wish to  be included in the waiver decision, for 
the period from the date of implementati on of the HS2002 changes for that Member 
until 31 December 2009;  
 to the extent necessary for the purpose of enab ling such Members to implement domestically the 
recommended amendments to the Harmonized System  nomenclature pending incorporation of such 
changes into their Schedules of Concessi ons, subject to the following conditions: 
  (i) Members covered by paragraphs (a) and (b) of this Decision shall, where necessary, 
promptly enter into negotiations and/or consultations with interested Members 
pursuant to paragraphs 1-3 of Article XXVIII of GATT 1994;  
 
 (ii) The negotiations and/or consultations me ntioned above shall, to the extent possible, 
be completed by 31 December 2009; and 
  (iii) In accordance with the provisions of Article XXVIII:3 of GATT 1994, applied 
mutatis mutandis  to the present waiver, pending the entry into force of the results of the 
negotiations and/or consultatio ns mentioned above, the other Members will be free to 
suspend concessions initially negotiated with the Member concerned to the extent that they consider that adequate compensation is not offered by the Member concerned. 
                                                     
 
10 WT/L/605, paragraph 17.  WT/L/744 
 Page 3 
 
 
  ANNEX 
 
Members which have requested to be covere d by the waiver granted under this Decision  
 
1. Argentina 
2. Australia 
3. Brazil 
4. China 
5. Costa Rica 
6. Croatia 
7. El Salvador 
8. European Communities 
9. Iceland 
10. India 
11. Republic of Korea 
12. Mexico 
13. New Zealand 
14. Nicaragua 
15. Norway 
16. Taipei, Chinese  
17. Thailand 
18. United States 
19. Uruguay 
 
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